"Human Rights" Totalitarianism is Easy, Comedy Is Hard

The newsletter of Canada's "human rights" racket brings its own unique and piquant perspective to bear on the woefully unfunny Guy Earle case. In so doing, it 'fesses up to the racket's tragicomic shortcoming:

“The mirthless sitting in adjudication over the mirth-makers.”

This is Rex Murphy’s characterization, in a Globe and Mail column, of Lorna Pardy’s complaint that she was discriminated against by Guy Earle during an 'open mic' "comedy" show in Vancouver. Murphy understands this complaint as further evidence of Canada’s "human rights insanity".

It’s true that reading the Tribunal’s decision on the Pardy case does render one mirthless. It is difficult to imagine laughing in response to comments like: "Do you have a strap-on? You can take your girlfriend home and fuck her in the ass". Or: "Are you on the rag; is that why you're being such a fucking cunt?" Who laughs when they are called: "stupid fucking dyke cunts?" If these comments are funny, then it’s probably true that human rights laws, and the adjudicators of them, lack humour.

A number of the people who were witnesses did not seem to find Mr. Earle’s comments funny either. They testified before the Tribunal that some people who were in the restaurant that night got up and left, and others, including some performers, went over to Ms. Pardy’s table and apologized to her for Earle’s conduct...

Guy Earle says he will appeal the Tribunal’s ruling that his conduct was discriminatory. If he does, it will be interesting to see how the case fares in court. A lot of people will feel that even though comics need some latitude, Earle crossed a line, one that is worth holding. In this case, Earle’s sexist and homophobic insults were not funny, and not justified as a means of keeping order. They created an atmosphere of discrimination and intimidation for women in a neighbourhood restaurant where they expected to be treated with respect.

Of course, knowing that they belonged to one of Canada's Extra-Special Victim Groups (ESVGs), and knowing they could run off to the "human rights" cops if anyone dared diss them (er, sorry, "created an atmosphere of discrimination and intimidation"), they were free to harass and intimidate Guy Earle--a poor schmo who, unlucky for him, doesn't belong to an ESVG--to their heart's content: In the Soviet Socialist Republic of Canada, "respect" and the right to behave badly/belligerently is decidely--no, deliberately--one-sided. That being so, as Mark Steyn writes, the real joke's on us.

Update: Here's Brian Lilley on the bad joke of "human rights."