Author: Ophelia Benson

  • Oh no you don’t

    The LSE Atheists, Secularists and Humanists Facebook page has a new logo.

    There’s more, but I’m not sure they want me quoting them; I’ve asked and I’m waiting to hear back. The logo however is publicly visible.

  • You in the plaid shirt: more rage please


    And in case we haven’t seen enough screaming bullies yet, let us change the scene to Jaipur.

     Indian Muslims shout slogans against Salman Rushdie in Jaipur, Rajasthan, during this year's Jaipur Literature Festival.

    It’s Rage Boy again. There’s nothing like religion for spawning Rage Boys.

    Salman Rushdie’s virtual participation at the Jaipur Literature Festival was canceled at the last minute Tuesday,  after Muslim groups attending the festival threatened violence if his image was shown.

    Mr. Rushdie was scheduled to address thousands of Lit Fest attendees by video conference Tuesday afternoon, after cancelling an in-person appearance.

    ‘‘There are a large number of people adverse to this link in and around this  property and they have threatened violence,’’ said Thakur Ram Pratap Singh of Diggi, the owner of Diggi Palace, the festival venue. ‘‘This decision is necessary to protect everyone here,’’ he said.

    Why? Why have they? Oh, no reason, really. Somebody told them Rushdie is a Bad Man who said something Bad about Allah. Same with Irshad Manji, no doubt. It’s something to do. If you have money you go mountaineering, if you don’t you go to public places and scream yourself purple. The second hobby, sadly, fucks things up for everyone involved; lose-lose.

    Mr. Rushdie criticized both the Indian government and Islamic leaders in an interview Tuesday evening with television channel NDTV. While Mr. Rushdie said he has been cast as an enemy of Islam, the real enemies are “the leaders, the Deobandis, the various extremist leaders and their followers, who behave like this, because what they do is to strengthen the extremely negative image of Islam as an intolerant, repressive, and violent culture,” he said.

    Exactly so. The Rage Boys don’t do anybody any good in the long run, not even the Rage Boys of Tomorrow. Or rather, especially not them. Better to be a Rushdie than a Rage Boy.

     

  • Threats stop even video appearance by Rushdie

    Muslim groups attending the festival threatened violence if Rushdie appeared via video.

  • Shouty shout shout

    And here is a much more extended version of The Visit of the Agitated Gentlemen With Elevated Voices.

    They’re fascism, alive and kicking and right in your face. I’m dumb with admiration for Irshad and her colleague (the two of them were on the stage talking when the Elevated Voices started screaming hoarsely and puffing themselves out like angry cats) who stayed calm in the face of that. I’m dumb with admiration for the woman standing protectively in front of them along with others, looking matter of fact and immovable.

    I hate the Agitated Gentlemen. I hate them all. They should join a gorilla troupe and try to become alpha males there. That would keep them busy and out of our hair.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJS6IypEVR8

  • The art of persuasion

    Even Irshad Manji, who loves Allah herself, deserves to have her neck broken according to some suave fellows from an outfit called Sharia4Belgium who mobbed her book launch in Amsterdam.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSFxZ62E7sQ

  • Popehat on shut-uppery at LSE

    The LSE Student Union’s statement on the matter is a master class in the mindset of censorious bureaucrats.

  • A protection racket

    The LSE student paper reports on the cartoons and free speech and “Islamophobia” and shut-uppery affair. It has details.

    On 20th January, members of ASH Society met with Stanley Ellerby-English, Students’ Union Activities and Development Officer, who explained “the situation, the complaints that had been made and how the action of posting these cartoons was in breach of the Students’ Union policy on inclusion and the society’s constitution.” The society agreed to certain outcomes, though these have not been disclosed yet; however, the Students’ Union will “now be telling the society that they cannot continue these actions under the brand of the SU.”

    Chriss Moos, President of the LSE’s Students’ Union ASH Society, responded to the formal complaints that had been filed against the society, stating that the issue should not be framed as one pertaining to Islamophobia.

    “We firmly reject the allegation that actions of our members have ‘sought to marginalise’ anyone, have caused ‘harm to the welfare of Muslim students’ or constituted a ‘targeted campaign,’” Moos said. “Although we reserve the right to criticise religious ideas, as humanists we will always oppose any targeted campaign against any community. We strongly oppose any form of anti-Muslim prejudice. The cartoons criticise religion in a satirical way. They do not target or call for the targeting of Muslims or any other religious group.  Framing the criticism of religion as ‘discrimination’ or ‘Islamophobic actions’ is highly misguided and results in the stifling of valid debates. We do not discriminate amongst religions in our criticisms.”

    The Students’ Union sabbatical officers addressed the issue at the UGM held on 19th January and inestigating the claims. An Emergency General Meeting (EGM) is scheduled for Thursday 26 January at 1:00p with two separate motions, one on antisemitism and the other on Islamophobia, to be discussed.

    Ah so the E was for Emergency? Or perhaps the reporter is making the same mistake I did.

    “There will be two separate motions which will lay out what these types of discrimination incorporate and that the SU stands against them,” said Sherelle Davis, Anti-Rascism Officer. “The recent Anti-Semitic incident on the ski trip and the Islamophobic actions taken by certain campus groups have brought these issues to the forefront of race relations at the moment and it’s important the SU take a stance on it.”

    The Students’ Union issued the following statement to further reiterate their stance on religious discrimination on campus: “the LSE community’s values of tolerance, diversity, and respect for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or religious affiliation are not in accordance with the offensive nature displayed in the recent cases of antisemitism and Islamophobia. We respect the need for freedom of expression and discussion, but believe there must be a balance between respecting freedom of speech and protecting the communities that make up the student body at the LSE.”

    And by “protecting the communities” she means “protecting people we sort into certain groups (and not others) from hearing or reading or seeing anything that might imply that their groups’ ideas and beliefs might be wrong or illiberal or unfortunate in any way.” In other words by “protecting” she means “stultifying and insulating.”

    It’s not just ASH and atheists and secularists who are harmed by this crap, you know. If anything the harm done to the people being “protected” is worse than the harm done to the people who already have access to thinking uninhibited by the proxies for god.

  • If we want to live together peacefully

    Jesus and Mo are watching current events. (Well they would be, wouldn’t they.) (That is one good thing about all this; Streisand effect; lots of new fans of J and M.)

    multi

  • It’s a boy it’s a frog it’s a plane it’s WEIRD

    Oh for god’s sake.

    I was looking at something (reluctantly) in the Daily Mail, and noticed another headline, so took a look at that…

    Young girl has short hair shock-horror!!!1111!!!!!!!!!!!

    I know the Mail specializes in being as stupid as possible, but honestly………….

    Angelina Jolie’s little tomboy Shiloh unveils her very short haircut

    Angelina Jolie has said daughter Shiloh prefers to ‘dress like a boy’ and ‘thinks she’s one of the brothers.’

    And now the five-year-old has a new short back and sides like her older male siblings.

    Shiloh dressed in utilitarian black for the fun day out with her mother and two of her brothers, Knox, three, and eight-year-old Pax, which exacerbated the effect.

    Exacerbated the effect?? Made a bad thing even worse? Because a child of five has short hair? Jeezis, police gender roles much?

    I feel like starting a Butch League or something.

     

  • One stop shopping

    I’ve done a lot of posts about all this shut-uppery at UCL and Queen Mary U and LSE. I thought it might be useful to collect them all in one place.

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/when-certain-muslims-voiced-their-offense/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/jesus-and-mo-and-the-barmaid-resolve-to-say-nothing-offensive/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/remove-that-offensive-image-at-once-please/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/never-anything-more-than-an-informal-request/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/developments/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/they-will-take-more-consideration/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/1-shut-up-2-shut-up-3-shut-up/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/if-i-hear-that-anything-is-said-against-the-holy-prophet-muhammad/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/just-a-kind-request/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/behold-theocracy-in-action/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/jesus-and-mo-promote-peace-tolerance-and-respect/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/who-gave-these-kuffar-the-right-to-speak/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/history-has-told-us-that-these-things-cause-offence/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/london-11-february-2012-defend-free-expression/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/more-from-the-goombahs/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/are-you-now-or-have-you-ever-been-an-islamophobe/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/no-longer-a-safe-space/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/too-much-conflation-of-being-offended-and-being-intimidated/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/it-has-come-to-our-attention-that-you-are-wicked/

    http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/emergency-everybody-to-get-from-street/

  • Erdogan calls French bill on Armenian genocide “racist”

    The Turkish government argues that judging what happened in eastern Turkey in 1915-16 should be left to historians, and that the new French law will restrict freedom of speech.

  • NSS on LSE Student Union v principle of free speech

    “These statements by the Student Union are deeply shocking. They appear to be prepared to sacrifice the primary principle of free speech on the altar of claimed offence.”

  • Jesus and Mo on how not to offend

    We must ensure that everyone’s beliefs are protected. Well not quite everyone’s.

  • Ministry of Truth on manipulations of LSE Students’ Union

    A motion to limit voting rights at general meetings looks like another cynical ploy designed to head off any possibility of LSESU ASH rallying support.

     

     

  • Emergency! Everybody to get from street

    Great news! The LSE Students’ Union has another statement out. It’s another pip. It’s about an urgent EGM on Thursday – which I take to be an Emergency General Meeting (but perhaps it’s Electric, or Elegant, or Educational, or Elevated*). Emergency, emergency! Why I bet we can guess what that is…

    In light of recent events there will be two anti-discrimination motions being discussed and debated at an EGM this week, these are: No to racism – no to Islamophobia! and Stop Anti-Semitism Now.

    Guessed right.

    Stop racism no to Islamophobia! – in the form of a cartoon image of two guys having a beer on the Facebook page of a student group. That’s racism ‘n’ Islamophobia? No, but in studentworld, it’s so much like it that it’s worth punishing just the same.

    Union believes

    1. In the right to criticise religion,

    2. In freedom of speech and thought,

    3. It has a responsibility to protect its members from hate crime and hate speech,

    4. Debate on religious matters should not be limited by what may be offensive to any particular religion, but the deliberate and persistent targeting of one religious group about any issue with the intent or effect of being Islamophobic (‘Islamophobia’ as defined below) will not be tolerated.

    5. That Islamophobia is a form of anti-Islamic racism.

    Union resolves

    1.To define Islamophobia as “a form of racism expressed through the hatred or fear of Islam, Muslims, or Islamic culture, and the stereotyping, demonisation or harassment of Muslims, including but not limited to portraying Muslims as barbarians or terrorists, or attacking the Qur’an as a manual of hatred”,

    2. To take a firm stance against all Islamophobic incidents at LSE and conduct internal investigations if and when they occur.

    3. To publicly oppose actions on campus that are Islamophobic based on the aforementioned definition,

    4. To ensure that all Islamophobic incidents aimed at or perpetrated by LSE students either verbal, physical or online are dealt with swiftly and effectively in conjunction with the School,

    5. To work with the Pro-Director for Teaching and Learning and Deans to address Islamophobia and other forms of racism on campus and methods to alleviate it,

    6. To ensure that this definition is used to promote and enhance legitimate debate regarding the morality and legitimacy of international conflicts and oppose illegitimate acts of Islamophobia on campus.

     4 is good. 4 is very special. Debate should not be limited, but it will not be tolerated.

    5 too. A form of “anti-Islamic racism” – as if Islamic were a race. “A form of anti-Christian racism” – doesn’t work, does it. (Mind you, it might, in Nigeria or Egypt for instance. But are British Muslims being targeted the way Nigerian and Egyptian Christians are? Are they being blown up or shot down in large numbers? Not that I’ve heard.)

    1 under Union resolves is good too. Hatred of “Islamic culture” is a form of racism. So, what, then? Hatred of the way many Saudis treat foreign servants for instance, is that racism? Hatred of laws against “adultery by force” that allow a raped woman to be sentenced to 12 years in jail, is that racism?

    And then all the rest of it is good, because clearly the whole point is to lay the groundwork for sending the LSE ASH to Re-education Camp.

    Especially 6. “Let’s agree to accept our definition so that we can define anything we want to as Islamophobia and then proceed to pitch exquisitely self-righteous fits whenever we find some. Let’s punish us some cartoons, man!”

    * No: it’s Extraordinary. H/t Gareth Chan.

    Addendum

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=El03KPUeQc4

  • Spot the agenda

    The letter to the Guardian cited a survey.

    “Muslims deserve a better press than they have been given in the past decade.” And according to a recent ComRes poll, one in three people in Britain today believe that the media is responsible for “whipping up a climate of fear of Islam in the UK”.

    The letter calls it a ComRes poll, but that’s just a brand name. What it really is is an Ahmadiyya Muslim Association survey, and to be exact, it’s an Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK Islamophobia Survey. It’s not an impartial bit of research, it’s an agenda-driven poll.

    The poll was commissioned by one of the UK’s oldest Muslim groups, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, in order to inform its plans to counter the tide of prejudice against Islam and highlight strategies to promote better community relations.

    The poll comes on the eve of Britain’s biggest annual Islamic convention which will see 30,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community gathering at a 220-acre site in Hampshire. Foremost on the agenda will be ways to build bridges between communities and spread the word that Islam means peace.

    That’s an agenda. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association (it’s amusing that ComRes slipped and called it the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community) plans to counter “the tide of prejudice against Islam” – which is to say, it plans to persuade people that Islam is good. That’s an agenda. It wants to “build bridges between communities” (it’s been following Stedman!) and “spread the word that Islam means peace” – which is to say, it wants to persuade people that Islam means peace when in fact it means submission. That’s an agenda.

  • Say more good things about Islam please

    Another busy day for the shutters up.

    A bunch of Islamist bullies managed to get Salman Rushdie’s video talk to the Jaipur Literary Festival blocked.

    A bunch of Islamist bullies and some allies wrote a stupid letter to the Guardian demanding more friendly coverage of Islam in the media.

    Let’s take a look at that letter. (Martin Bright has been arguing with Sunny Hundal, who signed the letter, at Twitter for an hour or two. Sunny ended up saying he signs letters he doesn’t agree with, leaving Martin and also Padraig Reidy gobsmacked.)

    That letter is a dog’s breakfast.

    Over the past decade, a number of academic studies have indicated a worrying and disproportionate trend towards negative, distorted and even fabricated reports in media coverage of the Muslim community. Recent research at Cambridge University concludes that “a wider set of representations of Islam would signify a welcome change to reporting practices. Muslims deserve a better press than they have been given in the past decade.” And according to a recent ComRes poll, one in three people in Britain today believe that the media is responsible for “whipping up a climate of fear of Islam in the UK”.

    See what they did there? In just the opening paragraph? They jumped from “the Muslim community” to Islam to Muslims and back to Islam again. So what’s the demand? That all three get friendlier coverage? That Islam itself is somehow owed less in the way of “negative” media coverage?

    Yes, probably, but the idea is to make that more difficult to notice by throwing in mentions of Muslims and “the Muslim community” to dilute the mentions of Islam. Treating all three as interchangeable of course leads people to think they are, when in fact they’re not. Talking about “the Muslim community” leads people to think that all Muslims are much of a muchness, all think pretty much alike, all seethe at “negative” coverage of Islam, all demand more Islam-friendly media.

    An alternative inquiry is necessary to investigate what many regard as widespread and systematic discriminatory practices in reporting on Muslims and Islam in the British media. Victims – whether prominent or not – of alleged discriminatory media coverage have a right to have their testimonies catalogued and examined thoroughly by credible, independent assessors. Recommendations can then be made to improve ethical standards in the reporting of not solely the Muslim community but of all sections of society.

    There it is again – Muslims-and-Islam – treated as essentially the same, and inseparable, and both having rights and both being victims of widespread and systematic discriminatory practices. It’s a fundamentally theocratic idea.

    And then, some of the signers…

    Dr Muhammad Abdul BariChair, East London Mosque
    Dr Omer El-Hamdoon Muslim Association of Britain
    Moazzam Begg Cageprisoners
    Lindsey German Stop The War Coalition
    Robert Pitt Islamophobia Watch

    No thanks.

    Maryam did a post on this.

    Islamophobia is nothing but a political term used to scaremonger people into silence. [And yes I’m looking at you Islamophobia Watch.]

    Well I am sorry but no can do.

    You cannot attribute human qualities to a belief system or Islam and Islamism in order to rule out and deem racist any opposition or criticism.

    Just in case they didn’t know, let me repeat. Criticism, mockery, opposition to and even hatred of a belief Is. Not. Racism.

    Nor is it a violation of the rights of people who hold the belief. Holding a belief does not confer a right never to hear the belief disputed or mocked.

  • Jaipur: Islamist bullies block Rushdie video talk

    Announcing the cancellation, an emotional Sanjoy Roy said: “We have been pushed to the wall…Earlier today, a number of organisations came to us and threatened violence.”

  • Islamist misogyny on the rise in the Maldives

    Shadiya Ibrahim, a long-time campaigner for women’s rights, said the society was growing steadily more oppressive of women.

  • Bruce Gorton on bad times for free expression

    On the 11 of February, One Law for All is arranging a rally to stand up against this. Are you prepared to stand up and say “We give this kuffar the right to speak”?