The Left Intersects with Islamism
Charles Johnson
Sat Apr 1, 2006 at 7:06 pm PST • Views: 311
Borders isn’t the only bookseller to cave in to Islamist intimidation. Last month Cathy Seipp reported another preemptive surrender, motivated by leftist ideology, at one of the birthplaces of the free speech movement: The fascists of free speech.
A FRIEND OF MINE took his young daughter to visit the famous City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, explaining to her that the place is important because years ago it sold books no other store would — even, perhaps especially, books whose ideas many people found offensive.
So, although my friend is no fan of Ward Churchill, the faux Indian and discredited professor who notoriously called 9/11 victims “little Eichmanns,” he didn’t really mind seeing piles of Churchill’s books prominently displayed on a table as he walked in.
However, it did occur to him that perhaps the long-delayed English translation of Oriana Fallaci’s new book, “The Force of Reason,” might finally be available, and that because Fallaci’s militant stance against Islamic militants offends so many people, a store committed to selling banned books would be the perfect place to buy it. So he asked a clerk if the new Fallaci book was in yet.“No,” snapped the clerk. “We don’t carry books by fascists.”
Frank says: