There is something brewing in Canada reminding me of "Walpurgisnacht"
- the German legend when the Devil danced with witches, committing things
not fit for human eyes. For now, here is a glimpse into the darkness that
may well be the beginning of the end of what was once a pristine, moral
country - and not all that long ago either.
As summarized by the Editor of Free Speech Monitor, Paul Fromm, we learn the following:
"Dear Free Speech Supporter:
Apparently, in one of those shameless bits of pandering that many
politicians tend to indulge in, to the desperate peril of the rights of the Majority, the Reform Party's Justice critic, Art Hanger ( e-mail -- HangerA@parl.gc.ca) intends to propose a private member's bill making "possession" of "hate literature" a crime.
It might be funny to see censorship groups like B'nai Brith who lovingly collect so-called "hate" as they monitor other Canadians, face charges.
(T)he off-chance of seeing the censors snared does not outweigh the travesty of this proposal. In this, arch-conservative Hanger has a strange bed-fellow, the NDP Attorney-General of B.C. Ujjal Dosanjh.
A timely e-mail to Hanger, or a letter c/o House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6, may encourage Mr. Hanger to rethink his position. If your MP is a Reformer, you might want to share your concerns with him/her."
Next follows another Fromm letter titled "Jail for Possession of "Hate Literature"
April 25, 1998
Dear Hanger:
I read a report from Edmonton that you intend to introduce legislation that would make mere possession of "hate literature" a crime punishable by imprisonment.
Can you confirm whether this is so?
I hope it is a false or garbled report.
Firstly, no one could protect himself. There is no mediaeval "Index" of
what is hate literature. Each publication would have to be the subject of a trial. No one could know in advance what is or isn't "hate".
Such legislation would make a mockery of Anglo-Saxon justice which holds that a person has to be able to know what the law is and what is prohibited.
Such legislation would play into the hands of the very people who want to silence the debate . . . in this country.
The chill this would create would be disastrous for our political process. Canadians are already terrified into silence by fears of being labeled "racist".
Just thought I'd run this by you with the reminder that "hate literature" will be what the Dark Forces claim it is. I remember many a story my Russian-born German grandmother told me of relatives being terrified of having owned a Bible - or having once upon a time received some mail from relatives from - where else but? - America.
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"History I think (if indeed there still is history), will in one or two hundred years look back on these times as a mass aberration. A time when imposed dogma supplanted objective reality and the world was for a time lost to the powers of darkness."
(A retired US policeman)