Less than two weeks after the Norway massacre and the murder of 77 people, Islamophobe Robert Spencer appeared on Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” to talk about Islam. Spencer and his blog, “Jihad Watch,” were mentioned 162 times in Norway shooter Anders Breivik’s manifesto, but Robertson nevertheless found it fitting to welcome Spencer on his show to talk about the “cult” of Islam.
Robertson, completely disregarding the overwhelming evidence that Robert Spencer’s writings inspired Anders Breivik’s thinking about Islam, wondered why the U.S. media is so anti-American:
ROBERTSON: Tell me what it is about the media today that seems to be in favor of radical Islam. Why do they want to put down anybody who tells the truth about this cult.
SPENCER: Well I tell you, I think the unpleasant truth about it is the media being hard left is essentially anti-American and so anything that’s American, that’s western, that’s Christian, that’s Judeo-Christian, they hate. And so they see Islam and it’s non-western and non-Christian and they love it.
ROBERTSON: But how can they love murderers? These people are murderers. They kill American soldiers. They kill innocent civilians.
SPENCER: Well, you know, to be sure it’s not that they’re approving of that directly because they are propagating the propaganda line that Islam is a religion of peace, that it’s been hijacked by a tiny minority of extremists. They constantly gloss over and sometimes outright deny that fact that Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to promote violence and incite peaceful Muslims to commit acts of violence. These things are matters of fact. It’s pretty obvious from what jihadists themselves say.
Watch it:
Spencer’s rationale for blaming Islam for all terrorism committed by Muslims is interesting because he doesn’t hold himself to the same standard. According to Spencer, if a Muslim terrorist justifies his violence with Quranic verses, then Islam as a religion should be held responsible for the killer’s actions.
But Spencer and his blog had numerous citations in Anders Breivik’s manifesto and, while Spencer has never explicitly advocated violence, Brevik clearly interpreted his writings as a call to action. While Robertson and the “700 Club” may offer a safe venue for Islamophobes to go unchallenged, Spencer is falling back on repeating his hate filled message while applying a ludicrous double-standard to himself and his allies. (HT: Right Wing Watch)