“These ideas offended, but they changed the world. Without the free exchange of ideas, progress is impossible.”
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Mark Steyn and Ezra once agin expose Canad's greatest supporter of state censorship, bernie farber. It's time for the Jewish community to put farber out to pasture and consolidate his organization into another usually more sane voice like B'nai Brith. farber is one of the key reasons that changes to section 13 of the thought censorship act have not been made. It;s time for that to end. Section 13.1 needs to be abolished. Indeed a good case can be mad in for Ezra's "Fire them all" when it comes to the hrc thought police.
Victim mentality
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Yesterday in this space I noted the news that the Toronto Police now include in their official list of "hate crime" victim groups the category of "Nazi". I mostly played it for laughs ("Nazi is the new black"), since if you...
This seems to be the clarion call of the left. Silence your opponents in all debates, because your arguments are weak. Joyce Arthurs wants pro life activism banned. I would like the entire status of women department abolished. All it does is fund radical feminists who make outrageous statements like this. Hm Government now funds most of the left's agenda. It needs to stop. As I said earlier we pay too much tax and the money is wasted. (h/t)
OTTAWA, Ontario, April 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) has responded to Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge's proposed bill to ban coercive abortion, unveiled in a press conference last week, by calling instead for a ban on “coerced childbirth,” and even suggesting that Canada outlaw pro-life activism....
Finley, Tkachuk, Duffy, Wallin stand up for freedom of speechSeveral Conservative Senators have arrived late to the battle to reform Canada's Human Rights Commissions, but they have arrived all the same.Partially in response to a controversial letter written by University of Ottawa provost Francois Houle to Ann Coulter in advance of a planned speech there (which was cancelled just minutes prior to its scheduled start), Senators Doug Finley, David Tkachuk, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy have begun to speak out against the censorious labours of Canada's human rights regime.The four have begun to lead a Senate inquiry into freedom of speech in Canada -- drawing long-overdue Parliamentary attention to the excesses of Canada's Human Rights Commissions."Despite our 400-year tradition of free...
Coulter's complaint to be most recent of numerous political stunts in CHRCAs the battle over Canada's Human Rights Commissions has gone on, one of the great tragedies over the matter has been the sheer number of times Canada's human rights commissions have been used to prepetrate political stunts.The most recent of these stunts is set to be a complaint Ann Coulter has promised to file over the cancellation of her scheduled speech at the University of Ottawa.“I’m sure the Human Rights Commission will get to the bottom of it,” Coulter announced. “I think I’m the victim of a hate crime here. Either what (Francois Houle) did was a hate crime, or the whole commission is BS.”Houle, a provost of the University of Ottawa, wrote Coulter a letter recommending that she familiarize...
Banning anti-abortion groups violates civil libertiesAcross Canada, anti-abortion groups on various University campuses have been under fire.Where pro-abortion groups fail and students' unions decline to run pro-abortion groups off campus, they settle for simply disrupting any events they disagree with.In the latter case, it's censorship by deeply-institutionalized means.Fortunately, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association is prepared to take a stand on the matter, they're preparing to intervene in a case involving the University of Victoria Student Society and an anti-abortion group by the name of Youth Protecting Youth.The argument is that anti-abortion activism "inherently discriminates" against women.It shouldn't be thought that the BCCLA necessarily agrees with Youth...
It's been difficult to escape a batch of recent ads released by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.In the ads an interviewer talks to people who are made out to be random passers-by in public places. If not for the atrocious acting on the part of the interviewees, it might even be believable.The least believable of these ads is one in which a woman sings some undue praise for Canadian health care. This isn't to say that Canada's public health care system isn't due any praise, but rather that the ad in question intentionally skates over some serious deficiencies in Canada's public health care system.In the ad, the woman recounts a story in which her daughter breaks her ankle while skating at a local ice rink. In her story, the rink staff call 911, promptly receive ambulance service,...
Irish atheists set to challenge blasphemy lawWhen Ireland recently passed an anti-blasphemy law, it was rightly denounced as an unacceptable attack on freedom of speech.However, an Irish atheist group is set to take a stand for the freedom of speech of all Irish citizens -- believers and non-believers alike -- in resisting the anti-blasphemy law through provocation.Atheist Ireland will be publishing 25 anti-religious comments on its website, forcing the would-be government censors to fish or cut bait."This new law is both silly and dangerous," said Michael Nugent, the chairman of Atheist Ireland. "It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentives...
Opposition to Flanagan visit calmed with constructive dialogueOn University Campuses across North America, a disturbing number of vocal minorities have often learned that they can quiet viewpoints they don't want to be heard on campus if they just make enough noise.Many of those who value free speech have long decried these incidents.But in an episode that deserves every bit of attention it can possibly get, a recent visit by Tom Flanagan to the University of Manitoba -- which at first provoked a loud protest by groups that objected to Flanagan's stance on aboriginal affairs -- in the end wound up proceeding when the objecting groups were granted a public forum with Flanagan, wherein they could question him and comment on his ideas.A greater victory for freedom of speech -- and for the...
Contentious choice between abolition and reformThe hot debate over Canada's Human Rights Commissions hasn't been particularly firey recently.That being said, if anyone can be expected to have a particularly strong opinion on the CHRC and its provincial counterparts, it's University of Calgary political scientist Barry Cooper.Cooper, whose published work -- both with and without his frequent collaborator, David Bercuson -- focuses on the politics of public virtue, seems to see the HRCs as the most utterly blatant embodiment of the embedded state. Consequently, he seems to find a great deal of affinity for the opponents of the HRCs:"For those who have never taken the time to read dry legal documents, consider that Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act declares that hate speech is...
International Blasphemy Day strikes blows for free speechVarious atheist groups came together this past week in what emerged as an interesting -- and somewhat valuable -- exercise of free speech.On September 30, the fourth anniversary of the controversy over the Jyllands-Posten Mohammad cartoons, atheist, agnostic and skeptic groups across the world gathered to facilitate discussion about blasphemy and censorship by, well... blaspheming."We're not seeking to offend, but if in the course of dialogue and debate, people become offended, that's not an issue for us," explained Ontario Centre for Inquiry Director Justin Trottier. "There is no human right not to be offended.""We live in a democratic society, which means you get offended and you better get used to that," he added.In a cultural...
A high school in Brampton, Ontario, recently made headlines when its principal decided to ban Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, following a complaint from one parent about the use of racial epithets in the book. This latest attempt to ban a book from a school’s curriculum seems indicative of the times we live in: everything, no matter how benign, must be weighed on the scales of political correctness to ensure that no one is ever offended by anything. Lee’s novel has been a staple on school’s reading lists for ages. Even though it is barely fifty years old,......
Another attempt to silence and frighten my friend Ezra Levant. When will these cowards realize Ezra doesnt scare so easily. It is very unfair that Ezra seems to bear the brunt of the free speech opponents these days. I greatly admire all Ezra has done for Canada and Canadians for free speech. Lets thank this Canadian hero.I have sent money to Ezra yesterday. You all should!!!! Dont let the forces of censorship win....
As if the National Post didn’t have enough (financial) trouble already. Now the paper seems to have decided to destroy its last remaining cash cow, its Full Comment blog. Full Comment has been very successful and popular since it was launched. Readers love going to the newspaper’s blog to comment on the stories of the day. Many of the posts (i.e., reposted editorials, columns and articles from the day’s print edition, as well as some extra material) receive 30, 50 or even around 100 comments. As of today, however, the articles published on the Full Comment blog have had the......
When leader singer Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks spoke out against the Iraq war on March 10, 2003, she provoked a firestorm from the American right wing.Speaking out against the war in Iraq, Maines told an audience in London that she was ashamed the President was from Texas.Various right-wing activists, bloggers and media figures targetted the Dixie Chicks for nothing less than complete professional destruction.Shut Up and Sing documents how, in a period of weeks, the Dixie Chicks went from being lucrative corporate shills to being branded as un-American or anti-American.American country music radio stations fed the fire by caving under the pressure being exerted by far-right groups like Free Republic. By complying with the boycott -- refusing to play the Dixie Chicks' music and in...
In Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Canadian film maker Sam Dunne traces the historical development of heavy metal music. Applying the discipline of anthropology to heavy metal, Dunne turns up some intriguing elements to this music long wrongfully written off as "unsophisticated" and "stupid".While its amusing to hear Dunne describe Val Halen as metal, and even more amusing for Dunne to treat Victoria, BC as some kind of musical backwater, Dunne turns up intriguing links with more standard "sophisticated" fare like Wagner or Beethoven.Considering the nature of heavy metal, the film should also provoke deep questions about the nature of the censorship directed at it.Many would have people believe that conservatives are the driving force behind censorship. But the involvement of Tipper Gore...
If you thought we lived in the 21st century, think again, because the Supreme Court of the United States has just ruled that we'll keep applying those 18th century standards of the FCC: Parents concerned that their children are hearing foul language on U.S. broadcast television have been given some good news. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled narrowly in favour of a Bush administration Federal Communications Commission policy of fining broadcasters for the use of swear words on live television and radio carried over public airwaves. The FCC introduced the rule after Bono swore at the 2003 Golden......
This post will probably get my site blacklisted in China. The people of China no longer have access to YouTube, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. "We understand there are reports of users being unable to access YouTube within the People's Republic of China," the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. "We are looking into the matter and working to ensure that the service is restored as soon as possible." The spokesperson offered no explanation as to why the video-sharing site had become inaccessible, but a BBC news report indicates that Chinese authorities blocked access to YouTube because it hosted videos......
Movie inspectors to parent the province's childrenIt's amaing the kind of things a dominant majority government can pass when its citizens aren't looking.In Alberta, Bill 18 -- the Film and Video Classification Act -- is set to establish a provincial film czar to classify or reclassify films within the boundaries of Alberta.The film czar would also have the power to hire inspectors who would go to movie theatres and rental stores and ensure that children under the age of 14 aren't being admitted to or allowed to rent movies rated 18A or higher.Any video rental clerk or usher allowing children under 14 to rent or see such films would be eligible for a $10,000 fine, even if accompanied by a parent.Few people would suggest that children have any business watching movies such as Sin City or...
Atheist bus ads banned in HalifaxAs more and more cities in Canada continue to emulate the now-famed British atheist bus ad campaign, at least one Canadian city has put the brakes on it.Humanist Canada has been blocked from putting ads on the side of Halifax buses.In an admirable break from the tactic of simply copying the British campaign, the Halifax campaign was to carry a message that read, "You can be good without God"."We're a public transit system first, and then we sell advertising," explained Halifax Metro Transit spokesperson Lori Patterson. "So, if anytime we feel there's a message that could be controversial and upsetting to people, we don't necessarily sell the ads."Charles McVety, who described the ads as "attack ads" must be pleased.But Halifax's intervention in this affair...
A Toronto school trustee has introduced a motion banning criticism of specific schools by other trustees. This is a trustee taht would fit right in Burma, North Korea, Cuba or on an hrc. Shameful behaviour from one who is supposed to watch over the education of children. He was of course trying to defend the Afrocentric school, which is of courseTrustee's motion would gag school bashingBy DON PEAT, SUN MEDIAA Toronto public school trustee is trying to gag his colleagues from openly slamming schools.After putting up with months of Trustee Josh Matlow's criticisms about the board's yet-to-open Africentric school, Trustee James Pasternak is trying to ban all trustees from making statements attacking any school."Trustees shall not make public statements in the print or electronic media or in...
With Canadian writers and journalists being called before human rights commissions to answer for their "sins" of politically incorrect ideas and statements, Canada finds itself at the threshold of, perhaps, setting down some clear rules for bloggers, which may also end up clarifying the status that bloggers are to have within the media. For example, politicians are debating whether partisan blogging during an election campaign should or could be counted towards the respective party's campaign limit. To me, there really is no difference between a columnist who writes for a newspaper and one who publishes his web columns online....
It’s an old-media adage that if you can find three things that are similar, you have a trend on your hands, and can therefore write a big feature on the rise of the “hand-washing” trend or the “shoe-tying” trend. Well, after the Loren-Israel grudge match and the Jakob Lodwick flame war, we recently got the third in a spate of blogosphere bitchmemes: BoingBoing, the counter-cultural tour de force blog run by Cory Doctorow, Xeni Jardin and the rest of the Happy Mutant gang, came under fire recently for deleting any trace of the sex blogger Violet Blue.
Why did the Boingers do this? No one is saying. Violet doesn’t seem to have any clue, unless she’s being coy. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with something she wrote, or anything she can...
Rob Breakenridge of the Calgary Herald, writes about another case of censorship using the hrcs. Free speech under attackRob Breakenridge, For The Calgary HeraldPublished: Tuesday, May 13, 2008First they came for the basement-dwelling neo-Nazi recluse . . .Until recently, it was no easy task galvanizing Canadians behind the notion that freedoms of speech and the press were at risk from runaway human rights commissions.In the past, if such a case warranted attention, usually the preponderance of evidence against the accused outweighed -- or even masked -- concerns about the process itself. It's difficult to get too worked up over some racist being put through the wringer.Certainly the human rights complaints filed against two news magazines -- Western Standard and Maclean's -- have taken...
Over the past month a lot of attention has been paid in the Canadian news media to Bill C-10 — and rightfully so. The Bill includes more than a hundred amendments to the Income Tax Act, but one little clause about the film industry seems to be stirring all this controversy; a clause that allows [...]...
HM New leftist Australian government seems to be emulating the Chinese maoists. They are planing a strict censorship of what can be seen on the internet.This seems to apply to everyone and you must then opt out of the scheme. Now I want children protected from kiddie porn, but this seems like massive overkill. The government is going to tell people what are suitable web sites. How Big Brother like.The Australian government's aim is to ensure that children only have access to family-friendly websites.Service providers will be expected to stop the flow of pornography and other X-rated or violent content.The government is set to compile a list of unsuitable sites, although at this stage it is unclear what will be deemed unsuitable.Australians wanting unfettered access to the web will have to...
I have previously stated that provincial human rights tribunals are basically destroying our right to free speech. I agree with Karen Selick they should be abolished. This is an interesting piece from the US on our censors of speech .Why? The judge ruled that a government official working from duly enacted government policy cannot be an enemy of free speech. That’s just unthinkable!Yes, in Canada you may not speak the truth about free speech to its official enemies. In Canada, the reason why we must defend even the most vile speech and writing becomes clear: because suppression of it eventually leads to the inability to criticize government.You know you’ve lost your freedom when you cannot call a censor a censor.But here in the United States, we can. Well, at least for now....
Duncan Riley reports that Alibaba has had the typical — or perhaps, more than typical — run up of a hotly expected internet IPO, with its stock price shooting up around 160% of its initial offering.
The big obvious winner is Yahoo, who controls a controlling 40% stake in the parent group of this Chinese enterprise-level e-commerce/trade website, and has made, on paper, over a $1B in the first day alone.
While its a day of financial windfalls for Yahoo in China, its also a day, ironically, that will find its CEO, Jerry Yang, in the Congressional hotseat to answer questions *about* how Yahoo deals with China — specifically, how it gave confidential information to Chinese government officials about a local dissident, leading to that individual to serving 10 or more years in...