The Propagandist is proud of its courageous allies taking the fight to the enemy. We've won many battles... but the war grinds on.

Some new dispatches from our glorious comrades in arms:

• Ahmadinejad: My Other Car’s A Fiat
• Will All Suspicious Passengers Go to Security, Please?
• Resurrection of Christ canceled in Syria
• Upcoming Gaza Flotilla Tied to Terrorist Groups
• Wimpy Warfare: Obama's "Bay of Libya" Fiasco

Confusion to our enemies!

Of course, the headline is untrue. It would also have been untrue -- and absolutely shocking -- if we had offered the following variations:

• A Third Of Japanese Support The Murder Of 5 Chinese in their home
• A Third Of Americans Support The Murder Of 5 Mexicans in their home
• A Third Of Russians Support The Murder Of 5 Germans in their home

Or this one:

• A Third Of Israelis Support The Murder Of 5 Palestinians in their home

Unfortunately, the headline below is true (following the actual murder of an Israeli family in their sleep) -- and worse, it's not all that shocking:

• A third of Palestinians support murder of five Israelis in their home

We've come to expect that a substantial portion of the Palestinian population will support terrorism and murder aimed at Israelis anytime, anywhere. And this is all deemed perfectly normal. Surely, such attitudes could not be an impediment to peace in the Middle East?

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist

The Propagandist continues to fight for victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

We also continue to paraphrase Winston Churchill whenever we feel like it.

We salute our friends and allies who persevere under heavy fire and furious counter-attacks. Some reports from the front:

• A Despicable Regime. Iran gets twisted in its own web of lies.
• Afghans for Peace Gang hides Terrorism behind Feminism. More lying jerks.
• Bahrain: The Missing "A" Word. A country actively discriminates against a downtrodden religious majority. Weirdly, no comparisons to South Africa.
• The UN and the Obama Administration on the Wrong Side of History. Are they about to throw the Middle East's only Western democracy under the bus?
• Pakistan's mullahs call for atomic jihad on India. Probably not for the first time. Or the last.

Confusion to our enemies!

 

Veteran American media personality Christiane Amanpour of ABC TV taped an interesting interview with His Excellency Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s Ambassador to the USA.

She led him along politely with mild “who-is-in-charge” and “where-is-Mubarak” type queries, gradually leading to questions about how the new Egypt will relate to the presently-strong ties with the USA, and more importantly to us: would Egypt continue to uphold the 30-something-years peace agreement with Israel? Amanpour obviously expected this issue to be the crowning concern of the interview.

The Ambassador wasn’t rattled. He demonstrated his diplomatic mettle. He spoke of the importance to Egypt of continuing firm and friendly US-Egyptian relations (despite Egypt’s horrendous human rights record, it is a major beneficiary of US largesse), and went on to talk of how the close relationship benefits Egypt, including its stability and prosperity.

On the subject Israel-Egyptian relations, the Ambassador was adamant that these would not change. He went so far as to say that “[ … Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel] is a main element of Egyptian foreign policy”, and that it had benefitted both countries. Read more

It's unacceptable interference in our affairs.

It's a family matter.

Just look the other way.

We'll deal with it ourselves.

It's none of your business, stranger.

Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong.

If you try to interfere, it's just going to make the situation worse.

We have the situation under control. Just go away and don't tell anyone what you saw.

Asia Bibi is sentenced to death. Her crime? Touching a communal water bowl.

This doesn't make any sense, of course. Perhaps the situation becomes clearer if we learn that the woman is a Christian. No? OK, then. The "crime" occurred in a Pakistani rural village. Her accusers are Muslim. And even though she is not Muslim herself, she is subject to Islamic-inspired law.

Now it becomes clear. In any civilized country on Earth, not only would the woman be set free; the government would ensure that the police, lawyers and judge involved in the case were stripped of their titles and probably locked up themselves for violating this woman's rights. And let's be clear - it is not too much to categorize any country in the 21st century that governs itself by a 7th century medieval tribal code as uncivilized. We would not stand for this in our own land. We must not let such awful injustice pass without condemnation out of a misplaced soft bigotry of low expectations.

Increasingly, this sort of systematic injustice threatens to undermine our own court systems. In Oklahoma, the Council on American-Islamic Relations is trying to block a new state constitutional amendment - that had just been approved by 70 percent of the vote - which prevents courts from deciding cases using Islamic law. As other commentators have pointed out, the Hamas-linked CAIR organization may have done those of us attached to secular law a favor by showing their hand. If the average American was unaware of the goals of Islamists (and this is already less and less common), these sorts of interventions make it easy to distinguish their jihadist aims.

In every country where sharia law is in place, respect for human rights and civil liberties is virtually (or completely) nonexistent. We must continue to resist the relentless drive of jihadists to overturn our own systems of justice. And where sharia conflicts with the universal aim of the protection of life and human rights abroad - as in the case of Asia Bibi - we must not be silent.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist.

The Propagandist has come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. And we're all out of bubble gum.

Our loyal readers and fellow propagandists will notice our cool redesign. A big thanks goes to our partners, the website development geniuses at Left Right Minds. We've now got a brighter look and a more reader-friendly layout.

See our latest propaganda in the box at the top right. At the top of the first sidebar, you'll see buttons you can use to subscribe in an RSS reader or by email, follow us on Twitter or Facebook or get our email alerts. And of course, read our articles on the left.

We hope our readers like it. Feel free to leave us a comment with your feedback.

We've also got a bit more real estate on our pages for advertisers. With a click on one of our ad buttons, our loyal readers could be your loyal buyers, donors and supporters. Learn more about advertising opportunities with The Propagandist.

If you like our online magazine, tell your friends and colleagues about us. Link to us. Tweet about us. Get into an argument in the comments section. Propaganize.

Confusion to our enemies!

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist

New Threats to Freedom

From Banning Ice Cream Trucks in Brooklyn to Abandoning Democracy Around the World

Thirty Great Writers On Cultural Trends That are Undermining Our Liberties



Edited and Introduced by Adam Bellow

Templeton Press 2010, 317 pp.

I attended a Free Speech conference last year in Washington D.C., and one of the speakers (a very well-known blogger) asked why it was necessary to have such a conference in a country with a constitutional amendment on free speech.

She missed the point.  You don't need conferences on free speech in places like North Korea or Cuba. But they are necessary in places like the US because there are always 'new' threats – particularly as technology develops more and more rapidly.

The same can be said about this excellent new book, "New Threats to Freedom".  One might wonder in this age where we have so much freedom: are there really 30 new threats?  After all, we live in a time when communism has been defeated. It's  even on its last legs in Cuba. China has turned to a form of capitalism. Enlightenment values are even taking hold in places like Afghanistan.

The answer is yes and no, and it all depends.  Some of the essays in this book will truly alarm you.  Some will have you wondering what all the fuss is about.  And, some while pointing to a true problem aren’t really a threat to freedom.

Let’s start with some of the better essays. Bruce Bawer, who has previously warned us in two books about the danger from radical Islam, now discusses "the Closing of the Liberal Mind." 

"9/11 was a test for the baby-boom and post-baby-boom generations.  They failed.  Talk about freedom, and they'll look at you with a condescending smirk.  Criticize Islamic ideology, and they'll grow visibly uncomfortable at being in the presence of such bigotry.  Talk to them about responsibility and sacrifice, and they will look at you as if you are some out-of-touch old codger or some character out of the Iliad.  They call themselves liberals, but they have effectively aligned themselves with the most illiberal regimes on the planet."

Bruce’s essay struck a nerve with me.  I have a whole host of friends from whom I now rarely see.  I used to go dinner parties and dinners but invites have long since dried up.  You see I might say something in support of Israel, or I might say something about Iraq or Afghanistan.  Some of these friends used to love to debate for hours on end in University, but no more.  They like their dinner parties to be 'pure' - no real discussion and no real debate.

I know that Bruce is now turning his essay into a book and I can’t wait.

James Kirchik in his essay on "Transnational Progressivism" writes about the coalition of Islamists, authoritarian powers like Iran and Venezuela, and what he calls "transnational progressives" who believe that, for the good of the world, America must be tamed.

"The transnational progressives also act in concert - thought not intentionally - with Islamists and authoritarians when they call for American surrender in the theaters of war on Islamic supremacism, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of the other remote locales where our enemies plot attacks on American soil.  When the insurgency in Iraq picked up force in 2005, congressional Democrats backed calls for a retreat, which would undoubtedly have led to even more bloodshed and a victory of Jihadism.  As focus has shifted back to Afghanistan due to bettering conditions in Iraq (no thanks, of course, is due to American liberals for that development, they are calling for withdrawal there as well."

We can see this in Canada too with the NDP call to support our troops, but also to bring them home.  The loony left really believe that Afghans object to the coalition fighting the Taliban, which is just not true.  Unfortunately, lately in Canada (and elsewhere) there is also a chorus, from the right, who also object to the war in Afghanistan.  Their reasons are many – oh, the terms of engagement aren't quite right, or they object to the mention of sharia law in the Afghan constitution, or they believe that the war is unwinnable.  Whatever.  The last thing we need is a coalition of the loony left and the isolationist right.

Christopher Hitchens writes in "Multiculturalism and the Threat of Conformity" about the cartoons of Muhammad that caused a lightning storm in the Muslim world.  Not a single major American newspaper or TV network showed the actual cartoons, and we all know what happened in Canada.

"Things were not even allowed to get that far in New Haven.  Rather, it was announced that a book about the cartoon controversy, written by a lady Danish professor of some standing, would not after all include a reprinting of the cartoons themselves.  The authoress protested at this destruction of the very point and core of her book, but the publisher of the university press overruled her, saying that publication of the offending illustrations would "instigate" violence.  To "instigate" is knowingly to try and bring about a certain outcome:  how depressing that senior staff at the press of a great university do not appear to understand the meaning of a plain word.  Even more depressing is the realization that such people have internalized outside pressure, to the stage where they take responsibility on themselves for acts of criminal violence that might, at some future date, be committed by other people.  This is cultural masochism."

Last year, I was involved in bringing cartoonist Kurt Westergaard to Canada.  He flew into Toronto, after speaking at Yale, and we took Kurt to do a one hour show with Michael Coren.  Kurt brought with him several signed cartoons (he drew the cartoon with Muhammad and the turban bomb), and gave one framed cartoon to Coren.  As I sat in the studio watching the interview, I wondered if Coren would indeed show the audience the framed cartoon he had just received.  No such luck.  The audience would not see the cartoon that Kurt was in Canada to talk about.

Dennis Whittle in his essay “Orthodoxy and Freedom in International Aid” has some stories that will just make you plain angry:

“By the end of my time in Indonesia, in early 1992, I was tired and ready to leave the World Bank and do something different.  In March, however, I got a call from a guy at headquarters saying that Russia had just joined the World Bank and asking if I was interested in joining the new Russia department.

“But I don’t know anything about Russia,” I told him.  I had studied no Russian language or history in school, and had little Russian literature beyond the classics.

“Well, none of us know anything about Russia,” he replied. “So, you will fit right in.”

Whittle goes on to describe some interesting initiatives in international aid that allowed for ideas from beyond a small group of ‘experts’ to be evaluated and perhaps funded.  His essay has a hopeful ending.

Some of the so-called threats like Ron Ronebaum’s essay on Cyber-Anonymity, while pointing to a problem, don’t seem to be a huge threat.  “The Rise of Antireligious Orthodoxy by Mark Helprin talks about the ‘atrophy and disappearance’ of religion in the west, but goes too far when complaining about “the dominant narrative of the modernism that replaces faith.”  There is a threat from post-modernism – but faith may or may not be the answer.  Perhaps faith in the enlightenment might be more than enough.

It would be nice to have a "Canadian" edition, or should I say, addition to this book.  One essay that needs to be written is the threat to freedom from mediocre politicians. 

It's embarrassing to hear our politicians, day after day, embarrass themselves no end - government Ministers who cannot explain or defend government policy – the whole census debacle made me cringe.  Tony Clement seemed unable to explain why the Government was changing the census- perhaps it was the 25-year-olds on his staff who thought it prudent to announce a change with no substantive backup. Even if you agree with the decision, the Government came off looking as if they hadn’t done their homework.

And, this mediocrity affects politicians of all stripes.  Michael Ignatieff is a very smart man, but you wouldn’t know it from his leadership of the Liberal party.  Libby Davies of the NPD is caught saying she believes that Israel has been an occupier since 1948  -  then admit how little she knows about the Middle East – and she’s the deputy leader of the NDP!

Two years ago, I went to question period in the House.  I used to think that the earpiece you see everybody wearing is for translation.  And, indeed it does provide translation. 

But, even bilingual people need that earpiece. It's major function is to allow you to hear what people are saying over the din of yelling and heckling. 

And, as I sat there listening, it became apparent that the opposition mostly asks stupid political questions ("why should we believe you now when you lied in the past?") and the government, the few times it is actually asked a real question, just turns it into a political answer (we're doing more than you ever did in power).  It was horribly embarrassing, and I will never go back.

Back to the book.  I strongly recommend it.  You won’t agree with every essay, but so what?  It will get you thinking, and that’s what counts. Now, can we have a contest to see who can write the best essay on threats to Canadian freedom?

Fred Litwin is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist.

The upwelling long-form census gusher is an instructive affair. The solemn army of Economicals, Anthro Department Chairs and Social Scient(ish)ists imploring us to just open up a little…? To better… inform policy?

Yeah, that should make your Spidey-sense tingle. By “inform policy,” the professional long-formeristes mean “pass new laws.” And “more regulations.” Sure, that's what they want. They’re almost all civil servants.

Maybe you’re cool with that. After all, the hundreds of thousands of laws and regulations we have now are all working pretty well, you might think. Well, there’s only one way to settle this, hotshot.

PROPAGANDIST POP QUIZ!

INSTRUCTIONS. Mark (T) for items that are really on the long-form Canuck census and (F) for outrageous made-up intrusions into the smallest crevices of your personal life.

Please provide your answers to these questions in the comments for this article.

(Warning: some quiz answers are in the link above.)

1. Does your home have any loose or missing floor tiles, or any defective plumbing?
2. Do you ever get the feeling you’re being cheated?
3. Estimate the number of New Canadians (or “immigrants”) in your neighbourhood.
4. Available Self-Identified Ethnic Category #46: Canadian. #51: None. #53: Mixed.
5. Did you experience a delay in receiving health care this year?
6. How many Newfies does it take to – all right, all right, this one’s a freebie. (It’s F.)
7. Which member of your household pays the rent or mortgage?
8. Have any members of your household traveled to Haiti, Bolivia or Africa in the past twelve (12) months?
9. How many hours a day do you watch television with your children or other dependents?
10. Have you ever waited for an elevator for over ten minutes out of sheer stubbornness, and the angry conviction that you must get a return on the precious time you’ve invested?
11. Have you or any member of your family experienced malnutrition in the past twelve (12) months?
12. Check this box if you have not made any untrue statements, even if they were true at the time stated. Uncheck the box if not.
13. Do you have any difficulty bending?
14. Are you fucking kidding me?
15. Please specify what these data will be used for. Please be specific, please.

Contributed by Lyle Neff, a Canadian poet and journalist in Vancouver, British Columbia.