July 17, 2009
Toronto Star's Resident Islamist Suddenly Discovers Free Speech
I know, you are as shocked as I am that Haroon Siddiqui has become a Free Speecher! But WHOA, baby. Before you start yelling Mazel Tov and pouring a round of Manischewitz, it should be noted that his support is rather qualified. Thus sayeth Mr. Siddiqui: "The most vocal critics of human rights commissions often invoke freedom of speech. Yet they were strangely silent when Ottawa effectively blocked Al Jazeera Arabic TV's entry into Canada in 2004. And they are mostly silent now about Al Jazeera English's application before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission." I'm just going to run that through my Weaseleze translator...I think that means "let's see if I can really trap those rightwing, Islamophobic, Jooooos and Christian fundamentalists into pretzel twisting themselves on the issue of Al Jazeerah." Well, sorry, you are barking up the wrong tree. I am totally fine with Al Jazeerah broadcasting in Canada. If that is the way that Jew-haters in Canada want to spend their money-that's fine with me. I would frankly rather that antisemites pay private money for a private antisemitic station, rather than what we have right now, which is the legislated contribution of taxpayer's money to the CBC for similar drivel. There is very little difference between CBC and Al Jazeerah anyway...the biggest talent pool for Al Jaz comes from the morally bereft leftist Canadian media elite gene pool anyway ie: Tony Burman and Avi Lewis in particular.
UPDATE: It seems that Al Jazeerah has annoyed the Palestinian Authority, which has Human Rights watch all in a tizzy on behalf of freedom of expression! This is one of those glorious 'may both sides fight to the finish' situations. HRW maintains that Arafat "died of unknown causes in Paris in 2004", but we all know what the real cause of death was.
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2 comments:
Siddiqui should realise the difference between not actively supporting something, and actively opposing it.
Why should we rightoids fight the left's battles in support of Al Jazeera, when most of us have misgivings about the gulf in tone between its English and Arabic versions? If they want it so much, they can fight for it - after all, when have they been shy about voicing their opinions? (Or silencing others?)
The fact that we don't actively participate in this one doesn't mean we are against AJ setting up shop in any western country. You can only fight so many fights, and we have enough free speech battles of our own, courtesy of the left, thank you.
Do your own dirty work, Siddiqui.
Oh well, free speech. It's not as "free" as it's supposed to be. In Vancouver, for example, there are going to be special free speech zones. Say what? I was convinced we can freely express our opinions anywhere. Obviously not, though. Canada might not be as democratic as it wants to seem. Anyway, thumbs up for this article and your opinion. Regards, Jay.
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