"Kinsella presents Small’s perspective as a final, neutral and authoritative academic voice, but the article omits any reference to his record of Islamophobic statements."
Dear editor,
The subject of a recent column, Charles Asher Small, recently said that “Canadians need to be proud to be called Islamophobic.” Small’s work is praised by columnist Warren Kinsella, who presents what can only be described as a vast Islamophobic conspiracy theory.
Kinsella presents Small’s perspective as a final, neutral and authoritative academic voice, but the article omits any reference to his record of Islamophobic statements.
It seems to me that Kinsella is peddling harmful and discriminatory stereotypes that portray Muslim communities as inherently threatening to Canadian society through dubious links.
In his new book, The Hidden Hand, Mr. Kinsella fails to provide real smoking gun evidence linking protests in Canada to Iran or other foreign actors. He instead relies on vague cryptocurrency connections and 'rhetorical similarities' between protests in Canada and abroad.
His assertions should be vigorously challenged. The failure to demand hard evidence for such claims by media outlets who have promoted his work has tangible consequences.The media is portraying Canadian activists as foreign agents undermining legitimate, peaceful democratic engagement in Canada. This is also a form of anti-arab and anti-Palestinian racism as defined by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, as these theories portray Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities as inherently violent or suspect, fueling discriminatory sentiment.
Allowing conspiratorial assertions to go unchallenged is comparable to hosting a “flat earther” without providing necessary scientific context.
It is the responsibility of news organizations to ensure their airwaves or pages are not used to spread poorly researched theories that marginalize already vulnerable communities. Especially one that is facing a genocide.
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Media Analyst
