As you may know, the Canadian Human Rights Commission accidentally read George Orwell’s 1984 backwards. In consequence, it has set itself the task of persecuting Canadian publishers for the crime of having published. Most notably, international gadfly Mark Steyn — along with Macleans magazine — has a date with the Star Chamber.
Ezra Levant, while serving as publisher of the Western Standard in Alberta, published the now-infamous Mohammed cartoons in his magazine. Two fundamentalist Islamists brought a complaint to the Human Right Commission, arguing that Levant’s act of publication was essentially a “hate crime.”
In these videos, you will see portions of Levant’s arguments before the Human Rights Commission — a stirring and passionate defense of the principles undergirding the idea of a free press.
Hannah Arendt taught us all about the banality of evil, and the seeming lack of affect in the functionary who presumes to judge the content of Levant’s character is chilling. But Loudoun County Tax Assessor Todd Kaufman is an exponent of the same sort of banal evil: In preference to disputing words with words, Todd Kaufman chose to try to force Danilo Bogdanovic to retract what he had published by threatening his livelihood.
If you truly don’t understand the principles involved, it were well for you to correct that deficiency before you find yourself in Mr. Levant’s place. He at least has the consolation of knowing why he is in the right.
Much, much more at EzraLevant.com.
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Brian Brady says:
Levant: Why is that a relevant question?
State: Uh…um..under Section 3.1…uh…errr
Moral certainty always trumps political machinations. That was BEAUTIFUL!
January 13, 2008 — 10:29 pm
Don Reedy says:
Greg,
I was spellbound by Levant’s articulation of “right.” Perhaps you both remember Jack London’s “Sea Wolf”, a novel set on the sea with a monstrous Nietzsche like “Superman” named Wolf Larson, and a mild mannered literary critic named Humphrey Van Weyden.
Though risking all through his abeyance of Wolf Larson’s unreasonable demands and goal to conquer his will, Van Weyden persists, and in the end overcomes. It is not a victory without great sacrifice, heroism or great faith in the right of the individual to express oneself, and in Levant’s videos he just stunned me with just such a picture.
I want to thank you for helping clear the vessels that carry that potion named backbone. It is most powerful, least favored by those such as Todd Kaufman, and of such ephemeral nature that we must be reminded of its import more often.
January 14, 2008 — 3:20 pm