For years now I've said that anti-free-speech leftists and the men who slaughtered the staff of Charlie Hebdo, shot up Lars Vilks' event in Copenhagen, etc, are merely different points on the same continuum: They're both in the shut-up business: both groups find it quicker and easier and more satisfying to silence you than to debate you.
There were those who found the comparison offensive - to whom I would on good-humored days grant that the two points on the same continuum were nevertheless some distance apart.
Well, they got considerably closer in Reykjavik last week.
Robert Spencer, the author of several bestselling books on Islam, a brave crusader against the dopier multiculti illusions and the proprietor of the indispensable Jihad Watch, gave a speech at the Grand Hotel, went to unwind at dinner afterwards, and was poisoned by a social-justice warrior. Here's Robert's account of what happened:
After the event, my security chief, the organizers of the event, Ms. Williams, and I went to a local restaurant to celebrate its success. But I was quickly recognized: a young Icelander called me by name, shook my hand, and said he was a big fan. Shortly after that, another citizen of that famously courteous land likewise called me by my name, shook my hand, and said "f*** you."
We left.
Back in my hotel room, I began to feel numbness in my face, hands, and feet. I began trembling and vomiting. My heart was racing dangerously. I spent the night in a Reykjavik hospital.
A hospital test confirmed that I had been poisoned -- Ritalin mixed with MDMA (Ecstasy). One of the local Icelanders who had approached me (likely the one who said he was a big fan, as he came much closer to me than the "f*** you" guy) had dropped drugs into my drink. I was ill for several days afterward.
That's quite a sophisticated operation - a two-man team, the first a fake fan, the second a post-kiss-of-death gloater.
Before the banking crash of '08, Iceland was flush, and celebs like Elton John were flown in for gala bashes. But it's all quietened down a bit since then, so the Spencer event was a big deal. He drew an audience of 500 - which in a town of 125,000 and a nation of 300,000 is pretty impressive. There was lots of coverage of his visit - none of which actually quoted him or excerpted his speech or interviewed those who were interested in hearing what he had to say. Instead the media preferred to cover the few dozen protestors of his trip. In all the column inches devoted to Robert Spencer, no journalist thought to seek a comment from Robert Spencer. There are two sides to every story - except this guy's story: he doesn't deserve a side.
This kind of dehumanization sends a message - and the man who poisoned Robert got it loud and clear:
Those who paint the targets, and those who shoot at them, think they're doing something great. Not only does the Left fill those whom it brainwashes with hate, but it does so while portraying its enemies as the hatemongers, such that violent Leftists such as the young man who drugged me feel righteous as they victimize and brutalize for the crime of disagreement.
I have no doubt whatsoever that whoever poisoned me in Iceland went away feeling happy over what he had done. If he told anyone what he did, I'm sure he was hailed as a hero. I'm also aware that many who read this will crow and exult in knowing that someone who hates my opposition to jihad terror and Sharia oppression made me seriously ill. This is how degenerate and evil the Left has become.
I don't know how I'd stand up to a cocktail of Ritalin and Ecstasy. I do know there's at least one person in my modest entourage it would kill. And I have no doubt that had the fellow in the restaurant switched on the radio the following morning and heard that Robert Spencer had died in hospital overnight he would have celebrated.
Like the guns at Singapore, the social-justice mob's fingers are pointing in the wrong direction: They accuse their opponents endlessly of "otherization"; yet they are the ones who so deny the humanity of "the other" that it seems cool and heroic to attempt to kill a chap who gave a speech you object to - even though you never heard the speech, and, even if you had, are incapable of articulating what exactly in it you take issue with.
Douglas Murray and I noted after the tenth anniversary of the Mohammed cartoons how strangely controversial the post-event dinner has become. In Copenhagen, the restaurant panicked at the sight of the PET - the Danish security-service agents - and canceled our booking. As Douglas wrote:
Ten years ago, you could publish depictions of Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. Ten years later, it is hard for anyone who has been connected with such an act to find a restaurant in Copenhagen that will serve them dinner.
For those in Robert Spencer's line of work, these events are undeniably stressful. There are security precautions, of course, but you never know, from the Vilks event in Copenhagen to Robert's in Garland, Texas, whether some jihadist will succeed in breaking through. There's a sense of relief when you exit the stage and it's all gone off without incident. You're looking forward to a drink and a bite to eat in convivial company. And you're on your post-performance high, so you're generally bonhomous when people approach professing to be fans and seeking a selfie or an autograph. And there's three or four and they're all around you, and you put your drink down on the table - as Douglas and I did again and again in the bar we wound up in late that night. And the fans move on, and you pick up your glass without a thought...
Robert Spencer will never do that again.
The social-justice crowd are moving toward the same point as the Charlie Hebdo killers, and for the same reason: They're too stupid to argue. For the Islamic imperialists, debate is a largely alien concept. For the left, it's simply too much effort. As I said here many years ago, the great appeal of multiculturalism is that it absolves you from having to know anything about other cultures: If they're all equally valid, what's the point? Slap on the CO-EXIST bumper sticker and off you tootle. No need to worry whether the "C" might have a bit of a problem with some of the other letters, and that indeed, if not for the "C", you wouldn't need a bumper-sticker admonition to CO-EXIST in the first place. But, after two generations of social engineering, of the substitution of attitudes for education, it would require too much effort to equip yourself to argue against the difficult questions a man such as Robert Spencer raises. It's literally easier to kill him.
Not yet in the blood-lusting exultant scimitar-raising style of the decapitators of French priests. But just through whatever you've got in your stash that might ensure he'll be flying out of Reykjavik by the handles. So for the moment there is still a continuum. But it's narrowing, and will narrow still.
Get well soon, Robert.
~If you're an Icelandic member of The Mark Steyn Club and you'd like to comment on the above, have at it below. Tomorrow, Friday, Mark will be back on air for one of his favorite shows, "Varney & Co" on Fox Business, a little after 11.30am Eastern/8.30am Pacific.
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I usually push back at anybody who says "They're all the same" , mostly because it blurs the line between good and evil. But, in this case, the jihadists and the leftist warriors are all the same: committing evil while believing they are doing God's work. God bless you Robert, and God bless you Mark. I pray for your safety.
Here's hoping a speedy recovery for Mr. Spencer. Getting to the money line about multiculturalism absolving you of actually knowing anything about a culture, I think this is where multiculturalism dovetails so nicely with leftist intolerance of anyone who doesn't hold the same views as them. Because the multiculturalist has very little actual knowledge of a particular foreign culture, he automatically falls into the trap of believing that a fellow from that culture thinks exactly like he does, not just in his political/social views, but how he views the World. It actually takes very little knowledge of foreign cultures to know that that simply isn't true. But the multiculturalist "tootles on," confident in his belief that because he advocates for the "oppressed" member of a foreign culture, that fellow must not only agree with him on everything, but view the World the same way and be an ally in producing the political/social outcomes the multiculturalist wants. Where it dovetails so nicely with the leftist's intolerance is that when he sees someone discussing the foreign culture with which he has sympathy in anything but a glowingly positive way, he automatically tries to shut down the speaker.
This is abhorrent, yet as horrible as it is to say, not surprising.
In the past few months I've waffled between having hope for America with Trump in office and throwing my hands up in disgust as I observe how arrogant and corrupt the Republican Congress has become. Then reading something like this scares me, because in the case of America, those with whom we have entrusted with mantel of power, those who should be using that power to protect us and lead us back to patriotism and civility, have become just as corrupt as the liberals who condones this type of behavior.
I want to believe this trend can be reversed and I do what I can do by confronting PC whenever it gets in my face, but things like this make it seem as though we are losing the battle.
From the orchestrated violence in UC Berkeley to poisoning a speaker in Iceland. Those of the delusional left as well as paid professional demonstrators who physically attack people need to be arrested and jailed for their actions.
Violence is their answer to discourse and the shutteruparatti will continue as long as they feel they can carry out their aggressive malevolence with impunity. What happened to Robert Spencer is attempted murder and I hope it is being vigorously investigated but somehow I doubt it.
I am proud to be a member of this club and I wish Mark and all others + fellow posters who are brave enough to support free speech all the best. I never thought during my lifetime I would have to write a comment like this.
Prior commenter Nathan from Snoqualmie homed in on Mark's statement "the great appeal of multiculturalism is that it absolves you from having to know anything about other cultures."
Richard Bernstein (a culture critic for the NY Times) in his 1992 book _Dictatorship of Virtue: How the Battle Over Multiculturalism Is Reshaping Our Schools, Our Country, Our Lives_ made the same point early on (pp. 5 - 6):
"There are clues [about what's really going on] among the self-proclaimed multiculturalists themselves. They rarely, at least as I have gotten to know them, know much about culture at all and even more rarely about somebody else's culture. There are interesting and worthy and certainly very well-intentioned people within the ranks of what I will call the ideological multiculturalists. And yet their lack of curiosity about the real cultural richness of the world, or their reduction of that richness to a few rhapsodic clichés, seems to confirm that culture is not really what is at issue in multiculturalism.
"At best, the ideological multiculturalists reiterate a few obsessively sincere phrases about the holistic spirit of Native American cultures or about how things are done in what they call the Asian culture or in the African-American culture.
"The Asian culture, it happens, is something I know a bit about, having spent five years at Harvard striving for a Ph.D. in a joint program called History and East Asian Languages and, after that, living either as a student (for one year) or a journalist (for six years) in China and Southeast Asia. At least I know enough to know that there is no such thing as the 'Asian culture.' There are dozens of cultures that exist in that vast geographical domain called Asia. When the multiculturalists speak, tremulous with respect, of the 'Asian culture,' it is out of goodness of heart, but not much actual knowledge.
"My experience leads me to believe that insofar as culture is involved in multiculturalism, it is not so much for me to be required to learn about other cultures as for me to be able to celebrate myself and for you to be required to celebrate me, and, along the way, to support my demand for more respect, more pride of place, more jobs, more foundation support, more money, more programs, more books, more prizes, more people like me in high places, a higher degree of attention."
[Two paragraph breaks inserted to improve readability.]
What is disturbing is that leftists and Islamists are increasingly difficult to differentiate when only their actions are compared.
I have heard many level headed folks say that there is one inevitability for which we are headed. I know I needn't specify.
There are two observations that may be relevant to this attack:
A serious hater is someone who hates himself
A person who believes he can win a debate does not try to shut his opponent up.
I believe that the perpetrators are losers who know that they cannot refute Spencer. They are already in Hell!
But they are still very dangerous.
It is astonishing how little debate there is among the left for contemplating the nuances and complexities of the modern world. It is much easier for the mind to have that all done by a collective consciousness. Who controls the doctrine and leadership of that consciousness? I guess whoever the collective ordains. Studying history shows an amazing regularity of manipulation of this human dynamic from the Pharaohs to Kim Jung Un.
They " feel righteous as they victimize and brutalize for the crime of disagreement."
This is the left in a nutshell...they repeat and repeat and repeat that you don't have the right to an alternative position. And if you disagree, you are guilty of committing a crime and you need to be punished. They have no need of critical thinking because someone else has done all the thinking for you.
And so the culture rots from the inside.
Dearest Mark,
I am very concerned about people like Robert Spencer and you. And I salute you both for standing and speaking. But the question still rolling around in my head is... What can I do? I know in one of your books you suggest getting to know details about local mosques, such as which form of Islam do they follow etc. This is hard to do, websites are very sanitized. I have a bumper sticker purchased from Catholic Answers which is the symbol used to mark out 'Nazarenes' in Syria. I do think if we had our own symbolic way of expressing our stand against unreason, we would be stronger. We can't all just wear Mark Steyn t-shirts all the time. Mine is starting to smell a bit. Suggestions?
The sad thing is just how pervasive this type of thinking is amongst the shutuppery contingent. Think about it, there was probably several people hanging around and one of them pipes up 'Hey, I've got a great idea-you know that Robert Spencer guy?'. Everyone else listened and agreed that poisoning him would just be the cat's meow. They showed him, huh...They're all for freedom of expression as long as you agree with them.
The attacker used his own drugs of abuse as a weapon. Whatever he had available. Just like the vehicle terrorists.
Right on. I'd encourage my like-minded brothers and sisters to be prepared for such an occurrence. Here in Phoenix, we have laws that make it fairly easy for law abiding people to be armed. You never know when some crazy f*ck is going to focus their gaze upon you. Sadly, these days, being a conservative may be all that it takes...
Mark, I had not heard about what happened to Robert Spencer in Iceland. Disgusting! My belief is that eventually things will reach a point where war in the streets will occur with these leftist low-lifes who threaten civil society and unfortunately, have the support of one of our major political parties. Trump's survival in office and success there are two of the things that can save US from such violence. He's got to get tough but quick!
Dittos on Mr. Spencer's speedy recovery! Please stay safe and aware, Mr. Steyn - we need you to be healthy for your Rush fill-in gigs! AND for all else you do to keep us informed! Thank you!
Great comments on this topic from your readers,almost as good as the article
Mark,
I still remember the first time I heard you say "the great appeal of multiculturalism is that it absolves you from having to know anything about other cultures". These powerful words struck a chord with me, and I've quoted you on that several times since. Thanks for all of your hard work in this dangerous world of virtue-signaling stifled speech.
The choice of Ritalin as one of the poisoning agents links this act to modern educational practices. Ritalin is similar to cocaine in its chemical structure and in its effect on the body. The selling point to the therapists who prescribe this drug to our children is that the prescribed capsule dissolves slowly, thus giving the "hyperactive" young boy a mellow glow that lets him pass unnoticed through our public schools. Not surprisingly, there is a black market for the pills, and the users have figured out how to process the pills so that they provide a cocaine-like high.
This is an ugly picture, and yet it is a standard procedure in American schools. We now see how the unexpected, but foreseeable, consequences of a curriculum based on indoctrination and therapeutic drugs can empower the darker snowflakes to use their psycho-chemical experiences to move on to direct action. If they catch the culprits, assuming the police even bother, it will be interesting to see what their connections are to public education.
I hate to say it but I think that the two points on the shut-up continuum are a lot closer than many people appreciate. Look at these Antifa clowns. Tell me these people would stop short if they felt they had the opportunity and the police continue their policy of neutrality. Is there any doubt what would have happened to Mr. Yiannopoulos had he not been evacuated from Berkeley at the last minute before the fires started? What would have happened to Ms. Coulter had she even attempted to speak there? I fear it is only a matter of time before the two points collide, something truly awful happens, and one of these brave souls becomes an addendum to Passing Parade.
I know you are a very courageous man and someone who would never recklessly place himself in danger but please stay safe Mark and thank you again for all that you do.
Generation Snowflake is, supposedly, the best-educated there has ever been, but that is far from the truth. A hundred years ago, teachers had a vocation to teach. Round about that time, some teachers decided that their political agenda required indoctrination, not teaching. Yeah, yeah, I know Latin: "doctrina", the root of "indoctrination", translates, basically, as "teaching", but, in English, teaching and indoctrination are vastly different things.
Essentially, teaching is providing the pupil with the encouragement and means to acquire unrestricted knowledge. Indoctrination is vetting and censoring sources of knowledge. There is a lot more indoctrination than teaching taking place in the West's schools and universities.
"the substitution of attitudes for education" So true.
People adopt attitudes as fashion statements. They choose beliefs because they like the way they will make them feel. And no matter the ostensible target of the cause, it's always about "us" and how we feel.
Yes, THEIR feelings are paramount. Even at the cost of other's lives. Funny thing is, most of those 'other' lives lost, faces disfigured, genitals mutilated, etc, as a result of their 'feel good' policies, occur among non-westerners- the people living in those 'equally valid' cultures they so cherish.
Very true. Attitudes and world views are selected for their fashion value, for their ability to make a person acceptable and attractive to their friends and neighbors, which feeds their feelings of self worth and pride. This is an apolitical weakness for humanity in general. Unfortunately Truth has become less and less fashionable.
And if the left succeeds in chasing Trump out of office, or so diminishing him that his broader policy objectives become unobtainable, the promulgator of this sort of of creeping terrorism (because that is what it is) will only feel more empowered. It will get very messy if that happens, because middle America will not stand for it.
The left, including their media enablers, are building a template. If they succeed against Trump no future Republican President will be spared the same treatment. I wonder if the Republican ditherers and equivocators in the two houses have considered this.
Most of the leadership in the west is thinking short term. More so in Europe than in the US, but still.
The exception is Israel, which demonstrate a order of magnitude greater competence in self preservation and future proofing than any other western nation.
Among the non western nations, the Chinese think long term, as does, to its (only) credit, the jihadist part of the arab world.
This is my concern as well. There is no way they have thought any of this through. If Trump goes down, any Republican president elected from this point forward will be nothing more than a puppet.
If the left succeeds against Trump there will be NO future Republican President.
The left is always very quick to repeatedly denounce Republican Presidents as the next Hitler in the making, yet it is they who are ever more quick to put on their Brown Shirts and blinders, march in lockstep, and serve their ideology by any means available because in their infantile worldview their ends justify those means.