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Hypocrisy and Double Standards: Reflections on the Massacre in New Zealand
Just over a month ago, a crazed gunman entered the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch. Armed with an arsenal of weapons which included semi-automatic firearms, he began to shoot worshippers engaged in Friday prayers.
Fifteen minutes later, the gunman repeated his dastardly deed at the Linwood Islamic Centre. In the end, fifty people lay dead and thirty-six lay injured. The entire incident was broadcast live on Facebook.
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, denounced the massacre as a ‘terrorist attack.’ She echoed the sentiments of the general public. In response to the attacks, three thousand people participated in a “march for life” in Christchurch carrying signs that read “Muslims welcome, racists not”, “he wanted to divide us, he only made us stronger”, and “Kia Kaha”, which means “stay strong” in Maori.
The Muslim call to prayer was broadcast on television and radio with twenty-thousand-people attending prayer services in the park across from the Al Noor Mosque. And two New Zealand rugby teams – the Chiefs and the Hurricanes – paused for a moment’s silence before the Super Rugby game in Hamilton.
New Zealanders have been praised for their unity and compassion in response to the attacks. But what would happen if the roles were reversed? When it is not a Westerner killing Muslims, but rather a Muslim killing Westerners? Then the response, or lack of response, is rather telling.
At this stage, I should point out that what happened in New Zealand was an act of evil. The massacre of any group of people for any reason whatsoever is an act of evil. I am not trying to condone attacks against Muslims, I am merely trying to expose to the hypocrisy of our so-called betters.
The point I am trying to make is not that the Christchurch massacre was somehow a form of justified retribution. It clearly was not. The point I am trying to make is that our leaders say one thing when an attack is perpetrated by Muslims and another when the attack is perpetrated against Muslims.
To put it bluntly, whenever a terrorist attack occurs involving a Muslim or a group of Muslims, politicians and the media are quick to downplay the Islamic elements. But if it is a Westerner targeting Muslims, or any other minority group, accusations of racism and xenophobia are repeated ad nauseum.
Whenever a Muslim, whether affiliated with a terrorist organisation or not, commits an act of terror, his actions are typically met by that all-too-common disclaimer: “it had nothing to do with Islam.” Even when the perpetrator expressly states that he is committing his heinous deed in the name of Islam it still has “nothing to do with Islam.”
The British journalist, Douglas Murray made similar observations when he appeared on Fox and Friends. “We’ve had a different response when it comes to Islamic terror”, he stated. “Consistently we find out there are people [after a terrorist attack] who knew about the extremism [and] didn’t report it, members of the community who say they don’t want to go the British police, and we find out Mosques people attended are being run by radicals.”
Murray has accused the West of resorting to the “John Lennon” response to terrorism. “They blow us up, we sing Imagine”, he says. “Our politicians still refuse to accurately identify the sources of the problem and polite society remains silent.”
I think it is self-evident that there would have been an entirely different response had it been a Muslim perpetrator attacking Westerners. There would not have been the protests, the moment’s silence, the religious and cultural messages broadcast on television and radio. Politicians and media identities would not have condemned the attacks as viscerally or as quickly as they did. There simply would not have been the same level of outrage. Instead, the Islamic elements would have been dismissed and the incident largely would have been ignored.
It is hard to believe that this kind of willful ignorance boils down to mere incompetence. To acknowledge that Islam has been responsible for a great deal of misery in the world is to go against the narrative that anyone who is not a straight, white, male, Christian is a member of a victim group. To acknowledge Islam’s role in a great deal of the misery in the world is to acknowledge that Muslims can be, and frequently are, the villains.
The left and the media, but I repeat myself, reacted to the Christchurch massacre in the way that they did because they want to elevate Muslims to the category of victim. It is a blatant attempt to sell black and white and white as black. And if you dare suggest the advertisement is misleading, you’re a bigot.
It really boils down to virtue signalling. That self-centred and cowardly habit of making vacuous comments in an attempt to make yourself look good. Public figures will now say anything that makes themselves appear more virtuous than everybody else. They resort to making statements that appear say something intelligent without really saying anything at all.
20 – 1 CONSERVATIVES JOURNALISTS
In today’s world of twenty-four-hour news cycles, infinite information, and endless news sources, knowing who to trust has become a virtually impossible task. To make this endeavour easier, I have compiled a list of the twenty conservative journalists, thinkers, and speakers I rely upon.
20. DAVE RUBIN
David Joshua Rubin (born 1976 in Brooklyn, New York) is a television personality, talk show host, and comedian. With a degree in political science from Birmingham University, Rubin was originally a host on The Young Turks before becoming the host of the popular, crowd-funded Youtube talk show, The Rubin Report.
The show, which has over half-a-million subscribers, features guests from both the political left and the political right and has been praised for its honest and politically incorrect approach to complex issues. Rubin, who considers himself a classical liberal, encourages discussion on all topics, no matter how controversial they might be.
Rubin is passionate about illustrating the difference between liberals and progressives and is responsible for popularising the expression “regressive left.” He has commented on issues like political correctness, free speech, mass media, religion, and more.
19. ANDREW BOLT
Andrew Bolt (born 1959 in Adelaide, Australia) is a journalist, editor, columnist, radio host, and television host. Armed with an arts degree from Adelaide University, Bolt began his career with a cadetship with The Age. Later he would move to The Herald where he worked as the paper’s Asian correspondent: fist in Hong Kong and then in Bangkok.
Bolt is known for his socially and politically conservative views. He has been at the forefront of many social and political debates and has talked about environmentalism, Islam, and many other topics. Radio host, Alan Jones referred to Bolt as a man who “sticks his head up (…) writing with clarity and conviction.” His columns and articles are published in The Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Advertiser, Northern Territory News, and The Courier News. He can be seen weeknights on The Bolt Report on Sky News.
18. MIRANDA DEVINE
Miranda Devine (born in the 1960s as the daughter of the legendary newspaperman, Frank Devine) is an Australian conservative columnist. With a degree in journalism from Chicago’s North-West University and a bachelor of science from Macquarie University, Devine began her career working for the Boston Herald as a feature writer and reporter. She returned to Sydney in 1989 and took up a position at the Daily Telegraph. Whilst Devine primarily works for The Daily Telegraphs, her columns are also published in The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Herald Sun, and the Sunday Times. Devine also formerly hosted the Miranda Devine Show on 2GB radio until it was cancelled in 2015.
17. KATIE HOPKINS
Katie Olivia Hopkins (born 1975 in Devon, England) is a television personality, radio presenter, and columnist. Bursting onto the scene in The Apprentice, Hopkins has made a name for herself as a professional provocateur, writing for The Sun since 2013, and The Daily Mail from 2015 t 2017.
Holding no punches, Hopkins has tackled topics ranging from ginger-haired babies and social class to obesity and Islamic terrorism. She has been involved in numerous media stunts. In 2015, Hopkins gained and then lost a significant amount of weight to prove that obesity was caused by lifestyle and not genetics.
16. GLENN BECK
Glenn Lee Beck (born 1964 in Washington) is a talk show host, producer, entrepreneur, and political commentator. He is a defender of the US Constitution and is a supporter of free markets and individual liberties. Beck is the founder of The Blaze, a conservative news site in 2011 and owns Mercury Ink, a publishing imprint, in a partnership with Simon and Schuster. Beck’s radio show, The Glenn Beck Program, is nationally syndicated and is one of the most popular radio programs in America. He is married with four children.
15. MICHELLE MALKIN
Michelle Malkin (born Michelle Maglalang in 1970 in Philadelphia) is a television personality, blogger, syndicated columnist, and the author of six books, including: Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores (2002), In Defence of Internment: The Case for ‘Racial Profiling’ in World War Two and the War on Terror (2004), Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild (2005), Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies (2009), Who Built That: Awe-Inspiring Stories of American Tinkerpreneurs (2015), and Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels are Screwing America’s Best and Brightest Workers (2015).
Malkin started her career at the Los Angeles Daily News in 1992. In 1996, she moved to the Seattle Times. Since then she has founded Twitchy and Hot Air, has had her popular newspaper columns nationally syndicated through Creators Syndicate, has been a frequent contributor on Fox News, and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-Span, and numerous radio programs. She is married with two children.
14. GAVIN MCINNES
Gavin Miles McInnes (born 1970 in Hitchin, UK) is a writer, actor, commentator, columnist, comedian, and entrepreneur. McInnes grew up in Canada and graduated from Concordia University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts. He co-founded Vice Media in 1994 with Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith. Since then, he has written for Takimag, Truth Revolt, and The Federalist, has been a contributor and content-producer for Fox Digital and has been a frequent guest on The Blaze.
McInnes is the host of the Gavin McInnes Show on Compound Media. He considers himself a God-fearing, pro-life Catholic and is a member of the Knights of Columbus. McInnes has described feminism as a movement that “trivialised motherhood”, forces women to “pretend to be men”, and makes women “miserable.” He is the founder of the Proud Boys movement and has described himself as a “western chauvinist.” He is married with three children.
13. BILL WHITTLE
William Alfred Whittle (born 1959 in New York City) is a blogger, political commentator, film director, screenwriter, film editor, pilot, and author. Describing himself as “the voice of the common-sense resistance”, Whittle is a former writer for National Review Online, and is known for appearing in numerous PJ Media Youtube videos and short films.
Whittle is a frequent guest-speaker at Republican, Tea Party, High School, and University events. He has frequently appeared as a guest on radio and television, appearing on Fox News, The Dennis Miller Show, and Sun TV. He is the current host of PJ Media’s Afterburner, is the host of Firewall, and is the co-host of Right Angle with Stephen Green and Scott Ott.
12. STEPHEN CROWDER
Stephen Blake Crowder (born 1987 in Michigan, USA) is an actor, comedian, podcast host, and political commentator. He is a former Fox News contributor and is a frequent guest on The Blaze, The Glenn Beck Show, and The Dana Show.
Crowder is well known for satirising the political left through videos produced by various conservative media outlets, including PJ Media and Big Hollywood. He is the host of the conservative podcast, Louder with Crowder (available on I-Tunes and streamed on Youtube) which covers news, politics, and popular culture.
11. ANDREW KLAVAN
Andrew Klavan (born 1954 in New York City) is a novelist, screenwriter, political, commentator, and podcaster. He is the author of True Crime (adapted into a film directed by Clint Eastwood) and Don’t Say a Word (adapted into a film starring Michael Douglas), and has won the Edgar Award Twice.
Klavan has written essays and opinion editorials on politics, religion, film, and literature for a variety of conservative news publications, including City Journal and PJ Media. He has starred in a series of Klavan on the Culture videos and is the host of The Andrew Klavan Show which airs Monday through Thursday. He is married with two children.
10. DENNIS PRAGER
Dennis Mark Prager (born 1948 in Brooklynn, New York) is a radio host, musical conductor, political commentator, television host, and the author of The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism (1976), Think a Second Time (1996), Happiness is a Serious Problem (1999), Still the Best Hope (2012), and The Ten Commandments (2015).
Prager has a double-major in history and anthropology from Brooklyn College and studied Arabic, comparative religion, and international history at the University of Leeds. In 2010, Prager launched the Prager University Youtube Channel which features short videos explaining the conservative view on particular subjects.
09. WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR.
William Francis Buckley, Jr. (1925 – 2008) was an editor, author, political commentator, and television personality who was described by the historian, George H. Nash (1945 – ) as “arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half-century. For an entire generation, he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure.”
Armed with a Bachelor of Arts with honours in political science, economics, and history, and buttressed with a transatlantic accent, wide vocabulary, and a sophisticated wit, Buckley was the founder of National Review, a publication for conservative intelligentsia, and the host of Firing Line, a public affair show that aired from 1966 to 1999. Over the course of his career, Buckley wrote over forty books, including several spy thrillers. His column, On the Right, was published in more than three-hundred newspapers.
Buckley was a devout Catholic who frequently attended Latin Mass. He married Patricia Taylor in 1950 and had a son, Christopher Taylor Buckley.
08. DINESH D’SOUZA
Dinesh Joseph D’Souza (born 1961 in Mumbai, India) is a conservative policy analyst, public speaker, writer, filmmaker, political commentator, and Christian apologist.
While studying at Dartmouth College, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, D’Souza wrote for the Dartmouth Review, an independent newspaper financed by alumni of Dartmouth College. Following his graduation with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1983, he became the editor of the monthly journal, The Prospect – which was financed by Princeton University alumni. The journal would become controversial under D’Souza’s tutelage as it criticised, among other things, the University’s affirmative action policies.
Between 1985 and 1987, D’Souza worked as a contributing editor for Policy Review, a journal published by the Heritage Foundation. In an article entitled, The Bishops as Pawns, D’Souza opined that Catholic bishops were being used as pawns by the American left in an attempt to manipulate the public into opposing the use of American power abroad and the build-up of the US military.
D’Souza was made a national fellow at the Hoover Institute from 1998 to 2000 where had expertise in affirmative action, American cultural and principles, civil rights, education, political sociology, and American culture and values.
In 2010, D’Souza was made the President of The King’s College in New York. That same year he published The Roots of Obama’s Rage, it was later described as the best book of the year and formed the basis of the 2016 documentary, Obama’s America.
07. DAVID HOROWITZ
David Joel Horowitz (born 1939 in Queens, New York) is a conservative writer and intellectual. He graduated from Columbia University in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and subsequently earnt a master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He is married with four children.
Horowitz is the founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, the founder of Students for Academic Freedom – an organisation dedicated to battling left-wing indoctrination and political correctness in higher education, the director of Discover the Networks – a website that keeps track of the connections between various left-wing groups and individuals, and the editor of FrontPage Magazine.
06. DOUGLAS MURRAY
Douglas Kear Murray (born 1979 in London, England) is a journalist, political commentator, and the author of five books, including: Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas (2000), Neoconservatism: Why We Need It (2005), Bloody Sunday: Truth, Lies, and the Saville Inquiry (2011), Islamophobia: A Very Metropolitan Malady (2013)), and The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam (2017). Murray is the associate editor of The Spectator.
As a journalist, Murray has written form Standpoint, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian on a wide variety of topics, including UK and US foreign policy, the Middle East (specifically Iran and Israel), national security, national defence, multiculturalism, Northern Ireland, Islam, domestic radicalisation, and terrorism. He has appeared on the BBC, Al-Jazeera, Question Time, News Night, Fox News, and Sky News. He is also a frequent debater at both the Oxford Union and the Cambridge Union.
Murray is the founder of the Centre for Social Cohesion, and is the associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. He has described multiculturalism as “the idea that Governments should bend over backwards to accommodate migrants”, dismisses the term ‘Islamophobia’, and has warned of a “creed of Islamic fascism – a malignant fundamentalism, woken from the dark ages to assault us now.”
05. MARK STEYN
Mark Steyn (born 1959 in Toronto, Canada) is a journalist, political commentator, author, and human right’s campaigner who has been described by the Boston Phoenix as “the most toxic right-wing pundit you’ve ever heard.”
Steyn is the author of three books: America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It (2006), After America: Get Ready for Armageddon (2011), and Climate Change: The Facts (2015. As a journalist, Steyn publishes his ‘Steynposts’ – his commentary on current affairs – Monday through Friday. He has been published in The Daily Telegraph, National Post, The Australian, The Irish Times, The Jerusalem Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.
Steyn hosted The Mark Steyn Show for two months before it was cancelled. He has been a regular guest on the Rush Limbaugh Program, The Sean Hannity Show, The John Oakley Show, and is a frequent guest-host on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
As a human right’s campaigner, Steyn is committed the protection of free speech and has been instrumental in the repeal of Canada’s section thirteen hate speech laws. He has spoken to the Canadian parliament, Australian parliament (where he was introduced by Julia Bishop), and the Danish parliament. He is married with three children.
04. ANDREW BREITBART
Andrew Breitbart (1969 – 2012) was a writer, columnist, journalist, and publisher. He began his career working for The Huffington Post, and as an editor for Drudge Report.
Many commentators have credited Breitbart changing the way people wrote about politics. He founded Breitbart in 2005, followed by Big Government, Big Hollywood, and Big Journalism.
Breitbart’s online campaigns made him a hero of the right. Breitbart was famous for using undercover videos to illustrate his point. He played a central role in the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy, was central to the firing of the Georgian State Director of Rural Development, Shirley Sherrod (1948 – ), and was instrumental in the downfall of the Democratic congressman, Anthony Weiner (1964 – ). He left behind four children.
03. PETER HITCHENS
Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 1951 in Silema, Malta) is a journalist, political commentator, Christian apologist (in stark contrast to his brother, the atheist Christopher Hitchens), and the author of several books: The Abolition of Britain (1999), Monday Morning Blues (2000), A Brief History of Crime (2003), The Broken Compass (2009), The Rage of Against God (2010), The War We Never Fought (2012), and Short Breaks in Mordor (2014).
Hitchens served as a foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has worked as a reporter on education and industrial and labour affairs, then as a political reporter, and finally as deputy political editor for The Daily Express. He left the Daily Express in 2000 and currently writes for the Mail on Sunday. Hitchens was awarded the Orwell Prize in 2010.
Hitchens is a proud Christian and a social conservative who has described himself as an Anglican, social democrat, and Burkean Conservative. He has been critical of both the Labour Party and the Conservative party, is a supporter of traditional, Christian morals, and advocates a society ruled by personal conscience and the rule of law. He is married with three children.
02. MILO YIANNOPOULOS
Milo Yiannopoulos (born 1984 in Kent, England) is a journalist, author, political commentator, public speaker, and publisher. After failing to gain a degree from either the University of Manchester of Cambridge University, Yiannopoulos began his career in journalism when he gained a position at The Catholic Herald.
Yiannopoulos first came to prominence reporting on the Gamergate controversy. He fought against the politicisation of video games and described those who wished to politicise video game culture as “sociopathic feminist programmers and campaigners, abetted by achingly politically correct American tech bloggers.”
Yiannopoulos has been described as a cross between a pit-bull and Oscar Wilde. A vehement anti-feminist and critic of Islam, he holds no punches when it comes to attacking and ridiculing his opponents. All are targets for his ire and ridicule.
Yiannopoulos has been described by his enemies as a white supremacist and a member of the alt-right. Labels that he rejects. In reality, he is a contrarian, a fly in the ointment that has made name for itself as a professional troll and talented provocateur.
01. BEN SHAPIRO
Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born 1984 in Los Angeles, California) is a political commentator, columnist, the co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Truth Revolt, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, and a New York Times best-selling author. Among the books he has written have been: Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth (2004), Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism is Corrupting Our Future (2005), Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (2008), Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV (2011), Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America (2013), The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against the Obama Administration (2014), A Moral Universe Torn Apart (2014), What’s Fair and Other Short Stories (2015), and True Allegiance (2016).
Shapiro began his career writing for The Daily Bruin, the student paper of the University of California at Los Angeles. He was suspended from The Daily Bruin after he complained on radio talk shows that the paper had refused to publish an article he had written accusing Muslim student groups of supporting terrorism. By the time he was seventeen, Shapiro had become the youngest nationally syndicated journalist (he was so young, in fact, that his parents had to sign his contract on his behalf).
Ben “facts don’t care about your feelings” Shapiro has become one of the most prominent voices of the millennial conservative movement. Holding no punches, Shapiro possesses a remarkable ability to demolish left-wing arguments with a lawyer’s precision and debater’s skill. He is a pro-life, anti-Black Lives Matter, and supports reductions in taxes on the rich, the privatisation of social security, and the repeal of Obamacare.
Shapiro is a frequent speaker on US college campuses and is a regular commentator on television and radio, including The O’Reilly Factor, The Lars Larson Show, Fox and Friends, The Dennis Prager Show, and more. Shapiro’s daily podcast, The Ben Shapiro Show was named the second-most popular I-Tunes podcast in the US after Oprah Winfrey. It is available on I-Tunes.
Ben Shapiro holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California at Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor from Harvard University. He is an Orthodox Jew and is married with two children.
Free Speech Matters
There has been an alarming trend in modern culture: numerous political and social activist groups have been attempting to use the pernicious and false doctrines of political correctness, tolerance, and diversity to silence those they disagree with. Many of these groups have sought the passage of so-called “hate speech” laws designed to silence voices of dissent.
At public colleges and universities, places where free speech and open debate should be actively encouraged, measures – including protests, disruption, and, in some cases, outright violence – taken to suppress voices of dissent has become tantamount to Government censorship. This censorship prevents students from inviting the speakers they wish to hear and debate speech they disagree with. Eva Fourakis, the editor-in-chief of The Williams Record (the student newspaper of Williams College) wrote an editorial, later recanted, commenting that “some speech is too harmful to invite to campus.” The editorial went on to say: “students should not face restrictions in terms of the speakers they bring to campus, provided of course that these speakers do not participate in legally recognised forms of hate speech.”
The University of California, Berkeley, is famous for sparking the free speech movement of the 1960s. Today, however, it has become a haven for radical, anti-free speech Neo-Marxists and social justice warriors. Not only have many Republican students had their personal property destroyed, but numerous conservative speakers have had their talks disturbed, and, in some cases, halted altogether. In February, Antifa – so-called anti-fascists – set fires and vandalised building during a speech by the controversial journalist, Milo Yiannopoulos (1984 – ). In April, threats of violence aimed at members of the Young Americas Foundation forced political commentator, Ann Coulter (1961 – ), to cancel her speech. A speech by David Horowitz (1939 – ), founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, was cancelled after organisers discovered that the event would take place during normal class times (for safety, or so they claimed). Finally, the conservative journalist, Ben Shapiro (1984 – ), was forced to spend US$600,000 on security for his speech at UC Berkeley. These events show that those who wish to use disruption, vilification, threats, and outright violence to silence others can be, and often are, successful in doing so.
Like most the principles of classical liberalism, free speech developed through centuries of political, legal, and philosophical progress. And like many Western ideas, its development can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks. During his trial in Athens in 399BC, Socrates (470BC – 399BC) expressed the belief that the ability to speak was man’s most divine gift. “If you offered to let me off this time on condition I am not any longer to speak my mind”, Socrates stated, “I should say to you, ‘Men of Athens, I shall obey the Gods rather than you.”
Sixteen hundred years later, in 1215, the Magna Carta became the founding document of English liberty. In 1516, Desiderius Erasmus (1466 – 1536) wrote in the Education of a Christian Prince that “in a free state, tongues too should be free.” In 1633, the astronomist Galileo Galilei was put on trial by the Catholic Church for refusing to retract his claim of a heliocentric solar system. In 1644, the poet, John Milton (1608 – 1674), author of Paradise Lost, warned in Areopagictica that “he who destroys a good book kills reason itself.” Following the usurpation of King James II (1633 – 1701) by William III (1650 – 1702) and Mary II (1662 – 1694) in 1688, the English Parliament passed the English Bill of Rights which guaranteed free elections, regular parliaments, and freedom of speech in Parliament.
In 1789, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, an important document of the French revolution, provided for freedom of speech (needless to say, Robespierre and company were not very good at actually promoting this ideal). That same year, the philosopher Voltaire (1694 – 1778) famously wrote: “I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.” Over in the United States, in 1791, the first amendment of the US Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to assemble:
ARTICLE [I] (AMENDMENT 1 – FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGION)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
During the 19th century, the British philosopher, John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873) argued for toleration and individuality in his 1859 essay, On Liberty. “If any opinion is compelled to silence”, Mill warned, “that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to presume our own infallibility.” Mill believed that all doctrines, no matter how immoral or offensive, ought to be given public exposure. He stated in On Liberty:
“If the argument of the present chapter are of any validity, there ought to exist the fullest liberty of professing and discussing, as a matter of ethical conviction, any doctrine, however immoral it may be considered.”
Elsewhere in On Liberty, Mill warned that the suppression of one voice was as immoral as the suppression of all voices:
“If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”
Centuries later, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accepted unilaterally by the United Nations, urged member states to promote civil, human, economic, social, and political rights – including freedom of expression and religion.
Supreme Court
Within the American Justice System, numerous Supreme Court cases have created judicial protections for freedom of speech. In the case of the Nationalist Socialist Party of America v. Village of Stoke (1977), the Supreme Court upheld the right of neo-Nazis to march through a village with a large Jewish population and wear Nazi insignia. The Justices found that the promotion of religious hatred was not a sufficient reason to restrict free speech.
In the city of St. Paul during the early 1990s, a white teenager was arrested under the “Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance” after he burnt a cross made of a broken chair (cross-burning is commonly used by the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate African Americans) in the front yard of an African American family. The Court ruled that the city’s Ordinance was unconstitutional. Justice Antonin Scalia (1936 – 2016), noted that the purpose of restricting fighting words was to prevent civil unrest, not to ban the content or message of the speaker’s words. Scalia wrote in the case of R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992):
“The ordinance applies only to ‘fighting words’ that insult, or provoke violence, ‘on the basis of race, colour, creed, religion or gender.’ Displays containing abusive invective, no matter how vicious or severe, are permissible unless they are addressed to one of the specified disfavored topics. Those who wish to use ‘fighting words’ in connection with other ideas—to express hostility, for example, on the basis of political affiliation, union membership, or homosexuality—are not covered. The First Amendment does not permit St. Paul to impose special prohibitions on those speakers who express views on disfavored subjects.”
In the Matal v. Tam case (2017), the Supreme Court found that a provision within the Lanham Act prohibiting the registration of trademarks that disparaged persons, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols violated the First Amendment. Justice Samuel Alito (1950 – ) opined:
“[The idea that the government may restrict] speech expressing ideas that offend … strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express ‘the thought that we hate’.”
Justice Anthony Kennedy (1936 – ) opined:
“A law found to discriminate based on viewpoint is an “egregious form of content discrimination,” which is “presumptively unconstitutional.” … A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all. The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government’s benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society.”
In recent years, numerous calls to ban speech have been justified on the basis that it is “hateful.” Much of this has come from the political left who (in what one may cynically regard as having more to do with silencing voices of dissent than with protecting vulnerable groups) argue that restrictions on hate speech must occur if minorities are to be given equal status with everyone else.
That certain types of speech can be offensive, and that some of that speech may be aimed at certain groups of people, is undeniable. Hate speech has even been criticised for undermining democracy! In an article, Alexander Tsesis, Professor of Law at Loyola University, wrote: “hate speech is a threatening form of communication that is contrary to democratic principles.” Some have even argued that hate speech violates the fourteenth amendment to the US Constitution which guarantees equal protection under the law:
Article XIV (AMENDMENT 14 – RIGHTS GUARANTEED: PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF CITIZENSHIP, DUE PROCESS, AND EQUAL PROTECTION)
1: All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
That there is a historical basis for restricting hate speech is undeniable. Slavery, Jim Crow, and the Holocaust, among other atrocities, were all proceeded by violent and hateful rhetoric. (Indeed, incitement to genocide is considered a serious war crime and a serious crime against humanity under international law.) Genocide is almost always preceded by hate speech. However, what proponents of hate speech laws fail to realise is that the countries that perpetrated these atrocities did not extend the freedom to speak to the groups that they were targeting. Joseph Goebbels (1897 – 1945), the Nazi minister for public enlightenment and propaganda, for example, had such an iron grip on Germany’s media that any voice contradicting the Nazi’s anti-Semitic propaganda had no opportunity to be heard.
But who, exactly, supports hate speech laws? Analysis of survey data taken from Pew Research Center and YouGov reveals that it is primarily non-white, millennial democrats. In terms of age, the Pew Research Centre found that forty-percent of millennials supported Government censorship of hate speech, compared to twenty-seven percent of gen x-ers, twenty-four percent of baby-boomers, and only twelve percent of the silent generation.
In terms of race, research by YouGov reveals that sixty-two percent of African Americans support Government censorship of hate speech, followed by fifty percent of Hispanics, and thirty-six percent of White Americans.
In terms of political affiliation, research from YouGov taken in 2015 found that fifty-one percent of Democrats supported restrictions on hate speech, compared to thirty-seven percent of Republicans, and only thirty-five percent of independents.
The primary issue with hate speech is that determining what it does and does not constitute is very difficult. (The cynic may argue, fairly, that hate speech begins when the speaker expresses a view or states a fact or expresses an opinion that another person does not want others to hear.) As Christopher Hitchens (1949 – 2011) pointed out, the central problem with hate speech is that someone has to decide what it does and does not constitute.
The second issue with hate speech laws is that they can easily be used by one group to silence another. Often this kind of censorship is aimed at particular groups of individuals purely for ideological and/or political purposes, often with the justification that such actions increase the freedom and equality of the people the advocates claim to represent.
In Canada, Bill C-16 has sought to outlaw “hate propaganda” aimed at members of the community distinguishable by their gender identity or expression. The Bill originated with a policy paper by the Ontario Human Rights Commission which sought to determine what constituted discrimination against gender identity and expression. This included “refusing to refer to a person by their self-identified name and proper personal pronoun.” Supporters of Bill C-16 see it as an important step towards the creation of legal protections for historically marginalised groups. Detractors, however, have expressed concern that the Bill creates a precedence for Government mandated speech.
The Canadian clinical psychologist and cultural critic, Professor Jordan Peterson (1962 – ), first came to public attention when he posted a series of YouTube videos warning of the dangers of political correctness and criticising Bill C-16. In his videos, Professor Peterson warned that the law could be used to police speech and compel individuals to use ‘transgender pronouns’ (these are terms like ‘ze’ and ‘zer’, among others). For his trouble, Peterson has been accused of violence by a fellow panellist on the Agenda with Steve Palkin, received two warning letters from the University of Toronto in 2016, and was denied a social research grant from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
A Nazi torch-light rally.
Europe has been experiencing similar attempts to silence speech. A law passed in the Bundestag this year will force social media companies operating in Germany to delete racist or slanderous comments and posts within twenty-four hours or face a fine of up to €50 million if they fail to do so. Additionally, numerous public figures have found themselves charged with hate speech crimes for merely pointing out the relationship between the large influx of non-European migrants and high crime rates, particularly in terms of rape and terrorism. One politician in Sweden was prosecuted for daring to post immigrant crime statistics on Facebook.
In Great Britain, British Freedom of Information documents reveal that around twenty-thousand adults and two-thousand children had been investigated by the police for comments that made online. In politics, British MP, Paul Weston (1965 – ), found himself arrested after he quoted a passage on Islam written by Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965). In Scotland, a man was charged under the 2003 Communication’s Act with the improper use of electronic communications after he filmed his dog making a Hitler salute.
In Australia, Herald Sun columnist, Andrew Bolt (1959 – ), was found to have contravened section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act after he published articles accusing fair-skinned Aborigines of using their racial status for personal advantages. The law firm, Holding Redlich, speaking for a group of Aboriginal persons, demanded that the Herald Sun retract two Andrew Bolt articles, written in April and August of 2009, and restrain Bolt from writing similar articles in the future. Joel Zyngier, who acted for the group pro-bono, told Melbourne’s The Age:
“We see it as clarifying the issue of identity—who gets to say who is and who is not Aboriginal. Essentially, the articles by Bolt have challenged people’s identity. He’s basically arguing that the people he identified are white people pretending they’re black so they can access public benefits.”
Judge Morcedai Bromberg (1959 – ) found that the people targeted by Bolt’s articles were reasonably likely to have been “offended, insulted, humiliated, or intimidated.”
We need speech to be as free as possible because it is that which allows us to exchange and critique information. It through free speech that we are able to keep our politicians and public officials in check, that we are able to critique public policy, and that we are able to disseminate information. As the Canadian cognitive psychologist, Stephen Pinker (1954 – ), observed: “free speech is the only way to acquire knowledge about the world.” Measures taken to restrict free speech, whether it be the criminalization of hate speech or any other, is a complete contradiction of the principles that free Western democracies are founded upon.
WHITE HOUSE RELEASES REVISES TRAVEL BAN
President Trump has issued another executive order to extend and broaden the travel band that expired on Sunday.
The new travel ban will be more impervious to challenges from the Supreme Court, and will require foreign governments to improve their identity management, issue more secure passports, identify serious criminals, and provide information on known or suspected terrorists.
The new travel makes changes to the immigration policy the US has with different countries. The travel ban on Sudan has been lifted. North Korea, Chad, and Venezuela have been added to the list of banned countries (although this ban only extends to North Korean and Venezuelan government officials). Libya, Somalia, Iran, Syria, and Yemen will remain.
The White House has stated that the new travel ban has created a new “baseline for information sharing to support visa and immigration vetting determinations.” President Trump stated:
“Following an extensive review by the Department of Homeland Security, we are taking action today to protect the safety and security of the American people by establishing a minimum security baseline for entry into the United States. We cannot afford to continue the failed policies of the past, which present an unacceptable danger to our country. My highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and in issuing this new travel order, I am fulfilling that sacred obligation.”
TERRORIST ATTACK IN LONDON
Terrorists have detonated a bomb on the eastbound district line train at the Parsons Green Tube in West London.
Eyewitnesses reported hearing loud bangs coming from a bucket, possibly an improvised explosive device, located towards the rear of the train around 8am, British time. One eyewitness told Sky News that they reported seeing a “white builder’s bucket” with a “foiled carrier back” (possibly a Lidl supermarket carrier bag). This bucket has also been described as having “wires hanging from it and a strong smell of chemicals… a chemical smell more than a burning smell.”
One witness told BBC 5:
“I heard a really loud explosion – when I looked back there appeared to be a bag but I don’t know if it’s associated with it. I saw people with minor injuries, burnings to the face, arms, legs, multiple casualties in that way. People were helping each other.”
Another witness said:
“There were a lot of people limping and covered in blood. One guy I saw, his face was covered in blood – I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Police and ambulances were on the scene within minutes of the blast. The explosion and subsequent stampede caused injuries to twenty-two people. Fortunately, no one has been killed and none of the injuries have been described as life-threatening or critical.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack through their Amaq News Agency on Friday evening. British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has raised the UK’s terror threat level from severe to critical.
British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has raised the UK’s terror threat level from severe to critical. May offered her thoughts to “those injured Parsons Green emergency services who are responding bravely to this terrorist incident.” Scotland Yard, meanwhile, has confirmed that they are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
Over in the US, the Trump administration stated that President Trump’s:
“Sympathies and prayers for those injured in the terrorist attack today in London. The president pledged to continue close collaboration with the United Kingdom to stop attacks worldwide targeting innocent civilians and to combat extremism.”
President Trump stated in a speech at Joint Base Andrew that he expressed:
“America’s deepest sympathy as well as our absolute commitment to eradicating the terrorists from our planet.”
THE PROBLEM WITH MULTICULTURALISM
At a security conference in Germany, the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, condemned multiculturalism as a failure. He stated: “we need less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism.” In a similar statement, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, also condemned the doctrine of multiculturalism. Sarkozy told the French people: “we have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him.” In recent years, the Western nations that have preached multiculturalism and diversity as bastions of peace, tolerance, and diversity – Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States – have been the primary targets of radical Islamic terrorism.
Progressives like to believe multiculturalism and diversity create harmonious and peaceful societies. When, in reality, it creates division. Telling newcomers that they do not have to assimilate into their adopted culture fosters tribalism: Irish form communities with fellow Irish, Muslims form communities with fellow Muslims, Japanese form communities with fellow Japanese, and so forth. As these cultures, especially those lacking the fundamental roots and beliefs of their adopted countries, compete for supremacy, they inevitably conflict with one another. So, whilst Germanic and French cultures may be able to live harmoniously thanks to their shared Christian heritage, the same cultures would not fare as well if they were expected to co-exist with a culture whose central tenants are profoundly different.
Why am I harping on about the inherent faults in multiculturalism and diversity? It is because I believe we have created the greatest culture mankind has ever seen: a culture that has produced Shakespeare, Mozart, Voltaire, Plato, Aristotle, John Locke, freedom and democracy, the television, the I-Phone, the movies, free market capitalism, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Einstein, Newton, Mary Shelley, the Bronte sisters, and more. And I believe it is a culture worth protecting. And how do we protect it? We start by protecting the very things that have made the West so great in the first place: Christianity, an adherence to truth and a deep esteem towards the logos, the supremacy placed on individual rights and liberties, the free-market place of ideas and commerce, Small Governments, and political freedom.
Moral and cultural relativism is being used to tear down and replace the existing social order. When the Mayor of London, Shadiq Khan, is able to state “terror attacks are part and parcel of living in a big city” and young German women are able to hold signs proudly proclaiming “will trade racists for rapists” unopposed, it is clearly time for certain ideas to go away.
GENERAL DUNFORD SPEECH AT 9/11 ANNIVERSARY
General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, made the following address at the Pentagon:
“Mr. President, Mrs. Trump, Secretary Mattis, members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, and most importantly, to the family and friends of the fallen, and to those gathered here who survived the attack on the Pentagon, good morning.
It’s an honour to join you as we pause to reflect [on] all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. At this ceremony, we are particularly mindful of the 184 who died here in the halls of the Pentagon and aboard Flight 77.
16 years ago when terrorists attacked the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and as they attempted other attacks in Washington D.C., they did so with a sense of purpose. They were attacking symbols that reflect our way of life and our values. The terrorists believed that these attacks would shake our commitment to those values, and as President Bush said hours after the attacks, the terrorists thought they could frighten us into chaos and retreat – but they were wrong.
Instead of retreat, the tragedy of 9/11 produced in us an unyielding resolve. Instead of hopelessness, our morning turned into action, and we have strengthened our commitment to the idea that the freedom of many should never be endangered by the hatred of a few.
So this morning, as we recall the events of 911, it’s appropriate for those of us still serving to remember and honour those who died, those who continue suffering from injuries, and those left behind. But if we truly want to honour those remembered today, each of us will walk away from this ceremony with a renewed sense of commitment to our values and the cause of freedom. Each of us will walk away from this simple ceremony reminded that the war is not over, and that further sacrifice will be required; and each of us will walk away with resolve to strengthen our personal commitment to protect our family, friends, and fellow citizens from another 9/11.”
16TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11
President Trump has spoken today at a 9/11 commemoration at the Pentagon on Monday morning.
Sixteen years ago, Islamic terrorists hijacked four aeroplanes and used them to strike fear into the American people. At 8.46am, American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Centre. Seventeen minutes later, American Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the south tower. By 10.30am, both towers had fallen.
At 9.28am, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon and started a violent fire. A final flight, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its passengers attempted to retake control of the aeroplane.
By the end of the day, 2,997 people lay dead.
Speaking at the Pentagon, President Trump stated:
“This is an occasion that is extraordinary and it’ll always be extraordinary. Today our entire nation grieves with you and with every family of those 2,977 innocent souls who were murdered by terrorists 16 years ago. On that day not only did the world change but we all changed. Our eyes were opened to the depths of the evil we faced.”
President Trump continued by praising the American military and vowing to hunt down those who terrorise others:
“In the years after September 11th, more than five million young men and women have joined the ranks of our great military to defend our country against barbaric forces of evil and destruction. American forces are relentlessly pursuing and destroying the enemies of all civilized people, ensuring, and these are horrible, horrible enemies, enemies like we’ve never seen before. But we’re ensuring they never again have a safe haven to launch attacks against our country. We are making plain to these savage killers that there is no dark corner beyond our reach, no sanctuary beyond our grasp, and nowhere to hide anywhere on this very large Earth.”
US TO STAY IN AFGHANISTAN
President Trump has gone back on his campaign promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and has instead decided to commit more troops the war-torn country. The change in policy came after a months-long campaign by members of the National Security Team to convince the President not to withdraw troops from the country.
The President, who was forced to admit that the office of the Presidency has changed his worldview, said in his Afghanistan speech:
“My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts, but all of my life I heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office. So I studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every angle. After many meetings, over many months, we held our final meeting last Friday at Camp David, with my Cabinet and Generals, to complete our strategy. I arrived at three fundamental conclusions about America’s core interests in Afghanistan. Our nation must seek an honourable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made.
The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable… A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists – including ISIS and Al Qaeda – would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11th.
I concluded that the security threats we face in Afghanistan and the broader region are immense.”
A spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan has responded to Trump’s tweet by stating that “Afghanistan will become another graveyard for the superpower.”
Democrats have expressed their concern with Democrat Congressman from Washington, Adam Smith, criticising it as a copy of the Afghanistan policies adopted by President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Smith said in a statement:
“This is not a plan. The President has announced that he is committing to an open-ended war effort in Afghanistan without clearly explaining to the American people or the service members he is sending into harm’s way what he wants and how intends to accomplish his goals. That is inexcusable.”
Similarly, Democratic Senator from Rhodes Island, Jack Reed, the leading Democrat in the Senate Armed Services, has criticised Trump’s policy for being too vague. Reed commented that “the President’s speech was short on the details our troops and the American people deserve.”
President Trump has, however, received support from members of the Republic Party. Republican Congressman for Texas, Mac Thornberry, referred to the policy as a “reasonable way ahead”, whilst John McCain called it a “big step in the right direction.”
UPDATE ON ISLAMIC TERROR AROUND THE WORLD
SPAIN
A pro-ISIS media outlet has warned Spanish unbelievers that terror cells remained in the country and that jihad “has not been fought and gone.”
PAKISTAN
US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has put Pakistan “on notice“, informing them they will lose their status as an American ally if they don’t stop harbouring terrorists. Tillerson told reporters at the State Department:
“We are going to be engaging with them in a very serious and thorough way as to our expectations and the conditions that go with that.”
Tillerson also didn’t rule out US air strikes on the nation:
“We are going to attack terrorists wherever they live. And we have put people on notice that if you are harbouring or providing safe haven to terrorists, be warned, be forewarned.”
JIHAD WATCH
Pay Pal has prevented Jihad Watch director, Robert Spencer (not to be confused with the white nationalist Richard Spencer) from accepting online donations through their service. The organisation has been deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center due to its “extreme hostility towards Muslims.” Ironic considering Islamic extremists have been known to murder those who don’t agree with their religious and political views, persecute non-Muslims who fall under their control, revile non-believers, pillage, and engage in mass rape and sexual slavery.
