Copyright (c) 1997 - Ingrid A. Rimland
"I said that years ago, to the rage of those concerned. So when the same thing was stated in the respected and influential Sunday Telegraph, whose editor is Jewish, it caught my eye.
Columnist Kevin Myers' piece was headed: 'Not all critics of Jews are
anti-Semites.'
He emphasized the sins of the Nazis, of course. There was no chance of his being caught in the dread 'holocaust-denier' trap.
But he observed that 'we cannot forever be bound by the constraints that arose as a result of what happened to the Jews in Germany.
'It is surely time,' (Myers) went on, 'that we were liberated from the
inhibitions that Nazi deeds have laid upon our freedom of discussion.
'At this remove we should really be able to discuss Jews and their
Jewishness, their virtues or their vices, as one can any other identifiable group, without being called anti-Semitic.
'Frankness does not feed anti-Semitism; secrecy, however, does .... (and) it is time to be frank about Jews . . . '"
Well, hallelujah thrice!
Let it be said as well that, with joy, I have noticed a trend for some time,
by the way - that more and more people are suddenly discovering they are
not Jewish, after all - or only kind of Jewish.
Michael Coren in "All Things Considered (March 12, 97) describes the
humorist and writer Jonathan Miller who
". . . once attempted to illustrate his position as a Jewish atheist
educated in the best British tradition among the upper classes.
With a refined English accent, and with his usual wit, he described himself "not so much a Jew as sort of, well, Jew...ish."
How suitable, wrote Coren,
". . . it would be if the Frankfurter Allgemeine said that it has been wrong..ish and that it was sorry..ish.
If it doesn't, some of us might think that things have not really changed all that much...ish. . . "
Say that last word slowly. And just watch.
A lot of previously gallant lapdog media have become waffly...ish. Others, catching on, have come right out and called a spade a spade.
To make my point, I never thought that I would see the day when Toronto Sun columnist, Eric Margolis, who is only half-Jewish, according to some - and whose style I admire a lot, by the way! - in "Legislated morality is wicked and futile" would actually put both heels right on his desk and declare just last week:
"This column has a passionate hatred of hypocrites, and those who would censor free speech. The journalist's keenest joy should be to skewer pretension and expose big-time liars. Propaganda, whether American, British, Russian or Iraqi, is my favorite target.
Those who attempt to limit our precious free speech under the guise of decency or - the current favorite - protecting children from corruption, are destroyers of democracy.
Advocates of "hate laws" - modern anti-heresy laws - also gravely undermine democracy. Free speech, no matter how despicable or disgusting, is the oxygen that sustains democracy and civilization."
Now all the Toronto Sun needs to do is to apply those principles to someone
called Ernst Zündel and write a fair and balanced feature. For once!
Would the new Sun executive editor, Lorrie Goldstein, allow Margolis to
be that free?
In the above-referenced Collins column, our crusty scribe, dragged by his
literary wrists and ankles before the British Columbia Human Rights Commission
for having put to pen what Marlon Brando said while he was slightly sloshed
- that Hollywood is Hebrew Habitat and, hence, deserving of protected species
status - goes on to say:
"Even to draw attention to Jewish success is to risk being accused of
anti-Semitism. . . Talk about what Jews do . . . and you are "anti-Semitic."
Yes. You can discuss any other group. But you discuss the Jews at your peril. Except, of course, that there's nothing funny about a column that costs $200,000.
To be safe we would have to pretend that this attack against free speech was started by little green men from Mars."
Collins is referring to the exorbitant expenses, of course, that Jewish
individuals and institutions can inflict on people they don't like by merely
shrieking "Anti-Semitism!"-as they did in the case of the North
Shore News which has to foot the Collins legal bill.
I understand the Human Rights Tribunal hearings have now concluded, and
a decision is expected soon. This case may well be going to the Supreme
Court eventually - which will then have to handle that hot potato.
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"See, even Bernie Farber (of the Canadian Jewish congress) is starting to put a bit of water in his vinegar."
(Sent to the Zundelsite by a reader as a comment on Farber's participation in Nizkorland)