For all newcomers...

Submitted by Evan Mark (United States), Jul 27, 2011 at 16:22

There may be many newcomers here who, in light of the recent bombing and shooting spree in Norway, have come to this Blog to learn about who Daniel Pipes is.

I have followed Daniel Pipes for years. I have read many of his books. I have followed this blog for some time now and I have watched several of his interviews and debates online... I have never EVER read or seen anything from Daniel which could have been twisted to endorse or advocate the kind of senseless murder we saw in Norway.

Daniel is a passionate, kind-natured, and articulate defender of human, individual, and women's rights... He is a dedicated advocate of freedom of speech and of expression. He is someone who cares deeply about others and who has a profound respect for human life and human dignity.

Those who would attempt to vilify or demonize Daniel for having some part in this senseless killing spree are making a false and extraordinarily lazy moral equivalency.

And regarding radical Islam, let us please attempt to have some perspective.

Do not let these senseless attacks by Anders Breivik, who is clearly a sick, psychopathic individual, blind us to the truth.

Radical Islam, (not all Muslims, obviously), as it is articulated as nausem by myriad Islamists the world over, is an ideology of hatred, misogyny, homophobia, and violence.

And radical Islamists have undoubtedly been the greatest purveyors of human rights abuses worldwide within the last decade.

In fact, lest we forget... there have been at least 17,500 individual acts of terror since 9/11. This site collects and documents individual terrorist acts.

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

This does not include an infinite number of other crimes and human rights abuses which are hidden from public scrutiny, or never prosecuted or reported on because they occur in countries where journalists are not allowed or are cowed into silence.

Some estimates put the number of victims of Islamic terrorism since 9/11 in the hundreds of thousands.

In the past five years, according to the documentary film "Killing in the name" (nominated for an academy award last year), over 88,000 people have been killed by Islamic extremists in the last 5 years alone:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684897/

Sadly, the overwhelming majority of those killed by Islamic radicals have been fellow Muslims.

While the Norway attacks were horrific, and tragic, and despicable (and immediately denounced by virtually everyone on "the conservative right" including Daniel Pipes), they simply do not hold a candle to to the kind of violence, and hatred, and misogyny that we have seen by radical Islamists in the last ten years.

And Daniel, I think I speak for many here when I say that we stand behind you, we are grateful for your sacrifice and your commitment to truth, and we thank you for being who you are: a strong, determined defender of human and individual and women's rights, and a true American patriot.

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