Andrew C. McCarthy’s ‘Islam and Free Speech’
Posted: May 28, 2015 Filed under: History, Politics, Reading Room, Religion, Think Tank | Tags: American Museum of Natural History, Cabu, Charlie Hebdo, Depictions of Muhammad, Islamism, Muhammad, Muslim, Paris, PEN American Center, Rachel Kushner Leave a comment
In January 2015, Muslim terrorists massacred cartoonists and writers at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, proclaiming to be avenging Islam’s prophet. The rampage, which included the 
murders of hostages at a kosher market, prompted global leaders and throngs of citizens to rally in support of free expression. But was the support genuine?
[Check out Andrew C. McCarthy‘s Islam and Free Speech (Encounter Broadside) at Amazon.com]
In this Broadside, Andrew C. McCarthy explains how leading Islamists have sought to supplant free expression with the blasphemy standards of Islamic law, gaining the support of the U.S. and other Western governments. But free speech is the lifeblood of a functioning democratic society, essential to our capacity to understand, protect ourselves from, and ultimately defeat our enemies.
[VIDEO] CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Spars with ‘Draw Muhammad’ Host Pamela Geller
Posted: May 4, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, Religion, Self Defense, War Room | Tags: Alisyn Camerota, CNN, Depictions of Muhammad, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Garland, Geert Wilders, Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, Muhammad, Pamela Geller, Southern Poverty Law Center, Stop Islamization of America, Texas 2 Comments‘Excuse me, I’m anti-jihad!’ Pam Geller tells CNN her critics are the real Islamophobes Pamela Geller Battles CNN Host over Garland Shooting: Why Is Media ‘Targeting’ Us?
“Increasingly, we’re abridging our freedoms so as not to offend savages. The very idea that if something offends me, or I’m insulted by something I’ll kill you and somehow this is okay with members of the elite media, and academia, is outrageous.”
Why is Pamela Geller so obsessed with Islam? It’s all she can think and talk about. Is it the result of some sort of trauma?
— Hala Gorani (@HalaGorani) May 4, 2015
Mediaite: Hours after a shooting at a Muhammed cartoon event Garland, Texas that left three dead, including the gunmen, the event’s sponsor and American Freedom Defense Initiative president Pamela Geller battled CNN’s Alisyn Camerota over whether the incendiary event had provoked violence.
“And then we have to get on these news shows, and somehow we are, those that are targeted, those that were going to be slaughtered, are the ones who get attacked speaks to how morally inverted this conversation is.”
“Increasingly, we’re abridging our freedoms so as not to offend savages,” Geller alleged. “The very idea that if something offends me, or I’m insulted by something I’ll kill you and somehow this is okay with members of the elite media, and academia, is outrageous.”
As @EWErickson, @rcallimachi works for the @nytimes. #DearLord pic.twitter.com/7fs0yhLLwn
— Ericka Andersen (@ErickaAndersen) May 4, 2015
Camerota read from the keynote speech given at the event disparaging Islam. Geller has made a career of warning of the “Islamization” of America; the Southern Poverty Law Center lists her as an extremist.
“He’s entitled to his opinion, end of story. So what? So he said that. And frankly, what he said was true…The fact is that we need to have this discussion, there’s a problem in Islam.”
The conversation devolved into whether Geller had ever called Muslims “savages,” which she said she had done once in her life. She argued she criticized only Muslims who kill over their beliefs. “I am anti-jihad, I am anti-Sharia,” Geller said. “You, by spaying I paint with a broad brush, are saying all Muslims support jihad. Alisyn you sound very Islamaphobic.” It was that type of segment. Read the rest of this entry »
