The great tide of "refugees" trekking across the Continent to the good life in north-eastern Europe reminds me that that's where I'll be headed in a fortnight: I'll be in Copenhagen on September 26th to mark the tenth anniversary of the Danish Mohammed cartoons. More details here.
There is a link between the civilized world's reaction to the Motoons a decade ago, and the migratory invasions today. Because if we can't be honest about Islam, we can't be honest about the nature of what is happening on Europe's borders: These are not families of "refugees" - young, old, men, women, children - but an army of aggressive young men. Their arrival will further weaken the Continent's wobbly commitment to core liberties. The argument against free speech is increasingly that it is unwise to be so "provocative". With a million more Muslim males in the neighborhood, there will be a million more reasons to tiptoe around lest one accidentally "provoke" someone.
I'm not willing to surrender free speech in any corner of the still just-about-free world. So I'll be in Copenhagen at the end of the month to stand with a small number of truly brave people who don't get a tenth of the support they should either from their fellow Danes or the rest of Europe. Flemming Rose, the commissioning editor of the original Mohammed cartoons, will be there, along with Henryk Broder, who wrote the book Hurra, wir kapitulieren ("Hurray! We surrender") about Germany and Islam, and also my old friend from the free-speech barricades Douglas Murray. The event will be held in the Danish Parliament, not because it's a very attractive building but rather, as Douglas explains, "because it's the only place in Denmark sufficiently secure enough that – we hope – the now traditional gunmen won't be able to get in and shoot everyone."
As I've noted before, since I last appeared in Copenhagen, some three-quarters of those I shared the stage with that day have been shot at, firebombed or forced to retire from public life and go into hiding. So Douglas and I find ourselves cornering a market no one else wants a piece of:
Like Mark Steyn I've been doing these 'defend free speech' gigs for some years now and as Mark recently mordantly observed, I also sometimes wonder why I keep ascending up the running order only to realise that it's because everybody who used to be ahead of me is either in hiding or dead.
But I'm not ready to go into hiding with nothing for company but my Goldfinger CD. So Douglas, Henryk, Flemming and I will be doing our bit for freedom of expression in poor beleaguered Denmark on Saturday September 26th. If you're in the general neighborhood of northern Europe, do swing by and say hello. If 800,000 seething Muslim men are willing to trek all the way from Turkey to catch me live in Copenhagen, I hope you'll at least consider it. Tickets available here, and they're a bargain - about 15 bucks, or a tenner in sterling.
~My new book is another side of the free-speech war. The Big Climate enforcers insist that "the science is settled" and people who disagree with them should not be permitted public platforms. And, if that doesn't shut you up, they'll threaten to destroy your career. And, if that doesn't work, they'll tie you up in court. Three years into Michael E Mann's defamation suit against me for criticizing his global-warming "hockey stick", I decided to write "A Disgrace to the Profession", the story of the 21st century's most famous graph and the damage it has done. It's available personally autographed by yours truly direct from SteynOnline, and sans autograph but with big discounts at Amazon. It's also available in Kindle and Nook. We're still the Number One climatology bestseller, beating Michael E Mann's Dreary Predictions.
Elsewhere at Amazon, Charles Platt offers the following review:
Irritating but Necessary
Steyn is an irritating guy, but this is an extremely necessary book. Admittedly it only picks on one notorious name in the global warming fraternity, but it's only Volume 1, and I assume the net will widen in the future. For too long, there has been a naive preconception that all scientists are basically decent, objective, and data-driven. Any book that injects some painful reality into the picture is extremely valuable.
I'm sorry Mr Platt finds me irritating. Sometimes I irritate myself. But, on climate as on Islam, too many of the non-irritating types have decided to sit it out.
~Today at 2pm Eastern I'll be joining my old friends at Ricochet live for the Long, Robinson & Lileks podcast. Later I'll check in with Jim Lakely at Heartland and Hugh Hewitt.
