Ghost of a flea

More Irshad Manji

Relapsed Catholic blogger Kathy Shaidle writes on Irshad Manji and the change-the-subject critique levelled by CBC Newsworld/Toronto Star Antonia Zerbisias (via The Meatriarchy).

Poised, hyper-articulate yet faintly geeky (like a spelling bee champ), the spiky-haired host of TVOntario's "Big Ideas" was already a good-sized fish in the country's puny media pond. The Trouble with Islam raised her profile even higher. She has been lionized in the national press and the book quickly climbed the bestseller lists.

Of course, not everyone is happy about this. The Toronto Star's Antonia Zerbisias, dissed Manji (a "professional lesbian") then mounted the paper's favorite hobbyhorse, and insinuated that Manji and her publisher were "playing the media to max out publicity, issuing a fatwa on themselves as it were." Zerbisias also alleged that the positive coverage of the book was actually a form of racism.

I wrote in support of Irshad Manji's work when it was published. The discussion in the comments section of that post does not reflect every view expressed at the Flea. I have deleted numerous comments that varied from claims Manji distorted "facts" about the place of women in much of the world to assertions such as "they should shoot them bitches." I am not going to pay to publish hate-speech of this kind and found some of the commentary so troubling I closed the post.

If this is the sort of talk directed at Manji in a pop culture blog I can only imagine the vitriol to which she is exposed on a day to day basis. We should not wait for some crackpot fatwa to take seriously the threats upon Manji's life and liberty or the further implication those threats have for the liberty of all Canadians. Manji is a self-described lefty, activist, feminist Muslim woman taking on the medievalists instead of cowering in a corner or marching in their defense. I suspect Manji and I disagree about aspects of Canadian economic and social policy but it is our freedom to disagree which is at stake in this fight. If the jihadis win then Manji and I will both be thrown into the pit and I can only honour and support her dignity, integrity and spiritual rigour in advancing a pluralist vision of Islam.

I also love the spiky hair.

Zerbisias dismisses Manji as a "professional lesbian." Manji is right to regard Zerbisias' writing as "typical of the hypocrisy that we see from people on the conventional left." Yes, the conventional left. Those who vent every imaginary grievance at the elected representatives of Western democracies while taking to the streets in defense of every fascist from Kosovo to Afghanistan to Iraq to the PLA with placards paid for by the secret services of the crypto-Raelian cult running North Korea should hang their heads in shame. I do not share Manji's faith but like her I am a person of faith confronted with zealots who dare their bigotry in the name of God. Her faith stands in stark contrast with Zerbisias' cynicism.

And then... Damian Penny had this to say:

Can you imagine what Zerb, and her Star co-cultists, would say if the old Western Report had used the phrase "professional lesbian" in a column? And mocked the "professional lesbian" for getting death threats?

Working for the Toronto Star means never having to say you're sorry, at least until people prove you're wrong. (Zerbisias, I will never grow tried of reminding you, is the perceptive media critic who recommended "whatreallyhappened.com" to her readers until we bloggers, whom she has slagged on several occasions before and since, pointed out Mikey Rivero's vendetta against Jews. The "media critic" couldn't figure it out for herself.)

Update February 7, 2006: Kathy Shaidle enlists this post in her continuing spat with Zerbisias. I still think Zerbisias was wrong to belittle the threat to Irshad Manji and I still think dismissing her as a "professional lesbian" was offensive, particularly given the views of the men threatening Manji's life. We have seen time and again the people most at risk from the jihadis are the Muslims who dare to stand up to them. The fact Manji has thusfar managed to exercise her right to express a non-Islamist vision of Islam without suffering harm is a blessing she should be able to take for granted, not a sign threats to her person should be underestimated. Perhaps Zerbisias has changed her mind on this point given the evidence of the last two years.

But if Shaidle is arguing there is some form of hypocrisy at work in Zerbisias' current argument it is a debating point that is disingenuous at best. It is frankly preposterous for Shaidle to cite the "professional lesbian" crack as anything but consistent with the everyday rhetoric of "Relapsed Catholic". Reading the site these last two years has suggested to me just how much Shaidle thinks of gay people. Or perhaps Shaidle thinks a religious fervour that stops short of threatening people with death is a sufficiently cosmopolitan position from which to point fingers.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at October 11, 2003 10:28 AM

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