If you read only the mainstream media, you probably don’t know that anti-jihadism crusader Robert Spencer was recently poisoned by an Icelandic leftist. But you likely have heard about how Montana Republican Greg Gianforte allegedly body-slammed a Guardian reporter early today. Welcome, again, to media double standards.
Though Spencer survived, his targeting was chilling. The proprietor of Jihad Watch, a prominent anti-jihadism website, he often gives speeches on the threat posed by Muslim jihadism and sharia law. After a May 11 talk at the Grand Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland, he went to a local restaurant with event organizers, his security chief and a fellow speaker and — well, I’ll let Spencer tell the story:
At this crowded Reykjavik establishment, I was quickly recognized. A young Icelander called me by name, shook my hand, and said he was a big fan. Shortly after that, another citizen of that famously genteel and courteous land also called me by name, shook my hand, and said “F**k you.”
We took that marvelous Icelandic greeting as a cue to leave. But the damage had already been done. About fifteen minutes later, when I got back in my hotel room, I began to feel numbness in my face, hands, and feet. I began trembling and vomiting. My heart was racing dangerously. I spent the night in a Reykjavik hospital.
What had happened quickly became clear, and was soon confirmed by a hospital test: one of these local Icelanders who had approached me (probably the one who said he was a big fan, as he was much closer to me than the “F**k you” guy) had dropped drugs into my drink. I wasn’t and am not on any other medication, and so there wasn’t any other explanation of how these things had gotten into my bloodstream.
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Spencer reported the incident to police, giving sleepy Iceland a bigger case than they’re used to seeing. Ultimately, a hospital toxicology test found he’d been poisoned with a cocktail of Ritalin and MDMA (Ecstasy). Spencer was ill for a few days and, with drug overdoses having killed, it’s reasonable to wonder if the act was attempted murder.
Nonetheless, we’ve heard crickets from the mainstream media. In contrast, all the major outlets are reporting on how Greg Gianforte allegedly body-slammed Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs a few hours before polls opened this morning for a Montana special election. Gianforte is running against Democrat Rob Quist for the state’s open House seat.
While a Montana sheriff is charging Gianforte with misdemeanor assault, and it is understandable that incidents involving American political candidates will make headlines, the media bias is palpable. How can the possible attempted murder of a public figure over his political views not be big news?
Answer: When that person is a conservative and exposing the story reflects poorly upon the Left, the story is left out.
The Spencer incident — as with all the violence committed against Trump supporters and other conservatives recently — helps reveal a very uncomfortable truth about the Left. As commentator Mark Steyn wrote while addressing the Spencer affair, “For years now I’ve said that anti-free-speech leftists and the men who slaughtered the staff of Charlie Hebdo, shot up Lars Vilks’ event in Copenhagen, etc, are merely different points on the same continuum: They’re both in the shut-up business: [sic] both groups find it quicker and easier and more satisfying to silence you than to debate you.”
No doubt. Honest debate reveals Truth, which is why people bent on pushing a lie-based agenda avoid honest debate at all costs. Some strategies for doing this are deception, rationalization and shouting people down — and violence.
It’s ironic that reporter Jacobs was allegedly targeted with violence, since the media have been fomenting it. We saw this with the biased (to the point of wickedness) coverage of the rare white-on-black shootings — NBC actually doctored George Zimmerman’s 911 call to make him appear a bigot — that inspired riots and black-on-white “revenge” attacks. We see it with the portrayal of President Trump and his supporters as “fascists,” which has helped spark the violent Antifa movement and violence against conservatives in general. And the same phenomenon was apparent with Spencer.
As he explained, “The most likely scenario is that this young man, or whoever drugged me, heard that a notorious ‘racist’ was coming to Reykjavik, by chance saw me in the restaurant, and decided to teach me a lesson with some of the illegal drugs that are as plentiful in Reykjavik as they are anywhere else.”
This is no stretch. Spencer points out that the Icelandic press had been stoking hatred by spewing leftist American propaganda. They even repeated “the false claim that I incited the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik to kill (in reality, I’m no more responsible for Breivik’s murders than the Beatles are for Charles Manson’s). After the event, one article even featured a big photo of Breivik, but quoted nary a thing I said that evening,” Spencer explained.
This was par for the course. Not one Icelandic media outlet reporting on his speech contacted Spencer for comment, and afterwards they quoted some of the event’s few dozen protesters but not one word Spencer actually uttered or any comments from his supporters. One TV station did interview him but focused on whether he felt complicit in the Breivik massacre, asking Spencer about it repeatedly. He should have asked the interviewer if he felt partially responsible for Manchester and other terrorist killings, since the media have been carrying water for Muslim jihadists.
It wasn’t only the media, either. Just read about Spencer’s experience with a doctor in the Icelandic hospital, as quoted by Breitbart:
He was quite unfriendly — bad bedside manner. He tried to downplay what happened, but it is still clear from the medical report: I tested positive for amphetamines and MDMA (Ecstasy). The doctor told me only that I had Ritalin in my bloodstream, and seemed skeptical when I told him that I never took Ritalin. He never mentioned the MDMA to me; I only saw it when I looked much later at his written report. He told me he thought the tests were mistaken and that I had simply had a panic attack. That’s actually a symptom of MDMA overdose.
I’ve never had a panic attack in my life, even after jihadis attacked our event in Garland. Also, why would I have a panic attack after a successful event? … He also went on about stress, urging me to stop doing what I do, without any evidence that I have ever found it particularly stressful. His intent seemed to be to get me to believe that I had not been drugged, and should stop speaking out against jihad terror and Sharia oppression. Meanwhile, his report had to admit that I had been drugged, but said it was not a “serious poisoning.”
How much poison must one be given for the poisoning to be “serious”? I had most of the symptoms of MDMA overdose. That’s serious enough for me.
Perhaps Spencer has it backwards, though. Maybe what’s “serious” to the leftists is that he was able to speak at all and that, at least for now, he’ll be able to continue to do so in the future.
Image of Robert Spencer: Screenshot of a YouTube of a Spencer speech
