Just so. The mob's not the threat, you and Ann Coulter are. In the old days, the Mounties always got their man. But these days they'll get you. Frankly, it's a lot easier. Canadian law enforcement gives off the same vibe re Miss Coulter that the Dutch justice system does re Geert Wilders - that in many ways the most convenient outcome would be if the mob took care of the problem, pour encourager les autres...
Wiley-Blackwell, a major academic press, was set to release its four-volume Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization this month. According to the encyclopedia’s editor, George Thomas Kurian, the set had been copy-edited, fact-checked, proofread, publisher-approved, printed, bound, and formally launched (to high praise) at the recent American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature conference. But protests from a small group of scholars associated with the project have led the press to postpone publication, recall all copies already distributed, and destroy the existing print run. The scholars’ complaint? The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, they have reportedly argued, is “too Christian.” “They also object to historical references to the persecution and massacres of Christians by Muslims,” Kurian says, “but at the same time want references favorable to Islam.”
Political correctness in academic publishing is nothing new, but it would be unusual, to say the least, for ideological pressure to lead a publisher to reverse itself so late in the process, especially given the significant financial losses involved in pulping a print run of a gigantic four-volume encyclopedia. As Kurian puts it, “This is probably the first instance of mass book-burning in the 21st century.”...
...This is part of a disturbing trend of censorship on Canadian campuses. Just weeks ago, Queen's University announced roving squads of conversation "monitors" -- busybodies who would butt into private conversations to lecture students who said anything politically incorrect.
U of C goes straight for the cops.
In my travels, from time to time I find myself rebutting stereotypical perceptions of Calgary and Alberta. I point out that, in fact, our city has the highest rate of post-secondary education in the country; that we are very multicultural; that we are enlightened, and educated and open-minded, and I always have a half-dozen proof points.
But it's going to be tough to make the case now that the city's university sends cops after young women to bully them into ceasing their political discussions.
I'm glad to read that the Canadian Constitution Foundation has caught notice of the case; the Canadian Civil Liberties Association should intervene, too.
I think a pre-emptive lawsuit against U of C is in order (in addition to defending the students against the trespass charges). And -- far more effective -- a boycott on donations by alumni is in order, as well....
....Last Monday, the student council of Carleton University attracted much attention to their university and to the city of Ottawa—around Canada and the world—with their decision to cancel their annual Shinerama fundraising efforts on behalf of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Their argument was that this disease afflicts “white people and primarily men.“ They would rather choose a charity that is more “inclusive.“....
....“Good intentions” do not excuse them, as their president, Brittany Smyth, has tried to argue with several media callers. Anti-white and anti-male prejudices are not well-intentioned; she should have been corrected publicly on that. And here is how Ms. Smyth dismissed the disgraceful preamble of Mr. Northup’s motion, to CTV News: “It’s 100 per cent their opinion. Their opinion doesn’t have to be fact or anything really. It’s just how this individual felt.“
This remark reveals an extraordinary degree of incuriosity, allied perhaps with lethargy and cowardice, on the part of the student councillors. Political correctness has numbed their brains. How has it done so? By instilling indifference to truth in their souls.
Evil and stupidity reinforce one another. Even acts which appear, on their face, to be devilishly clever, turn out not to be, with a little extra cunning. There are arguable exceptions, but in the main, the reason so many criminals get caught, even by rather flat-footed policemen, is that they suffer from cruel deficiencies of intellect. They can’t keep up with the lies they are living.....
....Among the costume supporters, there is a vein of suspicion that casts Raheja and others opposed to the costumes as agenda-driven elitists. Of the handful of others who spoke with Raheja against the costumes at the board meeting, one teaches at the University of Redlands, one is an instructor at Riverside Community College, and one is a former Pitzer College professor.
Raheja is "using those children as a political platform for herself and her ideas," Constance Garabedian said as her 5-year-old Mountain View kindergartner happily practiced a song about Native Americans in the background. "I'm not a professor and I'm not a historian, but I can put the dots together."
The debate is far from over. Some parents plan to send their children to school in costume Tuesday -- doubting that administrators will force them to take them off. The following day, some plan to keep their children home, costing the district attendance funds to punish them for modifying the event.
"She's not going to tell us what we can and cannot wear," said Dena Murphy, whose 5-year-old son attends Mountain View. "We're tired of [district officials] cowing down to people. It's not right."....
...The annual battle for Christmas has begun early this year, with the announcement that the internationally known fireworks company, Grucci, has pulled out of an annual Christmas event on Long Island.
Grucci made the decision in protest against the town of Patchogue’s decision to break with its 15-year tradition of holding a Christmas Boat Parade and instead to rename the event the Patchogue Holiday Boat Parade.
Grucci vice president Phil Butler, a vocal critic of the secularization of Christmas, accused the parade’s organizers of “using all the themes of Christmas and plagiarizing all those themes.” Grucci is headquartered on Long Island.
"When I think about fireworks, I don't think about Christmas anyway," Mayor Paul Pontieri said in response to Grucci’s decision. "I think about the Fourth of July."
Catholic League president Bill Donohue commended Butler’s decision. “If more people like Phil Butler stood up to the high priests of political correctness, the dumbing-down of Christmas would cease.”
“Christmas is the only holiday that is singled out by these authoritarians,” continued Donohue. “They do not object to Jewish or Muslim holidays, nor do they object to holidays like Martin Luther King Day. And they relish Kwanzaa celebrations. But when it comes to Christmas, they quickly become censors.
“So Kudos to Grucci. Let this be the first of many counterpunches thrown at the cultural fascists this year.”..
