Berkeley, California radio station KPFA cancels Richard Dawkins event because he criticized Islam

( Muslims do not assimilate! They infiltrate! )

July 21, 2017 12:24 pm By Robert Spencer 52 Comments

Richard Dawkins criticizes all religions, and the concept of religion itself. But criticizing Islam is forbidden on the Left, and so KPFA canceled his appearance: “we didn’t know he had offended and hurt – in his tweets and other comments on Islam, so many people.”

The station insists that “while KPFA emphatically supports serious free speech, we do not support abusive speech.” But who is to decide what is legitimate criticism of Islam and what is “abusive speech”? The purveyors of the “Islamophobia” fiction have never clarified that or pointed to any critic of Islam whom they don’t consider “abusive.” They haven’t because they can’t. There is no criticism of Islam that they find acceptable. Dawkins can criticize Christianity and KPFA will cheer, but when he turns to Islam, he immediately becomes “abusive.” The objective of labeling such criticism abusive is to silence it. Every critic of Islam, even those on the Left such as Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Bill Maher, is accused of “bigotry” and “abusive speech” for daring to utter even the slightest negative opinion of the Religion of Peace. The objective is to intimidate people into fearing to utter any criticism of Islam, which will allow the jihad to advance unopposed and unimpeded.

And so the West’s quiet acceptance of Sharia blasphemy laws continues.

“Richard Dawkins deplatformed at a book talk in Berkeley for ‘abusive speech’ about Islam on Twitter,” by Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution Is True, July 21, 2017 (thanks to V.):

Richard Dawkins was supposed to speak at this event in Berkeley on August 9: a talk about his new book, Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Atheist. As you see, the talk has been canceled.

But why? You can guess. The talk was to be sponsored by a Berkeley radio station, KPFA, and they made this announcement—but didn’t even inform Richard before deep-sixing the event. Through the ticketing agency, Brown Paper Tickets, KPFA sent out this email with the “reasons”:

From: Brown Paper Tickets 
Date: July 20, 2017 at 2:04:53 PM PDT
To: [NAME REDACTED]
Subject: Notification for Richard Dawkins: Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist

Dear Richard Dawkins event ticket buyers,
We regret to inform you that KPFA has canceled our event with Richard Dawkins. We had booked this event based entirely on his excellent new book on science, when we didn’t know he had offended and hurt – in his tweets and other comments on Islam, so many people. 
KPFA does not endorse hurtful speech. While KPFA emphatically supports serious free speech, we do not support abusive speech. We apologize for not having had broader knowledge of Dawkins views much earlier.  We also apologize to all those inconvenienced by this cancellation. Your ticket purchases will automatically be refunded by Brown Paper Tickets.

Sincerely,
KPFA Radio 94.1 FM

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: the termites have spread to Berkeley, and have dined well on the wooden heads of the Deciders. Although there are undoubtedly a few authoritarian Dawkins-bashing atheists who will be pleased at this, it’s a terrible blow for free speech, and likely a big disappointment for those who hoped to see Richard. I’m sure that some of the Perpetually Offended, with perhaps Muslims among them, complained to the radio station, and KPFA caved….