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Thursday, February 08, 2007

Bawer's Book Nominated For Award but ...

Bruce Bawer's book is nominated for the National Book Critics Circle award. The New York Times reports that:
“A previous finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, announced the newest nominees for the criticism category two weeks ago and said one of the authors, Bruce Bawer, had engaged in ‘racism as criticism.’”

Gasp! What race is this?
The president of the Circle’s board, John Freeman, wrote on the organization’s blog “I have never been more embarrassed by a choice than I have been with Bruce Bawer’s ‘While Europe Slept,’ he wrote. “It’s hyperventilated rhetoric tips from actual critique into Islamophobia.”

Oh, the Islamic race! But, but Islam is not a race … oh, never mind. What say you Mr. Bruce?
“One of the most disgraceful developments of our time is that many Western authors and intellectuals who pride themselves on being liberals have effectively aligned themselves with an outrageously illiberal movement that rejects equal rights for women, that believes gays and Jews should be executed, that supports the cold blooded murder of one’s own children in the name of honor, etc., etc.,”

Seems reasonable or is this the rant of some far right crank? But wait:
“Mr. Bawer’s book jacket is covered with admiring blurbs from well-known conservatives, but he does not fit the typical red-state mold. An openly gay cultural critic from New York who has lived in Europe since 1998, Mr. Bawer has published books like ‘Stealing Jesus,’ a harsh critique of Christian fundamentalism.”

He broke the “red-state mold.” I wonder why. Shall we ask Mr. Van Gogh … too late. Let’s ask his co-filmmaker:
“Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali immigrant who settled in the Netherlands and worked with Mr. Van Gogh, a film director, offers harsh criticism of Islam from an insider’s perspective in her memoir ‘Infidel.’”

Harsh? And what could be too harsh when criticizing the ideology that spawns murderers such as those that killed Van Gogh?
“Mr. Freeman, who said in an interview that he felt a “moral responsibility” to speak out about …”

About Islam?
“… about Mr. Bawer’s book.”

Oooo, that scary book! That’s the threat in today’s world because ... because …

4 comments:

  1. More anti-Islamic racism in Eurabia:

    "Indeed, while French intellectuals may have adopted an absolute position against abridgement of free speech – Europe's actual approach to the issue has dramatically reversed in the past decade.
    Ethnologist Jeanne Favret-Saada of the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris and author of a forthcoming book on the Danish cartoons says, "We Europeans have completely changed positions on secular versus religious issues, and on freedom of expression. During the fatwa on [Salman] Rushdie in 1989 [for his book "The Satanic Verses"], there was unanimity on the question of free expression. It was not debated. But today part of the left has taken the view that the Danish paper was racist."

    From http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0209/p06s01-woeu.html

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  2. Man, I'm getting really sick of this garbage. I also love this book. But last night I finally (I know, I know...) discovered these blogs that seem devoted entirely to bashing the anti-jihadi side of the blog world. These people are insane! And the reason I sought these out was because of yet another round of comments on old videos of mine on YouTube insisting that I was a "racist" who should either go die or be assaulted by this weird form of leftists who cannot see the irony in calling me a racist at the same time as insulting me for being various derogatory words for being Jewish (which I'm oddly not), all because I want to discuss and keep pointing out that jihadis want to kill us all for not being fellow muslim jihadis!

    How the hell is it even remotely racist to write about muslims killing people and making general threats against our civilization when you are writing about specific incidents and quotes? I am putting my foot down, just as I did when I decided that being on the defensive in this fight was no longer what I felt like doing. These people are insane, and they vote, and make a point of writing about how they vote in between various insults to all of us, directly or not. The irony is completely lost on them, and they're completely insane, which I commented on after reading about 250 comments about Pamela/Atlas' breasts (from people who were also arguing against the objectification of and violence against women).

    The same goes for critics of Bawer's book. I bet the "tolerant" lefties are already bashing Bawer's sexual orientation in crude terminology, meanwhile posting as well against anti-gay rights activists. No sense of humor, or of irony, and they want us all silenced. Amazing trip through cyberspace last night, I'm telling you, and now this about a GREAT book, as well as the post above. Lemmings, HURRY, the cliff is this way.....come on, I'll show you....jump NOW!

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  3. The magic 'R' word again - more anti-Muslim racism...

    "Angry parents have staged a demonstration outside a London school after its decision to serve only halal meat.

    The change over to halal meat was made after a consultation with parents, which showed that 77 per cent of those were in favour of the decision. Fewer than six out of ten parents responded.

    Muslim parents at Kingsgate Primary School in West Hampstead, where three quarters of the pupils are Muslim, accused the protesters of racism. "

    From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article1356219.ece

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  4. I beg your patience with this oblique response. I had never really thought much about the issue of gun control until recently, but I becoming convinced that the problem that the politically correct John Freeman have is that they oppose self-defense. Thus, their advocacy of gun control and Freeman's opposition to Bawer. It is simply self-defense for a gay man to oppose Islamization.

    Perhaps, the most interesting question of our time is how did self-defense become a crime to so many people?

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