Robert Spencer
By now you probably have read all the details concerning the terrorist attack in Oslo, Norway. This attack has shined a spotlight on the demonization of Muslims at the hands of anti-Muslim bloggers we have profiled on this site. For example, the NY Times published a devastating expose of the shooter’s ideological ties to Robert Spencer. The evidence is so damning that Spencer is in a panicked state of damage control. So his friends at Frontpage Magazine have jumped to defend his Islamophobic enterprise, an apologia worthy of a detailed response from Loonwatch.
The article begins with some whining about how poor Spencer is the victim of the lamestream media:
No tragedy goes long without exploitation, and the atrocities in Norway are no exception to that rule.
Spencer spends his days exploiting bad news about Muslims, but when the news reflects poorly on him and he is criticized, it suddenly becomes exploitation?
Is silencing researchers who have put years of effort into exposing networks of radicals the right response to a terrorist attack? No reasonable person would think so. But that is exactly what media outlets like the New York Times and the Atlantic are trying to do.
Who is silencing Robert Spencer? Has his website been shut down? Is he prevented from publishing more books? Rest assured that Spencer’s first amendment rights are intact. The problem here is that Frontpage is cynically playing victim; they cannot distinguish between being fairly criticized and actually being denied rights.
Now let’s turn to the voluminous citations from Spencer found in the Shooter’s manifesto:
The “64 times” cited by the Times and its imitators reflects lazy research since the majority of those quotes actually come from a single document, where Spencer is quoted side by side with Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice.
See, Spencer was only cited 64 times making the argument (unlike Blair and Rice) that terrorism is an essential aspect of mainstream Islam.
Quite often, Robert Spencer is quoted providing historical background on Islam and quotes from the Koran and the Hadith. So, it’s actually Fjordman quoting Spencer quoting the Koran. If the media insists that Fjordman is an extremist and Spencer is an extremist — then isn’t the Koran also extremist? And if the Koran isn’t extremist, then how could quoting it be extremist?
Actually, it’s Fjordman quoting Spencer quoting the Quran (out of context) and explaining that good Muslims are terrorist killers. Why shouldn’t he defend Western civilization from Muslims?
The New York Times would have you believe that secondhand quotes like these from Spencer turned Breivik into a raging madman… The complete absence of quotes in which Robert Spencer calls for anyone to commit acts of terrorism reveals just how empty the media’s case against him is.
See, Spencer is just arguing that good Muslims are terrorists, that Islam is pure evil, and that Muslim immigration, aided by liberals, is destroying Western civilization. He supposedly never* actually calls for outright violence, but he has no problem with people who post violent comments on his website.
If we follow Spencer’s logic, it can be easy to conclude that violence is needed to stem the Hottentot Mongol tide of immigration. This argument ignores the fact that demonization leads to violence:
“When you push the demonization of populations, you often end up with violence,” said Heidi Beirich, research director for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
But the shooter didn’t kill Muslims, so Islamophobia cannot be involved, right?
And even this is irrelevant because Breivik did not carry out violence against Muslims… If Breivik was motivated by Islamophobia, then why did he not attempt to kill Muslims? Why did he not open fire inside a mosque?
This point is refuted by Alex Pareene at Salon:
Opposition to Islam was the killer’s stated motivation. He targeted other white Scandinavians because he considered them race traitors. He wrote all of this down, too, so we don’t even have to make guesses about it! He blamed liberals for enabling jihad by supporting “multiculturalism.”
Just because he didn’t directly attack Muslims does not mean Islamophobia had nothing to do with this attack. In fact, it had everything to do with the attack. But there is one last straw for Spencerites to grasp at:
Not only did Breivik not target Muslims, but he considered collaborating with Muslim terrorists… “An alliance with the Jihadists might prove beneficial to both parties,” Breivik wrote. “We both share one common goal.”
Interesting, Breivik and the Islamophobic ideology he shares with Spencer do indeed share one common goal with jihadists. They both want a homogenous society that doesn’t tolerate the Other. They both want to incite religious/nationalist war. They both want to increase Islamophobia; Spencer because it is his source of income, and jihadists because it is good recruiting propaganda. So, it is not a surprise to us that extremists share common goals but for vastly different reasons. We’ve known for some time that Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists reinforce one another.
In sum, Spencer and Frontpage want free reign to demonize Muslims and peddle baseless sharia conspiracy theories, but they cry foul when they get criticized in public. They suddenly demand the nuance that they have so far happily denied to Muslims as a whole.
*Admin Note: Spencer has subtly and overtly endorsed violence or a violent posture against Muslim citizens and their “liberal enablers” in the West. Just in January, in a piece titled “Digging Graves for the Next World War,” Roland Shirk a contributor at JW wrote,
The strings that knit together peaceful coexistence among communities are straining under the pressure of millions of resident aliens who should never have been admitted, who can only be tolerated when they are as sure as we that compared to us they are helpless. Islam is a religion of fear and force, and its adherents can only be at your feet or at your throat. We had better decide which posture we prefer. The time is short.
Those words are essentially the theme of Breivik’s manifesto, and Spencer approved it. This is on top of the knowledge that Spencer joined a Facebook group that sought as its objective a Reconquista of Anatolia, a holocaust of Turks and a forced conversion of any and all remaining Muslims. Spencer never denied joining the group, only claiming that he was the victim of a “trick.”
July 26th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Frontpage coming to the defense of Robert Spencer is like Jeffrey Dahmer coming to the defense of Ted Bundy. Birds of a feather flock together!
July 26th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
The scales are falling off peoples eyes, and they are beginning to see that Islamophobes only care about the money they make from propagating hate. Geller, Schlussel, Gabriel etc. want people to subscribe to their sites with a paid membership. I mean, when does one see that you cannot be charging people for telling them the ‘truth,’ if you strongly believe in such?
I know they will not tone down their rhetoric. Their incomes depend on it.
July 26th, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Great piece, especially the Roland Shirk quotation.
July 26th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Now we have to Spencers: Spencer pre-22-July and Spencer post-22-July.
He brought that upon himself. He committed character suicide. He now has a scar on his face that he will desperately try to hind during every public appearance. Every time he goes to a debate he has to prepare a response to questions about his relationship to the Norway attacks. He will feel targeted by criticism just like the Muslims he abhors.
Serves him right!
July 26th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
“They plan and God plans, and God is the best of planners.” – the Qur’an.
July 26th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
*Sigh*, this is too absurd. I still wish we could just put all of the extremeists in one country and let them either convert or destroy each other-would be interesting to see
July 26th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Boohoo…poor poor Victimized Spencer! You reap what you sow!
From now on he’s “Norway terrorism-linked Spencer”!
July 26th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
You all have a speech posted somewhere on this Loonwatch site that shows Mr Spencer making a speech in Germany…talking to a croud of protestors as they try to shout him down.
Understand that Mr Spencer, addressing the crowd of people, expressed the exact…same…views…almost word for word as in the shooter’s manifesto.
In other words, Robert Spencer shares the same views of the shooter, and whether or not there are more people who helped this guy commit his crime, there are more like him who would do it again.
July 26th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
The same manner that they demonize “Muslims” for acts of terrorism, that all 1.5 billion Muslims everywhere are guilt for such incidents like attacking Coptic Christians — is what they are now being subject to.
What makes Spencer even more guilty in this act of terrorism is that this radical right terrorist gave full credit to Spencer by recommending that “one should read everything written by Robert Spencer” as recommended reading.
“Robert Spencer, who has been linked to anti-Islam terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik…ha, ha!!!”
yep mindy1 – this is actually one set of religious extremists (Al-Qaeda) versus another set of extremists (Spencer, Wilders, Christian fundamentalists). Give them their own island and let them fight each other … leave the rest of the normal, civilized world out of it!
July 26th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Khusboo:From now on he’s “Norway terrorism-linked Spencer”!
That’s a very good suggestion. Just as how Spencer always refers to, for instance, CAIR as Hamas linked CAIR, so should LoonWatch call Spencer “Norway terrorism linked Spencer” from now on.
July 26th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
my personal opinion is…the best way to take the haters out is for the victims to sue them in an international setting.
It would be fitting to depose them in pubic.
July 26th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
“norway terrorism linked spencer” adds a nice ring to it along with recononquista spencer.
July 26th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
And say: “Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish.” [Quran 17:81]
July 26th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
It is seriously time for western muslims to fully realize the depth of the dangers the islamophobia industry represent. As we all witness this weekend, 90+ innocent victims paid their lives because of it.
But I think that so far, the majority of ordinary western muslims have been passive about it, hoping it will go away, or hoping that somehow, the brain washed people by islamophobes will magically see through their lies, or will pick up a Quran for themselfs, and will read and understand by themselfs and then magically somehow discover and conclude that Islam is not as bad as the islamophobes were telling them. AS we all khow, this is a fairytale, but unfortunately most ordinary western muslims believes in it.
And so as we all witness this weekend, hatefull rhetorics have their consequences. So i hope that the sane people of this world will stand up against the menace islamophobia really represent to our societies, and NOT allow for a repeat of this horrible tragedie. Lets put islamophobia industry out of bussiness…May God helps us with this task.
July 26th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
A “word cloud” of Breivik’s manifesto.
http://emanuelkarlsten.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Bild-114.png
July 26th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
“They seek to extinguish the Light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His Light, much as the unbelievers may dislike it.”- Qur’an 9:32
July 26th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
I wonder what Spencer would say if the Norway shooter’s victims were mostly Muslim? Having read his hateful rhetoric, he probably would have tried to justify it. He would have blamed Muslims and not the shooter.
July 26th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Hey Guys I just made this and wanted to see if we can get this on NY taxi
http://justpaste.it/2024
What do you think? Do you think anyone would mind?
July 27th, 2011 at 12:09 am
Not that I blame Spencer and others directly, but the entire situation they find themselves in is well deserved.
July 27th, 2011 at 1:11 am
I prefer, Spencer, the inspiration behind the Norway massacre!
July 27th, 2011 at 2:48 am
A Crazy Conclusion Out of Norway
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/07/a-crazy-conclusion-out-of-norway/242478/
From the JTA. One hopes this isn’t true (h/t H.G)
German journalist Ulrich Sahm reported on the pro-Israel Israelnetz.com website that many of the youths who survived the massacre said they thought the killer, dressed as a police officer, was simulating Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the occupied territories. They believed that “the cruelty of the Israeli occupation” was being demonstrated to them, Sahm wrote.
UPDATE: Martin Kramer alerted me to these photos, apparently from last year. Take a look. Here are some more, of kids playing “flotilla.”
July 27th, 2011 at 3:13 am
Btw guys, we’re all forgetting that Breivik himself didn’t incite violence in any of his blog postings either. See below article from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/27/norway.terror.web/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
“But rarely if ever does he seem to have advocated a violent response to what he saw as the Islamization of Europe, even as he planned a massacre for years.”
So to be honest, Spencer or any other loon claiming to have not called for violence either doesn’t mean anything. Again, not that I blame them directly, but nevertheless their connection and partial responsibility cannot be overlooked easily either.
July 27th, 2011 at 4:02 am
new names are Breivik Spencer, Breivik Geller, Breivik Pipes…
it”s also not Islamophobia, because phobia is a irrational or justified fear, whereas here with the Breivik crowd we have pure hatred of Islam.
July 27th, 2011 at 6:28 am
Colbert: Blond, Norwegian Mass Killer Not Muslim, But Still ‘Musl-ish’ (VIDEO)
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/393042/july-25-2011/norwegian-muslish-gunman-s-islam-esque-atrocity
July 27th, 2011 at 7:08 am
I’m enjoying watching these critters squirm for a change. It would be nice if the media stopped using them as “experts” for their interviews after all of this!
July 27th, 2011 at 9:12 am
@Colbert vid:
“Bad Things happpen somewhere…Muslims Involved”
LMAO that is basically the summary of the majority of what Pamela Geller posts on her blog.
July 27th, 2011 at 9:35 am
I see that at least one of the posters in this comment section doesn’t “directly” blame Spencer. That’s tolerant and progressive of you. For some of the others, they may find a more suitable headline to be along the lines of; “Breivik, Spencer, Kill 76 in Rampage.”
And I need some advice. Since I’m white, blue-eyed, and of European descent, how long should I hunker down inside to allow for the “backlash” to subside?
July 27th, 2011 at 9:46 am
@Hopper, simple…stop the hatred and bullshit.
July 27th, 2011 at 10:54 am
@ Hopper:
> I see that at least one of the posters in this comment section doesn’t
> “directly” blame Spencer.
He is not DIRECTLY responsible, but considering how many times Breivik cited him in his manifesto, I think it’s pretty obvious that Spencer’s teachings inspired this vile specimen of human refuse. Spencer and co. are always claiming that our holy books are responsible for teaching violence, no? Well turn about is fair play. Breivik read Spencer, Geller, Gates of Vienna and other overly expensive sources of toilet people. He WAS inspired by it… especially Spencer’s more genocidal posts linking us evil Muslims with the equally evil liberals, calls for a ‘monocultural’ Europe, and so forth.
If you can’t handle the fire, get out of the kitchen. Like I said, turn about is fair play…
> That’s tolerant and progressive of you.
Coming from someone who is neither tolerant nor progressive (nor, indeed, expresses any desire to be so).
> And I need some advice. Since I’m white, blue-eyed, and of European
> descent, how long should I hunker down inside to allow for the
> “backlash” to subside?
Ha, what a surprise. Things must be SOOO difficult for you when your in the majority. Here’s a wager for you. Why don’t you go live somewhere where you DON’T look like everyone else, where your language, style of dress and even religious habits are poorly understood… Move to somewhere in black Africa, or the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, or even the South Pacific. Just for a couple months. After you’ve been an outsider, then you tell me how it feels, okay…
Neither Norway nor the US are going to crack down on the ethnic majority because it’s hard. People don’t WANT to suspect people who ‘look like them.’ They want to think they are all alike. It’s easier to discriminate against someone with a different skin tone or an accent or funny clothes. It’s much harder when you realize that a sociopathic killer could be far closer to home…
July 27th, 2011 at 11:04 am
Strange no one has mentioned gun control yet .
As for Hopper. What backlash ? Or are you aiming to provoke one?
That was tried by the Red brigades in Europe did not work .
What I want to know is Mrs MacBeth still in the toilet washing her hands ?
July 27th, 2011 at 11:44 am
The share of the blame DOES go mainly to Geert Wilders.
Wilders is the one that has been traveling around the Western world for especially the past two years speaking in the language of threat, danger, language that is more consistent with war.
To downplay the role of language and images connected to language here, is naive. This defining of “internal enemies” is not “free speech.”
When Wilders shows up someplace and talks as if it’s “the 11th hour for Europe” and “Muslims are trying to destroy our way of life” this could cause even people with no mental disorder to take action. The “Left” is also guilty of “aiding Muslims to destroy Western Christian civilization.” If “millions of Muslims cause problems,” along with their Leftists allies, some people will want to do something about it.
When Wilders travels to give another radicalization speech, we can think of it as not just hate (even as it is hate), but language that tacitly calls people to action.
July 27th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Writers Cited in Breivik Manifesto Have Spoken at U.S. Military Colleges as Anti-Terrorism Experts
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/7/27/124440/274
So, what does all this have to do with Norwegian Christian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik? Well, Walid Shoebat and Brigitte Gabriel are two of the anti-Muslim activists who show up in his manifesto. Shoebat is quoted about fifteen times throughout the manifesto, and a link to a 45-minute Brigitte Gabriel video is provided for further information on one of the sections.
But the most frequently cited author in the manifesto is Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam. Spencer is quoted by Breivik over three dozen times, in several places at great length, and Breivik wrote, “About Islam I recommend essentially everything written by Robert Spencer.” Breivik even used a take-off on Spencer’s book title for a section of his manifesto, which he titled “A politically incorrect guide to the lynching of multiculturalist traitors.”
MRFF is quite familiar with Robert Spencer’s book, having received numerous complaints over the past few years from service members who want it removed from the military’s PXs and BXs, where it is usually displayed right next to the military Bibles.
Three other authors quoted or recommended by Breivik — Serge Trifkovic, Bat Ye’or, and Abdullah Al Araby — all appeared in the same Islamophbic pseudo-documentary with Shoebat and Spencer, “Islam: What the West Needs to Know.”
July 27th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
‘Counter-Jihad’ Blog Calls for More Europeans to Emulate Breivik’s Attacks
This is what ‘counter-jihad’ bloggers support
Charles Johnson
World • Wed Jul 27, 2011
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/38939_Counter-Jihad_Blog_Calls_for_More_Europeans_to_Emulate_Breiviks_Attacks
One of the most hateful of the “counter-jihad” blogs is “Gates of Vienna,” where anonymous white nationalist Fjordman continues to post his screeds: Gates of Vienna.
This pit of bigotry is run by “Baron Bodissey,” whose real name is Ned May. Gates of Vienna and May are featured today in this story at CNN about their undeniable influence on the Oslo terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik: Suspect admired bloggers who believe Europe is drowning in Muslims.
For an idea of the kind of sick thinking these people encourage and support, here’s the latest post from one of the blogs linked
July 27th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
QUOTE: ‘Counter-Jihad’ Blog Calls for More Europeans to Emulate Breivik’s Attacks
This is what ‘counter-jihad’ bloggers support
Yep – read this article. They want to emulate Breivik and, according to this statement:
QUOTE: And I’ll tell you something. On the one hand, I don’t support the shooting. But I also know that a future generation of vicious race-replacement enthusiasts, many of them Paki youth, have been put out of commission.
WoW! Nutty and creepy … well … the new generation of European terrorists “against islamisation” and “Eurabia” will take their place among the failed rabble of the Red Brigades and November 17.
July 28th, 2011 at 1:06 am
Spencer-Geller & co are the spiritual mentors of right wing terrorists/fascists.
July 28th, 2011 at 2:02 am
Ya know… if we re gonna blame Spencer, Geller and Co. we have to blame rap music for gangs, video games for violent youth…
July 28th, 2011 at 3:30 am
this is a wake-up call, the Breivik crowd (spencer-geller-pipes-gafney..)
are not harmless intellectual scholars with a different point of view, they are, underneath their civilian masks, dangerous murderous killers..
July 28th, 2011 at 4:20 am
@ Dream on
…and Islam for terrorism..no, wait.
July 28th, 2011 at 8:57 am
Imagine if a self-described Muslim crusader had killed 76+ people in Norway inspired by a hate blogger/middle eastern think tank expert/public speaker/scholar AND a gazillion other roles to incite hate, would that person still be in operation in USA?
July 28th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
I heard Bat Ye’or on the radio today, and she made a claim that Europe will be majority Islam before the year 2100.
Can anyone here refute this extraordinary claim?
It would not be good enough to say “it cannot happen”, something more, eg a demographic argument, is needed? (Something along the lines that migration plus converts will not eventually exceed current christians minus athiest)?
Naturally, the interviewer left this claim unchallenged, and I was wondering why?
Refuting it would take the wind out of the sails of Bat Ye’or.
Not refuting it leaves only two possibilities: (1) It does not matter, or (2) a majority Islamic population in Europe is a good thing.
Personally, I am quite neutral about this, as I do not even live (or plan to live) in Europe. But I do find the claim extraordinary, and central to the dispute between people such as Spencer, Ye’or, Steyn and others on the one side, and us. Why not simply refute their premise?
July 28th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Ya know… if we re gonna blame Spencer, Geller and Co. we have to blame rap music for gangs, video games for violent youth…
I don’t necessarily think we’re blaming Spencer for his actions– we’re blaming Spencer for shaping the killer’s worldview, which in turn pushed him over the edge. Slight difference.
More importantly, Tupac and 50 Cent aren’t being hailed as experts on violence in inner city neighborhoods, nor are they being invited on MSNBC to discuss the complexities and nuances of gang warfare and how more lax drug laws could help curb this violence.
July 29th, 2011 at 12:24 am
Watch this crap interview where Michael Coren invites and defends Spencer’s bs. It’s sad that even Canadian Right-Wingers are into Spencer’s garbage
July 29th, 2011 at 12:30 am
BTW sorry to anyone who had to see Spencer talking but I just wanted to show you more of his lies.
July 29th, 2011 at 12:56 am
I see many flaws in Spencer’s arguments.
[A] Spencer demonizes Muslims.
[B] Spencer is happy with violent action comments on his blog.
[C] Spencer does happen to advocate that Muslims should be either “at your neck or at your feet”
[D] One of Spencer’s supporters committed violent actions.
[E] Spencer never directly advocated violence,
[F] Therefore, Spencer never advocated violence.
That would be impossible, consider [A] alone will directly bring D and consequently would contradict F.
Demonization of someone leads to action against him/her, and the permissibility of violent action [The suggestion, dare I say] would consequently increase the probability of violent actions, In other words, It’d have happened, It was just about time.
See Spencer, Your crops are being harvested!
July 29th, 2011 at 10:27 am
@JVR “I heard Bat Ye’or on the radio today, and she made a claim that Europe will be majority Islam before the year 2100.
Can anyone here refute this extraordinary claim?”.
That’s a big guess on her part, it may happen or it may not. But it’s just fearmongering to say the least, unless she has proof. If it turns out to be true then the prophecy in the Quran is slowly but surely coming to pass:-
“He is (the One) Who has sent His (Prophetic) Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all the religions. And Sufficient is Allah as Witness.” (48:28)
July 29th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
“And I need some advice. Since I’m white, blue-eyed, and of European descent, how long should I hunker down inside to allow for the “backlash” to subside?”
What backlash would that be?
I’m a white, blue-eyed, blonde of European descent, and I’m pretty open about the fact that my religion is Christian when people ask. I live in neighbourhood that has a large number of immigrants, many of whom are Muslims.
The entirety of the conversations I’ve had with neighbours about the Norway massacre have been along the lines of:
“Sad, isn’t it?”
“Yes, very sad!”
Some backlash, huh?
There has been no hint of blaming me, not the slightest suggestion that I would be any less disturbed by the violence than they are. I haven’t “hunkered down” at all, and it never would have occurred to me to do so. I haven’t felt any hostility.
Of course, they also know I don’t speak for or believe in hate. That factor would make the difference.
July 29th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
Mr Seed, I think you may have a point about the slowly (but surely) turnover.
I have read a book recently about the Roman destruction of the Jewish temple in the first century, and how that sowed the seeds of the eventually Christianization of the Roman empire… I believe a similar process is ongoing in Europe, yet this time it is another Mid-Eastern religion taking root. It may take until 2100, as in Bat Ye’or’s extraordinary claim, and if one looks at the demography (and the level of conversions, as the vacuum left by retreating Christianity is filled), then I find it hard to argue with Ye’or’s conclusions.
Yet, I believe that she could be wrong (perhaps?), and that it is important to refute her arguments (and that there are smart people on the Western left who can do so)… But deep down, I also do not really care about the eventual outcome (I do not live in Europe and will be long dead in 2100).
July 30th, 2011 at 4:48 am
The best argument I herd about the ability to predict demographics is the statistic that by 2100 thirty % of the world will be Elvis impersonators given there current rate of increace.
July 30th, 2011 at 10:33 am
~Spencer is blaming the Daily Mail for inciting readers to kill him
What a liar,
—————————-
Daily Mail incites violence against Spencer?
Daily Mail headline:
‘We could have another Timothy McVeigh’: U.S. authorities warned against anti-Islamic terrorism after Norway shooter ‘inspired’ by Robert Spencer and Unabomber
Look at that headline. Named in it are three mass murderers and me.
In my work I have never called for, approved of, endorsed, or advocated violence against anyone, and have denounced attacks on innocent Muslims. If, despite all that, I am responsible for the Norway shootings, then would not the Daily Mail be responsible if someone kills me?
I get death threats all the time, and take them seriously. I don’t speak in public places without guards. The possibility that an Islamic jihadist might take me out is much larger than the possibility that some nut might misread my writings and go kill innocent people — after all, just look at how many jihad attacks there are around the world every day. And now I am more in the bullseye than ever, courtesy the Daily Mail (which should know better, given how much news it prints about the Islamization of Britain).
If I am guilty of incitement, so are they. If I am not, they are not. But they can’t have it both ways, and neither can any of the others who are piling on these days. If writing critically about something constitutes incitement to violence, then any critical writing about anything, including writing that is critical of me and my colleagues, constitutes incitement to violence.
Weren’t the murders of Theo van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn enough to make them end this hateful rhetoric?
July 30th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Given the article in the New York Times – especially the remarkable statement of the CIA I can only conclude that you Americans have a lot more common sense than the Dutch. As far as I know no Dutch newspaper and no Dutch politician has said something similar about Wilders – that other hero of Breivik. They about all say: no, you can’t blame Wilders for the Norwegian killings, let’s remain calm. The bullit did not come from right, just like 10 years ago the bullits for Van Gogh and Fortuyn did not come from islam and left. Let’s not make the same mistake again.
There are a few Dutch sites though who have come to exactly the same conclusion.
July 31st, 2011 at 1:55 am
@Necron – “Demonization of someone leads to action against him/her, and the permissibility of violent action”
I think this is the crux of the whole Islamophobe/anti-Islam debate. Both sides believe it, except when it can be applied to themselves. And it sure can be applied to both sides.
The article says “the evidence is so damning…” in just the same way as the Islamophobes do about the Koran.
The truth, IMHO, is that the responsibility in every case lies with the perpetrator. Very much like “I was only following orders” is no defence for atrocities.
I have never believed that words alone can incite a sane person to murderous violence. Silencing the wordsmiths – and I include religious texts – is not the answer.
Education about the sanctity of human life as most religious texts include is a start. Comprehensive monitoring of the potentially violent is also necessary. Note that many violent acts are prevented each year in Europe by the activities of the anti-terrorism squads of Europe.
This Norwegian murderer was already on the database as a potential threat, but wasn’t followed up presumably because lack of resources. We need those resources as much as we need health care.
August 4th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Loon Watch, a news tip, everyone grab the popcorn and enjoy…..
——————
Robert Spencer (Inspiration for Oslo Terrorist): ‘How Much $ Did You Get?’
Breivik’s main source of inspiration invents a conspiracy theory about me
Charles Johnson
Robert Spencer (Inspiration for Oslo Terrorist): ‘How Much $ Did You Get?’
Breivik’s main source of inspiration invents a conspiracy theory about me
Thu Aug 4, 2011
The main inspiration for Oslo terrorist Anders Behring Breivik was undoubtedly “counter-jihad” kingpin Robert Spencer; Spencer is cited dozens of times in Breivik’s manifesto.
Today Robert Spencer crawled out from under his rock, to accuse me on Twitter of being paid by sinister hidden forces.
read more here
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/38975_Robert_Spencer_(Inspiration_for_Oslo_Terrorist)-_How_Much_$_Did_You_Get
August 6th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Daily Kos on Spencer, ..this is too funny, Spencer on radio, complaining that Brieviek is probably a false flag operative.
Read, listen and enjoy
——————–
Jihad Watch’s Spencer: Norway a “false flag” operation
by jazzhawk2004
Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch , appearing on American Family Radio’s “Today’s Issues” on Monday seems to have said that the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik was a “false flag” operation.
Spencer spent much of the interview countering a New York Times article “Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in U.S.”which discussed the influence of Spencer and other counter-jihadists on Breivik.
Spencer, however, went beyond putting distance between the counter jihadists and Breivik to advance a bizarre conspiracy theory.
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Here is my transcription of Spencer’s remarks.
The problem with this guy is that he has has brought discredit on a legitimate line of thought.
It is so obvious that the the damage he has done to the resistance to jihad movement is so extensive that it is hard not to imagine that he was actually on the other side and the that the whole manifesto is a false flag operation to draw discredit upon his enemies or else he is one of the stupidest men who has ever lived because what he has done is to set back that movement he professes to hold to.
Host: he was trying to kill the prime minister of his own country
Spencer: so he says …
Spencer’s statement can be found at approximately the 33:40 mark on of this audioof the AFR show.
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read more here, and you can click the link to listen to the audio
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/26/999210/-Jihad-Watchs-Spencer:-Norway-a-false-flag-operation
August 7th, 2011 at 10:57 am
JengaBob, can you loosen yourself from NassirH’s embrace and comment on the subject of this thread, the lame defence of Robert Spencer, and his subsequent actions, namely the conspiracies like the one below he is propogating.
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Henry Rochejaquelein: Robert Spencer Discovers Another Mystery “Expert”
Sheila Musaji
Robert Spencer just posted an article by a Henry Rochejaquelein – In that Enormous Silence, Tiny and Unafraid
Spencer regularly turns up these “mystery experts” like Roland Shirk, Hugh Fitzgerald, and now Henry Rochejaquelein.
The article is a defense of the poor “freedom fighters” who are being accused by some of having some culpability for creation the climate of Islamophobia that led to the terrible murders committed by Breivik in Norway.
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Rochejaquelein repeats the lunatic claim made by Frank Gaffney that Breivik was somehow engaged in a purposeful effort to tarnish the reputations of those he so obviously considered fellow members of “the Vienna school” of “anti-Jihadists”.
read more here
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/henry_rochejaquelein_robert_spencer_discovers_another_/0018710