 Will Canada's stupidity move south?
Freedom of expression can be threatened from either end of the political spectrum. In Canada, it seems to be getting quite a working-over from the left. This concerns me because:
A: Canada is so near to us and similar to us in many ways.
B: I see some in this country expressing similar sentiments -- willing to sacrifice freedom in order to counter "hate."
Here’s a couple of essays I found regarding deep and real concern over the state of free expression in Canada.
Thought You Should Know - Civil Rights Trump Free Speech in Canada
David E. Bernstein & Freedom of Speech on National Review Online
Here’s some passages from the second essay:
“Even the most zealous advocates of freedom of expression often feel uncomfortable defending the right to engage in Holocaust denial or to propagate degrading pornography. But, not surprisingly, the inevitable result of allowing these initial speech restrictions has been the gradual but significant growth of censorship and suppression of civil liberties across Canada.”
“In another incident, after Toronto print-shop owner Scott Brockie refused on religious grounds to print letterhead for a gay-activist group, the local human-rights commission ordered him to pay the group $5,000, print the requested material, and apologize to the group's leaders. Brockie, who always accepted print jobs from individual gay customers, and even did pro-bono work for a local AIDS group, is fighting the decision on religious-freedom grounds.
Any gains the gay-rights movement has received from the crackdown on speech in Canada have been pyrrhic because as part of the Canadian government's suppression of obscene material, Canadian customs frequently target books with homosexual content. Police raids searching for obscene materials have disproportionately targeted gay organizations and bookstores.”
Interesting. And frightening, IMO.
Discuss… If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again and then quit. There’s no sense in making a damned fool of yourself. – W.C. Fields
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