I really don’t understand how perfectly rational, sane and kind-hearted individuals could subscribe to the idea that so-called "hate-speech" must be silenced. The world is not a better place because we punish people who say things that we, as the current mainstream, do not like and that fly in the face of decency, if not sanity.
B’nai B’rith was ecstatic over the expulsion of Ernst Zundel from Canada. Zundel, you may recall, was the nut bar holocaust denier who for 40 years ranted that the murder of 6,000,000 Jews during World War II was a fabrication of the International Zionist Conspiracy. Needless to say, Ernst was not popular among Canadians, as his outspoken lunacy offended a lot of people’s sensibilities.
So we finally deported him to Germany, where he is now imprisoned for "spreading hate".
I believe that the keystone of a functioning democracy is the equal treatment of everyone under the law. The method in which Zundel was silenced was neither democratic nor lawful. and the B’nai B’rith cheering section has done itself a great disservice in applauding the ouster of Zundel because they are supporting a precedent that could result in some startling unexpected results.
Zundel’s deportation was as the result of a security certificate, which claimed that he was a threat to the national security of Canada and should, as such, not be allowed to reside here. Trouble is, under this warrant, the accused is neither entitled to hear the charges brought against him, nor is he entitled to face his accusers in an open court of law.
Get it, B’nai B’rith? Next time the UN passes a resolution about Zionism being equal to racism or a form of "hate", given Canada’s official sycophancy to the UN, it’s entirely possible that the same "law" used to oust Zundel, could be used to oust Zionists, or worse, to imprison them without trial. So cheering the punishment of vile people we do not like could well be a pyrrhic victory. We could soon find ourselves in the same predicament as the social climate evolves into ever-more bizarre and politically correct machinations.
While attending university in the United States I encountered a concept that has stuck with me the rest of my life. The concept postulates that "I might not like or agree with what you are saying, But I will fight to the death for your right to say it." In Canada that precept has morphed into "I have the right to say whatever I like, so long as no one is offended by what I say." and there is now a "law" that backs this up in the form of a security certificate.
Franz Kafka was probably one of the few with enough foresight to envision laws like this, as was George Orwell, albeit Orwell would never have imagined that they would spring up in a so-called democracy like Canada.
It’s frightening to think that we can now be imprisoned for thought crimes. Those of us who cheer the government’s actions will rue the day they did, because if it can happen to Zundel, it can happen to you.