This past weekend, the Canadian Jewish Congress, in conjunction with Concordia University and the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, hosted another symposium on "Human Rights in the New Millennium."
Their smarmy press release, dated March 3, read as follows:
"The panel discussion, which coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, aims to heighten awareness of human rights issues and their relevance to the lives of Canadians. Noted author and lawyer Warren Kinsella will speak on Combating Hatred and Racism: The Role of Anti-Hate Legislation in the Defense of Human Rights in Canada. (...)
"The adoption of the Universal Declaration by the United Nations fifty years ago was a milestone in the advancement of human rights," stated Honorary Program Chair, D'Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman. "This document established a standard of fundamental rights to which all nations can aspire."
"While Canada has much to be proud of in promoting and furthering human rights issues, as a nation we must be prepared to address evolving issues," said CJC, Quebec Region Chair Dorothy Zalcman Howard. "We feel it is particularly appropriate to use this opportunity to take a critical look at Canada's record of achievement in this area during the past half century, with a view to meeting new challenges."
One challenge to be met, we may safely presume, knowing these folks as we do, would be the "elimination of hate sites on the internet." Coming from Canadian leftist quarters, you hear that phrase a lot. It is trumpeted from every leftist rooftop.
Here now I juxtapose some thoughts the fight-censorship folks share with each other. The posters here are Charles, Peter, and Lizard:
Charles:
"Does anyone else get chills from reading that word 'elimination'? The UN doesn't want to 'discourage' racial discrimination, or 'alleviate' it. It seems to view it as just another form of plague, to be wiped out with appropriate vaccination programs--or, in this case, what? Legislation? Talk about social engineering...."
Peter:
"The justification for the international human rights documents placing ideas based on racial superiority outside the general applicable guarantee of freedom of expression is the disturbing assumption of non-separateness between expression and conduct.
"If your words influence the feelings of others, these words can be regulated by the state like physical conduct. Also 'discrimination' is so broadly defined that an 'elimination' of the plague is unlikely until the human race is destroyed at once."
Lizard:
"And, of course, the 1,475, web sites devoted to 'hate' (I wonder how many of those are Earth First! sites devoted to hating industrialists, or left-wing sites devoted to hating capitalists, or, well, my site, devoted to hating everybody?)
"Let's do a quick check, shall we?
"When I'm not discussing capitalists vs. communists, I like to spend time discussing Autobots vs. Decepticons. (...)
"A quick search on Alta Vista on '+Transformers +Cartoon' yields 12,455 pages! Yet this is a fairly obscure mid-80s cartoon.
"'Sailor Moon', popular among 12 year old girls and 35 year old men, yields 26,012 pages.
"'+X Files' +Erotica' yields over 100,000 hits!
"'(A)rmpit hair' yields a mere 600 hits - -- but that's still nearly half the number of purported 'hate sites'.
Peter:
"Lizard, if your words are injurious to an identifiable group you'd be in violation of the law. For example, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code includes 'receipt of public assistance' as a discriminatory ground. ***Extending the number of identifiable groups ensures the annual rise in hate sites remains stable.*** (Emphasis added)
And for that the Canadian Jewish Congress needs another "hate symposium"? For that they give a podium and lectern to ". . . (n)oted author and lawyer Warren Kinsella" who ". . . will speak on Combating Hatred and Racism: The Role of Anti-Hate Legislation in the Defense of Human Rights in Canada"?
So what did they come up with at this 4-day symposium? Take a deep breath and marvel at how freedom in Canada is cleverly being whittled away.
According to an article in the Toronto Star, titled "Use Net to fight hatred, police urged", the following was recommended by "Experts in policing technology, education and law" at this symposium:
* A national body to develop and enforce standards for all Internet service providers to counter hate Web sites -
* All service providers get verified identification before issuing Internet accounts, and deny access to hate promoters -
* Develop a hands-on" anti-racist manual for teachers -
* Amend the criminal code to remove territorial limitations on the prosecution of hate crimes -
* Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include Internet communication in the provision on communicating messages likely to arouse hatred -
* Prosecutors and attorneys-general must more consistently begin investigations, seek arrest warrants and lay charges over Internet hate -
"We will continue to take these recommendations to heart to ensure we counter hate, bigotry, discrimination. We'll do it together," said Dr. Karen Mock, national director of the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith.
Thought for the Day:
Regulation of feelings is apparently a legitimate goal in Canada...The greater the truth, the greater the crime."
(Sent to the Zundelsite)
Back to Table of Contents of the March 1999 ZGrams