Atlas Shrugs May 18, 2013 _EyeOnACrazyPlanet:_ (http://p.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/26412/13042656/4591183/eyecrazy.blogspot.ca/2013/05/my-night-with-pam-geller.html) My Night with Pamela Geller (thanks to _Kathy Shaidle, Five Feet of Fury)_ (http://p.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/26412/13042656/4591183/www.fivefeetoffury.com/2013/05/14/j ust-about-everything-id-heard-about-pamela-geller-was-a-lie/)
While she is well known for her opposition to Islamist terror, with her notoriety for anti-Muslim rhetoric, Pamela Geller, as a subject, was someone whom I generally avoided. Her campaigns against "Jihad" were notable, but mainly for the reactions they inspired and the way in which it highlighted the hypocrisy that some on the left in America demonstrate when it comes to Free Speech. Islamism, with its determined mission of suppressing dissent and its fostering of ideals that inevitably lead to terror and repression, is despicable. But just as despicable is prejudice against Muslims and the presumption of guilt or sympathy for terror simply because of someone's ethnic or cultural background. I didn't know if Geller's words justified her reputation as a bigot and, to be honest, I didn't find her interesting enough to inquire, so to my thinking she was irrelevant. That changed recently when she stirred up a controversy in my part of the world. The York [ Canada ] Regional Police Department leaned on one of its chaplains to cancel a speech by her because it didn't reflect their "values of diversity," threatening to remove him as a police chaplain if he hosted her at his synagogue. That would be reasonable if Geller's reputation was true. Yet retaining a Muslim chaplain _who attended a conference organized by a group with direct terrorist affiliations,_ (http://p.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/26412/13042656/4591183/blazingcatfur.blogspot.ca/2013/05/york-regional-p olice-pamela-geller.html) including with al Qaida, demonstrated the York Police's rather odd and hypocritical concept of "values of diversity." It seemed to me that it would be worthwhile to hear what Geller had to say for herself, rather than to make a judgement based on what others said about her, so I accepted an invitation to hear her speech. I'm glad I did, because just about everything I'd heard about Pamela Geller was a lie. There was nothing "anti-Muslim" in anything she said. Her fight is with Jihadism, a fanatical ideology which promotes violence and terror. Geller said her principal motivation is the struggle to preserve individual liberty, which Islamism, like Marxism, fights to repress. The delivery was fiery and pugnacious, but her message in fact resembled that of Muslim reformers I know, such as Salim Mansur and Tarek Fatah, who struggle to spread the word that it is Muslims themselves who are victimized the most and harshest by Islamist totalitarianism. Like those Muslim reformers, she warned that by turning a blind eye to Islamism in North America, we encourage its growth here. Geller spoke against the repression of women and female genital mutilation and honor killings and the promotion of terrorism of which most American Muslims find abhorrent, but far too many Islamic leaders, such as those at the _York Region Islamic Society_ (http://p.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/26412/13042656/4591183/www.yorkregion.com/news-story/1414572-controversial-islamic-rally -gets-go-ahead/) , remain silent or even give tacit approval. I could elucidate further, but that was in essence the entirety of her message and a review of _her website_ (http://p.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/26412/13042656/4591183/atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/) and writings suggests that her talk last night is consistent with everything she has said in the past. ... -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
