Earlier this week, TGP reported on an interfaith panel held on April 26, 2017, at Portland State University. It hosted a variety of individuals who discussed various religious stances. One panelist, a Muslim, stated that apostates and infidels are to be killed or “banished” from a Muslim country.
Andy Ngo is the student who reported on this panel and tweeted about it. He subsequently lost his job.
Andy Ngo wrote about his firing in an article in National Review, titled, ‘Fired For Reporting the Truth’:
Simply tweeting video of a Muslim student characterizing his religion on an interfaith panel cost me my job.
Last month, I attended an interfaith panel discussion, “Unpacking Misconceptions,” at Portland State University, where I’m a political-science graduate student. I ended up being fired as the multimedia editor of our student newspaper, the Vanguard, for tweeting about what was said there.
At one point, a woman in the audience asked the Muslim student if a specific verse in the Koran actually permitted the killing of non-Muslims. “I can confidently tell you, when the Koran says an innocent life, it means an innocent life, regardless of the faith, the race, like, whatever you can think about as a characteristic,” he began.At this point, I took out my mobile phone and began recording as he continued: (Below is video)
.@Portland_State Here is full clip that I recorded. An audience member asked about Quran 5:51 & “infidels.” He summarizes Quran 5:32 just before video starts pic.twitter.com/7FMgsPbFR6
— Andy C. Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) April 27, 2017
At @Portland_State interfaith panel today, the Muslim student speaker said that apostates will be killed or banished in an Islamic state. pic.twitter.com/YpsVSB1w9P
— Andy C. Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) April 27, 2017
Transcript from Muslim panelist:
“And some of this, that you’re referring to, like killing non-Muslims,” he takes a long pause and then looks out at the audience with a grin, “that is only considered a crime when the country’s the law– if the country’s based on Koranic law, that means there is no other law than the Koran, so, in that case you’re giving the liberty to like . . . leave the country. You can go to a different country, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. So, you can go on [sic] a different country, but in a Muslim country, a country based on the Koranic laws, disbelieving, or being an infidel is not allowed. So you will be given the choice.”
Andy Ngo describes how he was fired for posting this video and how horribly he was treated for being associated with conservative media…
My editor, whom I deeply respected at the time, called me “predatory” and “reckless,” telling me I had put the life and well-being of the Muslim student and his family at risk. She said that my tweets implied the student advocated the killing of atheists. Another person in the meeting said I should have taken into account the plight of victimized groups in the “current political climate.” The editor claimed I had “violated the paper’s ethical standards” by not “minimizing harm” toward the speaker.
All these accusations were shocking to me. Moments after publishing the original video, I shared the tweet with the editor and a Vanguard reporter who was at the event. Neither of them expressed any outrage in response back then. The tweets apparently only became “predatory” and “reckless” when conservative sites picked up on them.
In my defense, I told the two editors that I had simply been relating the speaker’s words. While dozens of Muslim states do not consider apostasy or blasphemy a crime, 13 Muslim-majority countries punish these actions with death. The speaker was admitting as much, and as someone who has covered the persecution of atheists and apostates in Muslim countries, I considered that newsworthy. Nevertheless, my editor turned to me and said, “We have to ask you to step aside.” She said I had “a history” of affiliation with conservative media, and argued that that history was toxic to the “reputation of the Vanguard.”
We are in perilous times when students cannot speak the truth or God forbid have ‘conservative ideas’. Ngo simply posted a video like any normal reporter would and because it exposed Islam for what it is–a totalitarian death cult, he lost his job. If he posted a video about a Christian saying something ‘controversial’, no doubt he would still have his job.
It’s always okay for students and teachers to express their ideas at Universities as long as they fit the liberal narrative. TGP just reported on a black associate professor at Texas A&M who said, ‘Some whites might need to die’ in a podcast interview and the president of the University defended him saying it’s free speech.
