Defending the Truth

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…

I'm not a porn advocate, and would care less if it was outlawed. It's supposed to be for adults only, but it permeates our culture, and is advertised and glamourized. Adults leave it laying around the house or under their beds where their children can get access to it, and they share it with their friends.

I think it's had a negative impact on the self-esteem and judgement of too many young people, and here I'm talking pre-teens and teens, for it to be a positive thing.

I get disgusted seeing 12 year-old girls running around in playboy bunny t-shirts, and really have to wonder about the parents of these girls who let them. What the hell type of message are they sending their kids about their developing bodies image?

Everyone has sex at some time in their life, and everything has sex or nothing would exist on this planet. Sex is natural and healthy, but I don't think porn is.

I think homosexuality is natural too. In some ancient cultures it was even seen as a stage of life.

That said, this guy owns a shop and decides he doesn't want to print something. If he owns the shop, isn't it his right to refuse service to someone?

The biggest threat to freedom of speech in America has to be the monopoly of media ownership but also the partriot act.

As far as porn is concerned... I think our society would be far worse off without the, shall we say, "release" that pornography offers.

"The biggest threat to freedom of speech in America has to be the monopoly of media ownership but also the partriot act."

It's under assault from BOTH sides of the spectrum, IMO. The zealous crusade against "hate speech" has gone too far in Canada, and I can see a push in this country to move in a similar direction.

A threat is a threat -- whether from the left or right.
To ignore either side of the threat is irresponsible, IMO.

Teeth, it's not about what one considers healthy, unhealthy, moral, immoral or whatever.

It about people's basic right to express things. I think the ideas of neo-Nazis and other racists are horrific, unhealthy and repulsive, but I'll fight tooth and nail to protect their rights to express them.