Free Speech and Radical Islam in Canada

I have been following the persecution of Mark Steyn from the beginning, but the story must be reaching critical mass because my brother sent a link to this article with the note saying "You have to blog on this asap!"

Free speech seems to be a uniquely American notion these days as other democracies are caving to politically correct demands. In Canada, an excerpt from Mark Steyn's book America Alone prompted this, as Steyn himself describes:

I don't know whether my bestselling book is still available in Canadian bookstores, but it's coming soon to a Canadian "courtroom" near you! The Canadian Islamic Congress and a handful of Osgoode Hall law students have complained about the article in Maclean's to (at last count) three of Canada's many "human rights" commissions, two of which have agreed to hear the "case." It would be nice to report that the third sent the plaintiffs away with a flea in their ears saying that in a free society it's no business of the state to regulate the content of privately owned magazines. Alas, I gather it's only bureaucratic torpor that has temporarily delayed the province of Ontario's en thusiastic leap upon the bandwagon. These students are not cited in the offending article. Canadian Muslims are not the subject of the piece. Indeed, Canada is not mentioned at all, except en passant. Yet Canada's "human rights" commissions have accepted the premise of the Canadian Islamic Congress--that the article potentially breaches these students' "human rights."

This legal imbroglio will pave the way for more speech suppression if the case goes the way the Islamic agitators hope. What speech offends you? And what should happen to those who offend you? Roast them, I say! Steyn notes the obvious:

CBC commentator Rex Murphy said Maclean's should not have to defend itself for starting debate and stirring thought.

"Is every touchy, or agenda-driven sensibility now free to call upon the offices of the state and ... embroil them in 'justifying' their right to write and broadcast as they see fit?" he asked on CBC's flagship news program, The National.

Steyn said the CIC and law students acting on its behalf aimed to shut down debate by making it more trouble than it's worth for editors to run pieces on controversial topics.

But he added, "In using quasi-judicial coercion to squash debate, they make one of the central points of my argument -- that a proportion of Islam is inimical to Western traditions of freedom -- more eloquently than I ever could."

I have read Steyn's book. It sits on my bookshelf in all its red splendor. The way to rebel against this sort of nonsense is to support Mark Steyn. Buy his book today. Here. Or here are some other links on how to support him:

National Review

Or send a book to the Saudi's. They need some edumacation.