A lot of what he is crediting to liberals may or may not be liberals (or is that Liberals?) I bet one could find people calling themselves conservative saying similar things. And if you listen to the clip of Trudeau he doesn’t say it wasn’t terrorism. he’s waiting for more information. Levant tries to spin it as something else.
Interesting that Levant goes Godwinian and invokes Hitler without mentioning that Hitler’s reaction to terrorism was not unlike Prime Minister Harper’s.
For a perspective on Muslim ideology without the politics I like Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
When Levant says “liberals” he means those poor lost souls who have drunk the politically correct Kool Aid.
These people believe in a form of secularized sympathetic magic: they believe you can change the nature of a thing by changing its name. Thus they refuse to call things by their true names. They think a problem ceases to be a problem if you call it a challenge. They think you can eradicate racism by pretending there is no such thing as race.
More to the point, they think you can turn Islam into a benign ideology by pretending that Islamic religious violence is committed by mentally ill people and is completely unrelated to the exhortations to commit religious violence in the Qur’an and the Hadith. Indeed, they naïvely believe that violence and mental illness are virtually synonymous, and thus it is easy to fool them into thinking that sane Muslims are non-violent.
Therefore they refuse to say that Islamic terrorism is Islamic terrorism.
Justin Trudeau is a perfect example – no spin required. Just notice what he said, and what he refused to admit. He made a disgraceful spectacle of himself by refusing to admit that an obvious act of terrorism is what it is, and disingenuously pretending that some kind of experts are required to recognize an obvious act of terrorism as such.
Finally, there is no such thing as “apolitical Islam.” Anyone who purports to describe “Muslim ideology without the politics” is a liar. Certainly Ayaan Hirsi Ali makes no such claim, because Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an atheist.
Code Slinger
No doubt there are people who think along the lines of what you describe or, more probably. espouse that type of PC nonsense because they fear offending someone and jeopardizing their own careers. And that type of nonsense is likely unpopular with most Canadians.
What Levant does here is imply that it is the definition of liberal, which it is not. It is, as you say, political correctness which I find among members of every political bent. After all, the goal is to get elected not stick to an ideology.
Justin Trudeau has said some stupid things and he should be called on them but here he is merely using caution before drawing a conclusion. I think that was wise in the circumstances.
I guess I’ve just seen the spin too many times and it becomes obvious to me pretty quickly.
I admire Levant for his stand for freedom of speech. I don’t admire his, childish at times, personal disparagement of Justin Trudeau. As an example check out Levant’s commentary on the Trudeau boxing match. It’s on youtube.
I share your discomfort at what ‘liberal’ has become.
Back when my father-in-law was a ‘classical liberal’, being called ‘a liberal’ was a compliment.
Unfortunately, as language evolves, so has the meaning of what it means to be ‘a liberal’. It no longer conveys the ‘classical liberal’ meaning of individualism above all: instead, it had been degraded to mean ‘group identity trumps individual rights’ and ‘regulation’ trumps ‘freedom’.
As such, Justin Trudeau embodies the ‘modern liberal’. Instead of using his own brain to come to a conclusion based on publicly available facts, he ‘refrains from making a judgment’ until after the elites have spoken, so as to bravely lead from behind… That way, he can adopt their conclusions as his own – with no adverse judgment in case it is proven to be wrong (he was just following ‘the experts’). In other words, it is as ‘risk free’ a position to take as is possible.
It is, however, as far from ‘ethical’ or (let’s not mince words) honest as possible.
In other words, it is empty of substance – just as Justin Trudeau is!
No, it s not ‘his fault’ – both his genetic heritage as well as his social conditioning have contributed heavily to his inability to overcome his sub-optimal talents in both intellectual and moral spheres of reasoning.
xanthippa
I agree with the “empty of substance” It seems to be the modern politician and Justin Trudeau is no exception. Rather than announce their ideals and get the vote of those who agree they stay as quiet as possible waiting for the government in power to make a mistake. Then they pounce on what the other guy did wrong with empty promises of what they will do right.
I miss the politicians with vision who acted on the vision when elected, even though I often diagreed with them and it usually came back to bite them in the behind.
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
October 26, 2014 at 19:44
Ezra makes many valid points. If only he could refrain from making everything part of an election campaign he might be taken more seriously.
October 30, 2014 at 17:47
Ezra has an admittedly theatrical style. I can’t say it is the way I would present the issue – and, I don’t.
But, it takes all kinds to make the world go round!
And the meaning of his message, regardless of how I feel about the delivery, is sound, reasoned and principled. And, in the end, that is what matters!
October 30, 2014 at 20:17
Anomaly:
So what, exactly, did Levant say that sounded like “part of an election campaign” to you?
November 2, 2014 at 04:54
A lot of what he is crediting to liberals may or may not be liberals (or is that Liberals?) I bet one could find people calling themselves conservative saying similar things. And if you listen to the clip of Trudeau he doesn’t say it wasn’t terrorism. he’s waiting for more information. Levant tries to spin it as something else.
Interesting that Levant goes Godwinian and invokes Hitler without mentioning that Hitler’s reaction to terrorism was not unlike Prime Minister Harper’s.
For a perspective on Muslim ideology without the politics I like Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
November 2, 2014 at 22:29
Anomaly:
When Levant says “liberals” he means those poor lost souls who have drunk the politically correct Kool Aid.
These people believe in a form of secularized sympathetic magic: they believe you can change the nature of a thing by changing its name. Thus they refuse to call things by their true names. They think a problem ceases to be a problem if you call it a challenge. They think you can eradicate racism by pretending there is no such thing as race.
More to the point, they think you can turn Islam into a benign ideology by pretending that Islamic religious violence is committed by mentally ill people and is completely unrelated to the exhortations to commit religious violence in the Qur’an and the Hadith. Indeed, they naïvely believe that violence and mental illness are virtually synonymous, and thus it is easy to fool them into thinking that sane Muslims are non-violent.
Therefore they refuse to say that Islamic terrorism is Islamic terrorism.
Justin Trudeau is a perfect example – no spin required. Just notice what he said, and what he refused to admit. He made a disgraceful spectacle of himself by refusing to admit that an obvious act of terrorism is what it is, and disingenuously pretending that some kind of experts are required to recognize an obvious act of terrorism as such.
Finally, there is no such thing as “apolitical Islam.” Anyone who purports to describe “Muslim ideology without the politics” is a liar. Certainly Ayaan Hirsi Ali makes no such claim, because Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an atheist.
Note: edited for a typo…
November 4, 2014 at 00:25
Code Slinger
No doubt there are people who think along the lines of what you describe or, more probably. espouse that type of PC nonsense because they fear offending someone and jeopardizing their own careers. And that type of nonsense is likely unpopular with most Canadians.
What Levant does here is imply that it is the definition of liberal, which it is not. It is, as you say, political correctness which I find among members of every political bent. After all, the goal is to get elected not stick to an ideology.
Justin Trudeau has said some stupid things and he should be called on them but here he is merely using caution before drawing a conclusion. I think that was wise in the circumstances.
I guess I’ve just seen the spin too many times and it becomes obvious to me pretty quickly.
I admire Levant for his stand for freedom of speech. I don’t admire his, childish at times, personal disparagement of Justin Trudeau. As an example check out Levant’s commentary on the Trudeau boxing match. It’s on youtube.
November 4, 2014 at 00:58
Anomaly,
I share your discomfort at what ‘liberal’ has become.
Back when my father-in-law was a ‘classical liberal’, being called ‘a liberal’ was a compliment.
Unfortunately, as language evolves, so has the meaning of what it means to be ‘a liberal’. It no longer conveys the ‘classical liberal’ meaning of individualism above all: instead, it had been degraded to mean ‘group identity trumps individual rights’ and ‘regulation’ trumps ‘freedom’.
As such, Justin Trudeau embodies the ‘modern liberal’. Instead of using his own brain to come to a conclusion based on publicly available facts, he ‘refrains from making a judgment’ until after the elites have spoken, so as to bravely lead from behind… That way, he can adopt their conclusions as his own – with no adverse judgment in case it is proven to be wrong (he was just following ‘the experts’). In other words, it is as ‘risk free’ a position to take as is possible.
It is, however, as far from ‘ethical’ or (let’s not mince words) honest as possible.
In other words, it is empty of substance – just as Justin Trudeau is!
No, it s not ‘his fault’ – both his genetic heritage as well as his social conditioning have contributed heavily to his inability to overcome his sub-optimal talents in both intellectual and moral spheres of reasoning.
November 4, 2014 at 01:27
xanthippa
I agree with the “empty of substance” It seems to be the modern politician and Justin Trudeau is no exception. Rather than announce their ideals and get the vote of those who agree they stay as quiet as possible waiting for the government in power to make a mistake. Then they pounce on what the other guy did wrong with empty promises of what they will do right.
I miss the politicians with vision who acted on the vision when elected, even though I often diagreed with them and it usually came back to bite them in the behind.
November 4, 2014 at 01:31
Just wanted to add I don’t really care what anyone calls the murderers. I worry more about what the government is going to do about it.
November 4, 2014 at 17:08
Anomaly:
What the government will do, of course, is over-react.
The result will be more laws and less freedom.
Another win for the terrorists.
Their strategy is to goad the West into using its own strength against itself, to destroy its own freedoms and tear itself apart from within.
It’s working.