Hello,

I'm writing to ask you for an interview.

For the past few years I've been interested in Islam and the West. What is going on here? Why is the pro-rights West generally so nicety-nice about a religion which is not in favor of, to name just one thing, equal rights for women and men? And what is Islam? What's in the Qu'ran, this book which is supposed to be, so I've been told over and over, the foundation of a religion of peace?

I've done a lot of discovering.

Now I'm putting together a teleseminar series - interviews with 20 people who have somehow become interested in investigating the truth about Islam and the Qu'ran, have actively worked to get their message out, and have come up against the West's generally critical attitude to negative observations about Islam and the Qu'ran.

You are one of those people. I'd like to interview you.

The interviews will be done well before the date they will be put online.

However, on the official broadcast date, if you are available, there may be a Q&A.

Questions you may have. Who Am I? Why this interview series? What questions will I be asking?


Who am I? I have a triple disciplinary PhD (Psychology, Sociology, Literary Theory). I've been a tenured professor. I left teaching about 3 years ago - time for other adventures.

This is my first foray into the world of teleseminars. However, I have 2 sites - a business site and one for my creative works and idea pieces (which include quite a number on Islam). The site generally gets between 50,000 and 60,00 page views a month.

More on who am I. I'm a bit of a truth sleuth. I care to make sense of things. And to reach others.


Why this interview series? The facts are available. I'm grateful to the people, like you, who have labored long and hard to keep putting the facts out, and sometimes have also written of your personal experiences.

I have no desire to create one more home for the facts.

One thing very noticeable is the general hostility, especially among good liberals, against anything other than positive words about Islam. To me, this sounds a lot like the name-calling of feminists in the sixties and seventies: bra-burners, man-haters. Why the name-calling? It was a great way of side-stepping unwanted truths. Plus, it angered people, hearing those unwanted truths about the oppression of women - it was nice to feel the anger was justified. They were the problem, these nasty bra-burning man-haters.

What does that have to do with this interview series? I've chosen the emphasis on personal journeys for 2 reasons. First, this is what most interests me. How did we come to take these journeys? What have they been like? And what have been our greatest learnings?

Then, second, focusing on who we are makes it harder to get away with sloppy name-calling, facile demonization. That's my hope, anyway.

I remember that I loved, as a child, Uncle Tom's Cabin. (In fact, that's how I learned about the existence, and horror, of slavery.) It did not give facts about why slavery was wrong. I lived along with Tom.


What do I want from you, beyond the interview itself. I want as many people as possible to hear of this interview series. I will be creating a Facebook fan page and a Pinterest page. I also have an email list (several thousand). That isn't enough. I am asking that those interviewed commit to, in some way, help to get the word out.

You may have too much on your plate for the following suggestion, but an ideal way (for me) would be that you send 3 emails - or at least one email - to your list. If 3, there could be one approximately a week before the series starts, the second the day before the series starts, and the third on the day of (or the day before) your interview.


What can the series offer you? Perhaps most, this series aims to do something you care about enormously - spread awareness of Islam and the widespread Western aversion to facing easy to see facts (just as there was long equal aversion to facing other obvious truths).

Plus, each participant will get a link to their site, and also a page about them and any sites, books, audios, or videos they have created. (You will have control of the information.)


I look forward to hearing from you.

All the best to all of us in this adventure,

Elsa

Elsa Schieder, PhD
Psychology, Sociology, Literary Theory



People who have said YES:

Bill Warner - PoliticalIslam.com
Robert Spencer - JihadWatch.org
Fred Litwin - FreeThinkingFilms.com
Nonie Darwish - FormerMuslimsUnited.org
Pamela Geller - AtlasShrugs.com
Bat Ye'or - Eurabia and dhimmi.org
Hege Storhaug - But the Greatest of These is Freedom
Bruce Bawer - While Europe Slept and The New Quislings
Salim Mansur - Delectable Lie
Tarek Fatah - Chasing a Mirage and TarekFatah.com
Jamie Glazov - FrontPageMag.com
Marc Lebuis - pointdebasculecanada.ca
GP Walsh - Conversations with G
Raheel Raza - RaheelRaza.com
Eric Allen Bell - Not Welcome
Nicky Larkin - Forty Shaes of Grey
Mark Durie - The Third Choice
Valerie Price - Act for Canada
Citizen Warrior - CitizenWarrior.com

YES for 2013:
Phyllis Chesler - Phyllis-Chesler.com

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WORLD TRUTH SUMMIT

Personal Journeys Toward Difficult Truths:
Understanding Islam, Understanding the West








MORE PEOPLE
OF INTEREST

Bat Ye'or


Bruce Bawer


Jamie Glazov


Phyllis Chesler


Hege Storhaug