Pat Condell: Free speech is sacred

Famed atheist vlogger Pat Condell, whom I count among my friends, is just so, so important. He doesn't have any position--he's not a president or prime minister. But Pat may be more important than all world leaders combined.

Astonishingly, just as I am working on a new book that emphasizes our freedoms as holy tenets, here comes Pat spelling it all out in a most brilliant manner. Pat has just made himself the high priest of the most important religious movement ever to hit planet Earth: Freedom.

I have taken the liberty of transcribing the juicy bits most appropriate for my current project. Regarding the obscene and blasphemous attempt by Islamists to criminalize criticism of their cult by their "defamation of religion" U.N. resolution, Pat remarks:

Now, to defame something, first of all you have to say something untrue about it. So, for example, if I say that religion is the art of sugar-coating a turd and selling it as a donut, well, that's not defamation because of course it is absolutely true.

In this video “Free speech is sacred,” Pat also says:

The only actual defamation I can detect here is defamation of humanity by religion, because religion is bearing false witness against us to our detriment - and that is defamation. Religion is telling us a poison story about ourselves, because it doesn't want us to like ourselves one little bit. So it denigrates us from the moment we're born, as unworthy, unclean and stained with sin, persuading us that there's something that we need to be saved from. And indeed there is: The curse of religion, which for its very survival depends on keeping us enthralled to a view of reality that's so childish, so stunted, so utterly and transparently false, it amounts to nothing less than a malicious assault on our very identity as human beings, which I believe makes religion a crime against humanity.

Pat also calls himself a “freedom-worshipper.” He further says:

I claim free speech as my religion. Yes, I'll have a slice of that pie too, thank you, along with all the attendant rights and privileges, of course. Because I can assure you that I venerate free speech as highly as anybody on this planet venerates their god or their scripture or their prophet, and any attempt to suppress free speech is deeply insulting and grossly offensive to me on a personal level. I feel violated to the very core of my being, which seriously hurts my feelings. Whenever I hear free speech being comprimised or restricted - or even heavily criticized - I take that as a grave personal affront and as a grotesquely insensitive attack on my most cherished values: Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of identity - this is my holy trinity. Each one an intrinsic aspect of my god. Freedom, the holiest of holies. Yes, it bloody well is. It is absolutely sacred and inviolable beyond any negotiation or compromise now and forever. Amen.

Amen indeed. Be sure also to see my blog post from 2006 concerning the U.S. Constitution and the freedoms it represents: A Truly Sacred Scripture.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Saves Civilization

In her autobiography Infidel, the brilliant and beautiful freethinker Ayaan Hirsi Ali cuts through the irrational rationalization of the world's most brutal and oppressive ideology: Not "radical Islam," but ISLAM, period. And Hirsi Ali should know, because, as she explains in her book, she was for many years a very devout Muslim. As an outward expression of her ardent devotion to Islam and its god Allah - even before it became more "fashionable" where she lived in Africa - Hirsi Ali covered herself from head to toe in a baggy cloak so that her femaleness would not be revealed and endanger her to the ubiquitous perils for women in her culture. As we should already recognize from seeing the abuse with our own eyes, the fervent claim that Islam does not oppress women - frequently quite violently - represents one of the biggest deceits in the world today, and those who constantly put forth this palpably false assertion dismissing gender-apartheid within Islam should be loudly denounced. But the highly important work of Hirsi Ali goes much farther than simply denouncing the incredibly hideous treatment of women within Islam, as Ayaan undoubtedly represents one of the greatest voices of reason of all time in a battle for the very existence of human civilization.

Horribly mutilated at the age of five at the harsh hands of her stern grandmother and a local barber with a pair of scissors who cut off her genitals like a slab of meat, Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks out loudly and clearly that such atrocities in her native Somalia are done not only to virtually every female of a certain age, but also IN THE NAME OF ISLAM. In fact, it was surprising for her to discover that there are claims - many quite frantic and unconvincing - that Islam does not call for female genital mutilation or "circumcision," as this despicable "cultural tradition" is euphemistically and flaccidly termed. Of course, not only Muslims practice this heinous savagery, but the majority of women and girls with disfigured genitals - an estimated 140 MILLION worldwide at the time of this writing - ARE Muslims, and such oppressive barbarism goes hand in hand with an ideology that without a doubt considers women as second-class subhumans designed mostly for sexual release, baby making and household slavery.

Needless to say, someone with such intelligence and wisdom as Ayaan Hirsi Ali was not content to spend her precious life merely as a piece of meat and slave. Hirsi Ali escaped this oppressive and dreadful future - and found a liberating and exquisite non-Muslim world that she could barely have imagined, based on the virulent infidel-hating dogma she had been taught since childhood. Although she does not opine that the non-Muslim world is perfect by any means, Hirsi Ali's vivid and disturbing descriptions of the contrast between what she left behind and what she discovered must give serious pause to the myriad and often trivial complaints against Western civilization. As she has said in interviews, you may spit upon the freedoms you were born with, but she cannot be so unappreciative and disrespectful, because she has literally experienced and witnessed real hell on Earth, and she is extremely grateful to have gotten out. By contrast, Western values at this current time seem like paradise - this notion is precisely what Hirsi Ali has attempted to impart over and over again in her writings and interviews. In other words, we've got it not just good but great. And this greatness is well worth fighting for - nay, it is essential we fight for it.

Despite the denials and justifications by those who cannot or will not face the horrible truth, the threat against the very survival of Western civilization is real, large and growing. If we do not wake up to this threat quickly, we will very likely find ourselves living in a world of submission and enslavement that we cannot even conceive. Hirsi Ali knows these facts to be true, as she has already lived through such a nightmare - and SHE DOES NOT WANT TO GO BACK. We who are enlightened cannot blame her at all, as we absolutely do not wish such a future for our own children - a perfectly dreadful thought straight out of our worst fears.

Do yourself and the world a favor - buy this book, read it, digest it, pass it along and support the efforts of the handful of individuals such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali in saving human civilization.