The Process Has Become the Punishment
A Canadian publisher named Ezra Levant published the famous Danish “Muhammad cartoons” in a conservative magazine called The Western Standard. A local Imam and a Muslim affairs council lodged a complaint with Alberta’s Human Rights Commission. Now, I am mindful that “the law is the law,” but sometimes the law is an outrage. It certainly is in this case. I am completely down with his closing statement to his interrogator. Also the opening statement.
Comment by Mona —
January 15, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
Jim I see you quoted Greenwald’s Kucinich post, but immediately before that was his tirade on the evil of of Canada’s (and Europe’s) hate speech laws, with a focus on the Levant persecution. This is, oh maybe, the 3rd time he has done his “free speech absolutist” thing, and while some of his liberal readers agree with his position, it always amazes me that these threads go long and heated with Canadians, Europeans and some of us here “explaining” why speech such as Levant’s should be punished.
I am never able to keep my busy beak out of such discussions. However heinous Levant’s foreign policy and views of Muslims may be, I thought his pounding of the Canadian bureaucrat interrogating him on the basis of his “intent” in stating his political opinions (in the You Tube video) was fucking awesome.
Comment by Jim Henley —
January 15, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
One of the things that interested me is that, at least on his blog, Levant distinguishes pretty clearly between a few radical malcontents and most Muslims. None of this inexorable demographic tide shit.
But hey, Dhimmitude Watch: When I first typed “Muslims” in lower case, Firefox flagged it as a misspelling.
Comment by double-plus-ungood —
January 16, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
Let’s keep in mind that this “interrogation” is a minor civil servant worker investigating a complaint. Levant could have dealt with the question in the usual manner of writing a letter or email, but chose to do it in person. For some reason.
Keep in mind, too, that Levant has urged that others be prosecuted under the very law that he claims to be victim of.
Comment by Mona —
January 16, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
That’s less than clear. Levant writes:
If that accusation is true, the person he writes of is not guilty of mere “hate speech”; it is solicitation of homicide.
Comment by double-plus-ungood —
January 17, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
If that accusation is true, the person he writes of is not guilty of mere “hate speechâ€; it is solicitation of homicide.
Then one would wonder why Levant (or the police, for that matter) would settle for merely charging him with hate speech.
Levant striking a posture as a free speech advocate is somewhat unsettling, as is the fact that others are applauding him for it. He has a long history of threatening legal action against those who merely criticize him. As Warren Kinsella says, “The fraud, in this case, is my friend Ezra Levant. He is full of crap, actually.” More from Kinsella on Levant here.