Editor's Note: Candice Malcolm highlights the ‘moral panic’ that criticism of Islam can generate in Canada, with Prime Minister Trudeau accusing Conservative leader Andrew Scheer of “Islamophobia” for criticizing Trudeau’s lenient treatment of returning ISIS fighters. Imagine how taking action on “Islamophobia” as Motion M-103 recommends could further stifle free speech about Islam.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participates in Fortune Global Forum Armchair Discussion "Global Leadership: The View from Canada" in Guangzhou, China on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.
In 2011, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper said “Islamicism” posed the greatest threat to Canada’s national security. In the seven years since, we’ve experienced a tidal wave of unpredictable and grossly inhumane jihadist terrorist attacks across the West, including here at home. Harper was right about the rising threat of jihadists armies and emboldened Islamists. And yet, Harper’s comment was met with scorn and ridicule by Canadian elites – particularly Liberal Party politicians and leftist members of the mainstream media. The Toronto Star said Harper “systematically mined anti-Muslim prejudices,” while Justin Trudeau drew an absurd equivalency between Harper’s treatment of Muslims in Canada and Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. The Left wants to paint mainstream Canadians as bigots – and worse, they want to scare us into thinking that criticizing Islamists and discussing the threat of jihadists terrorism is a form of racism. It’s a scare tactic, employed to silence critics. This Leftist strategy has been repeated so often, the words are losing their meaning. Last year, I wrote a column about a man who was found guilty of beating his wife with a hockey stick for half an hour. This wasn’t my opinion, it was a fact. A Syrian refugee was the victim of a horrific beating by her angry and abusive husband. I was shining a light on the well-documented problem of spousal abuse within the Syrian refugee community, and yet, my report made me the subject of a Leftist witch-hunt. Liberal strategist Bruce Anderson said I should be fired from my job, a Canadaland host said I had written a “racist screed,” and a Buzzfeed blogger accused me of “smearing all Syrian refugees.” This hysteria is part of a troubling trend. The former Conservative government was also accused of bigotry after they changed the Citizenship Guide given to all newcomers to include the following warning: “In Canada, men and women are equal under the law. Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, “honour killings,” female genital mutilation, forced marriage or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws.” This statement is both true and important, and yet, Trudeau opposed it, insisting it was pejorative and overly judgmental. Trudeau is drunk off the Kool-Aid of official multiculturalism, he believes we should never criticize other cultures – even when their practices are cruel and barbaric. Likewise, last month Trudeau accused Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer of “Islamophobia” because Scheer asked a legitimate question about national security and returned ISIS fighters. If asking a question about terrorism makes someone “Islamophobic,” how can we ever address the issue of Islamist extremism and terrorism? Trudeau’s pitiful tactics are meant to smear his critics and scare others in to silence. The term ‘useful idiot’ was coined during the Cold War to describe Marxists living in the West who defended communism and spread Soviet propaganda. These apologists hid the ghastly crimes committed by communist regimes because they believed in the same ideology. Just as useful idiots once apologized for communism and overlooked its fatal flaws, today’s useful idiots insist that those who criticize the ideas and actions of Islamists are racists, bigots and “Islamophobic.” Under their dogma of multiculturalism, Leftists have twisted themselves into a moral pretzel. They insist it’s wrong to criticize other cultures, and have thus aligned themselves with a deeply illiberal cause: defending any and all Muslims – including violent wife-beaters and Islamist extremists. This is part of a series written by Malcolm examining the threat posed by radical Islamists to North America. For a free e-copy, visit www.CreepingCaliphate.com.
This article was originally published on the Toronto Sun website on January 25, 2018, and can be viewed on their site by clicking here.