I found this in the email this morning:
The thing is, calling people Nazis or Hitlers has become utterly commonplace; you might even find examples of it on this blog, though with much more worthy targets in mind, I hope. It's all evidence that we live in a time when the freedom that sustains reason and civility is being eroded. When real thinking goes, it is a sign we are less free in all kinds of ways. Unfortunately, I doubt there are many among our state-dependent "artists" who are entirely sympathetic with Harper on this one.
B'nai Brith needs to ask itself how do we help renew a free society in which children would actually be educated in schools and universities not to play the victim (and also hence the worthy supplicant) of the "hegemonic" state and politicians like Harper (i.e. a "conservative", white, male, Christian). If reason and an ability to engage in some kind of serious historical thinking is return to Canada, we need to put a damper on the culture of victimary thinking altogether. To this end, we all need to consider our dependence on the institutions of this culture, such as the "human rights" commissions.
If it's ridiculous and offensive to call Harper a Hitler, is it really very much less ridiculous to call some marginal poor and angry person promoting "white" nationalism a dangerous neo-Nazi who needs to be tried and punished under a "human rights" law that punishes public thought crimes that "may", in future, lead to contempt for someone, and under an opaque bureaucratic process that does not afford the due protections of established rules regarding entrapment (framing), search and seizure, trial procedure (rules of evidence, etc.), that an accused enjoys in proper criminal law?
It is offensive to Jews (if merely ridiculous to Harper) to call the Prime Minister a Hitler. But is it not also offensive to Jews to portray every loser antisemite who happens to be a white nationalist, a neo-Nazi, a serious threat requiring organized Jewish involvement in costly and lengthy show trials that some might reasonably see to be something of a smoke screen to suggest Jewish leaders are really in the forefront of battling Judeophobia, when all around us the antisemitism we have yet to fully understand (as evidenced by its resurgence among those resentful of the Jews' post-Holocaust victimary status) grows in the name of a left-Islamist critique of modernity and of leading nations (regionally and globally) like Israel and the United States, an alliance that now persecutes (or threatens to persecute) Jews in Canada for "hate speech"?
And if there were further proof needed that at least some political activists posing as artists need to be thrown off the public dime...
QUEBEC, August 27, 2008 – B’nai Brith Canada has renewed its call for civilized political discourse as Canadians gear up for what is expected to be a fall election. The Jewish human rights organization has called for calm, reasoned debate, in the aftermath of an earlier incident today where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was compared to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler during a demonstration by Quebec artists angered over government cuts to arts funding. In full view at this protest were signs displaying Nazi swastikas. It has also been reported that a speaker ended with a raised arm, while shouting ‘heil Harper’.Welcome To B'nai Brith
“The comparison of Canada’s Prime Minister to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is obscene and offensive,” said Frank Dimant, B’nai Brith Canada’s Executive Vice President. “Such statements trivialize the Holocaust and inject ugly rhetoric in what ought to be reasoned debate on real and pressing political issues.
“As we move closer to what appears to be a fall election we call for political campaigns that are free from bigotry and prejudice. We urge politicians and citizens alike to engage in meaningful dialogue that addresses the concerns of the electorate and moves towards practical solutions.”
The thing is, calling people Nazis or Hitlers has become utterly commonplace; you might even find examples of it on this blog, though with much more worthy targets in mind, I hope. It's all evidence that we live in a time when the freedom that sustains reason and civility is being eroded. When real thinking goes, it is a sign we are less free in all kinds of ways. Unfortunately, I doubt there are many among our state-dependent "artists" who are entirely sympathetic with Harper on this one.
B'nai Brith needs to ask itself how do we help renew a free society in which children would actually be educated in schools and universities not to play the victim (and also hence the worthy supplicant) of the "hegemonic" state and politicians like Harper (i.e. a "conservative", white, male, Christian). If reason and an ability to engage in some kind of serious historical thinking is return to Canada, we need to put a damper on the culture of victimary thinking altogether. To this end, we all need to consider our dependence on the institutions of this culture, such as the "human rights" commissions.
If it's ridiculous and offensive to call Harper a Hitler, is it really very much less ridiculous to call some marginal poor and angry person promoting "white" nationalism a dangerous neo-Nazi who needs to be tried and punished under a "human rights" law that punishes public thought crimes that "may", in future, lead to contempt for someone, and under an opaque bureaucratic process that does not afford the due protections of established rules regarding entrapment (framing), search and seizure, trial procedure (rules of evidence, etc.), that an accused enjoys in proper criminal law?
It is offensive to Jews (if merely ridiculous to Harper) to call the Prime Minister a Hitler. But is it not also offensive to Jews to portray every loser antisemite who happens to be a white nationalist, a neo-Nazi, a serious threat requiring organized Jewish involvement in costly and lengthy show trials that some might reasonably see to be something of a smoke screen to suggest Jewish leaders are really in the forefront of battling Judeophobia, when all around us the antisemitism we have yet to fully understand (as evidenced by its resurgence among those resentful of the Jews' post-Holocaust victimary status) grows in the name of a left-Islamist critique of modernity and of leading nations (regionally and globally) like Israel and the United States, an alliance that now persecutes (or threatens to persecute) Jews in Canada for "hate speech"?
And if there were further proof needed that at least some political activists posing as artists need to be thrown off the public dime...
3 comments:
Now where does Brother Nathaniel fit into all this;)
The "Brother" doesn't fit anywhere, and there is probably no good in trying to make him...
And here I thought that B'nai Brith was doing better, too.
T'would seem not.
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