Alarmed

I had intended to post about this issue this morning but stageleft has already said everything I would have said, so go read. Yes, now.

After the martyrdom

comes the ecstatic, slavering adoration!!!

If Ezra Levant's mewling little treatise in yesterday's NatPo wasn't bad enough, check out the ensuing comments as the Better-Than-Ezra Fan Club furiously hammers those nails into the cross:

Ezra's a hero!
A modern-day hero!

Ezra's a freedom fighter!

With bravery beyond any award!

Ezra's the Champ!


(Well, I loooooose it! I snap!)

Give Ezra $12 million!


Erect a statue of Ezra! (Good grief. A statue!?)


They finally got so excited they started drooling over each other...

Absolutely! A statue in the town square for "Raze"! And $12,000,000! (No maybe just $11,000,000, since the courage "Raze" had to summon to make that post doesn't quite measure up to the bravery of taking on doughy civil servants.)

Inexorably, a tiny voice of sanity breaks up the furious little circle jerk:

That was the final comment when I last looked; by now "Rob34" has been set upon and driven from the combox by the torch-and-pitchfork-wielding denizens of Ezraville.

Is it any wonder Ezra wants to keep milking this thing?

"WHAT-A-LOAD" UPDATE: There's much whining and whimpering about the $100,000 that Ezra's supposedly out due to his HRC travails. But with the $132,063 the Western Standard got from the Publications Assistance Program (yeah, that's taxpayers' money) the year this little fooferaw started (plus another $63,366 the year before), by my math he's still ahead... and that doesn't include the unknown amount he's hauled in with the good old Paypal button. (h/t Ti-Guy in the comments)

What kind of wine goes with

a stinky, steaming plate of hyperbole?

(Communion wine, maybe?)

Never mind that: how did I miss this exemplary specimen of feverish hysteria!? It coulda beena contender in the "Hyperbole of the Zillenium" contest at stageleft! Damn.

Butbutbut...

...that's different!!! Hahahahahaha!

Oh yeah. When it comes to free speech, so far it's been a great summer for all those who love liberty! The Levant and Macleans HRC complaints were withdrawn or tossed (with one complaint outstanding against Macleans which will also undoubtedly be tossed), as was the libel suit against broadcaster Rafe Mair, and -- what's that? Oh, Mair's case is different??

"Free speech advocates must be popping champagne corks celebrating two key decisions released this summer.

Within two days in late June the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the concept of fair comment and the Canadian Human Rights Commission ruled why no hearing was warranted for the controversial Mark Steyn article published in Maclean's in October 2006.

Being a pessimist, I'm keeping the champagne in the cooler until I see the practical impact of these decisions."

Yeah yeah... why? What's the problem?

"The Supreme Court decision involved a radio editorial by Rafe Mair, a well-known British Columbia talk show host. He lambasted a social activist, Kari Simpson, for the position she took opposing any positive portrayal of gay lifestyle in public schools."

Whoops!

"Mair called Simpson a bigot and said she had "placed herself alongside skinheads and the Klu Klux Klan." He also made references to Hitler when he said: "I'm not suggesting that Kari was proposing or supporting any kind of holocaust or violence but neither really -- in the speeches, when you think about it and look back -- neither did Hitler."

Simpson sued Mair and the radio station for defamation, the lowering of her reputation." [...]

"First, one might wonder if the Mair decision might have differed had Mair not attacked an easy target. It's easy to assail someone like Simpson whose anti-gay views are not popular or politically correct. Suppose Mair had attacked a gay supporter? The result should be the same but would it?"

Boo-friggin-hoo: the difference is that Simpson isn't a minority (even if her twisted, ass-backwards views are). So it's free speech for me, but not for thee. Can anyone even doubt the fact that, like I said, it's not about free speech, it's about their free speech?

HRC complaints for me, but not for thee

When the Human Rights Commission is cramping the minority-slagging style of bigots, racists and Nazis, it's a Commie Leftard Star Chamber Kangaroo Kourt, "jackbooting conservatives since 1978".

But when the HRC does some successful work on behalf of a fetus-fetishizing group the drooling mouth-breathers support, it's all good:

"The Capilano College Heartbeat Club and the Capilano Students Union (CSU) have reached an agreement that will see the pro-life Heartbeat Club achieve CSU club recognition, pending they submit an application in the fall. The parties released a joint statement shortly after the agreement had been made:

"The Heartbeat Club filed a Human Rights complaint against the Capilano Students' Union. The Club and the CSU have entered into a settlement agreement which is confidential. The parties agree that there is no admission of liability by the CSU and that the Heartbeat Club will be entitled to CSU club status if they apply."" (emphasis sarcastically mine)

See how this works now, fucktards?