This week on The Knight Tube, Stephen Knight (@Gspellchecker) welcomes the return of counter-extremist Liam Duffy. Liam has recently released a report chronicling the problem of violence in response to perceived ‘blasphemy’ in the west. They will discuss the high profile cases and the effect this has had on freedom of expression in the West.

Watch the video version: www.youtube.com/gspellchecker

                                                                                                                                                                    
0:00 Intro
01:02 Have we failed to make any progress on the issue of Islamic ‘blasphemy’ in the west?
01:14 What is ‘The Counter Extremism Project’?
05:41 How are we defining ‘blasphemy’?
08:27 Sensitivity surrounding Islam’s prophet Muhammad
14:32 The chilling effect on free speech: Is it now just a bad idea to publish cartoons that will inevitably inspire violence?
18:03 Elon Musk and should Muhammad cartoons violate Twitter’s rules?
23:56 Are modern blasphemy controversies in the west almost exclusively Islam related?
28:45 The reaction to the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie in New York
35:09 The silence from the UK Government on the Batley teacher forced into hiding.
38:10 Will we see more isolated attacks rather than largescale ones?
44:11 UK ‘hate speech’ laws as secularized blasphemy codes.

Report: Violence Against Perceived Blasphemers In The West – From Khamenei’s Fatwa To The Present: https://www.counterextremism.com/sites/default/files/2023-06/Violence%20Against%20Perceived%20Blasphemers%20in%20the%20West_July%202022.pdf

Stephen Knight’s Substack: www.sknight.substack.com

Support the podcast at http://www.patreon.com/gspellchecker

Also available on iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube & Spotify.  

This week on Taking The Myth, Stephen Knight (@GSpellchecker) and Iram Ramzan of sedaa.org (@Iram_Ramzan) discuss all the big topics.

0:00 Intro
2:06 Tommy Robinson’s contempt of court case used as a case study in new Journalism Law textbook.
6:06 Iram meets movie legend Jean Claude Van Damme
10:14 The moral implications of the ‘new’ Beatles song ‘Now and Then’.
14:42 The best Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions you’ll ever hear.
16:52 Elon Musk’s advertiser problems on ‘X’/Twitter.
26:59 The allegations against Russell Brand and his reinvention as a political commentator and ‘guru’.
38:30 Female Newcastle football fan is interviewed by the police and has club membership terminated for tweets about trans people.
32:34 Trans footballer quits women’s team and threatens to sue as rival team refuses to play against them
47:18 Israel/Gaza conflict
01:05:05 Audience Questions: Nigel Farage in I’m A Celeb and daytime drinking.

Stephen Knight’s Substack: www.sknight.substack.com

Sedaa: www.sedaa.org

Support the podcast at www.patreon.com/gspellchecker

Also available on iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube & Spotify.