Florida Republican Club cancels speech on “radical Islam” – Speaker responds
Dr. Jonathan Matusitz
WDW – FL received a copy of the letter below, which was sent from Dr. Jonathan Matusitz to Peter Schorsch, Editor of the St. Petersburg Blog. Dr. Matusitz was schedule to speak at the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee (PCREC) on Monday, June 10th. His appearance was cancelled due to pressure primarily from board member, Chris Latvala who posted an objection on his Facebook page.
Dr. Matusitz is an associate professor in the Nicholson School of Communication at the University of Central Florida (UCF). He studies globalization, culture, terrorism and health communication. On top of having 95 academic publications and over 100 conference presentations, he taught at a NATO-affiliated military base in Belgium in 2010.
The unedited letter follows:
Dear Peter Schorsch,
To my dismay, it is the first time that some Republicans have openly expressed their objection to my presentation on Islam. As a UCF faculty, I never intend to be controversial; rather, I try to be factual and 100% correct. If I didn’t think Islam poses a threat to Western civilization, then I would not stick my neck out by delivering public presentations on that subject. As Anna Phillips has aptly remarked in the Tampa Bay Times, I make a distinction between Islam (the threat) and the average Muslim (who is NOT the threat). What you also need to know is that, unlike other faiths, Islam is not just a religion; it is also a political system and global ideology. And, unfortunately, such political system and global ideology are profoundly anti-Western.
Based on your (and Chris Latvala’s) comments, you expressed concerns that my presentation on the “Islamic Threat to America” at the Republican Party of Pinellas County may hurt the election of local Republican candidates because (1) you think that my speech is not important to the mission of the party and (2) you think it may alienate Muslim voters as the purpose of my speech is to criticize Islam. It is obvious that both you and Chris would sacrifice pro-American conservative values in order to earn votes from people of all religions and creeds.
Please allow me to be clear: your strategy of earning votes from Muslims will not be efficient. Indeed, in regards to Muslim constituents themselves, for the past few decades, in the Western world, no matter what method Republicans and Conservatives have used to earn votes from Muslims, the vast majority of the latter have always voted for Democrat, Socialist, or left-wing parties. Below are statistics about Muslim votes in Western European countries and North America.
Muslim Vote in Western Europe
According to a poll conducted by France 24 (a French news channel), 95% of French Muslims voted for Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate, against Nicolas Sarkozy (http://www.france24.com/en/
According to a poll conducted by Le Figaro (a French newspaper), 93% of French Muslims voted for François Hollande, who became the Socialist President of France in 2012 (http://www.businessinsider.
According to a poll conducted by The Guardian, only 16% of British Muslims tend to vote Conservative (http://www.guardian.co.uk/
According to The Position of Muslims in the Netherlands: Fact Book 2010, “Turks and Moroccans traditionally vote for left-wing parties” (p. 24) (http://www.forum.nl/Portals/
Muslim Vote in North America
According to a CAIR poll published on Fox News, 85% of American Muslims voted for Obama in the 2012 Presidential Elections (http://nation.foxnews.com/
In the 2011 Canadian elections, only 12% of Canadian Muslims voted Conservative (http://www.dennisgruending.
Peter, I just want to make sure that you clear out the misconceptions that you have about me. You referred to me as “controversial” and “apolitical,” and that is flat-out wrong.
Thank you for reading this.
Dr. Jonathan Matusitz
RELATED COLUMNS:
Republican Party of Pinellas County stifles free speech
RELATED VIDEO:
Panel Discussion – Radical Islam and U.S. National Security – Orlando, FL 4/20/2013. Frank Gaffney – Moderator, Pamela Geller, Jonathan Matusitz, and William J. Murray.
