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The ayatollahs have found their accomplices in western liberals

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Julian

未讀,
2022年8月13日 晚上7:22:452022/8/13
收件者:
We blame the Rushdie attack on Muslim fanatics, but we shouldn’t ignore
our own complicity


Yesterday morning, it was reported that Salman Rushdie — who had been
attacked at a literary event on free speech in America— was unable to
speak. Many fanatical Muslims will take this as a sign from God. This,
after all, was their intention: to censor those who criticise their
religion. The assailant kept trying to attack Rushdie even after he was
restrained, according to witnesses. “It took like five men to pull him
away and he was still stabbing,” one said.

A fatwa was imposed on Rushdie after the publication of The Satanic
Verses, a beautifully written novel that was, in my view, tame in its
supposed mockery of Islam. To Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, however, the
book was blasphemous. After a bounty was put on his head, Rushdie lived
under British protection while his book was burnt on the streets and
craven politicians such as the former Labour MP Keith Vaz spoke out in
protest. Cat Stevens — the singer now known as Yusuf — said in a speech
to students in London that said “he must be killed”, although he later
claimed he had not called for Rushdie’s death.

Yet while Rushdie survived this hostility, others did not. Hitoshi
Igarashi, his Japanese translator, was stabbed to death. Ettore
Capriolo, his Italian translator, was also stabbed, and William Nygaard,
his Norwegian publisher, was shot and critically injured. Mustafa
Mahmoud Mazeh perished while preparing explosives designed to kill the
British novelist. A shrine in Tehran for Mazeh says: “The first martyr
to die on a mission to kill Salman Rushdie.”

But while we look at all this with anger, while we condemn the religious
fundamentalists, while we pray for Rushdie himself, let us also
acknowledge something closer to home. Many of the comments on the
Rushdie affair over the past 24 hours have pointed out that for many
years he has been living quite freely, that the fatwa had been revoked
by Iran (although the bounty remains) and that society has moved on from
the dark days of book-burning, even if lone attackers remain a threat.

I would suggest that this is delusional, a fantasy conjured up by
western liberals to distract from a more sinister truth: over 30 years
they have worked as the de facto accomplices of the ayatollah, assisting
in the task of dismantling free speech, sending fear through those who
dare to criticise or ridicule religion or anything else. Rushdie, in
this sense, is not — and never was — a historical affair but a live
scandal running through the veins of British life, not to mention other
western societies.

As I read about the attack on Rushdie, my mind turned to Louis Smith,
another high-profile Briton from an ethnic minority; a gymnast who won
three Olympic medals before going on to a TV career. A few years ago, he
and his friend Luke Carson, a fellow gymnast, were frolicking around,
singing (as they often did together) when Carson lay down on a mat and
shouted “Allahu akbar” while Smith laughed. It was a bit of a giggle,
nothing nasty, scarcely satirical. But the video, as you have probably
guessed, leaked.

In the following days, liberal commentators were united in outrage. None
saw this as two kids harmlessly mocking religion. None saw it as a
trivial episode of ridicule of the kind that has always existed in
liberal societies. None stated that no citizen, religious or otherwise,
has a right or even a reasonable expectation to not be offended.
Instead, they called for Smith to be banned — and he was, for two
months, by British Gymnastics. He was accused of Islamophobia, racism,
you name it. He appeared to have broken a chilling clause in UK Sport’s
athlete’s contract: “Athletes may be ineligible for funding if they are
derogatory about a person’s disability, gender, pregnancy or maternity,
race, sexuality, marital status, beliefs or age.” I was astonished when
I read this clause for it didn’t just prohibit mockery of protected
characteristics, but all beliefs, of whatever kind. It meant that
British athletes were prohibited from criticising Scientology, astrology
or even Nazism. Under such a decree, Billie Jean King would have been
banned in five minutes flat and Muhammad Ali even quicker. This wasn’t a
contract; it was a gagging order. And yet this was the clause that UK
Sport deemed necessary to “protect” its reputation

But this isn’t the half of it. I interviewed Smith a few months later,
and he still looked shell-shocked. Death threats had started almost
immediately: “We are going to find you, and kill you.” “You are going to
get it.” One posted a video on social media: “I am going to splash acid
in your face.” Scarcely any of this was reported in the media. In the
week of our interview, he had received the message: “We are going to
cave your face in.” Smith was forced to take out 24-hour protection, a
hired heavy at his side at all times, even while he slept.

Yet the truly chilling aspect of this affair — which also went largely
unreported — is that Smith couldn’t earn a living after his “crime”.
Sponsors and broadcasters turned their backs on him. Progressives didn’t
want to know. His income vanished and he struggled to pay his mortgage.
To be clear: this punishment beating was perpetrated on Smith not by
fanatics, not by knife-wielding fundamentalists, but the monolithic
liberal ideology that will not tolerate opinions (or even jokes) that
breach their antiliberal creed.

It was the same creed that defended those who hounded into hiding a
teacher at a school in Batley, West Yorkshire, last year for showing his
class a religious cartoon. It is the same creed that equates criticism
of the myriad excesses of the Muslim Brotherhood with Islamophobia. And
it is the same creed, to broaden the perspective, that connives in the
cancellation and intimidation of anyone who engages in wrongthink on
trans rights, climate change or the demolition of statues.

I pray — metaphorically — for Rushdie. He is a great and courageous
Briton. But I also pray for the West. We like to think we have free
speech but we lack even its pale imitation. Smith found work again only
by issuing abject, almost pitiful apologies, bending the knee to liberal
dogma, just as Galileo once prostrated himself before the Inquisition.
Is it any wonder that myriad surveys reveal that people throughout the
West desist from speaking out on sensitive issues, out of fear of the
consequences?

This is the destination at which the liberal world has arrived — through
stealth and increment, through a million little retreats, through the
acquiescence of those who should know better. For initially noble
motives related to the fear of giving offence to minority groups, we
have committed the most grievous offence on our way of life. “I
disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to
say it” was the view attributed to Voltaire by his most famous
biographer. We must resurrect its spirit, reclaim its beauty. For today,
with Rushdie hooked up to a ventilator, we continue to sleepwalk towards
disaster.

Matthew Syed

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月14日 上午11:11:462022/8/14
收件者:
On 8/13/2022 7:22 PM, Julian wrote:
>
> Yet the truly chilling aspect of this affair — which also went largely
> unreported — is that Smith couldn’t earn a living after his “crime”.
> Sponsors and broadcasters turned their backs on him. Progressives didn’t
> want to know. His income vanished and he struggled to pay his mortgage.
> To be clear: this punishment beating was perpetrated on Smith not by
> fanatics, not by knife-wielding fundamentalists, but the monolithic
> liberal ideology that will not tolerate opinions (or even jokes) that
> breach their antiliberal creed.


"Anarcho-Tyranny" describes a society that is simultaneously defined by
chaos and by repression. The result is that government swells in power,
criminals are not controlled, and law-abiding citizens wind up being
repressed by the state and attacked by thugs.

While the government functions normally, violent crime remains a
constant, creating a climate of fear. Laws that are supposed to protect
ordinary citizens against ordinary criminals routinely go unenforced,
even though the state is perfectly capable of doing so. While this
problem rages on, government elites concentrate their interests on
law-abiding citizens.

https://westernman.org/anarcho-tyranny

Anarcho-tyranny is not a political ‘system’ like ‘anarcho-capitalism’ or
‘anarcho-syndicalism’. The anarchical element is not itself anarchist.
Rather, this element refers to the space made available for lawless
destruction, harassment, and violence.

Anarcho-tryanny is better understood, or defined, as a method of
oppression in which a political regime facilitates civil disorder, and
uses social and state power to pathologize or criminalize any
independent resistance to that disorder in order to terrorize its
political enemies and to manipulate the rest into supporting the regime
and its political goals.

https://im1776.com/2022/03/18/anarcho-tyranny/

In essence, the regime uses disorder to repress its political opponents
and uses state power to protect selected useful perpetrators of violence
in order to crush any resistance to their rule. This oppression serves
the regime’s political and social goals. Disorder is a feature, not a
bug, of the system.

Sanford Manley

未讀,
2022年8月15日 清晨7:10:332022/8/15
收件者:
In the Gulag, criminals were treated MUCH better than
political prisoners as they were not seen as a threat
to the state. In Russia, the regime is not just the
state, it is the criminal element writ large in partnership.

People are talking about getting rid of the FBI... well,
good luck with that because there has to be a federal
law enforcement arm. REFORM of the FBI is another matter...


--
The AnsaMan
Pod Brother and
Evil Right-Wing Militarist

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午8:07:182022/8/15
收件者:
You don't have to go back to the Soviet system for examples. Our
current government right here can give you plenty. The riots of 2020
which were *encouraged* by politicians for instance.

As to the FBI, it was created to investigate organized crime during
prohibition. What the FBI does could be handled by any of the other
seven or eight law enforcement agencies in the Federal leviathan.

The FBI has repeatedly shown itself to be a puppet of political forces.
It needs to be shut down.

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午8:12:262022/8/15
收件者:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2022 07:10:30 -0400, Sanford Manley <ans...@gmail.com>
wrote:
You didn't read the book.

>political prisoners as they were not seen as a threat
>to the state. In Russia, the regime is not just the
>state, it is the criminal element writ large in partnership.
>
>People are talking about getting rid of the FBI... well,
>good luck with that because there has to be a federal
>law enforcement arm. REFORM of the FBI is another matter...

Yes indeed.
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午9:32:302022/8/15
收件者:
And if this agency assigned the old fbi duties, continued to
investigate himbo, what then? Shut it down too?
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午10:01:442022/8/15
收件者:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2022 09:32:26 -0400, Noah Sombrero <fed...@fea.st>
wrote:
The fbi has attempted to gather evidence, which is the role of all law
enforcement agencies. If they think they have something that might be
convincing, they will send that to the justice department which will
decide if anything should be done about it. The fbi has no power to
do anything beyond that.

If the jd decides to prosecute, what then? Abolish the jd?

And if the agency takes over the role of the jd, decides to prosecute,
what then?

Abolish any agency that dares touch your guy?
--
Noah Sombrero

Sanford Manley

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午10:06:362022/8/15
收件者:
On 8/15/2022 8:07 AM, Wilson wrote:
>
> You don't have to go back to the Soviet system for examples.  Our
> current government right here can give you plenty.  The riots of 2020
> which were *encouraged* by politicians for instance.
>
> As to the FBI, it was created to investigate organized crime during
> prohibition.  What the FBI does could be handled by any of the other
> seven or eight law enforcement agencies in the Federal leviathan.
>
> The FBI has repeatedly shown itself to be a puppet of political forces.
>  It needs to be shut down.

What you are proposing is to fragment domestic federal law enforcement
which will result in competition between agencies, non-cooperation,
slovenly information sharing, and in-fighting about who gets to do
what. After CIA abuses, we gutted a large portion of cooperation
and that resulted in 9-11 and other attacks flying under the wire.

For all of its abuses, the FBI has been very effective in infiltrating
and monitoring actual domestic and international terrorist threats. I
concede that there have been strong political forces within the agency.
Reform and oversight is the better course at least for now.

Sanford Manley

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午10:07:212022/8/15
收件者:
For once, you make a good point.

Sanford Manley

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午10:07:572022/8/15
收件者:
Yes, I did. The whole thing.

>
>> political prisoners as they were not seen as a threat
>> to the state. In Russia, the regime is not just the
>> state, it is the criminal element writ large in partnership.
>>
>> People are talking about getting rid of the FBI... well,
>> good luck with that because there has to be a federal
>> law enforcement arm. REFORM of the FBI is another matter...
>
> Yes indeed.


--

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午10:10:132022/8/15
收件者:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2022 10:07:19 -0400, Sanford Manley <ans...@gmail.com>
wrote:
You are so kind.
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午10:13:542022/8/15
收件者:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2022 10:07:56 -0400, Sanford Manley <ans...@gmail.com>
I thought it was pretty grim. More like a pow operation than a prison
system.

>>
>>> political prisoners as they were not seen as a threat
>>> to the state.

But perhaps the thought was it was better for those people to die than
anything else, which huge numbers of them did.

>In Russia, the regime is not just the
>>> state, it is the criminal element writ large in partnership.
>>>
>>> People are talking about getting rid of the FBI... well,
>>> good luck with that because there has to be a federal
>>> law enforcement arm. REFORM of the FBI is another matter...
>>
>> Yes indeed.
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 上午10:34:562022/8/15
收件者:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2022 08:07:15 -0400, Wilson <Wil...@nowhere.net> wrote:

I do agree that the hilly email thing was a little too political. And
I don't find the reasons given for announcing an investigation days
before the election especially convincing.

Regardless, I don't think the us would be better off without the fbi.
Any bureau you replace it with would be equally as human infested with
equal human faults.

In other words, simply because my guy got smacked or your guy got
smacked is not enough for either of us to demand dismantling the
organization.
--
Noah Sombrero

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 中午12:22:252022/8/15
收件者:
On 8/15/2022 9:32 AM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
Banana Republic Biden says yes!

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 中午12:24:032022/8/15
收件者:
Fishing expeditions! Fishing expeditions from now unto eternity! Until
we find the dirt! That's what we need and that is what we shall get!

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 中午12:30:072022/8/15
收件者:
That's a balanced and reasoned approach.

I say it's too late for that. We need to (metaphorically) nuke it from
orbit, it's the only way to be sure (that the message gets across to the
other agencies).

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 中午12:47:542022/8/15
收件者:
You didn't answer my question.
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 中午12:55:172022/8/15
收件者:
There is no reason to assume that this new agency will not also be
staffed by fallible humans, and might very well be interested in
seeing exactly what was going on with himbo.

The other message that needs to get out there is nobody is above the
law, not even himbo.

The standard that all public servants, from public accountants to
presidents must meet, is that there must not even be an appearance of
wrongdoing, whether there actually is or not. It does get hard to
enforce that with presidents though.

So if there is some appearance of wrongdoing, that appearance invites
investigation, at the very least. Even of himbo. As long as your new
agency is tasked with law enforcement, they are very likely to take
that view.
--
Noah Sombrero

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午2:49:472022/8/15
收件者:
Then we nuke them too. (Metaphorically!)

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午2:59:122022/8/15
收件者:
This new dispensation is a dictatorship then?
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午3:13:022022/8/15
收件者:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2022 14:59:11 -0400, Noah Sombrero <fed...@fea.st>
And the message you send is simply that your guy must not be
challenged? Glory to the new species of fault free humans?
--
Noah Sombrero

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午3:15:572022/8/15
收件者:
Hitler is hiding under your bed!

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午4:01:392022/8/15
收件者:
You answered ansa's reasoned approach with fantasy.

>>>> There is no reason to assume that this new agency will not also be
>>>> staffed by fallible humans, and might very well be interested in
>>>> seeing exactly what was going on with himbo.
>>>
>>> Then we nuke them too. (Metaphorically!)
>>
>> This new dispensation is a dictatorship then?
>
>Hitler is hiding under your bed!

Better check his driver's license. He doesn't look like hitler to me.
But he is a monster, alright.
--
Noah Sombrero

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午4:14:012022/8/15
收件者:

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午4:18:102022/8/15
收件者:
Hard to tell if you've been taken for a fool. Yes, you demonstrate
that every day here.
--
Noah Sombrero

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午4:50:062022/8/15
收件者:
If you watched and actually listened to what he's saying you'd realize
this isn't about Trump at all.

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 下午6:20:252022/8/15
收件者:
Yes, we know that. It is about the people who could actually vote for
him. They are not going away. So what to do?

In any case, we were talking about himbo and whether he should be
investigated, and if the fbi were out of line to do that.
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月15日 晚上7:15:432022/8/15
收件者:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2022 18:20:22 -0400, Noah Sombrero <fed...@fea.st>
For you, it goes deeper into deep state conspiracies and your dream of
a new order. No thanks, I contributed at the office.
--
Noah Sombrero

Sanford Manley

未讀,
2022年8月15日 晚上11:43:282022/8/15
收件者:
In the meantime, the Chinese can nuke us from orbit with
their X-37B clone, speaking of nuking from orbit.

Sanford Manley

未讀,
2022年8月15日 晚上11:49:072022/8/15
收件者:
The WEF is NOT our friend.

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月16日 清晨7:53:192022/8/16
收件者:
YOU were talking about Trump.

That video I posted above, which you didn't watch.

It might do you a world of good.

Wilson

未讀,
2022年8月16日 清晨7:56:032022/8/16
收件者:
That bullshit right there is not going to fly any more.


Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月16日 上午10:18:272022/8/16
收件者:
To myself apparently. You were responding and it did seem to me that
you were thinking that himbo was unfairly targeted. Shades of
gestapo, etc. But I must have been dreaming.

>That video I posted above, which you didn't watch.
>
>It might do you a world of good.

As love says, I have seen too much of that stuff already.
--
Noah Sombrero

Noah Sombrero

未讀,
2022年8月16日 上午10:19:292022/8/16
收件者:
Ha. But yours does? No, no.
--
Noah Sombrero
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