Flying Pig Moment: Ceeb Opiner Neil Macdonald Slams the Libs' "Anti-Islamophobia" Motion, Defends "Islamophobe" Ezra Levant

When I read the headline of Neil Macdonald's latest opinion piece on the CBC website--"Liberals' anti-Islamophobia motion is a politically brilliant, sinister piece of work"--I thought it was going to be a spoof along the lines of Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker's resident tongue-in-cheek artiste. Shockingly, the piece is absolutely sincere and MacDonald, as lefty as it gets and a longtime disparager of Israel, understands exactly what's at stake here (i.e. nothing less than a fatal--and final--assault on our free expression):

Ezra Levant, a conservative provocateur, spent years fighting efforts by Muslim groups that dragged him before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons that depicted the prophet Mohammed unflatteringly. These cartoons, not really any worse than Monty Python's lampooning of Jesus Christ in the film Life of Brian, had provoked death and rioting overseas, and were available on the internet. 

Levant, editor of the Western Standard at the time, was making a reasonable news judgment, showing people what the uproar was about. Ultimately, the Alberta commission dismissed the complaint, but not before forcing Levant to spend a fortune defending himself. 

Defining Islamophobia

At a guess, Khalid and her fellow activists in the Liberal and NDP caucuses would regard those Danish cartoons as Islamophobia, as well as the cartoons that provoked the mass murders at Charlie Hebdo magazine by Muslim fundamentalists in Paris. 

In fact, Khalid would almost certainly characterize as Islamophobic any account that dared to describe the Charlie Hebdo murderers as Muslim fundamentalists. 

In the Commons, she repeatedly refers to a petition, signed by thousands of Canadians, that demands recognition "that extremist individuals do not represent the religion of Islam, and in condemning all forms of Islamophobia." 

So: would any such recognition foreclose a discussion of the imam at a Toronto mosque who recently treated his congregation to remarks about "the filth of the Jews?" Would it be Islamophobic to ask whether a religious leader, sermonizing in a mosque, in any way represents Islam? 

So morally certain are Khalid and her backers (certainly including the Prime Minister's Office) that they are refusing any changes or amendments to the wording of M-103, including the rather sensible suggestion that "Islamophobia" be at least defined, say, as discrimination against Muslims, which is already illegal. 

That is worrying...

Indeed. And the fact that old Macdonald is as worried about it as any right-wing "Islamophobic" knuckle-dragger underscores how worrisome it is.



Update: Not content with silencing any/all grumbling re any aspect of Islam, Trudeau (see photo below) is now looking at ways to silence any/all grumbling re the anti-"Islamophobia" motion.



Update: Trudeau swipes a page from Merkel's Germany, where it is verboten to "mock" the Chancellor's sacred immigration scheme.