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1timspalding
College Fix: "‘World’s most famous atheist’ booted from Berkeley because of his ‘hurtful speech’ on Islam"
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/34756/
Dawkins was due to be interviewed about his upcoming Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist.
I think Dawkins is a jerk, but I have to agree with "The Friendly Atheist" http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/07/21/richard-dawkins-event-in...
You can read Dawkin's letter about the affair here: https://richarddawkins.net/2017/07/letter-to-kpfa/
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/34756/
Dawkins was due to be interviewed about his upcoming Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist.
I think Dawkins is a jerk, but I have to agree with "The Friendly Atheist" http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/07/21/richard-dawkins-event-in...
You can read Dawkin's letter about the affair here: https://richarddawkins.net/2017/07/letter-to-kpfa/
"I am known as a frequent critic of Christianity and have never been de-platformed for that. Why do you give Islam a free pass? Why is it fine to criticise Christianity but not Islam?
You say I use “abusive speech” about Islam. I would seriously – I mean it – like to hear what examples of my “abusive speech” you had in mind. When you fail to discover any, I presume you will issue a public apology, which I will of course accept in a spirit of gratitude for what KPFA once was. And could become again."
2davidgn
It was a sadly misconceived move.
As for the related question of leftists giving Islamists a free pass: there are some convoluted ideological reasons for that sort of behavior to be found in ideological far-left currents that I've never really understood. I recently stumbled upon a podcast series in which Ben Norton and Rania Khalek (whom I've mentioned elsewhere) discuss and excoriate some of these sclerotic tendencies with an ex-ISO-member host-interviewer. (The podcast's name? The Dead Pundits Society ;-) )
Part 1; Part 2; Part 3. It's saucy but substantive.
There was also a good interview with Norton and Khalek's collaborator Max Blumenthal on the same podcast here, in which Blumenthal addresses some signature failures of the left to consider the opportunistic and cynical sponsorship and advancement of radicalized political Islam by Western governments over the course of many decades, which has in turn provided an opening for far-right xenophobic narratives to fill that void -- as poignantly illustrated by a short monologue from the EDL's Tommy Robinson in the wake of the Manchester bombings, excerpted at the beginning of the episode.
As for the related question of leftists giving Islamists a free pass: there are some convoluted ideological reasons for that sort of behavior to be found in ideological far-left currents that I've never really understood. I recently stumbled upon a podcast series in which Ben Norton and Rania Khalek (whom I've mentioned elsewhere) discuss and excoriate some of these sclerotic tendencies with an ex-ISO-member host-interviewer. (The podcast's name? The Dead Pundits Society ;-) )
Part 1; Part 2; Part 3. It's saucy but substantive.
There was also a good interview with Norton and Khalek's collaborator Max Blumenthal on the same podcast here, in which Blumenthal addresses some signature failures of the left to consider the opportunistic and cynical sponsorship and advancement of radicalized political Islam by Western governments over the course of many decades, which has in turn provided an opening for far-right xenophobic narratives to fill that void -- as poignantly illustrated by a short monologue from the EDL's Tommy Robinson in the wake of the Manchester bombings, excerpted at the beginning of the episode.
