Tonight, Saturday, I'll be joining John Stossel plus Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Kirsten Powers, Bosch Fawstin and others on a Fox News documentary special called "Censored in America". If you are in the presence of the receiving apparatus, I hope you'll dial us up: 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific on FNC.
~There are not many takers for free speech these days, especially among the young. Here's Brendan O'Neill reporting for the Speccie on his foray to Trinity College, Dublin:
During my speech, students had hollered 'Shame! Shame!' when I suggested that Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' should not be banned on campuses. And yet they listened intently, with soft, understanding, patronising liberal smiles on their faces, as Bukhari implied that Charlie Hebdo brought its massacre on itself. This is how screwed-up the culture on Western campuses has become: I was jeered for suggesting we shouldn't ban pop songs; Bukhari was cheered for suggesting journalists who mock Muhammad cannot be surprised if someone later blows their heads off.
It provided a glimpse into the inhumanity of political correctness. The PC gang always claim they're just being nice; it's just 'institutionalised politeness', they say. Yet at Trinity last night I saw where today's intolerance of offence and obsession with Safe Spacing minorities from difficult ideas can lead: to an agreeable nod of the head when it is suggested that it's understandable when poor, victimised Muslims murder those who offended them.
This is the world identity politics has made: Lenin's "Who? Whom?" institutionalized throughout the western academy. There can be no freedom of expression in such a world, just a repulsive, ever more naked totalitarian groupthink.
~Liberties are hard won, and even harder to hold. In this 800th anniversary year, I'm honored to be part of a new book, with Chris Berg and John Roskam from our friends at the IPA, called Magna Carta: The Tax Revolt That Gave Us Liberty. If you live not just in England but in North America, Australia, New Zealand and around the Commonwealth, this is the great foundational document of individual liberty, and this book is its story. If you'd like your copy personally autographed by me, do swing by the SteynOnline bookstore.
~If you don't believe my interminable climate-change battles and the upcoming Mann vs Steyn trial are also a free speech issue, consider that Lord Justice Carnwath of the UK Supreme Court has just hosted a big shindig of international jurists for the purpose of criminalizing "climate change". As another old Speccie comrade, James Delingpole, reports:
The setting was a rather dull-sounding symposium Carnwath organised at King's College London called 'Adjudicating the Future: Climate Change and the Rule of Law'. We don't know the names of the 'leading judges, lawyers and legal academics' from 11 nations who attended because the organisers won't disclose them. What we do know, though, is that you and I helped pay for this three-day shindig: among the sponsors were the Supreme Court, Her Majesty's government and (publicly funded) King's College London.
So far, so very dreary. It probably wouldn't have got into the news at all if the Prince of Wales (Carnwath used to be his attorney general) hadn't published a letter of support, urging the judiciary to play a 'crucial role' in preventing 'the disastrous consequences of global warming'. But as ever at these grey convocations where men we've never heard of decide our future behind closed doors, the devil lies all in the detail.
We can see this in the opening speeches, viewable online and described by Laframboise as 'among the most terrifying 90 minutes I've ever witnessed'. If you've the stomach to sit through the faux-judicious burblings, you'll see what she means: here are leading, influential, international lawyers proposing to reject the scientific method, bypass democracy and permanently shut down the climate debate by declaring 'global warming' illegal under international law.
This Carnwath guy is betraying the entire legal inheritance he purports to represent, but he's "saving the planet" so to hell with core liberties.
~ Speaking of which, I have a new book on this very subject, and many Rush listeners have emailed to complained that they didn't quite catch the title of it. That's because it's extremely long, so stand well back, because it's called "A Disgrace to the Profession": The World's Scientists - in their Own Words - on Michael E Mann, his Hockey Stick, and their Damage to Science - Volume One. It's the story of the 21st century's most famous graph and the horrible politicized cartoon climatology the likes of Lord Justice Carnwath are so anxious to put beyond the realm of debate. Nevertheless, in the last day or two we chalked up our 100th review at Amazon, and I'm happy to say it's a five-star rave:
Brilliant, very readable. Mann must be regretting having sued him as his fraudulence is on very public display.
We're a Top 200 bestseller, and Number One on the Climatology Hit Parade. Carnwath and his gang would rather books like this didn't exist, and if he gets his way they won't.
~See you with Stossel on the telly at 8pm Eastern.
