Berkeley Radio Station Cancels Richard Dawkins Event Over 'Hurtful Speech' Against Islam

"We didn’t know he had offended and hurt – in his tweets and other comments on Islam, so many people."

7.21.2017 

 

News

 

 Mark Tapson 

 

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An event in Berkeley featuring prominent atheistic scientist Richard Dawkins has been canceled because some of his previous comments and tweets about Islam had "offended and hurt so many people."

The Why Evolution is True blog notes that the talk, scheduled for August 9 and sponsored by Berkeley radio station KPFA, was to be about his new book, Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Atheist. But yesterday ticket buyers, and even Dawkins himself, were informed by KPFA through its ticketing agency Brown Paper Tickets that the show could not go on:

Dear Richard Dawkins event ticket buyers,

We regret to inform you that KPFA has canceled our event with Richard Dawkins. We had booked this event based entirely on his excellent new book on science, when we didn’t know he had offended and hurt – in his tweets and other comments on Islam, so many people.

KPFA does not endorse hurtful speech. While KPFA emphatically supports serious free speech, we do not support abusive speech. We apologize for not having had broader knowledge of Dawkins [sic] views much earlier.  We also apologize to all those inconvenienced by this cancellation. Your ticket purchases will automatically be refunded by Brown Paper Tickets.

Sincerely,
KPFA Radio 94.1 FM

It's unclear exactly to which comments and tweets KPFA is referring; it's even unclear if any Muslims themselves were offended or if KPFA was just preemptively censoring Dawkins because it believes he holds "Islamophobic" views. In any case, notice thatKPFA's excuse rests on its distinction between "serious free speech" and "abusive speech." Who gets to determine which is which? Why the left, of course, those who believe the First Amendment should not offer protection to speech that offends.

In a reply to an email from the Why Evolution is True blogger, Dawkins complained that the "liberal" station KPFA used to be "the good guys" and were "scrupulous" fact-checkers, but this time "they couldn’t possibly have come to the conclusion that I used 'abusive speech' against Islam. The only only one of my tweets I can find this year, which could possibly be called abusive, is nothing to do with Islam."

That tweet happened to be an attack on President Trump:

“Ashamed to be American?” Don’t be. The majority of you voted against this narcissistic, xenophobic, vainglorious, ignorant 2-year-old.

Dawkins has viciously ridiculed Christian conservatives countless times, but KPFA would never have canceled the event to protect their feelings. And Christians wouldn't kill Dawkins for offending them.