Patterico's Pontifications

5/6/2015

Free Speech Aside: L.A. Times Broadside on Pam Geller

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:53 am



Deadly violence to punish speech aside, the L.A. Times wants you to know (in a horribly written and edited piece) just how awful Pam Geller and that Garland event were:

Pamela Geller is a 56-year-old Jewish arch-conservative from New York, a vehement critic of radical Islam who organized a provocative $10,000 cartoon contest in this placid Dallas suburb designed to caricature the prophet Muhammad.

I was unaware that they had designed Garland to caricature the prophet Muhammad, but I digress.

Elton Simpson was a 30-year-old aspiring Islamic militant from Phoenix who fantasized to an FBI informant about “doing the martyrdom operations” in Somalia and was convicted in 2010 of lying to the FBI about his plans to travel to the volatile eastern African nation.

Their lives intersected Sunday in this small town in north-central Texas, an unlikely venue for a violent collision of cultures. After a Sunday evening shootout outside the contest site between police and Simpson and another man firing assault rifles, both gunmen lay dead in the street. And Geller quickly posted a defiant blog: “This is a war on free speech. … Are we going to surrender to these monsters?”

As a blogger, I admire anyone who can “quickly” post an entire “blog.” But I digress.

The Texas showdown was America’s Charlie Hebdo moment, erupting just four months after gunmen shot and killed 12 people at the Paris offices of the satirical newspaper that had published cartoons of the prophet considered blasphemous by many Muslims.

I’m no scholar of Islam, but I’m pretty sure the prophet is not considered blasphemous by all that many Muslims. But I digress. (Editors: click and learn.)

The Garland attack refocused public attention on the fine line between free speech and hate speech in the ideological struggle between radical Islam and the West.

The piece makes sure to note that Geller’s organization is “considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.” (No word on whether ISIS is so considered. I suspect not.) As an aside: I could not possibly care less whom the Southern Poverty Law Center considers a hate group. I have noted in the past that I like Brent Bozell but still enjoy Matt Welch’s colorful description of the SPLC because it is so entertaining:

Quoting the SPLC as an impartial arbiter on right-wing extremism is about as credible as quoting Brent Bozell as a fair-minded assessor of media content. This is not one of those, oh-the-ACLU-is-evil knee-jerk kind of observations; seriously, read up on the subject before either quoting from the organization or taking its findings as Gospel.

Terrorist Floyd Corkins used an SPLC hate map to choose targets for his violence. Under normal SPLC criteria, that would get the SPLC itself labeled a hate group.

But I digress.

The rest of the piece is devoted to talking about how Islamic experts say it’s terrible to draw Muhammed and how awful Geller is, e.g.:

Geller worked for the Daily News in New York and served as associate publisher of the New York Observer before turning full time to what critics consider her campaign of Islamaphobia.

That’s the first time I have seen “Islamophobia” spelled in that particular way, but I digress.

Anyway, it’s nice that the L.A. Times has its eye on what is really important: not shootings in response to free speech, but the supposed awfulness of Pam Geller. Yet another reason why hundreds of people throughout the Southland rely on the L.A. Times for their news.

59 Responses to “Free Speech Aside: L.A. Times Broadside on Pam Geller”

  1. she sounds like a batman villain

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  2. I rely on Patterico for my news.

    AZ Bob (34bb80)

  3. I was unaware that they had designed Garland to caricature the prophet Muhammad, but I digress.
    ……
    As a blogger, I admire anyone who can “quickly” post an entire “blog.” But I digress.
    …….
    I’m no scholar of Islam, but I’m pretty sure the prophet is not considered blasphemous by all that many Muslims. But I digress. (Editors: click and learn.)
    ……..

    That’s the first time I have seen “Islamophobia” spelled in that particular way, but I digress.

    My God, these guys passed journalism school or whatever? That is seriously horrible writing. Wow. I could write a better article by talking to my iPhone and having it use autocorrect.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  4. So did they just quit teaching how to diagram sentences, or did they turn it over to Jackson Pollock?

    Karl Lembke (e37f42)

  5. (Jackson Pollock sentence construction: Drop words on a page from the top of a ladder and publish the result.)

    Karl Lembke (e37f42)

  6. I like it when you digress.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  7. Imagine how bad the grammar must have been before the layers of editors?

    DRJ (e80d46)

  8. @benshapiro: What made Pam Geller’s event necessary is demonstrated by the cowering media coverage of Pam Geller’s event.

    Tanny O'Haley (c674c7)

  9. “Islamaphobia” is when a woman does it. As in “La Islamaphobia”, as opposed to “El Islamophobia”

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  10. They also label Geert Wilders as head of the “Anti-Islam” Freedom Party. Not “anti-Muslim-immigration” which would be more accurate. As if that was a concern.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  11. My puppy has demanded he be allowed to train on something else.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  12. Local sports news are the only thing I use the dog trainers for. I stop my subscription to them 10 years ago, haven’t looked bak.

    BigFire (484623)

  13. Does anyone know whether the “assault rifles” used by the gunmen were real full-auto rifles, or just the “scary-looking” variety? Wouldn’t it be ironic if they were the latter, and their users were taken down by a sharpshooter wielding a pistol?

    Ray Van Dune (e42a6b)

  14. I noticed this portion of that article:

    “Charlie Hebdo was an equal opportunity mocker,” Beirich said of the Paris newspaper, which was to be honored in New York on Tuesday by the PEN American Center literary group despite a boycott by several prominent authors. “All she does is bash Muslims. That’s it.”

    I wonder the political orientation of the boycotters? That such doubt is mainly rhetorical is ironic because in most other circumstances the Hebdo group (dedicated to leftist, pro-secular thinking) normally would likely raise the ire of a high number of conservatives but be embraced by much of the left.

    In turn, a religious system as reactionary as Islam would raise the most heated ire of most liberals but be viewed with less fury by many conservatives. Of course, there are some on the left appalled by the nature of Islam, but I bet their numbers are smaller than the percentage of folks on the right who are easygoing about Islamism.

    Mark (607f93)

  15. They also label Geert Wilders as head of the “Anti-Islam” Freedom Party. Not “anti-Muslim-immigration” which would be more accurate. As if that was a concern.

    Kevin M (25bbee) — 5/6/2015 @ 9:14 am

    Yes, Mr. Wilders went on a World Tour entitled “Facing Jihad” because he was against immigration. That makes sense. Whenever I protest against immigration, I always do it in a lot of different countries. That way, the audience totally understands what my point is.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  16. He’s against Jihad, too. Do you favor it? If not, does that make YOU “anti-Islam”?

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  17. Two words to all the “hate speech” people: “Piss Christ”

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  18. Carlitos, it seems to ME (and possibly it’s occurred to Geert Wilders, too) that the EU-wide policy of allowing huge numbers of Muslims to immigrate to many-many-many European countries has brought –umm, how-to-say– “unforeseen difficulties” to those countries. Would you agree?

    A_Nonny_Mouse (9f6a92)

  19. It also doesn’t help when the massive Muslim immigration crowd admits they’re engaging in social enginieering. As the Labour party documents attested. The Labour party’s official line was that its immigration policies were based upon purely economic considerations. But when the documents were finally brought out into the light of day, it turns out their immigration policies were really based upon the fact they disliked Britain for being too white and too British.

    The same thing in Sweden. The leftists aren’t quite as secretive, though. When native Swedes complain the left is ruining Sweden, the leftists tell them there’s nothing about Sweden that’s worth preserving. It’s too white, and too Swedish.

    Holland is also too white and too Dutch.

    The left also labels anyone who objects to being abolished, like Geert Wilders, a “racist.”

    People like carlitos hide the truth in a fog of words. Geert Wilders isn’t so much “anti-immigration” as he’s against the social engineering of the left. He’s against the type of people that will import an unassimable population precisely because it is unassimible. And then when you complain about the left’s bad ideas, they hide behind the skirts and the hijabs of the people they imported and say, “Oh, you just hate Muslims.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/rotherham-sexual-abuse_n_5751882.html

    It’s a problem that Muslim supremacists think non-muslim girls who don’t cover themselves from head to toe are begging to be raped. Not just in Rotherham.

    But the bigger crime is that the authorities knew and did nothing about it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCG9NgX05a0

    Britain’s cultural problem

    It’s not just Britain’s.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  20. I’m sure it’s obvious, but we don’t have a southern border because somebody and his voting block thinks we need to be fundamentally transformed.

    They talk about the changing demographics of the US as if it’s a natural phenomenon as opposed to a deliberate policy. And it’s based on their dislike of “old white men.”

    I have a problem with this. And as much as people like carlitos would like to airbrush the reality of the situation, my problem isn’t with Mexico or Mexicans.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  21. 17. Two words to all the “hate speech” people: “Piss Christ”

    Kevin M (25bbee) — 5/6/2015 @ 10:38 am

    I am always amused when the crowd who thinks the US flag shouldn’t be displayed because “somebody might be offended” then proceeds to sponsor a showing of the vagina monologues or invite people to make plaster casts of their genitals so they can be displayed like Christmas ornaments in a public library.

    No. I’m not making any of this stuff up.

    Oh, and I shouldn’t have said Christmas. Somebody might be offended.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  22. Last night, Scott Peley on the CBS Evening News reported the event as an “anti-Islamic gathering”. The words “First Amendment” or “Freedom of Speech” were not uttered during the entire report.

    That is what is considered acceptable reporting in the halls of CBS “News”.

    in_awe (7c859a)

  23. Sydney, Boston, Copenhagen, Paris, what do they possibly have in common, of course, the press is still focused on ‘Mutawakhil’s’ twitter accounts, rather than other factors, like I mentioned on the other thread,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  24. “By Jonathan Kaiman , Tina Susman and David Zucchino.”

    Is Hiltzik running three simultaneous sockpuppets these days?

    M. Scott Eiland (a742b7)

  25. The folks at bearing arms identified the weapons as likely being:

    Kel-tec sub2000 which is a carbine Goering 9mm pistol rounds from a rifle chassis. High capacity, low power, good for aiming into a crowd.

    Ar-15 of some type,likely not full auto. Based on blown up news pictures.

    luagha (8ebbe7)

  26. The flag must not be displayed!

    It’s offensive.

    Meanwhile, the class on how to turn a reciprocating saw into a sex toy, followed by practical lab exercises with porn stars demonstrating how to use it, is compulsory.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  27. Goering=’firing’
    durn phone autocorrect.

    luagha (e5bf64)

  28. lapidus, the swedish ellroy, lays out in his ultranoir tales, how various mobs, Serbian, Russian, et al, run the rackets there

    narciso (ee1f88)

  29. I enjoyed the video of Geller showing Alyson Camarota of CNN just how the hog eats the cabbage…

    http://twitchy.com/2015/05/04/making-a-complete-fool-out-of-her-cnns-alisyn-camerota-schooled-by-pamela-geller-video/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  30. Heck, my dog is on the SPLC hate list!

    Patricia (5fc097)

  31. 28. Goering=’firing’
    durn phone autocorrect.

    luagha (e5bf64) — 5/6/2015 @ 12:04 pm

    Autocorrect will be the death of us all.

    That and the optical mouse. I hate how it autoselects words or letters and deletes them as I’m typing along. Sometimes I catch it. Sometimes I don’t.

    On the other hand, maybe only lazy societies already swirling the bowl would come up with autocorrect in the first place.

    In any case the librarians who refuse to display the flag because it might be offensive are holding a fisting class for junior high schoolers tonight at 8.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  32. “What I’m really trying to show her is that she can’t continue to say these kinds of things on a campus that’s so liberal and diverse and tolerant,” Yamin declared.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  33. 33. what is the point of CNN:

    narciso (ee1f88) — 5/6/2015 @ 12:23 pm

    To annoy people in airport departure lounges to the point where they head to the bar and start drinking.

    “Oh, oh! You think you can just sit here and not spend money. Well, CNN, mofo.”

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  34. “Pamela Geller is a 56-year-old Jewish arch-conservative from New York, a vehement critic of radical Islam”

    She’s a critic of Islam. No need to limit it to “radical.” I don’t think she does.

    Didn’t know they were so into Islamic art in Texas.

    scope (1a2342)

  35. If Pamela Geller isn’t advocating free speech, you want to know what the antidote is, narciso?

    Free speech.

    I’m sure you know this narciso.

    I’m embarrassed I need to say it.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  36. I think everyone just needs to get their Khukri on.

    http://himalayan-imports.com/

    The world would be a better place.

    http://himalayan-imports.com/gurkha.html

    If you don’t like Pamela Geller, and you want to shut her up, my initial reaction is to invite you to perform certain acts either on me or on yourself.

    Some of which are impossible.

    Which it turns out is also my secondary and tertiary response.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  37. In what will come as a total shock to many, “scope” shares an IP with one of iamadimwit’s numerous aliases. I guess Perry’s tsunami of suckitude energized the former leader.

    JD (3b5483)

  38. The flag must not be displayed!

    It’s offensive.

    Meanwhile, the class on how to turn a reciprocating saw into a sex toy, followed by practical lab exercises with porn stars demonstrating how to use it, is compulsory.

    Steve57 (818fa4) — 5/6/2015 @ 11:48 am

    I was in the Netherlands last week for King’s Day. Believe it or not, they actually are not allowed to fly the flag except for a few special days. Strange laws, from an American perspective.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  39. Two words to all the “hate speech” people: “Piss Christ”

    And Terrance McNally’s widely-praised-by-all-the-people-who-matter play “Corpus Christi,” in which Jesus and His disciples are portrayed as gay men. Hooray for provocative art (some of the time)!

    Last night, Scott Peley on the CBS Evening News reported the event as an “anti-Islamic gathering”.

    I’m starting to warm to this idea. We should start describing the 2016 Democrat National Convention as an “anti-taxpayer gathering.”

    JVW (aa050c)

  40. So, carlitos, there’s a lot wrong with the netherlands.

    Steve57 (818fa4)

  41. You know what else drives islamists into a killing frenzy? Homosexuals. So by all means, start throwing people to the jihadi crocodile.

    Russ from Winterset (1a77e4)

  42. Their argument is as thin as the Sunday edition.

    askeptic (efcf22)

  43. Terms only LA Times understands:

    “arch-conservative,” a term for which there is no “arch-liberal” parallel. LAT does not say what “arch” signifies, but it must be bad!

    “their lives intersected,” suggests it happened completely by accident! You see, its not like one side deliberately decided to go and hunt down the other–no, no. It was just like butter falling off the table. Unplanned.

    “fine line between free speech and hate speech.” You have to admire this one. The First Amendment says nothing about this “fine line,” not even in penumbras. Its been nowhere to be found when some want to dip a crucifix in urine, burn the flag, or demonstrate at soldier’s funerals. Then its “sacrosanct.” One hungers for a definition of this “fine line.” Its LA Times’ way of endorsing a heckler’s veto: you make me mad, your free speech stops. Of course, this veto only exists for people willing to smash things and kill people. Not for you and me.

    This is really a pathetic display of cravenness by the Times. But then, who expected anything different?

    Harcourt Fenton Mudd (5e0a82)

  44. Love your keen-eyed perceptiveness, sense of humor and unerring tartness. Bullseye every time I can remember, and I follow you daily.

    ari noonan (a4b884)

  45. California folks are just p***** because all those jobs went to Texas.

    f1guyus (9cbd15)

  46. I’m starting to warm to this idea. We should start describing the 2016 Democrat National Convention as an “anti-taxpayer gathering.”

    JVW (aa050c) — 5/6/2015 @ 2:40 pm

    We could and I like it, but I’m told that 43% don’t pay taxes (down from 47%) who get screwed as well as the illegal immigrants. Maybe we could call it the anti-legal and illegal US resident gathering.

    Tanny O'Haley (c674c7)

  47. i was reading an article today that said small town Garland has almost a quarter million people — it’s about the size of Pasadena. But, you know, LA Times!

    Tragic Christian (e52bef)

  48. I hate doing this because it makes me an apparent ally rather than the dispassionate observer, but

    “Elton Simpson was convicted in 2010 of lying to the FBI about his plans.”

    since when is a citizen required on pain of conviction to divulge his plans to the FBI?
    The fifth amendment says ‘No person… … shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself…’ I know it’s fashionable, possibly even slightly unpopular (due to Lois Lerner) to think of the 5th as someone pleading it to avoid answering questions in court, but that’s not all it’s about. It’s mainly about foiling the fishing expeditions of government officials, be they PD, FBI, CIA, KGB, STASI, ATF, or whatever acronym, to stymie would be investigators of Pre-Crime.

    I blame Hollywood and Perry Mason for the false pigeon holed version of the 5th amendment sold for public digestion.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  49. So then lying to the cops is legal? So if a cop asks my name I can lawfully say “papertiger”? Without penalty?

    Hoagie (58a3ec)

  50. Whats more these Scooter Libby type convictions for lying to the FBI when they couldn’t find anything real to pin on, those are against the highest law of the land. Agents involved should have been cashiered.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  51. On Megan Kelly’s show tonight, Alan Dershowitz said the point of free speech is to provoke, because often that’s how to get the world to see and understand your point of view. He said people are free to argue and try to persuade others if they think someone is wrong, but not to silence or condemn them for speaking out.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  52. Meanwhile, a number of conservatives and on-air personalities have joined the “I support free speech but not this time” side.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  53. DRJ, it isn’t just this time. They were never on the side of free speech.

    Pamela Geller is making a very valuable point. Most Mulsim majority countries have laws regarding blaphemy, insulting Islam, insulting Muhammad, etc. And what gets a Christian killed in Pakistan is very mild speech. Just answering a Muslim’s questions about why he or she is a Christian will lead to a death sentence.

    And of course it isn’t just non-Muslims who fall afoul of these laws.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/01/22/saudi-arabia-postpones-flogging-blogger-for-second-time/

    There’s an interesting quote from a group of US Senators who want this guy releasted.

    “At a time that the world is wrestling with and mourning violence committed in the name of religious intolerance, such an example of state-sanctioned violence against peaceful religious dialogue is highly troubling and helps legitimize the extremist view that violence is a justified response to the free exercise of speech and religion,” the senators wrote.

    In May, Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and forced for pay a $266,000 fine for criticizing Saudi Arabia’s clerics and morality police in articles he writes for a blog.

    This is where submitting to the assassin’s veto leads. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. They can declare any speech offensive, and by the standards of the cowards saying hate speech is no protected speech they win.

    Surat At-Tawbah (The Repentance) 9:29

    http://quran.com/9/29

    Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.

    Those who were given the Scripture are Christians and Jews. According to the Quran, Muslims must fight them for what they believe. Not “fight those who fight you.” Fight Christians and Jews for what they believe. Why?

    9:30-

    The Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allah “; and the Christians

    say

    , “The Messiah is the son of Allah .” That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them]. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded? They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah , and [also] the Messiah, the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him. They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah refuses except to perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.

    Because of what they say.

    This can’t be allowed, and it has nothing to do with cartoons.

    The “I’m for free speech, but…” crowd is simply admitting that violence works. And if it works this time, it will work every time.

    Steve57 (e3e502)

  54. You know what else offends Muslims besides Muhammad cartoons?

    Military uniforms.

    http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/23/british-troops-told-not-to-wear-uniforms-outside-bases-after-yesterdays-attack-in-london/

    ANZAC day in Australia.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-terror-arrests-in-australia-over-planned-anzac-day-attack-2015-4

    Pam Geller is not the problem. The problem is that people are afraid to tell the truth about Islam.

    The reason they kill people over insults to Islam isn’t that they’re more offended than Christians are over Piss Christ. They do it because their religion teaches them that it’s their religious obligation to kill them. Say what you want about Nidal Malik Hassan, but he understood his religious duties perfectly. That’s why he tried to argue a necessity defense for killing 13 soldiers on Fort Hood. That’s why he gave a powerpoint presentation on his religious obligations to his colleagues before he did the deed.

    Steve57 (e3e502)

  55. So then lying to the cops is legal? So if a cop asks my name I can lawfully say “papertiger”? Without penalty?

    Hoagie (58a3ec) — 5/7/2015 @ 7:21 am

    Oh it’s all perfectly legal.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  56. Remember the Beslan school massacre?

    Did those loathsome Islamophobic kids draw a Muhammad cartoon in art class to bring that upon themselves?

    Steve57 (e468ba)


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