"Let's not feel sorry for Levant. As publisher of the now defunct Western Standard he knew that he could be subject to some form of legal action for publishing the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed."And you know what, I could go along with this premise if not for that one, little, almost inconsequential, phrase. "Legal action". But you see, I was raised in a nation where the requirements for legal action are laid out and known to all.
I'm no Lawyer but I know that during the process of a "legal action" in my country if I'm accused of a crime I am served notice by an officer of the court, not a bureaucratic functionary. I also am made aware of the charges against me, there is due process, burden of proof, the hearing is public and anyone can watch the proceedings to satisfy their curiosity or to ensure themselves that the whole thing is above board. I face my accuser in court and unless the state is the one charging me with a breach of the law then my accuser has to hire his own lawyer to argue his case.
I guess Alan Shanhoff forgot all this. In his rush to preserve the powers of the human rights tribunals to prosecute that 1% of racists, xenophobes and hatemongers in Canada he forgot to prevent the use of these powers to persecute the remaining 99% of us.
Ooh, I almost forgot.
Could someone please point me in the direction of the edict that states that we here in Canada CAN NOT PUBLISH PICTURES OF ANYONE WE DAMN WELL PLEASE?!?!?!?
As an aside, the tendency to err on the side of totalitarianism seems to me to be a leftist trait. It is a manifestation of the collective belief that the individual is evil. It's a pessimism of the Socialist condition that reeks of the phrase "they can not be trusted". But beliefs which hold the individual as a free thinker and a rational being, such as old fashioned conservatism and objectivisim are optimistic, believing instead that man will choose good over evil 99% of the time without being compelled to do so, and for his own good.
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