When I was a little kid and visited the doctor’s office, if the nurse was going to give me a shot she would smack my butt with her free hand just before the needle went in. I don’t know if it was to confuse my tiny nervous system, or whether there was some other rationale for the procedure. In any case, slapping the muscle first was supposed to make the shot hurt less.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation is preparing to slap us later this week, so we can expect the needle soon afterwards. And guess who gets to play Big Nurse in the OIC’s surgery?
First, the report from Today’s Zaman:
OIC to Host Media Workshop in Fight Against Islamophobia
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has announced it will host a media workshop — the first of its kind — in Brussels on Feb. 15 and 16 for the development of media-related mechanisms to address smear campaigns against Islam in Western newspapers and other media institutions.
The media workshop will touch upon issues related to the negative representation of Islam in the Western media and will bring together Muslim and non-Muslim journalists, intellectuals, academics and civil society organization leaders to engage in in-depth discussions that will work towards the development of a stand against the misrepresentation of Islam in the media and the elimination discriminatory discourse and language.
This media outreach is, of course, part of the OIC’s Ten-Year Plan for eliminating Islamophobia:
The idea to organize a media workshop was first noted at the Mecca OIC Extraordinary Summit of 2005 and was shaped by the OIC Ten Year Programme of Action and the Islamic Conferences of Information Ministers (ICIM) in the years that followed. Workshop participants will discuss at length the reasons behind and the results of the Western media’s offensive campaigns directed against the symbols and sanctities of Islam and Muslims, which still occur from time to time, and how to address the issue.
We are now seven years into the Plan, and time’s a-wastin’! So this “workshop” is designed to help purge the media of what little Islam-critical thinking remains to them.
The article continues:
The workshop is of particular importance as it will be held only weeks before the convening of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March, which will put Resolution 16/18 to a vote for the second time after its unanimous endorsement in the previous session.
Resolution 16/18 aims to combat intolerance, stereotyping, stigmatization, discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against individuals based on religion or belief. The resolution is the outcome of bilateral talks between the OIC and a number of Western countries, including the US. The statement noted two meetings between the OIC and the US, held in İstanbul and Washington, to discuss this issue in order to develop operational mechanisms to implement the resolution at the level of the UN.
We all know what “intolerance, stereotyping, stigmatization, [and] discrimination” mean: they mean any form of criticism of Islam. Stating the plain facts, reading from the Koran, quoting an authoritative hadith — all of these may “stigmatize” Islam, even if they are true.
It’s hard for a Westerner to wrap his brain around the idea, but this is exactly what Islamic law says. Saying anything that tends to harm Islam is a form of blasphemy, and is forbidden. Since telling the truth about what Islam actually says is harmful to Islam, truth-telling is haram — until you’re safely a Muslim, that is, and ready to hear it.
The OIC’s goal is to slap us with all this so as to get our cooperation while they slip the needle in:
The two-day workshop will take the form of a series of brainstorming sessions to develop mechanisms for cooperation with external partners and to develop an action plan to address the phenomenon of Islamophobia. The recommendations of the media workshop will be presented at the 9th Session of the ICIM, which will be held in Libreville, Gabon, in April for endorsement and implementation.
They will brainstorm with us, and the end result will be a mechanism that will eliminate the last vestiges of any free speech when the topic is Islam. This has already been accomplished for the most part in Europe — witness what just happened to Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff — but the USA will require a bit more work.
That’s where Big Nurse comes in.
Most of the reports about the upcoming OIC workshop use similar wording, and are obviously drawn from the same press release. But Bernama has this little tidbit that should make Americans sit up and take notice:
“The workshop will represent a quantum leap in media action, as it discusses, beyond rhetoric, the practical steps to address the phenomenon of Islamophobia,” the OIC said.
[…]
Reports say Resolution 16/18, which was adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2011, was backed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the most recent Istanbul Process Conference in Washington in December. [emphasis added]
That’s right: Hillary wants to remove the last of your First Amendment rights. It will be a tough job, but with a supine Congress and a compliant Supreme Court, anything is possible.
How much do you want to bet it will follow the Pentagon model, and stress that the restrictions on our freedom are necessary for our national security, in order to win the “War on Terror”?
After all, when we express “Islamophobic” views, we help create new terrorists by driving “moderate” Muslims to become “extremists”.
This is widely viewed as a significant step forward in OIC efforts to advance the international legal concept of defaming Islam.
And indeed it is.
Are you ready? Hold still!
SLAP!
Note: Vlad has his own take on this topic, including a video that many readers will want to see. I mean, really want to see.
Hat tips: Frontinus, Papa Whiskey.
Previous posts about Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and the OIC:
6 comments:
"We all know what “intolerance, stereotyping, stigmatization, [and] discrimination” mean: they mean any form of criticism of Islam. Stating the plain facts, reading from the Koran, quoting an authoritative hadith — all of these may “stigmatize” Islam, even if they are true."
No. Especially when true.
Quote: "Resolution 16/18 aims to combat intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatisation of discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief."
Given the fact that Islam satanizes and destroys any religion or belief system it meets on its way of conquest, does this actually mean that they will combat themselves?
They also make a call to "Protect beliefs beyond mere rethoric": yeah, we should do it. Let's apply the principle of reciprocity. We too should protect our belief in liberty and freedom of speech beyond mere rethoric, shouldn't we? Quid pro quo.
And something more: "telling the truth about what Islam actually says is harmful to Islam". Of course it it. Just as telling the truth about nazism was harmful to nazism, and telling the truth about communism was/is harmful to communism. If a german told the truth about the nazi regime, it was harmful to the Reich, and he was sent to a concentration camp. If a north-korean tells the truth about the north-korean regime, it is harmful to the regime, and he will be sent to a north-korean gulag. But if someone tells the truth about islam, he will most likely be beheaded. In a way, Islam is more harmful than communism or even nazism. Their only way to solve any "inconvenience" is by way of sword, bomb, or aircraft.
I don't suppose there are going to be similar 'Workshops' in muslim countries to counter the violently anti-Jewish and anti-Christian mindset of those benighted and Godforsaken countries?
What I don't understand is where is the upside for the people of the United States, or Europe, or Australia when our politicians agree to this drivel?
We all know that this is a one way street. To my knowledge, not one thing has changed about the brutality in Islamic countries against the "non-believers." If anything, it has gotten worse, especially in Egypt against the Copts.
Why do our politicians agree to this? Baron, maybe you could write an essay on your opinion as to why we are being forced into these arrangements which, to my mind, just limit our freedom of speech in the west. Maybe Fjordman could take a shot at it.
I think that the "why" is perfectly obvious. The governing elites that are making and enforcing these policies generally do not consider themselves as being part of the historic peoples of the Western nations, but regard those peoples and their tradition of freedom and limited government as the enemy of the ruling class.
Thus they are committing themselves to a strategy of weakening those peoples and undermining their traditions to pave their own path to unlimited totalitarian power. Of course, anyone with a sense of history can see that engaging in totalitarian government is a terrible idea...eventually either the people or your rival totalitarians turn on you and destroy you and your posterity utterly. The history of Islam should be particularly instructive, but so is the history of China. Even if a nation as a whole remains totalitarian for a long time, any given family of totalitarians tends to get wiped out in a few generations after gaining power.
There are other much less suicidal strategies for gaining a substantial degree of power and control as long as you don't attempt totalitarianism. But apparently absolute power has a special appeal that outweighs more rational considerations.
Chiu Chun-Ling.
Chiu: Yes, I agree with your assessment.
Babs: In a word, OIL.
The Middle East controls almost all of the world's oil. Europe and Australia have no oil and are beggars for it.
Oil and Australia (2000)
Commodities - Europe and oil (2012)
American energy independence and production is being undermined in order that despots may control us.
"Global oil production is now also approaching an all time peak and can potentially end our Industrial Civilization."
Peak Oil: Info & Strategies
Egghead
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