This is a difficult thing for me to figure out, and I’m not sure I’m quite firm on anything yet, but I’ve been completely fascinated by the discussions around Jordan Peterson, the University of Toronto prof who refuses to use individually-determined gender pronouns, so I’ll try to narrow down what
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A Puff of Absurdity: On Gender Pronouns and Peterson’s Case
This is a difficult thing for me to figure out, and I’m not sure I’m quite firm on anything yet, but I’ve been completely fascinated by the discussions around Jordan Peterson, the University of Toronto prof who refuses to use individually-determined gender pronouns, so I’ll try to narrow down what
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Social Control in Universities
Chris Hedges has concerns with Trump’s impact on intellectuals: Trump and his Christian fascist minions, sooner than most of us expect, will seek to shut down the small spaces left for free expression. Dissent will become difficult and sometimes dangerous. … The Trump administration will hand our Christian jihadists a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Social Control in Universities
Chris Hedges has concerns with Trump’s impact on intellectuals: Trump and his Christian fascist minions, sooner than most of us expect, will seek to shut down the small spaces left for free expression. Dissent will become difficult and sometimes dangerous. … The Trump administration will hand our Christian jihadists a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Retaliation
Both Hedges and Reich are writing about Trump’s frightening behaviour. It’s not just the weird tweets, but the follow-up from him and from supporters. Reich discusses Chuck Jones’ experience: “I’m getting threats and everything else from some of his supporters.” And he talks about Trump’s tweet proposing cancelling a fictitious Boeing
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Retaliation
Both Hedges and Reich are writing about Trump’s frightening behaviour. It’s not just the weird tweets, but the follow-up from him and from supporters. Reich discusses Chuck Jones’ experience: “I’m getting threats and everything else from some of his supporters.” And he talks about Trump’s tweet proposing cancelling a fictitious Boeing
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: A new law is needed to protect citizens’ voices through the charities they support
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Canadian law and policy restricts the involvement of charities in public debate and public policy development – activities labeled by the Canada Revenue Agency as “political activities”. Limiting charities’ involvement in public debate and public policy development silences the voices of Canadians who rely on the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Wriggly Can of Worms – Professor Jordan Peterson, Free Speech, and the Regressive Left
There is a controversy in Canada going on with with regards to the issue of free speech, Bill C-16, and the refusal of a Professor at the U of T to use the alternate pronouns people choose for themselves. This is the video that started it all (1h). Three viewing
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Being Useful: a Necessary Shift in Radicalism
“Oh, what can we do in a case like that? Nothing to do but sit on your hat, or your toothbrush, or your grandmother, or anything else that’s useless.“ Those are the butchered words of a Burl Ives song I sang as a kid until my sister corrected me. The last
Continue readingcentre of the universe: The Drama …Club
Did I ever tell you about my short-lived career as an actual “ad-man”? *wavy remembery lines* Way back in the once-upon-a-time, there was a drama club. And that drama club was trying to recruit new members. I went to a high school where there was a pretty clear divide between
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: For-Profit AT&T Spying Program is Worse Than Snowden Revelations
Telecommunications giant AT&T’s spying on Americans for profit on behalf of law enforcement agencies is “more terrifying than the illegal NSA surveillance programs that Edward Snowden exposed,” says rights group Fight for the Future. The post For-Profit AT&T Spying Program is Worse Than Snowden Revelations appeared first on The Canadian
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Free speech, and the cruel shackles of empathy and mutual respect
In Canada, we tend to value freedom of speech very highly, and it’s often said that the best way to counter objectionable speech is with more speech. That’s the first thought that crosses my mind in the case of U of T professor Jordan Peterson, who declares in a series
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: WTF? Yahoo spied on email customers for U.S. government
Yahoo secretly scanned all of its customer’s incoming emails in response to directives from the NSA and FBI. “This is a clear sign that people can trust neither their government nor their service providers to respect their privacy.” The post WTF? Yahoo spied on email customers for U.S. government appeared
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Media scolding about ‘political correctness’ is baloney; hats off to MRU student who spoke out against Trump cap
PHOTOS: “Make America Hate Again.” (Jake May, MLive.com) Below: U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Canadian politicians Kellie Leitch and Jason Kenney. They’re not the only ones, unfortunately. Can anyone in Alberta’s mainstream media seriously claim to have been surprised by the vile stream of threats, abuse and harassment unleashed on a Mount Royal University […]
The post Media scolding about ‘political correctness’ is baloney; hats off to MRU student who spoke out against Trump cap appeared first on Alberta Politics.
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Freedom’s Just Another Word
Over the past couple of weeks, you’ve been either lauding or vilifying this guy who plays sportsball in the US because he opted to sit out the national anthem in protest of racism, race-based violence, and inequity. You got *really mad* at him, and said he shouldn’t be allowed to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: We Should All Be Outraged
My father lived to be almost 91 years of age. Should I enjoy such a long life, there are many things that I hope not to lose along the way. Near the top of the list is my capacity for outrage. This morning brought confirmation that at least for the tim…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: UPDATE: We Should All Be Outraged
My father lived to be almost 91 years of age. Should I enjoy such a long life, there are many things that I hope not to lose along the way. Near the top of the list is my capacity for outrage. This morning brought confirmation that at least for the time being, it is alive and well.
Some may remember a post I made in July about Nadia Shoufani, the Mississauga, Ontario Separate School Board teacher who participated in a rally protesting Israel’s brutal abuse of the Palestinians and the occupation of their land. At the time, the Jewish lobby demanded her head, conflating her criticism of the Jewish State with antisemitism, as they are wont to do.
It appears their efforts have paid off.
The CBC reports the following:
A Greater Toronto Area elementary school teacher has been suspended following a school board investigation after she was criticized for appearing in and speaking at what advocacy groups have called an anti-Israel rally.
Nadia Shoufani, a teacher at St. Catherine of Siena school in Mississauga, Ont., has been suspended with pay pending further investigation by the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, the board said in a statement.
The school board said concerns raised by the public about Shoufani’s professional conduct have been referred to the Ontario College of Teachers for review.
We should all be outraged over this craven capitulation of the Dufferin-Peel Board to the political pressure exerted by those who will brook no criticism of Israel, despite its well-documented record of human rights abuse and atrocities. Human Rights Watch notes the following:
Israel enforces severe and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinians’ human rights, and it builds and supports unlawful settlements in the occupied West Bank. Its security forces appear to use excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators and suspected attackers, raising the specter of extra-judicial killings. It has renewed the practice of punitive home demolitions. The Palestinian Authority has arrested students and activists allegedly for their political affiliation or because they expressed criticism. Hamas security forces also engage in torture and ill-treatment of people, including journalists. Israel’s closure of Gaza, supported by Egypt, amounts to collective punishment and has impeded reconstruction.
In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli forces committed unlawful killings of Palestinian civilians, including children, and detained thousands of Palestinians who protested against or otherwise opposed Israel’s continuing military occupation, holding hundreds in administrative detention. Torture and other ill-treatment remained rife and were committed with impunity.
The facts are not in dispute here, but thanks to those public officials working in Dufferin-Peel who have neither backbone nor a belief in freedom of speech, only the kind of cravenness seen in the worst of our politicians, Shoufani is being made an example of. That the board lacks even a scintilla of integrity is evidenced by their refusal to acknowledge they are succumbing to outside pressure, instead hiding behind another excuse for her suspension, as revealed by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), which is representing the beleaguered teacher. They said,
the teacher wasn’t suspended for her conduct, but instead for appearing to not comply with the investigation. However, OECTA said the teacher has provided all of the information the board has asked for and met its timelines.
But not everyone is unhappy about this witch hunt:
Amanda Hohmann, the national director of B’nai Brith Canada’s league for human rights, praised the board for suspending the teacher this week.
“It is heartening to see the school board treating this matter seriously,” Hohmann said in a statement.
While Hohmann and her group may be gratified by Shoufani’s suspension, I expect and hope that fair-minded people everywhere will be appalled by this indefensible curtailment of one of our most valued Charter rights: freedom of expression.
UPDATE: Thanks to Marie for this video that clearly addresses the kinds of conditions that Nadia Shoufani was protesting against. Even if you watch even five or ten minutes, you will get the picture.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Free Speech Is Fine
…. except when it is used to criticize Israel, as Mississauga, Ont. teacher Nadia Shoufani is learning. She addressed a downtown Toronto rally on 2 July, marking al-Quds Day, an annual event held around the world to support Palestinian rights and to …
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: The Curious Disappearance of Stephen Harper’s Climate Change Speech
Stephen Harper’s important 2007 speech, in which he stated that climate change was “perhaps the biggest threat to confront the future of humanity today” while visiting Germany, is missing from the official website of the Prime Minister of Canada.
…
The Canadian Progressive: CRA revokes registration of charity that acted as a “receipting agent” for tax shelter arrangement
In December, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) revoked the registration of a Canadian charity that acted as a “receipting agent” for a tax shelter arrangement. Le Refuge des Rescapés, a charity based in Saint-Nicéphore, Quebec, “improperly issued recei…
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