This one is a somewhat belated part of an essay by Michael McMillen, one of my favorite cyber friends.
It addresses the Town of Oliver cancellation of a seminar planned by ISP Bernard Klatt after Sol Littman of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre put his foot in his mouth and called it the "hate capitol of Canada":
McMillen writes:
"That any group of Americans should so much as grant their moral approval to such Stalinist anti-speech laws as the Canadian government has seen fit to foist upons its citizens is deplorable.
The Wiesenthalers, however, are going far beyond mere sanctioning. They are attempting to sicc the Canadian thought police on a man who stands practically alone in his willingness to provide internet service to people regardless of the political correctness of their views. Call his policy opportunistic if you will. There is a market for the sorts of websites decried by the Wiesenthal Center, and Mr Klatt is pursuing it.
The content of the "hate" sites varies, but some are reported to be Neo-Nazi (whatever that may mean). Critics of such sites often point to the blemishes on Nazi Germany's own record regarding free speech. They spuriously reason that since the Third Reich practiced censorship, anyone with a good word to say about the Nazis - or a bad word to say about Jews, bolsheviks or blacks - accepts the Nazi theory of governance in toto.
Anyone who would do that, the argument continues, would shut down everyone else's presses and websites the first chance he got. Therefore, he must forfeit his right to speak lest he become the next Hitler.
The frantic campaign to make the world safe from "hate" persists. My first reaction would be to tell the Wiesenthalers to mind their own business. Unfortunately, the idea that everyone has his own business with which others have no right to interfere is a foreign one to the Wiesenthalers.
Not that these people would come out and directly denounce the principle of rights at least not yet. It would appear that the Center and its supporters favour the "right" of chosen people to be insulated from criticism and "hurt feelings" over the genuine right of all people to express their views and question the views of others.
The issue is one of principle, but the way that the Canadian government, the Wiesenthal Center, the Mayor of Oliver and the local press have approached the issue, one would scracely be able to guess it.
The government of (Canada) has bowed to minority pressure and instituted something called the "Human Rights Commission Tribunal." What this politically correct Star Chamber may and may not do is not altogether clear. I suspect they rather like it that way.
(submitted to the Zundelsite)
Thought for the Day:
"To comprehend is to see the commonplace - the obvious - suddenly become oppressive and enigmatic."
(Oswald Spengler, unpublished works)