Monday, November 28, 2011

JihadWatch Comes To Town.


PJG has written a guest post over at JihadWatch about Robert Spencer's vist to Melbournistan.

I've known PJG for quite some time now, and we've attended the occasional demo together, so I'm happy to agree with what s/he has to say. Rather than rehash that, I'll add my observations of the evening. (This is your opportunity to rush over to JW and read the report!)



I found the evening to be wonderfully refreshing. Yes, of course Vickie did have to read out a long-winded legal disclaimer, and there was some amusement at her suggesting basically that in the interest of the public interest, we're going to discuss things that are not supposed to be discussed. If you think you might be offended, or if you've come here with the intention of accusing Robert and the Q Society of inciting hatred and hurt feelings then you know where the door is.

That is, of course, my paraphrasing. Vickie is much more diplomatic in that situation than I would be, and it is shocking that in this day and age, in Australia, we are forced into this defensive posture.

Unfortunately, with our draconian laws having claimed several scalps, with Andrew Bolt's being most visible.

The less visible are the likes of QC Peter Faris who has removed himself from public commenting and so many others I know who have been looking over their shoulders before speaking for too long now.

Robert spoke freely and with gusto about the encroachment of sharia norms on our own culture. The extent to which this has occurred is always shocking when you stop to consider the small, incremental steps that have been taken, and what they actually signify.

From the separate toilets for muslims at LaTrobe University - which a friend tells me have been there for years and years and are kept clean by the muslim students in poor comparison to the toilets used by non-muslims - to the City of Monash spending money to put a privacy screen around a public swimming pool so that muslim women can swim without any prying eyes on them.

Needless to say, that last one is going to cost more than anticipated.

These are the most visible symptoms of sharia regulations entering the mainstream, but they are by no means the only ones. Our wonderful 'blasphemy law', also officially known as the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act of 2001 (go read that one, too), has been used primarily against christians, and while it may be worded in a neutral manner, people really aren't that stupid.

Everyone knows who it's there to shackle.

And it's not those who agree with the current, Leftist paradigm.

One recurring theme from Robert Spencer's talk was that we are the inheritors of the greatest, most amazing civilisation the world has ever seen, and he is correct.

Western civilisation gave us human rights, gave us universal suffrage, the greatest leaps forward (sorry, Mao, but your Leap was backwards) in terms of literature, art, music, science, engineering, scholarship and the building of social cohesion (to use a politically-charged descriptor) and just about any other field you can name.

If you want to look at terrible things, well we've also managed to develop terrible engines of war, but to counter-balance that we have Rules of Engagement that take into consideration the possibility of innocents being harmed.

These advances did not happen in a vacuum, and Robert reminds us of that. Our collective Australian, American, Canadian, French, Italian, British, Western identity is worth remembering and celebrating.

Okay, apologies for the digression, but it was necessary when we consider what is taught in our schools.

As was pointed out during the Q&A session after Robert's talk, the audience was composed predominantly of older people. How could we engage the younger generations in fighting against what is happening with the slow and stealthy chaining of our country by islamists and their enablers?

Well, that's something that life will pretty much have to sort out. Older generations have been complaining about the younger ones forever! The ancient Greeks also complained about how the youngsters of their day had no respect, or honour, or idea of what was proper. Nor would they fight for it.

Growing up tends to help in that department, and when you have children of your own, you also grow up that much faster.

In any case, people are waking up, and it's up to us to help them along their path to enlightenment. We talk to people. We can write letters, we can send emails, attend interfaith gatherings to learn more and share more.

When we become engaged, we can accomplish more than we realise. That's the beautiful synergy of our existence.

One person is not merely one person.

One person is a powerhouse who can rev up a room full of strangers, who come together to hear him speak.

One person can provide a focus, an inspiration to the rest of us to get off our backsides and do more.

As I said over at Gates of Vienna nearly exactly 12 months ago:
....What can one person do?

I gave her my card, and my email, and let her know she’s not alone, and she’s not imagining things, and it’s okay to be angry.

She may be one person, but so am I, so are the readers here, and so are many, many others who don’t read blogs but still read the signs.


God bless Robert Spencer for his work, his passion and his knowledge. His enthusiasm definitely fired me up - it's very easy to get disheartened in this game, and it can become easy to find excuses for not blogging as often as I should.

So what will you be doing for the rest of the war?

crossposted at VladTepes.

4 Comments:

At 5:27 PM, Blogger Brett_McS said...

Thanks for the post; by the time I heard about this they were all booked out. Clearly the organisers underestimated the interest!

If we are going to win this, though, we are going to have to harden up: "... it is shocking that in this day and age, in Australia, we are forced into this defensive posture".

I know it's shorthand to say it that way, but of course we aren't forced into anything; instead we make a choice to take the easier path. We will need to make the hard choices to win out.

 
At 3:23 AM, Blogger Dag said...

Lucky you. Robert never shows up in Peru to talk to me. Maybe I should move to Paraguay to increase my chances of a visit.

 
At 9:19 PM, Blogger Nilk said...

@Brett, you're correct. Hard choices are on the horizon, but I'm just not sure how close they are.

It is a bummer that you missed the opportunity to see Robert. I found him lovely. :)

And Dag, my friend. I'm so glad to see your comment. I did see your little snippet over at JW, but I'm actually not registered to comment over there! Good that you're still alive and kicking.

Rather than moving to Paraguay, you should have come over here!

 
At 11:18 PM, Anonymous JJ said...

I'll keep ringing talkback radio about this stuff.
It's what I do best!! ;)

Great post, Nilk RWDB.

Query - why do the Visual Verification letters appear only once you have clicked "Publish Your Comment"?

 

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