New in PJ Media:
The email came in Monday from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the Pakistani government’s agency for regulating online communications. In thick legalese, it charged that my website Jihad Watch (the “Platform”) “is involved in dissemination of content against religion of Islam/Muslims, caricatures of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),” as well as in “circulating false rumors/reports against Muslims.” We don’t actually distribute any false reports or rumors, but we have stood up for the freedom of speech by publishing caricatures of Muhammad; the government of Pakistan professes to find that “outrageous” and claims that it is “severely hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims.” The post that is severely hurting Muslim sentiments turns out to be one from May 2015. Now that’s a slow burn.
The post that has the Pakistani government enraged and Muslims allegedly sobbing is an announcement that the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest that Pamela Geller and I organized in Garland, Texas, in May 2015 was sold out, and an excerpt from a Breitbart article about the event. It’s unclear why Pakistan has been so slow on the uptake here, and is only now getting around to warning me about my blasphemous conduct. One reason, of course, could be because issues of “blasphemy” and the freedom of speech are once again in the news because of the Qur’an-burning in Sweden, and so this old post somehow made its way to the desk of a bureaucrat in Islamabad.
Anyway, this notice from the Pakistani government, and our Muhammad cartoon event back in 2015, demonstrate the fact that there really is a clash of civilizations, for there are two irreconcilable perspectives at play here. One is the idea that the freedom of expression is an important right, even if one’s expression offends someone else, for to outlaw offending some particular group would be to set up that group as above criticism, and that would pave the way for tyranny. The other is the idea that because Muslims are offended by drawings of Muhammad, and some even become violent as a result of these drawings, non-Muslims must curtail their freedom of expression in order to avoid offending them, although no one is granting any other group the privilege not to be offended. The West continues to ignore the irreconcilability of those two perspectives and pretend that it can somehow come to some accommodation between the two. But it will only do so ultimately by sacrificing the freedom of speech, which is the way it’s heading now, or by standing up for that freedom even in the face of violent intimidation.
There is more. Read the rest here.
tim gallagher says
Congratulations to Robert Spencer and Jihad Watch. If you have got the barbaric knuckle draggers from Muslim pakistan coming after you for blasphemy then you know for sure that you are on the right track and are on the side of the decent, civilised members of the human race. If you ever have the Pakistani knuckle draggers approving of what you are doing then you know for sure that you are on the wrong track.
Keith O says
Well done that man.
A blasphemy charge is the same as a death sentence in Shitastan.
An old instructor of mine, a Vietnam vet, told me once, “you now your doing your job properly when the bastards want you dead”.
This is a huge compliment to both you and you staff at Jihad watch. Well done.
Fitna says
Well said at the end Robert, exactly right. The West needs to decide if it’ll buckle under to pressure from these medieval theocratic fascists or if it will stand up for itself and the freedom of speech/expression.
Some of the West’s weak and cowardly leaders have decided to cave in to Islamic intimidation, while others have given the middle-finger to these bullies and tyrants. Ofc they need to walk around with security guards as a result, but that’s a luxury afforded to the elites, not us ordinary folk.
If the West however put up a united front against Islam and proactively went after every single Muslim who’ve issued death threats and deported them, then we’d easily win this conflict. That’s the problem, many in the West, esp. those with power, still are completely clueless about the danger that Islam poses to all of us.
So unfortunately it puts us in a position where a handful of us are shouldering the burden of this battle when most of the western population should be awake, united and fighting back…that’s the only way to win this and ofc having anti-Islamic leaders in power.
I can see the fight is going to be really, really ugly, because so few want to believe Muslims are truly as evil, violent and as dangerous as they seem. They will eventually find out the hard way and we’ll probably end up like the UK with neighbor against neighbor and Muslim gangs roving around, terrifying everyone…until the politicians do something or until there is open warfare.
Still as the saying goes ‘better to die on your feet than to live on your knees’ and become another mindless, crazy headbanger for the death cult of the pedophile warlord.
John ..Smith says
+1
James Lincoln says
Fitna,
A frighteningly accurate post.
And yes, we should rapidly deport all muslims issuing death threats who can be legally deported.
They are the very low hanging fruit…
tim gallagher says
Good description of Muslims, Fitna, “Medieval theocratic fascists”. Islam is such a backward, primitive load of crap, it is a bad joke that such rubbish still is poisoning the modern, civilised world with its garbage.
gravenimage says
Fine post, Fitna.
Burnaby Lad says
“Platform” and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is man made haram
we’re just taking the pulse from your cold dead hands
kq6kq6kq6 says
“Some of the West’s weak and cowardly leaders have decided to cave into Islamic intimidation, while others have given the middle-finger to these bullies and tyrants.”
We caved into Islamic lies and intimidation only a day or two after the 9/11/2001 attacks which killed almost 3,000 people. Bush told us that Islam is a religion of peace. Then, three Muslims are made representatives in Congress. Then Obama becomes POTUS. And now pro-Muslim Biden is in the White House. We should have carried out the Ann Coulter plan. That’s what we should have done.
Scotsman48 says
Robert I hope you told them to take a long way off a short Pier as they are of zero importance in the general scheme of things.
They really are silly silly wee men.
NoLibsWelcomeHere says
Not “men”. “muslims”
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Precisely! And either RS or ML should tell them that they don’t care what Pakis think of them, and as noted, it’s Jihadwatch that has been blocking Pakistan for the last 10 years. And that should continue!
And since JW blocks Pakistan, the latter has no business expecting this stie to be compliant w/ Paki law. That’s only a valid expectation if this site wants to operate in Pakistan
John ..Smith says
If truthfully reporting the atrocities committed by muslims in the name of islam is, “severely hurting the sentiments of muslims.” Then I suggest to muslims, just don’t read it. As the old saying goes,”THE TRUTH HURTS.”
mg says
There are so many events sponsored and or created by Pakistain and it’s ‘intelligence’ services, the ISI.
Mumbai comes to mind- the slaughtering and injuring hundreds and of course the deliberate homiciding of a rabbi and his wife, who were sexually mutilated, the women’s womb ripped open to slaughter her fetus.
Unbelievable stories of horror, and murder.
The gall of Pakistan to even propose such about others.
cardbank16 says
You would think that with its problems, Mr Spencer would be the least of Pakistan’s worries.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Yeah, that country is fast devolving into the same state of affairs as Somalia
davidafoot says
If you import Moslems you import international problems without any other consideration you are letting in a State with a cult bolted on to it. In comes a guy obeying all sorts of laws and fatwas of the State which s/he brings in regarding international relations between the West and Islam and the Islamic allies.
If you import Moslems you import personal problems of indoctrination which come in without treatment! Putting all those living in the host society at risk, each Moslem brought up in a Moslem society is taught to defend the honour of their false prophet the warlord Mohamed, so Islam of the Moslem is projected on to the host society with violence, if necessary. Everybody around the Moslem must respect the false prophet. Effectively this foreign alien law is the will of that foreign politician and warlord. You have a state within a state TWO laws, TWO jurisdictions.. Impossible.
As a nation they look to have world domination through a world Caliphate.
As a person they look to be a copy of the perfect man their war lord, to look and think like him, the will of that foreign politician is another law, around the Moslem there is another state with primacy over the host state. Looking and thinking like warlord Mohamed is part of the law which they bring!
Moslems need treatment before being allowed anywhere near the West.
Hank says
+10
Agree.
Now the hard part: Explaining this to nitwits like Trudeau and peers
mg says
And the next newsday, from the frying pan into the frier: Sunni Muslim authorities demolish houses of minority Hindus, Christians, and Shias- in of all places- Pakistan!
Why how could that be? You mean they might have teachings and practices that make for theft of non Muslims, destruction of others properties and lives? Naw, it couldn’t be. Maybe, we might discuss how the Qu’ran makes Muslim individuals feel commanded to take from, steal, and abuse from non muslims- especially since it includes their government doing just that. Yes… more discussion, more showing of why these outrages and destructions take place. Blasphemy?!?, they say….. don’t make the rest of us laugh.
gravenimage says
Here’s Something You Don’t See Every Day: The Government of Pakistan Has Charged Me With Blasphemy
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Oh, no! I can see that Robert Spencer will have to cancel his luxury vacation to Islamabad!
Censorious thugs. That their coreligionists here in the States tried to murder Robert Spencer and these cartoonists at this show is horrifying–but that is what the government of Pakistan would like to do, as well.
More:
The post that is severely hurting Muslim sentiments turns out to be one from May 2015. Now *that’s* a slow burn.
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Brilliant.
RRoyBlake says
Would you consider posting the email from the Pakistani government? The reason I ask is that it sounds as if the Pakistani government is making a veiled threat against an American citizen and needs to get called out by the State Department. We also need to demand that the US make crystal clear that it considers Pakistan’s blasphemy law a human rights abuse. The Pakistani email gives us another chance to demand this. It is outrageous for the Pakistanis to contact you in such a manner in the first place.