University College Of London Now Censoring Criticism Of The Islamic State
Brendan O'Neill writes at The Spectator that Macer Gifford, a former UCL student, was set to give a talk there this week "on his experiences with the YPG, the fighting units of Syrian Kurdistan who have valiantly stymied the spread of Isis":
But the Kurdish Society who invited him was told by Asad Khan, the activities and events officers of UCL's students' union, that the talk couldn't go ahead, because 'in every conflict there are two sides, and at UCLU we want to avoid taking sides in conflicts'.It's true there are two sides in the YPG v Isis conflict. One side has both men and women fighting hard to protect their homeland and people from falling to brutal Islamist rule; the other pushes gay people off buildings, stones adulterers, sets fire to its prisoners of war, and mows down anyone who stands in the way of the growth of its creepy Caliphate. If you can't 'take sides' in a conflict like that, then your moral compass is in serious need of repair.
Nobody allowed to speak if anyone at all disagrees? This should make for a very quiet campus.
(Of course, it's really just anyone with bombs.)
dee nile at November 7, 2015 7:32 AM
'... at UCLU we want to avoid taking sides in conflicts'."
Not sure why UCL would be concerned w/upsetting anyone that is not sure ISIS is a bad guy. UCL is a gun-free zone in a gun-free country. (trigger warning - heh heh)
Bob in Texas at November 7, 2015 10:07 AM
Some stories don't have two sides - at least not two defensible ones. ISIS is systematically destroying the Middle East's cultural, artistic, and intellectual legacies.
Would UCL allow someone to speak against Hitler? Probably, because no one is worried about offending Nazis or even Germans in general. Offended Germans generally don't blow up skyscrapers with passenger airliners.
But Islam excels at taking offense. Even if you're talking about a subset of a multi-billion person population, the politically correct worry about offending anyone who might be tangentially related to the offense.
Offending or even speaking out against Islam is even written into the scripture as a cardinal offense.
Now, add a hypersensitive militant fundamentalist element to that prickly sensibility. Throw in a spineless Western university marinated i the idea that Western civilization is evil and you've got the perfect recipe for cultural and intellectual appeasement.
Conan the Grammarian at November 7, 2015 10:20 AM
I'm glad it's not the United States, but we're not really all that far behind.
Patrick at November 7, 2015 3:53 PM
"If you can't 'take sides' in a conflict like that, then your moral compass is in serious need of repair."
Minor nitpick, but, if you cannot see that there is a right and a wrong in this, then it isn't because you need your moral compass repaired; it is because you don't even have one!
charles at November 7, 2015 9:22 PM
The Kurdish Society should be allowed to give its talk. Then the ISIS Society could give its talk.
Would any student ask the ISIS Society speaker a question?
Andrew_M_Garland at November 7, 2015 9:28 PM
That said, would you not be interested in hearing an ISIS person speak? Especially a woman? I'd be very curious.
If you're concerned both sides aren't speaking, the solution isn't to stop one side from doing so but to invite the other to speak.
NicoleK at November 8, 2015 12:13 AM
"That said, would you not be interested in hearing an ISIS person speak? Especially a woman? I'd be very curious.
If you're concerned both sides aren't speaking, the solution isn't to stop one side from doing so but to invite the other to speak."
I'm not interested in hearing a "justification" for beheadings, running people down w/cars and rhen stabbing them, or in child rape/brides.
I do think it's nice that "they"let me know who they are though.
Bob in Texas at November 8, 2015 12:01 PM
Would any student ask the ISIS Society speaker a question?
"Mr. Osama, do you really thing bombings, beheadings and sex slavery are really the best way to get your message across?"
"SILENCE! I KEEL YOU!"
mpetrie98 at November 8, 2015 5:33 PM
I'm a fairly amoral person and most "moral" conflicts are fairly fucking stupid.
But even I have no problem condemning groups like ISIS
lujlp at November 8, 2015 9:36 PM
I'm not interested in hearing a "justification" for beheadings, running people down w/cars and rhen stabbing them, or in child rape/brides.
***
I am. I'm especially curious about why a woman would join this movement... what attracts them? Who is at risk for recruitmant?
NicoleK at November 10, 2015 12:51 PM
Well, if you're already a Muslim woman who's getting treated badly (and I'm guessing you don't even have to be poor, since the male 9/11 hijackers weren't poor), extremism might not sound so bad if you think it will lead you to a better life...or afterlife.
Otherwise, I couldn't say.
lenona at November 13, 2015 1:59 PM
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