Output Stream of Consciousness

I doubt that I would see eye to eye with Ezra Levant on many things. The Reform Party is pretty antithetical to my views, and even within the Reform Party context, I thought Preston Manning was a gentleman, and Stockwell Day, whom Ezra supported, was a man who couldn't keep his religious fantasy out of his politics.

That aside, there is a shameful thread that ties the threats against Jyllands-Posten for posting cartoons depicting Muhammed to the threats of the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission against Ezra Levant.

You can read the original complaint by Syed Soharwardy to the Commission. This is not a worthy complaint, on top of which Syed seems to go into great detail about why the caricatures were so offensive - by cherry-picking the Qur'an and avoiding abrogation and the Hadith considered canonical by many Muslims, in particular the more militant sects like the Wahhabi/Salafi sects that have caused Saudi Arabia to react by clamping down on moderates.

The complaint also comes only after trying unsuccessfully to get the police to arrest Ezra for publishing the cartoons (!).

That's not to say that an organization like the AHRCC would not be a useful thing, but they should have had processes for discarding this tribunal in the early stages.

In my estimation, this farce will cause more to damage general relations with the Muslim community than the publication of the cartoons could ever "hope" to do, if that ever was their intent.

I've been impressed at the outpouring of support, and that includes all manner of people who do not share his political views. One of my favourite grumpy heathens, Pat Condell, has a brilliant rant.

Some of the critics have been pretty decent in their response, some less so. I'm a bit disappointed that it looks like Ezra may engage in libel chill instead of issuing his own statements, though I guess I'd marginally agree with the commenters that in that case, at least, it's him shelling out for his own legal fees with definite legal processes.