It’s difficult to know where to begin with Warren Kinsella’s illogical and rather juvenile diatribe regarding the repeal of the notorious “Section 13″ of the Canadian Human Rights Act. So, in no particular order, here are my responses to his undignified venting:
Firstly, those who use terminology such as “kike”, “nigger”, “faggot”, “Paki” and “Chink” are incapable of expressing themselves in a more rational (and literate) manner. Nor are such crude ignoramouses likely to affect the opinion of anyone except their own kind. They are aggravating and annoying, but have little ability to cause harm by words alone.
Secondly, the abolition of Section 13 most assuredly does not open the floodgates to such things as “your upset kids announce they’ve received e-mails covered in swastikas”, communications saying “Death to the Jews”, or people writing “God hates fags” all over your Facebook page.
The criminal code covers harassment, and the courts are entirely capable of taking “racism” and “hatred” into account in sentencing. Mr. Kinsella’s predictions appear to me to be completely unfounded, and designed to advance an agenda rather than to convey any meaningful reflection of reality.
What the repeal of Section 13 has achieved is the loss of the ability of human rights “practitioners” to persecute those who do not toe the “politically correct” line by dragging them in front of kangaroo courts that can determine their own procedures, do not regard the truth as a defence, and are quite capable of basing a finding of guilt on little more than an allegation of “hurt feelings”.
At long last, after many years of being deprived of the most basic of human rights, those accused of “hate crimes” will now have the benefit of due process, the assumption of innocence until proven guilty, and their accusers will no longer have automatic access to public funding through the “human rights” industry.
Ominously, Mr. Kinsella’s suggestion that we should “make it easier for identifiable groups to sue for defamation” seems to indicate a desire to find another way to turn the spigot back on…
There will be no more just hauling off and embarking on a self-righteous crusade courtesy of the taxpayer. No more guaranteed convictions, no more “punishment through process”, no more serial complainers such as Richard Warman, who received the “Saul Hayes Human Rights Award” from the Canadian Jewish Congress for ‘distinguished service to the cause of human rights’ in June of 2007.
And how about “Harper had no mandate to do this. It never came up in the election.” So what? Harper can’t bring up every single issue that is on his mind, and in any event, are majority governments to be forbidden to act on any issue coming up three or four years into their term that they did not address earlier?
Macleans.ca quoted Harper as saying in a 1999 interview with Terry O’Neill of BC Report newsmagazine that: “Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society… It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff.”
Harper was not in Parliament then, but he clearly placed himself on the record for anyone taking the trouble to look.
“Now that Section 13 is gone, the only tool we have to deal with hate propaganda online is the Criminal Code”? – Well, really! To my mind, that says it all about Mr. Kinsella’s mean and spiteful attitude towards those he disagrees with. And referring to MP Brian Storseth, the author of the bill responsible for the repeal, as “a nobody Conservative MP” is equally telling.
Now you will have to go after your enemies the proper way, using due process, Mr. Kinsella.
Deal with it.