He could be killed by fanatical Leftist ideologues as well. In any case, it would have been refreshing if Professor Greer, instead of insisting that he was not guilty of “Islamophobia,” had challenged this spurious propaganda concept itself, but no such luck. That’s an indication of how far the intellectual rot has advanced in the academic world, both in the UK and in the US. I hope he will remain safe.
“University professor who was ‘cancelled’ after being wrongly accused of Islamophobia fears he will be killed by Muslim extremists as he blasts ‘woke’ students for putting the lives of academics at risk,” by Chris Matthews, Daily Mail, February 13, 2023:
A university professor who was cancelled after false allegations of Islamophobia has revealed he was scared Muslim extremists would kill him.
Human rights scholar Steven Greer, 66, who was born in Belfast, said he was more afraid for his life than he was growing up during the Troubles when undergraduates at Bristol University Law School complained that elements of his course were racist and discriminatory.
Professor Greer grew a long, bushy beard and wore fake glasses to disguise himself and carried a screwdriver and a ‘sturdy’ umbrella in case he was attacked.
Prof Greer was fully exonerated of all wrongdoing last year and has slammed ‘woke’ students for putting the lives of academics like himself at risk.
The grandfather-of-three fears a ‘Woke Inquisition’ could ‘dumb down degree courses at many of the UK’s finest institutions’.
He said: ‘Cancel culture is fast becoming the scourge of academia.
‘A climate of fear is already replacing an environment of free, critical inquiry.
‘There is a growing risk that many students will leave university with little critical insight, knowledge, or appreciation of the vital importance of intellectual freedom and evidence-based thinking in a healthy democracy.
‘Some, wearing self-tied gags and blinkers, will go on to join the next generation of leaders. This does not bode well for the future of our society.’
He said academics were at risk of attacks because of how easy it was for students to make racism allegations ‘based on nothing but lies and distortion’.
The former university lecturer said academics were ‘already self-censoring’ because they were afraid of being falsely branded as ‘hostile to minorities including gays, transsexuals and Muslims’ by ‘woke student campaigners’.
Prof Greer added: ‘Prejudice is deplorable and should rightly be condemned but this is far removed from legitimate academic enquiry….
‘Almost overnight my name became synonymous with bigotry, racism and Islamophobia – especially on social media – because of a handful of malicious students who set out to ruin my life.
‘I was vilified and my name and reputation were dragged through the mud.
‘For my own safety, I was forced to act like a fugitive for including academically authoritative, fact-based information in my course that a few militant students took objection to.
‘My case is not the first of this kind and nor, sadly, is it likely to be the last.
Allegations of Islamophobia were first made against Prof Greer after he used a teaching slide that mentioned the 2015 terror attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a magazine that had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The slide was described as having ‘Islamophobic rhetoric’.
Additionally, a lecture that included ‘well-attested observations’ about the inferior treatment of women and non-Muslims in Islamic states and the tough penalties handed out under Sharia law was slated as ‘bigoted and divisive’.
A five-month inquiry led by a senior academic at Bristol University found each of the accusations to be baseless.
An independent QC appointed during the inquiry also found Prof Greer was not guilty of harassment.
However, the ‘scurrilous falsehoods by a handful of illiberal students’ led to the removal of the material from the course and left him fearing for his reputation and his life.
Professor Greer was so scared for his own safety that he went into hiding.
The allegations against the professor were first levelled in October 2020 when Bristol University’s Islamic Society (BRISOC) made a formal complaint to the University of Bristol alleging multiple counts of Islamophobia in his teaching and other public output.
He was accused of expressing ‘bigoted views’ in the Islam, China, and the Far East module of the Human Rights in Law, Politics and Society (HRLPS) course he designed and taught since 2006.
The module highlighted the inferior treatment of women and non-Muslims in Islamic states, and the hard penalties issued under Sharia law….
In February 2021, BRISOC made its complaint public through an online petition and social media campaign.
Professor Greer was also accused of ‘Islamophobic rhetoric’ for including the 2015 Paris terror attack in a lecture slide, and of airing ‘Islamophobic, bigoted and divisive’ views.
BRISOC also claimed that he had laughed at a passage from the Quran in a seminar….
Prof Greer’s memoir, Falsely Accused of Islamophobia: My Struggle Against Academic Cancellation, was released today….
tim gallagher says
Letting Muslims into a country will foul up any civilised western country and is bound to destroy the fundamentals of our way of life, such as freedom of speech, and will lead to disgraceful situation such as this. islam is simply incompatible with civilised life in many ways.
Rarely says
They were exercising their Freedom of Speech. Spin off — it shut down his and that of those who share his opinions.
If this type of behavior is allowed to continue it will surely lead to blood in the streets. The “usual” legal remedies are obsolete in this world of computerized social media. Further remedies need to be devised or this type of intimidation will become the rule of the day (if it hasn’t already happened);
Any ideas?
Linde B. says
To Rarely- Here is my idea: any student or faculty member who accuses a fellow faculty member of Islamophobia should be informed that if the charges are found to be false, that student or faculty member accuser would be dismissed at the end of the term and not allowed to return.
As for me, I am 😎🥳Islamophobic and proud of it. Islam is a horrible religion.
tim gallagher says
Linde B, I’m also proud to be islamophobic as i can find nothing positive in islam at all. Any decent person who understands what barbaric islam is all about would be a hater of islam.
Phil Copson says
You are falling into the same trap as Professor Greer, ie – debating an issue in the terms set by your opponent. The answer to the question “Are you Islamophobic?” isn’t “Yes” or “No” – it’s “There is no such thing as Islamophobia.”
So – as you can’t be “Islamophobic” if there is no such thing as “Islamophobia” – then I guess we need a new term? Apart from sounding like a type of Middle Eastern crockery, maybe “Islamaware” would cover it?
Plus it isn’t a religion – it’s a supremacist, totalitarian ideology.
My own “ideology” is: “There is no such thing as a free lunch – there is no such thing as a “Green Tax” – there is no such thing as a “Trans-woman” – there is no such thing as successful socialism – and there is no such thing as “Islamophobia”.
There you go – the problems of the world sorted out in a single sentence. LOL.
tim gallagher says
Any country that lets enough Muslims in will definitely end up with blood in the streets – plenty of non-Muslims’ blood will be shed as the violent Muslims seek to impose islam on us all as they are always bound to do. My only idea is to not let Muslims into any non-Muslim country, at least in large numbers. France is already in big trouble with 9% Muslims. I welcome diversity, when it is Buddhists, and other non-Muslims, people who create no problems that I can see here in Australia, but Muslims are nothing but trouble and I keep thinking, now what aspect of barbaric islam do I think has a positive aspect to it and my answer is always nothing at all. In islam, I see no redeeming features whatsover even though I do meet the occasional Muslim who seems pleasant enough.. I don’t know whether we will win this war that islam has always declared on all of us non-Muslims for 1400 years but we had better do so or it is back to the dark ages for everybody. At 72 years old, it won’t matter much to me, but younger people had better wake the hell up.
Colleen Page says
Absolutely a fact. I started to become VERY concerned years ago, I think in the 1970s, when our Australian Government agreed to take in immigrants from the Middle East…..mainly people who were Muslim. My thoughts at the time were, and definitely still are, that by bringing into our country people of a harsh religion with a very different philosophy would be destructive and interfering to our customs and beliefs. Basically Islam lives by the sword and dies by the sword. is threatening, domineering and beligerent only to mention a few negatives. I am still very very annoyed about the decision our Liberal Government under Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser made in the late 1970s to bring in asylum seekers who all were extremist, fundamentalist Muslim Lebanese .At this time Australia had no formal refugee policy!!! Today, 2023 we are realising that well over 3.5% of Australian population is Muslim and growing. It is a worry.
mg says
I would hope he would engage in the study of Kaffirophobia and denounce the Jihadists for their hatreds and vicious homicidism that threatens him and others who just happen to not simply let all muslim pronouncements go without any commentary
Scotsman48 says
islam is by its own teachings a Fascist Religious Cult, that has no sense of humor/humour.
islamism is the new nazism.
GOLDMANN says
I love Mr Robert Spence GOD.✝️🕎 BLESS YOU. Always praying for you and ms Geller .❤️❤️😁
OLD GUY says
He is most likely correct that his life is in danger. Islam teaches to take violent actions against any and all who speak out against it. Muslims have laws against blasphemy and are trying to pass them in the western countries they are invading through migration. Violence is a key part of islamic teaching.