22 Comments

• Dua Dahrouj says:

  According to Ryan Ruppert, it seems that we have come to a day and age in which we need to attend controversial events in order to test our own intelligence. I respect Mark Steyn for his intention to educate others but I do not respect what he is promoting, because it fosters both ignorance and hate. Yes, such speakers attract a large audience as Andrew Lawton mentioned, but out of common intellect, choosing not to attend makes more sense rather than attending just to rebuttal one’s lack of knowledge.

• Matthew says:

  What? You respect Mark Steyn for his intention to Educate others but you do not respect what he is promoting?

  What is he promoting exactly?

  Free Speech isn’t it?
  You don’t respect free speech?

  What is it you don’t respect or are you just saying this because it’s the popular thing to not like Mark Steyn with people who are of university age?

• Dennis Shape says:

  How crazy is the world getting when Mark Steyn is considered a radical? And radicals are pandered to?

• Bob Devine says:

  @Dua Dahrou.

  If you think that Mark Steyn promotes or fosters ignorance and hate you have obviously not heard him speak or read his essays or books.

  Promoting free speech speaks for itself and his essays and speeches on Islam only repeat what the Islamics say about and do themselves. Maybe you should be directing your statement at them and not Mr. Steyn.

  I believe the reason for his notoriety if that is the right word it is because of all the over the top and sometimes violent protests initiated by Muslim and far left wing groups when he speaks at events such as this.

• John says:

  What’s interesting is that Mark Steyn is NOT ignorant. If you read or listen to him you’ll realize he is a thoughtful and very knowledgeable person who uses a ton of facts to back up his argument. You may disagree with him, but he definitely is not ignorant and does not foster it.

• Karen says:

  People who speak the truth are always a problem, aren’t they? So much better to intimidate people into paying lip service to lies.

• effinayright says:

  For a lot of people on the left, and especially Muslims who do not want their prejudices challenged, there is wisdom in the expression, “You shall know the truth, and it will piss you off mightily”.

• Miriam J. says:

  Oh yay! Can we organize a Tea Party next?

• aelfheld says:

  “[...] I think his words propagate fear without a clear understanding [...] of the Muslims that reside here in Canada [...]”

  Hmmm. Like the Khadrs?

• mpdman says:

  I am a Western alumni from the 80′s. Back then, Professor Rushton got into huge trouble for his views that race and intelligence were correlated (you young’ns should wiki that one…). I remember thinking at the time, “man, wouldn’t it just be easier for him to just shut up, and tow the party line?”.

  That saga ended up being one of my more vivid memories of UWO life. For a brief moment, we stopped wondering what band was playing the Cedar Lounge (is that still there?…), and we engaged in some intelligent (and sometimes unintelligible) discourse about race, ideals of higher education, freedom of expression, etc, etc.

  Gotta remember – if you don’t agree with the message, challenge it, but don’t shut down the conversation.

• mpdman says:

  Sorry, meant to say “alumnus” up there. Yeesh.

• blaine hislop says:

  mark steyn at western? there might be hope for western yet – but I want to stress, “might”. Of course, there was a former PhD student at UWO in the English Department a number of years’ ago – “she” went by the name of Kirsten Munro – who often made blanket generalizations (and indictments) against men in the course of delivering her lectures; I am not sure the gazette would have considered her “controversial,” but her ramblings often ventured into the realm of sexism. If I’ve learned anything at all at canadian universities, it’s that certain groups have wide-ranging license to make pernicious claims against those they dislike whilst others are denied any such freedom.

  As it stands, I would be interested to hear what certain members of the august western faculty think of steyn’s appearance. if you’ve attended any classes in the feminist (or womyn’s) studies department at western, you’ll quickly apprehend that some so-called academics, while they love to hear themselves talk, have a terrible time enduring an open, vigorous dialogue which features a measure of reciprocity; this, of course, explains why the minions in that department can be reliably expected to support speech codes constraining the rights of others to say what they wish (though usually those “others” are just white, christian males). My guess is that they are outraged at the prospect that anyone (psst, Mark Steyn) who doesn’t subscribe to their marxist, feminist world-view should be given a platform to speak at western. Happily, Andrew Lawton is going to fight on behalf of freedom of speech and freedom of thought on western’s campus – which probably means he better not have a female academic in the social sciences marking any of his papers (assuming he is a student) for the foreseeable future.

  Ah, Canadian pseudo-intellectualism.

• P. Walton says:

  In addition to Blaine Hislop’s comment on blanket generalizations against men. It it just me for the last 20 years that has found himself sick and tired of the “dumb guy” advert. They are a occur on a daily basis in radio and practically 100% of the time for the sale of Tim Horton’s coffee. Steyn talks of the dual sisterhood when it comes to the females from the Muslim community and that Islam trumps feminism leaving Muslim women to their fate. And as for us poor men, feminism trumps sexual equality.

• blaine hislop says:

  one more thing, P. Walton:

  a woman is always equal to – or better than – you, until it comes time to pick up the bar tab; at that very moment, she slips back into little-girl mode and wants someone else to pay the freight. The problem with so many women in our culture, and this includes “women” at western, is that they never grow up. As someone who may have a son one day, I am going to do what I can to protect him from the feminazis – and I am also going to stand up for him where possible. I really think all men should be doing the same, because the gynocracy we see in our culture today will not go away by itself; too many white females prosper because of it. You have to create a critical mass and you have to make their lives uncomfortable in much the same way as they make your lives uncomfortable.

• blaine hislop says:

  by the way, why wasn’t one of my earlier comments posted? I was merely pointing out the fact that, after 23 years in existence (and after 23 years of public funding), the womyn’s studies department at western is still monopolized by white females; why is it that this department is not subjected to the same scrutiny as any other department on campus would be if it had that sort of homogeneous composition?

• Peter Carroll says:

  I think ‘mdpman’ also meant ‘toe’. Toe the line. Sheesh.

• Timothy Shaw-Zak says:

  The leader of the Muslim Student association is quoted saying: “I think his words propagate fear without a clear understanding of the religion or of the Muslims that reside here in Canada and as a result demonstrate a tremendous amount of ignorance on his part,”

  I often see comments like this made of critics of the political agendas (and track-record) promulgated by Islamic institutions. The expectation is that only the well informed have a right to speak out on Islam, and that anyone who is well informed is a convert or at least sympathetic.

  It’s as though it’s not possible to obtain a working knowledge of the attitude promoted towards unbelievers by talking to unbelievers who have lived and worked in Islamic cultures. Or perhaps a little study of the origins and the history of such states.

  But my preference is that people could simply read the Koran and the Hadiths. Then it becomes easier to see how, even though Islamism is a complex and often sublime belief system, even a comparatively uninformed person could be perfectly reasonable in making controversial statements about it. As far as infidels go, Mark Steyn is relatively well informed.

• NMR says:

  Those, like Selma Tobah, claim that Mark Steyn’s words: “…propagate fear without a clear understanding of the religion [Islam] or of the Muslims that reside here in Canada and as a result demonstrate a tremendous amount of ignorance on his part.”

  But what he has written is true, none of it made up, and some of the supposedly most “offensive” words were taken verbatim from the mouths of Muslim religious leaders. If the truth is hurtful to some, should we not speak truth? If quoting verbatim is discomforting, should we avoid quotations? If truth is not a defense, are lies; and if not truth or lies, what defense is valid?

  Mark Steyn’s antagonists are offended by him as messenger; he dared to speak with authority when silence and delusion were preferred.

  That these basics were missed in this forum, in a supposedly truth-seeking community, speaks volumes about the nature of education at Western.

• colin flaherty says:

  note to journalism students: when writing about authors, especially very smart ones, probably better to read their work, at least a bit, or let someone else write the story who has.

• Ted S. says:

  «Selma Tobah, president of the Muslim Students’ Association, said, “I think his words propagate fear without a clear understanding of the religion or of the Muslims that reside here in Canada and as a result demonstrate a tremendous amount of ignorance on his part. I think it is much more constructive to oppose his words through our own actions, meaning we will only be working harder to demonstrate to Western and the community at large what it means to be Muslim,”»

  Hear, hear! Ms. Tobah, may I suggest that among the actions that you, the Muslim Students Association and the Muslims who reside in Canada take to “oppose his words” are the following:

  • Strong, clear and unambiguous allegiance to the laws and liberties of the Anglo-Saxon West, whose citizenship you–presumably–claim.

  • Renunciation of any dual (or treble) citizenship.

  • Strong, clear and ambiguous statement that you hold Western law to be supreme over Sharia and that you harbor no ambition to replace Western law with Sharia.

  • Strong, clear and unambiguous rejection of taqiyya in all speech and discussion with non-Muslims.

  • Strong, clear and unambiguous rejection of violence in promoting Islam or establishing Sharia.

  • Strong, clear and unambiguous condemnation of those Muslims who already have used violence to promote Islam or establish Sharia.

  • Strong, clear and unambiguous rejection of government funding in promoting Islam or establishing Sharia.

  • Strong, clear and unambiguous condemnation and rejection of all fatwas issued by Islamic authorities endorsing violence against non-Muslims for speaking unfavorably of Islam or Muslims. Also, strong, clear and unambiguous condemnation and rejection of all the Islamic authorities who have already issued such fatwas.

  • Strong, clear and unambiguous opposition to and condemnation of female genital mutilation, honour killings, and other brutal practices that pervade the Umma.

  Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Fund, from Muslim sources, a memorial scholarship for Aqsa Parvez, for a young Muslima to attend Western University, during which time she will be free to dress or behave as she pleases.

  • Raise money from Muslim sources to help defray Ayan Hirsi Ali’s costs of defending herself from your violent co-religionists.

  • Raise money from Muslim sources to help defray Danish cartoonists and Dutch film-makers’ costs of defending themselves from your violent co-religionists.

  • Rebuild, with Muslim labor, the churches, synagogues, Hindu, Buddhist, Bahai and other non-Muslim shrines that have been burnt down or destroyed by your co-religionists.

  • Acknowledgment of Muslim guilt for 9-11 and other atrocities. Acknowledgment that the vicinities of said atrocities are not appropriate places for any sort of Islamic religious establishment.

  I’m sure that you will have no problem thinking of many other equally convincing ways that you can “demonstrate to Western and the community at large what it means to be Muslim”, so I will leave the rest to you.

  Note that failure to undertake anything like the above will lead me and most normal people to conclude that you are not serious and that Mark Steyn is absolutely right.

  Good luck.

• Steven Row says:

  “…the above will lead me and most normal people to conclude ..”

  define normal?

• Steven Row says:

  I find it funny that no one has tried to question or disprove the first sentence of Dua Dahrouj’s comment, which is “it seems that we have come to a day and age in which we need to attend controversial events in order to test our own intelligence”.
  And this gets me thinking that what she pointed out is very much true; we are all intelligent enough to know what is right from wrong and if we are spending our money and time in order to attend something that will basically ‘prove our intelligence’ ….those who do attend for that sake shows a bit of ignorance on their behalf.
  .