Talk Radio Hosts In Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week

TURNING THE TABLES

Talk Hosts, Campus Activists Team Up For Free Speech







For the Ahmadinejad- loving collegiate crowd, here's a chance to test how much they truly support free speech on campus. When the tables turn, will university "progressives" show tolerance for other viewpoints, or erupt in a state of rage?

With today's launch of Islamo- Fascism Awareness Week, protests are likely as dissenting viewpoints are presented in a fearless manner.

Developed by former radical- leftist- turned- conservative activist David Horowitz and supported by talk radio hosts across the country, including Sean Hannity, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, Melanie Morgan, Alan Nathan, Martha Zoeller, Mark Larson and others, the series of events will dare to challenge prevailing anti- Western campus sentiment.

In a partnership with college Republican organizations, hundreds of schools will participate.


Don't think the left and its mainstream media fellow- travellers aren't paying attention. Even before today's kickoff at the University of Washington, the pro- jihadist Seattle Times reported that local Muslim groups were pre- certified as offended. That's despite the fact that UW College Republicans had toned down their version of events.

There, syndicated talk host Michael Medved is expected to address students, according to the Times:

Local Muslims upset by UW campus event

By Janet I. Tu

Seattle Times religion reporter

A controversial week of events, billed as Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, launches at the University of Washington and some 100 other colleges next week — drawing condemnations from Muslim groups here and across the country.

The UW College Republicans, organizer of the local events, say the week is intended to foster awareness of the terrorist threat posed by a small number of extremists within Islam.

But some local Muslims say the week fosters Islamophobia and racism and attempts to paint all Muslims as terrorists.

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, launched this year by a recent graduate of Duke University and sponsored by the Los Angeles-based David Horowitz Freedom Center, is intended to "confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat," according to its Web site.

The Web site includes suggested campus activities such as holding sit-ins outside women's studies departments to protest "the silence of feminists over the oppression of women in Islam" and holding a memorial service for the "victims of Islamo-Fascist violence around the world."

The UW week won't include all those elements.

"What we're going to be focusing more on specifically is the terrorist threat," said Auggie Eck, vice president of UW College Republicans.

[...]

And it's hosting two events open to the public: a showing of "Suicide Killers," a documentary about suicide bombers, at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Smith Hall, and a talk by conservative author and talk-show host Michael Medved at 7 p.m. Thursday in Kane Hall.

Tom Walker, president of UW College Republicans, says they're not saying that all of Islam is dangerous.

"Our main point is raising awareness of what we feel is an extreme brand of Islam that is spreading rapidly around the world and posing a threat to America and the Western world," he said.

Meanwhile, in an editorial disguised as news reporting, the student- run UW Daily called it a "gimmick":

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week sure to bring response

The UW College Republicans this week are taking part in the national event, “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.” The gimmick will be put on to expose what supporters call “the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the War on Terror and that global warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat.”

Among the highlights touted by the event’s Web site include teach-ins on the plight of Muslim women and a lecture by conservative talk-show host Michael Medved.

Others on campus have promised a response, claiming that the concept is inherently racist and plays upon the stereotype that all Muslims support terrorist ideology.

ASUW senator Hala Dillsi is organizing protests to multiple goings-on associated with the event, including a movie showing at Smith Hall Wednesday evening and the Medved lecture, which is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Kane Hall.

And of course, Socialist Worker is predictably outraged:

THEN THERE’S the collection of bigots and crackpots that Horowitz has recruited to speak for Islamophobia week.

Ann Coulter is one. After September 11, she was fired from her job at the highly conservative National Review for her comment that the U.S. “should invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”

In 2004, on Fox’s Hannity and Colmes, Coulter reiterated her stance. When asked if she would still “like to convert these people all to Christianity,” Coulter replied, “The ones that we haven’t killed, yes.” “So no one should be Muslim?” Alan Colmes asked. “They should all be Christian?” Coulter replied, “That would be a good start, yes.”

So much for the lines in the Freedom Center’s petition about the “right to have no religion at all” and the “right of all people to live free from violence, intimidation and coercion.”

Another featured speaker on the tour is Rick Santorum. As a former senator from Pennsylvania, Santorum never hesitated to push right-wing Christian views, including sponsoring amendments to promote the teaching of so-called “intelligent design” theory in competition with evolution.

As for Horowitz’s solemn talk about the “equality of dignity of women and men,” Santorum was one of the staunchest opponents of abortion rights in the Senate, opposing the right to choose in virtually every case--including rape, incest and when the health of the woman was at stake.

Second-rate talk radio host and movie critic Michael Medved will also speak at several Islamophobia week events, apparently to repeat his tired complaint that a “liberal Hollywood elite...ignores--and assaults--the values of ordinary American families.”

In 2002, Medved helped make the case for a war on Iraq, claiming that “all humanity--especially the 200 million Arabs who suffer under the fanatical oppression of their own regimes--will benefit from a sweeping U.S. victory and an increase in American influence” in the Middle East. Thus far, Medved hasn’t explained how the estimated 1 million Iraqis killed in the U.S. invasion and occupation have benefited from a “U.S. victory.”

Fox News blowhard Sean Hannity will also turn up at several tour events. According to Hannity, if so-called “Islamo-fascists” are the main enemy, liberals are a close second--as is obvious from the title of his book Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism.

At Columbia University, site of the recent Ahmadinejad visit, the Spectator student newspaper is now running this poll:

Is it fair to have supported the invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but not that of David Horowitz, CC '59?


No. Horowitz's views and deeds are more defensible than those of Ahmadinejad, so he's equally if not more deserving of a podium. 41% (24 votes)

No. Ahmadinejad and Horowitz both have extreme views, so support or none, they must be treated equally. 22% (13 votes)

Yes. Promoting Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is worse than hosting a head of state, however offensive, in a neutral forum. 25% (15 votes)

Don't care. I've lost all interest in controversial speakers. 10% (6 votes)

No opinion. 2% (1 vote)

Total votes: 59

Amazingly, the most balanced coverage yet seen on this week's events comes from UCLA's Daily Bruin:

As college students, we’re used to encountering various awareness events. But this week’s “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” isn’t your everyday Bruin Plaza bake sale.

Put on by Bruin Republicans, with similar events being held at universities around the country, the week aims to link some of the most significant political problems of today – terrorism and human rights abuses – with a specific source: Islamic extremism.

At the center of the debate seems to be the question of whether enlightening students about such important issues is worth running the risk of spreading intolerance toward religions.

“Radical Islam is a major problem of our generation,” said fifth-year economics student and Bruin Republicans chairman and former Daily Bruin Viewpoint columnist David Lazar. “It’s an attempt by people in Western Europe and even America to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on all of us.”

However, Muslim students feel as though the event will misrepresent their faith.

“The agenda being pushed is not one I’d like to see my country being pushed toward,” said Mohammad Tajsar, fourth-year English and comparative literature student and external affairs director for the Muslim Student Association at UCLA. “It targets students and people in no way related to political context overseas.”

Finally, our friends at IMAO have sought to help Horowitz by toning down the event's name:


IMAO has the latest news (take THAT Michelle Malkin) and is the first to report the RENAMING of the week to better appease liberal dogma.

We agree with the new name. The word fascism should be used in its proper context: When referring to anything regarding the Bush Administration.



Now to the big question: is this a stunt? On Horowitz knows for sure, but even if so, given its focus on educational events, Islamofascist Awareness Week will certainly remain head- and- shoulders above the typical antics of campus radicals.

And for talk radio, this provides a great opportunity to establish a campus beachhead in an environment not normally friendly to the medium.


BOB PARKS has more on the UW's reaction

LGF has background on the event

VOLOKH on how GW University students used dirty tricks to undermine it, more from Sister Toldjah

JIHAD WATCH on CAIR's reaction

HUFFPO is outraged!

SANTORUM already taking heat over his participation

UC-BERKELEY kooks in a tizzy

RADICAL LEFTISTS plan attacks against Islamo- rallies

GATEWAY PUNDIT has much more on lefty attack plans

MEDIA smears KSFO's Melanie Morgan

RWN has debate reaction

LIBTALK defenders still backpedaling over Randi

FOR Boston- area talk radio updates, see our other site.


Your Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately purchase, help to further this site's efforts.

Or, if you would prefer, please contribute at the Honor System box in the upper right corner. Thanks again!


Technorati tags: talk radio islamo-fascism awareness week david horowitz sean hannity michael medved ucla columbia university university of washington seattle