{Reposted from the author’s blog}
“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” ― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
We are living in a time when many of us are being censored – silenced for making statements or asking questions that may offend some. At a time when we have social media – an opportunity to learn from others all over the world, expand our horizons, ask more questions of people we would never have had the opportunity to meet in person, we are being bullied into silence; on social media! Not only bullied into silence but erased; literally canceled. Cancel culture, today, reminds me of Islamophobia. Both of them operate on the same level. They try to shame and bully us into silence. And they use fear, especially the fear of being called a racist, to suppress opposition to their ideologies. RACIST – the one word that enforces silence.
The terms Islamophobia and cancel culture are left wing ideologies working hand in hand to undermine and destroy the West by vilifying critical thinking.
Let’s start with the amazing success of Islamophobia.
First the definition.
This is from Canada:
“Islamophobia – Includes racism, stereotypes, prejudice, fear or acts of hostility directed towards individual Muslims or followers of Islam in general. In addition to individual acts of intolerance and racial profiling, Islamophobia can lead to viewing and treating Muslims as a greater security threat on an institutional, systemic and societal level.”
From Britain:
The British All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) proposed the following one-sentence definition of Islamophobia:
“Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
In order to equate Islam with race, language had to be abused. Racism needed a new definition. “[W]hile it is true that Islam is not a race but a religion, the director of the anti-racism think tank Runnymede Trust, Omar Khan, explained:
“Defining Islamophobia as anti-Muslim racism properly locates the issue as one in which groups of people are ascribed negative cultural and racial attributes which can lead to a wide range of experiences, either as an unconscious bias, prejudice, direct or indirect discrimination, structural inequality or hate incidents.”
But the definition of Islamophobia is not in conformity with the Equality Act 2010, which defines “race” as comprising color, nationality and national or ethnic origins — not religious practice.
Not to worry-the term “phobia’ takes care of that.
The term Islamophobia did not happen ex nihilo – out of nowhere or nothing. Muslims promoting Islamophobia had learned well from homophobia. Homophobia is defined as an irrational fear of gay people. There is something irrational about being afraid of people who are attracted to people of the same sex. So we have learned not to attack gay people for being gay. So why not use the term phobia – “irrational fear” to silence criticism of Islam? And they did.
Yet, it seems to me millions of people have a rational fear of Islam.
Jewish people have a very rational fear of Islam. Calls from Muslim countries and Muslims around the world for death to Israel and death to the Jews and the eradication of the state of Israel – are rational fears. Calls for “Death to America” promotes a rational fear.
And then there are the Yazidi, a people with 4,000 year-old origins, a synthesis of pagan, Zoroastrian, Manichaean, Jewish, Nestorian Christian and Muslim elements. Since the 2014 ISIS invasion of their territory, the United Nations estimates that of the 500,000 Yazidi, 5,000 Yazidi men died in the massacre. Yazidi men who refused to convert to Islam were executed and dumped in mass graves; many boys were forced to become child soldiers. An estimated 7,000 Yazidi women and girls, some as young as nine, were enslaved and forcibly transferred to locations in Iraq and eastern Syria. Held in sexual slavery, survivors reported being repeatedly sold, gifted, or passed around among ISIS fighters. Do you think the Yazidi may have a rational fear of Islam?
Then there are the Christians in Africa who are being murdered for the crime of being Christian. Nigeria is becoming the “biggest killing ground of Christians in the world” due to attacks by Boko Haram and Fulani militants. International Christian Concern (ICC) estimates between 50,000 and 70,000 Christians have been killed in the last decade in the West African nation, the most populous on the continent.
The three biggest terrorist organizations in the world today are ISIS, Boko Haram, and al-Shabaab. Boko Haram has been operating in Nigeria since 2009, and ISIS started a splinter group there in 2015 called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Al-Shabaab operates out of Somalia and mainly in East Africa.
There is also another lesser known group which we at ICC term “Fulani militants.” This is a hostile group of individuals who attack Christian farming communities throughout the Middle Belt of Nigeria.
Do you think their fear of Islam is irrational?
The term Islamophobia has effectively silenced free speech by turning Islam into a race, so the fear of Islam is a phobia and racist. A double whammy. Except Islam is not a race. It was never a race, but hey, never let a fact get in the way of a narrative. No one wants to be labeled a racist! And so the sheep are silenced.
Which brings me to cancel culture. Cancel culture — the phenomenon of promoting the “canceling” of people, brands and even shows and movies due to what some consider to be offensive or problematic remarks or ideologies. It is “censorious” and “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.”
Disagree with the proponents of cancel culture, their ideologies, and without doubt YOU are a RACIST; because YOU are a WHITE SUPREMACIST. That ends the discussion or the possibility of employing critical thinking. Who wants to be labeled a white supremacist or racist?
Cancel culture has turned Conservative views into evil incarnate that must be squashed as Nazism was squashed.
Democrats are calling for the canceling, silencing of Conservative news stations. A full frontal attack on the freedom of speech. Reps. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif complain only about “right wing media outlets.” Congressional committees are now meeting to discuss ways of dealing with “disinformation and extremism in the media.” The letter contains a question, one that is beyond the pale, yet these lawmakers have no trouble asking this, out loud. “Are you planning to continue carrying Fox News, One American News Network and Newsmax on your platform both now and beyond the renewal date? If so, why?”
After the years of McCarthyism, how did we get here again? Right – erasing the past.
My favourite is the new “Math Equity,” which informs teachers that many classroom practices once considered normal are actually aspects of white supremacy culture that must be systematically dismantled.
The program is based on Education Trust-West’s toolkit, A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction.
“Only white people can be racist in our society, because only white people as a group have that power,” says the Dismantling Racism 2016 Workbook, which is heavily referenced in the toolkit.
The Dismantling Racism 2016 Workbook contains a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture that are utilized in the Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction toolkit. The list includes traits such as individualism, objectivity, perfectionism, paternalism, power hoarding, and worship of the written word. Dear Lord-not the worship of the WRITTEN word!
The toolkit says that the white supremacy characteristic of individualism is reinforced in the classroom when independent practice is valued over teamwork.
“This does not give value to collectivism and community understanding, and fosters conditions for competition and individual success,” it says.
The toolkit says that placing an emphasis on “real world” math “can result in using mathematics to uphold capitalist and imperialist ways of being and understandings of the world.”
And the response to these teaching methods? Silence. Except for a brave few who put their lives and careers in jeopardy – from cancel culture; too many parents are silent sheep.
Cancel culture, like Islamophobia, is meant to name, shame and blame people into silence and give up their free speech and with it, critical thinking. They are both an attack on freedom given to us on our Constitutions. Sadly, the problem is that it has been “given to us” and too many have thrown away the gift in the name of tolerance, inclusion and accommodation, and ultimately fear of being labeled a racist.
It is not so much that the lambs are being silenced as the lambs are silencing themselves into oblivion.
What have we done?
Will we undo it?
Can we undo it?
Will freedom prevail?