Bud Talkinghorn: Mark Steyn, Islamophobia -&- CBC's New Da Vinci

Mark Steynisms

I have lamented the passing of Steyn's National Post columns. They were refreshingly free of cant or bombast. He wore his feelings on his sleeve. He was in fact an unregenerated consevative straight talker, who scourged the left and their rhetoric which passes for wisdom in Canada. He kept alive certain facts, which both the right and the left had buried deep in their memories. Truths like the fact that the Saudis are master perpetrators of anti-Western thought. Billions have been spent setting up Wahhabi schools which openly preach hatred for the West and Israel. The Taliban has sprung from these schools. More actively, they finance numerous terrorist groups. Bin Laden is their boy. Steyn reminds us that our "ally", Saudi Arabia, is implacably undermining democracy. The truth is that Saudi Arabia should have been invaded, not Iraq. Still, we do like driving those gas-guzzling SUVs don't we. A very short-sighted trade-off we'll find out soon.

Another ideological hobby horse that Steyn puts the whip to relentlessly is multiculturalism. He writes: "Multiculuralism is really a suicide cult conceived by the Western elites; not to celebrate all cultures, but to deny their own. And that is particularly unworthy of the British, whose language, culture and law have been the single greatest force for good in the world." That idea has been lodged in my mind, but he nailed it. Various cultures have entered Canada that have been detrimental to law and order, as well as our democratic ideals. The political correctness that Steyn detests has outlawed any mention of this immigration scandal. The left and the Muslim leagues such as the Canadian Islamic Congress (Elmasry's self-created "congress") are driven into a fury everytime Steyn barbecues their sacred cows. It is his brilliant wit that stings the most--and of course that he points out the self-absorption and illogic of their premises.

Steyn still writes for The Spectator, The Western Standard and The Daily Telegraph, to name a few. So I suggest that you look him up. He will delight the conservative reader and infuriate the liberal. A final Steynism: "Canada has a private health care system; it is called 'America' ".

© Bud Talkinghorn



Islamophobia--The new front which twists its real meaning

Two recent developments have transpired since I questioned the need for Islamophobia. Unfortunately, both are sadly deficient in tackling the perception of the Islamic terrorist threat.

The first was an article in The National Post, authored by Terek Fatah and Munir Pervais. They are board members of The Muslim Canadian Congress. They castigate Mohamed Elmasry, the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress for his views. Elmasry is calling the Canadian Muslims who argued against allowing sharia law in Canada poor Muslims at best and total apostates at worst. The penalty for being a Muslim apostate is heavy. Some Christian sects and orthodoxs Jews still practice complete shunning as punishment for leaving the faith. However, in certain Islamic countries it is a death sentence or may result in severe beatings. For Elmasry to accuse moderate Muslims, who maybe came here to escape the fanaticism of their faith-based societies, of being bad Muslims betrays some strange agenda. Did he come here solely as an economic immigrant or as one who seeks a tolerance so lacking in his own country of origin?

Secondly, the eminent Islamic scholar Daniel Pipes reports that there is a blitzkreig of word twisting going on amongst the Islamic terrorism apologists. Pipes is in the front lines of this assault. Because he reports the truth of what is happening on a wide-scale in the world of terrorism or paranoid ravings, he is regularily called an "Islamophobe." I am sure that I fit into that category as well. If trying to counter the threat of radical Islam to this country then Pipes and I are blood brothers.

"Islamophobia" has come to represent any condemnation of active terrorism, along with any apprenhension about the lack of the larger Islamic community's response to the fanatics amongst them. Islamic websites are now publishing absolute rubbish about the "plot against Islam" in the West. According to one author, there are over a thousand books out abusing the good name of Allah. There is no evidence of this happening. If these were kook reports from the lunatic fringe, I could ignore them; however, many come from supposed mainstream sources. Of course the "mainstream" press in the Middle East still hold to the Sept.11th attack as the work of Mossad--maybe with the help of The Great Satan itself. This merging of hatred for the terrorists and the average citizen does a disservice to the Islamic community. They must understand that it is their religion that underpins waging terrorism across the entire world. It is their religion that allows Sudan's Arab Muslims to slaughter and rape black Muslims in Darfur. Where are the foreign jihadis to combat this evil? When any attempt comes up in the U.N. to act on this genocide, the Arab League votes it down. That sends a bad message. And where are the Islamic blogs condemning the vast, wanton massacre of innocent Muslims by al-Zarkawi in Iraq. I guess that the Shi'ites are just another apostate group to be eliminated. The Canadian-Muslim community has a serious PR problem. Until they repudiate the extremists like Elmasry in their midst, they will continue to have one.

© Bud Talkinghorn



The new DaVinci, but the same old lefty biases--only worse this time

Roll the cameras as I run through what comes up in just the introductory program in the series:

Gay murder--never mentioned again

"Recovered" junkie--murdered by gun-happy police -- implied

Native sixth graders pimped--Whitey? Probably. Perpetrators never indentified

Homeless threatened by Gestapo Vancouver police

Native boys--may be male prostitutes, but...Whitey implicated in murder

Corrupt city councillors--DaVinci investigates

Right-wing nut, who hunts with night goggles and AK assault gun--witness for police version of "recovered" junkie victim. Probably an Albertan? On-going investigation, but obviously guilty of being a gun owner. . . . Two billion gun registry worth every penny.

Are there any more loony-left buttons to push? DaVinci has moved up from his humble coroner's job as moral seer to mayor. Now he is a god--at least to the NDP and CBC. Last year I started to get very ho hum about this series. Junkies / whores / aboriginals good--police and whitey, in general, bad. After CBC's long strike hiatus from anything except reruns, I foolishly hoped they would appeal to a broader audience. Alas, it was not to be. Their social engineering program continues apace. Their later CBC National News profiled yet more black gangland murders. But their film reportage split the image between white kids and black kids, while mumbling about, ahew, well, The Jane-Finch corridor being the center of this gun violence. DaVinci couldn't have fudged it better. Welcome to the NEW season of CBC. The fact that it kicked off with a hagiography of Trudeau should have given Canadians fair warning of what's to come.

Next week, I anticipate: a Ukranian victim of the 1917 internment policy is beaten senseless by the Vancouver Gestapo, because he was advocating for another red light district in his area. Aided by a ravishingly dusky, 28 year old gal named Forsythe, who has successfully conguered her burr, DaVinci swings into action, while considering renouncing his race. Good old cop, Donnelly Rhodes, who injected some common sense into the show has been deep-sixed. Now under investigation by the Human Rights Commission. Also too many complaints from The Friends of the CBC. Aren't you glad that we have CBC back?

I'm waiting too, for more preaching on "This is Wonderland" . . .

© Bud Talkinghorn

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