​Remarque! La version française suit un peu plus bas The rise of the pseudo-realities Over the past few weeks we have been concentrating on your right to have access to information. We have seen that both state and non-state actors seem to be very vested in depriving you of this right – particularly when it comes to subjects that challenge traditional truths long understood to be “self-evident”. It’s as if certain viewpoints are too delicate to make their own way in the public marketplace of ideas. For whatever reason, they are allowed to evade the rough and tumble debate that has characterized the progression of all other ideas in a Western society amenable to free speech. Now, however, we

Editor's Note: Two years before white racist Brenton Tarrant killed 51 Muslims worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March, 2019, a similar number of Christians – 45 – were killed during Palm Sunday church services in Alexandria and Tanta, Egypt, by Muslim suicide bombers. The slaughter in Egypt was mostly ignored by the Western media and politicians, while the response of both to the Christchurch killings was fast and furious. Western media and political leaders could not ignore the Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka less than six weeks after Christchurch, given its massive death toll of 258, victims of Muslims deliberately targeting Christian churches and hotels in co

Editor's Note: In this excellent article, Michael Brendan Dougherty raises the very valid question of whether ‘Islamophobia’ can even be defined. He provides examples of things that have been said about certain Christian denominations or representatives thereof which scarcely raised any eyebrows but, had they been said about Islam or Muslims, would have raised the battle cry of “Islamophobia.” And we must understand that the term “Islamophobia” is indeed a battle cry to let the world know who and what must not be criticized. The term “Islamophobia” is not, as its proponents pretend, simply a word to denote bigotry against Muslims. The term conflates dislike or criticism of Islam with hatred

Remarque! La version française suit un peu plus bas Note! Consider supporting Tom Quiggin “Operation Killswitch” legal defence fund Note! Consider, sign and distribute this petition. Make it go viral. An Ontario “Day against Islamophobia” is a bigoted initiative that insults you! Note! Join the Media Action Group letter-writing campaign to defeat the passage of Ontario Bill 83 for a Day against Islamophobia State attacks on your free speech rights As seen in last week’s “update”, freedom of expression does not just include the right to express an opinion but to hear one as well. It is meant to protect “both speaker and listener” and may include “all phases of the communication, from maker or

Editor's Note: Spiked editor Brendan O’Neill discusses the absurdity of trying to create a definition of “Islamophobia” that protects Muslims from discrimination but does not censor free speech. An All-Party Parliamentary Group working on the definition in Britain came up with: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” But since when is Islam a race? Not only does that definition threaten free speech (will criticizing the niqab or sharia law be targeting Muslimness?), it also has the counterterrorism police worried (will they be targeting “expressions of Muslimness” if they question people arriving from Muslim

Editor's Note: The Clarion Project reports on the efforts by CAIR – the Council on American Islamic Relations – to silence public discussion of sharia law with accusations of (wait for it!) “Islamophobia.” CAIR is objecting to an episode of “Law and Order: SVU” (Special Victims Unit), in which informed viewers can easily spot references to Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar (whose antisemitism has embarrassed even her fellow Democrats), Kentucky high school student Nick Sandmann (an out-of-context video of him circulated by the Washington Post unfairly suggested he was a racist), and black gay actor Jussie Smollett (who falsely claimed that he was attacked by white men wearing Make America G

Remarque : La version française suit un peu plus bas Note! Consider supporting Tom Quiggin “Operation Killswitch” legal defence fund Note! Consider, sign and distribute this petition. Make it go viral. An Ontario “Day against Islamophobia” is a bigoted initiative that insults you! The two sides of the "free speech" coin It goes without saying that the Canadian right to “free expression” entails the fundamental freedom to speak one’s mind without fear of censure or punishment by State authorities. The other less advertised aspect of “free speech”, however, entails the ability to have clear, unencumbered access to information or “expressive material and to hear and see information and opinions

Editor's Note: Adam Milstein discusses how the term “Islamophobia” is used to not only describe a “hateful expression of intolerance” toward Muslims but also to demonize anyone who criticizes Islam or even objectively reports on crimes committed in its name. “We cannot let accusations of Islamophobia silence us when we confront and defend ourselves against the radical ideologies that exist in some Muslim communities and are now growing in America: ideologies that undermine our values and seek to destroy our way of life,” he writes. Of course, that is the very purpose of the term “Islamophobia.” While some argue that it is simply the equivalent of “antisemitism,” a term such as “anti-Muslim b

Remarque! La version française suit Note! Join the Media Action Group letter-writing campaign to defeat the passage of Ontario Bill 83 for a Day against Islamophobia Note! Consider, sign and distribute this petition. Make it go viral. An Ontario “Day against Islamophobia” is a bigoted initiative that insults you! What’s going down? From the song, “What it’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, 1967 “There's something happening here But what it is ain't exactly clear There's a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware I think it's time we stop Children, what's that sound? Every body look – what’s going down?” The classic “Buffalo Springfield” song, “For What its Worth”, was the

​Remarque! La version française suit un peu plus bas Note! Consider, sign and distribute this petition. Make it go viral. An Ontario “Day against Islamophobia” is a bigoted initiative that insults you! Omar Khadr and Canada - a misinformed love affair? Radio Canada’s interview of Omar Khadr, of Guantanamo fame, this past Easter Sunday was a curious undertaking. Not only did it take place on a day sacred to Christians but on the exact same day that Islamic jihadists proclaimed their hatred for Christianity through the bombing of Sri Lankan churches. These attacks led to the unceremonious loss of over 300 lives, with over 500 maimed and wounded. How in the world could Radio Canada’s “Tout le m