Posted on 12/02/2011 8:15:57 AM PST by Clive
It’s often claimed that Voltaire once said: “I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Today in Canada, the modern version appears to be: “I may disagree with what you say and I will force you never to say it again.”
By now you have likely heard about the abuse of the human rights council system whereby people like Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn were taken through the system for publishing cartoons and opinion columns. Now a critic of Sun News Network is looking to make sure that only his view is heard on the television airwaves.
Michael Erickson, a Toronto high school teacher, former NDP candidate and gay activist, has written a letter to the board of directors of Quebecor, the parent company of Sun News and this paper, listing seven demands.
The company has been ordered to meet five of the seven demands or he will take us to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council and the Advertising Standards Council of Canada.
What crime did we commit? We ran an ad.
For running the ad Erickson wants an investigation into how the ad was approved and disciplinary action taken against those responsible. He wants the money from the ad given to a transgendered charity he approves of and for the company to give a similar charity two hours’ of free ad time to put forward their point of view.
But as they say on late night TV, wait there’s more.
Erickson also wants anyone in the company earning more than $90,000 a year to undergo a three-hour re-education camp, or as he calls it, sensitivity training, to “build awareness and sensitivity of trans, transsexual, transgender, two-spirited and intersex identities.”
The ad in question was approved by Telecaster, the clearing house for television ads in Canada. Produced by the Institute for Canadian Values, the ad raised concerns about what is being taught in Toronto’s public schools surrounding sex education.
Oh, did I mention that Erickson also wants a one-year ban on this group from buying ads for any reason, on any topic?
Erickson doesn’t like the content of the ad which points to a teachers’ curriculum guide, that he helped write, which encourages elementary school students to discuss transgenderism and, according to the ad, have children question whether they are a boy or a girl.
The ad also cites the same guide encouraging students to search online for images of the Toronto gay pride parade.
Having this kind of material presented in the classroom should be up for debate, but Erickson thinks the debate is closed and his views should not be questioned.
So far he has refused to come on my show, Byline, to discuss the issue, despite several requests.
Yet in a radio interview Wednesday on Toronto’s AM 640, Erickson said he’s not against free speech, but “I do think that we live in a time where there is still quite a lot of homophobia and transphobia in schools.”
There also appears to be plenty of phobia in Michael Erickson when it comes to differing points of view.
Canada has a long history of freedom of speech, of allowing different points of view.
It’s time we honour that history by opening up the floor for debate.
trans frigging phobia, what on earth?????
No one I know is afraid of homosexuals we do not live in fear of them so it goes to show the homostapo use words they know nothing about but at least they can shut people up about the truth about them, their diseases, their lust for sex with strangers in public places including public dirty bathrooms .
They know it is disgusting to stick it up another man or a woman wearing a strap on piece of plastic and then thinking she is a man .
Just like these cross dressers mutilating themselves.
I used to feel that way ... now I'm not so sure.
‘It’s often claimed that Voltaire once said: “I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”’
Liberals haven’t believed in that concept for decades.
You may disagree with what I say but I will defend to your death my right to say it.
“Erickson said he’s not against free speech”
So....in addition to being a heterophobe, Erickson’s also a liar.
Worldviews that diverge from reality can not be exposed to reality. Attempt to explain to a schizophrenic that they are not Christ or Napoleon, and they will get angry and maybe violent. You get the same hairline violent response on almost any politically correct liberal topic from the liberal exposing it. That anger is an attempt to force you not to question their view of reality. Because if you do, they fear, they will be exposed to themselves as very disturbed when they KNOW the metal instability is with the other side.
I’ve read articles quoting people who had themselves gender-modified and then realized years later what a horrendous thing they’d done. It’s similar to regretting that tattoo you got while on a bender when you were 18. Now, you’re 30 and you’d like to land a job at Price Waterhouse with tattoos of “LOVE and HATE” on your knuckles. Except, you could have the tattoos burned off. You can permit yourself the tattoo regret. But if you ever regret changing your gender, you’ll have to kill yourself, and at some level you know that. Therefore you can’t allow anybody in any form to call your decision into question. You can’t put up with free speech as it could destroy you. Therefore you respond with lawsuits, or violence, or intimidation.
Watched the video. Looks like the Institute for Canadian Values values coincide pretty well with my values. Some day, when sanity is restored, the purveyors of this crap need to pay with both their freedom and their treasure for what is being done to these little kids.
I was recently told by a liberal blogger that since I am “uncomfortable” with homosexuality that I am, by definition, a homophobe.
I was then told that violence was acceptable to eliminate such discrimination.
I told him that if this is true, the elimination of hoplophobia will be a piece of cake.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.