Elisabeth Mahase, Editor-in-chief of Brunel University’s Student Newspaper….. etc., etc. (twice) published a post on Huffpost UK she titled “You Can’t Opt Out at Islamophobia”
It is an intriguing title, as half of the article was about opting out ‘of’ Islamophobia, not ‘at’. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: tolerance
Hate speech
Speech
Marshall Rothstein wrote the majority opinion of the SCC in the William Whatcott case. Read the opinion here or about it here – here and here.
I say:
!@# ahdkry %$!$!* @#$ :;”’# Marshall Rothstein !#%& bdfg &^ 18$% E8di.
Is this hate speech? How do you know?
Timeout
I got censored. When my personal editor saw what I wrote, she flipped. She does not like me being offensive which I clearly was as I wanted to make a point. What you see is the coded version.
I have to ask for your indulgence. Think of the most offensive way to address a supreme court judge including his ethnic background possibly his political orientation, his mental capacity and since this case was about protecting the feelings of homosexuals; a suggestion for him to perform a particular homosexual act. Think rude and insulting.
And now, let’s talk about it!
Continue reading →
What it means to be an immigrant
I am an immigrant to Canada. I escaped communist Hungary because I did not want to live in a Communist country. I detested the religion-like ideology. I DID NOT come to Canada for a larger slice of bread, I came here for freedom. Definitely not to export communism.
Isn’t it time to get offended?
Coming home from our vacation we were driving the 401 from Montreal to Toronto. We ran into a bunch of Muslims twice. The forward pointing bearded types who always look angry.
At the time of the second encounter the sun was about to set. The En-Route place was not too busy, but it wasn’t exactly empty either. The weather was nice, there was even a grassy area outside but these Muslims were looking for a place inside for their praying. They found a corner with a view, pushed some chairs around to make room for their carpets and started their praying.
I found the whole circus deeply offensive.
Celebrating un-civility
After the shootings happened in the Eaton centre two weeks ago, I was wondering how long will it take for someone to come up with yet another bright idea to control guns, while I was still fuming over the Bernie Farber civility argument. I could ignore the bad writing, the self-contradictions, the shallow, mushy touchy-feely banalities, but I cannot get over the fundamental stupidity of the suggestion that all people and all ideas and opinions should be treated as equal, regardless of the merits of the person or the opinion.
I was ready to talk about the stupidity of gun control and to explain what I mean saying that I want to be a gun parasite. I was also genuinely surprised to see that it took more than a week before the shtuff, in the person of Adam Vaughan in this case, hit the fan. Continue reading →
Tolerance part #3 – very much a value statement
I was not planning to write this third part, but a few days after I posted the first, Ezra quoted someone on his show. Bernie Farber “ Human rights advocate” who does not like the word ‘ tolerance’
“ I never really liked the word “tolerance.” It suggests the bare minimum. Simply tolerating each other is far from accepting or, better yet, celebrating each other. In the end “tolerance” is not much of a value statement.” Continue reading →
Tolerance part #2 …..or the dangerous delusion of religious freedom
I am not a man of faith. I’ve never been. I am not an atheist, not an agnostic, just a man of reason. Still, all my life I have been fascinated by religions. The religious mindset. Trying to understand how it is possible that something that is so obvious to me is so far beyond the grasp of so many. How is it possible that they do not see the contradictions? The moral ambivalence. The weakness of the psychological benefits. Continue reading →
Tolerance part #1
I am not a native English speaker which makes me sometimes humbled, sometimes puzzled.
I wonder how a culture can allow so much abuse to its language, the most important pillar of its existence