Anyone who reads the English-language version of the Huffington Puffington Post would get the idea there is no higher calling than to be “gay.”
Not so the new Arabic version.
About a year ago, Arianna Huffington, the former darling of conservatives reborn as a left-wing “progressive” media darling, announced the company would be creating a version of her blogging website for Arabic language speakers, creating … well, a clash of values.
Recently, just days after going live with the 14th international edition of the HuffPost, the audience has been shocked by the publication of views harshly criticizing homosexuals, atheists and even the practice of taking “selfies.”
In one article, an Egyptian commentator ripped the government in his country for permitting atheists to hold “a press conference for gays in the heart of Cairo.”
In another article for the site, an Algerian columnist authored what was intended as “an open letter to all the Islamic Ummah’s youth,” condemning the selfie as symptom of “the diseases and the viruses of the Western world.” The blog post, the author claimed, was designed as a “call to stop adopting such sick behaviors that come to destroy our traditions and the basics of human cultural identity.”
All this has HuffPo readers wondering what’s going on. In an interview last month, Huffington had promised that Huffington Post Arabi would endorse the values of other editions of the news and blog site. She suggested that the new Arabi service would be a platform for those speaking out in support of greater social and political freedom.
“One of the reasons why we are going to be based in London and Istanbul is to make it clear avoiding any kind of censorship and control is absolutely key to our coverage,” she said. “We will support [contributors] in every way.”
That promise has just hit a bump in the road, as HuffPost’s executive international editor, Nicholas Sabloff, pulled down some of the material after publication with a notice that read: “This blog should not have been published as it contradicts the Huffington Post’s editorial positions and guidelines, which are based on encouraging positive dialogue and mutual respect. It has therefore been taken down.” He added the blog comments “do not reflect HuffPost’s global editorial viewpoint.” He claimed that Arabi would now strive to offer “diversity and balance.”
Whoops! It seems “multiculturalism” is a two-edged sword for “progressives.” What’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
This was an inevitability.
For years I’ve been wondering how Barack Obama would reconcile his pro-Muslim policies and rhetoric with his pro-homosexual policies and rhetoric. It’s one of the challenges of taking the secular, “non-judgmental,” globalist message international.
Something’s got to give.
What gave at the HuffPost, as quick as one could say “Allāhu Akbar,” was tolerance of dissenting viewpoints.
That raises a fundamental question for sites like HuffPost, which make a fortune simply allowing bloggers to post whatever they feel like posting. Are dissenting opinions permitted?
Apparently not.
It raises another interesting point for me, the entrepreneur who founded the first independent online news site more than 18 years ago – the one you’re reading. While often slammed by the likes of the HuffPost and other “progressive” online outlets for publishing conservative commentary, WND actually provides the broadest forum for political and social commentary of any publication – online or off.
While we publish Pat Buchanan and Alan Keyes on the right (two contributors who have many differences between them), WND also publishes regular commentary from the left – from contributors like Bill Press and Ellen Ratner. It also publishes eclectic ideas from those hard to label, people like Nat Hentoff.
Could we do this in police states in the Middle East? Probably not. Could we do that in Communist tyrannies or fascist dictatorships? Probably not.
But that’s what we love about America – or what we once loved about America.
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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