So some career bureaucrat at the University of Ottawa hears that right-wing firebrand Ann Coltour is coming to talk at the university and all of a sudden he’s all a tremble, ‘goodness gracious, oh what should I do?’ He likely thought, and then it came to him, ‘aha, I shall write a strongly worded missive telling her that some of her, ahem comments, are not allowed here in Canada…well maybe not too strong a missive that might be seen as provocative, but I’m fairly certain she can’t just come here and say what she wants, that can’t be allowed can it? This is Canada after all.”
We have to pity poor Mr. Houle, imagine the tortured process his tiny institutional brain had to go through in telling Ms. Coltour she didn’t have the right to free speech in a country that supposedly has free speech guarantees in its constitution.
The result, oh so predictable, is a media frenzy over the talk Coltour was scheduled to give and following its cancellation a sold out talk at a much larger venue in Calgary followed
Some commentators on CBC argued that in fact Coltour and organizers were planning on exactly this result. Doubtful actually, but her detractors certainly did everything possible to add to her fame and success, while embarrassing Canada.
Yes embarrassing Canada – we created an international press event over telling someone to watch what you say because us Canadians are like really sensitive and easily shocked. Instead of just letting Coltour talk or rant that is and shrug off her hyperbole as just that, we told the world we are intolerant of any view point outside of the narrow parameters of Ottawa minions, whose worldview is limited to the humanities course they took in their first year at Carlton.
What is scary is not that we get upset at Coltour for being politically incorrect, but that many commentating on CBC’s website believe in limited free speech, at least one person argued she be arrested if she did speak. How easily we’re all willing to give up basic civil rights just to make sure nothing makes us uncomfortable.
On the Jian Ghomeshi one women, who in his introduction Ghomeshi announced was a veteran advocate of free speech and civil rights in Canada, apparently doesn’t feel that civil rights extend to people who make her feel icky.
Sigh, if that’s who we have defending civil rights in Canada, why do we bother with civil rights, since it’s pretty clear we’re ready to surrender them the first chance we get in the name of…well, really just in the name of mindless, soulless, but still no less tyrannical bureaucratese.
