Friday, October 9, 2015

Don't Miss Steyn on Stossel's "Free Speech" Special on Fox This Saturday

Here are the topics that will be addressed during Stossel's Censored in America, on the Fox News Channel:
CENSORED IN AMERICA
My latest special will air this Saturday 10/10 on FNC at 8PM ET
America is the first country to say to its people: all of you have a right to speak. But today speech is under siege.
ISLAM: Americans fear speaking about Islam - and with good reason. Ten cartoonists were recently murdered for drawing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. Other critics have been shot, firebombed, and hacked to death. I interview people brave enough to speak out, like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who is on an Al Qaeda "Wanted Dead or Alive" hit list, and Bosch Fawstin, who won the "Draw Mohammad" cartoon event in Garland, Texas that was attacked by Islamic gunmen. They argue that if Americans want freedom, everyone must refuse to be censored by violent extremists.
CAMPUS CENSORSHIP: Students today are kept away from words and ideas they may find disturbing. "The Silencing" author, Kirsten Powers, says colleges are "ground zero" in the fight for free speech, but George Mason Professor Jeremy Mayer says complaints about censorship are right wing paranoia. Powers also argues that leftists have gone from opposing censorship to supporting it. They even attack their own for stepping outside left-wing orthodoxy; people who say the wrong thing lose jobs.
HOME RAIDS: In Wisconsin, police raided the homes of political activists, accusing them of illegal "collusion" with campaign staffs. Authorities confiscated their computers and cell phones, and ordered them (and their children!) not to speak to anyone about the raids. Recently Wisconsin's Supreme Court revoked the speech ban, saying prosecutors "employed theories of law that did not exist." But by then, Republican activists had been silenced for 5 years.
VICTIMS: The former CEO of Mozilla Brendan Eich, Pax Dickinson of Business Insider, Paula Deen of the Food Network, and real estate entrepreneurs David and Jason Benham all lost jobs because of something they said.
MY AND MARK STEYN'S TAKE: Mark Steyn was prosecuted by the Canadian government for criticizing Islam. He spent his own money defending his right to speak and won. He explains why more speech, not less, is the answer to diverse ideas. Half a century ago, gay rights was an extremely minority idea. "It's only because...you could argue your case...that a tiny little minority idea expanded." That doesn't happen in "control freak societies," like the Muslim world, where "there's nothing left to do but kill, and bomb, and shoot."
Airs this Saturday 10/10 on FNC at 8PM ET
A subject that likely won't be discussed: if mosqueteer Justin Trudeau becomes Canada's prime minister, you can be sure that "free speech" will take a tumble and that sharia-compliant speech (i.e. "don't you be sayin' anything sassy about Muslims or any aspect of Islam") will become the order of the day.

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