Monday, June 16, 2008
CBC - Bastion of the Radical Right?
I was shocked to come across this defense of Mark Steyn and America Alone on the CBC today. Despite CBC's seeming reputation as a lefty, bleeding heart organization, I'm glad to see that there is at least someone there who is willing to stick up for Canadians' rights to speak their minds on whatever topics are important to them. Do I think the portrait of the world that Steyn depicts in America Alone is actually the way things are? No. Do I think that Steyn brings up issues which are better discussed in an open and involved manner, rather than with an attempt to shut down any form of debate on an issue because it might offend someone? Absolutely. If a system of beliefs is so weak that it must be protected from any scrutiny or accusation, especially from people who are worried or even paranoid about the implications of those beliefs, it does not strike me as very persuasive or compatible with the developed world's liberal bent.
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3 comments:
I was impressed with this article as well. Besides the National Post (and obviously Macleans), most of the national media haven't been very supportive of Steyn. I do find it interesting that the CBC is willing to defend Steyn in their article but not even mention the fact that Ezra Levant is facing similar prosecution from when he published the Western Standard.
You'd think that all of the media outlets would have a vested interest in Steyn and Levant winning their cases. If they are convicted, it sets a dangerous precedent that will only lead to other publishers facing similar frivolous prosecutions.
being tried for insulting Islam?! What the hell does that mean?! As a Christian i have to live in a country, where artists, in public, can dip a crucifix in their own urine. Why the hell should i put up with that? Oh i guess if I threaten to kill that artist by flying a plane into their home, then maybe people will start to take me seriously. I agree their are limits to tolerance; however, the STATE should be very reluctant, at times unwilling, to censor. It is instances such as these that are extremely worrisome. What happened to good old social censure? If we don't like Mark Stein, condemn him as a fascist. If someone in my classroom states that the Holocaust didn't happen, i should tell them to get out. That is how to deal with Mark Stein.
I'm gonna weigh in on this one. Couple of qualifiers: do I support Mark Steyn's right to open his mouth and speak? Yes, even if I find his theses and conclusions intellectually shallow and bankrupt. Has this whole thing gotten out of hand (with the tribunal in B.C., etc.?) Yes. Doe el-Masry need to be careful when playing with fire as suggested by Neil MacDonald? Certainly (this dog could turn around and bite him in the ass at any time).
That being said, what would the public reaction be if Steyn characterized, for example, Jews in the manner he characterizes Muslims? (For example takes diehard JDL types and hardcore settlers in teh West Bank and amplifies their character then describes it in terms of world-wide coordinated action amongst all Jews) The answer ought to be clear as we have seen this sorit of bigoted, chauvinistic, essentially hateful expression before.
Now to make an acutal reasoned point rather than just take cheap shots: my concern (originally impressed upon me by my better half) is that the North American public suffers from a major intellectual defecit and is likely incapable of engaging in reasoned, spirited, well-researched debate with the likes of polemicists like Steyn. The fact that Maclean's still qualifies as Canada's premiere news magazine attests to this phenomenon. Canada is seriously short on public intellectuals (not that they are a be-all and end-all, some might say that this is a good thing) and I would wager that most Canadians, whereever they stand on the political spectrum, could neither provide a spirited, researched, carefully considered critique or defense of an issue as pressing and topical as the Canadian Armed Forces' mission in Afghanistan, let alone something as nebulous and nearly impossible to empirically observe as "Islam creep."
As a nation we are hideously lazy and frightfully uninformed, a fact we seem to be increasingly proud of. I question the ability of the Canadian public to challenge demagogues like Steyn, though that does not mean I believe we ought to have government organs, elected or unelected do so for us.
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