to the group of Muslim lawyers trying to sue Maclean’s magazine in various human rights venues for printing the “Islamophobic” opinions of contributor Mark Steyn? We hope not: No English word we can think of suits the complainants better.
(…)
Their campaign against Maclean’s has roused a clamour of public anger at provisions in provincial and federal human rights laws that turn ordinary, responsible expressions of opinion into matters for phony quasi-litigation in front of panels that lack any semblance of procedure and evidence rules, and that scarcely allow for the truth defence. Conservatives are mobilizing, and liberals, for the most part, are either with them in arms or are maintaining an embarrassed silence.
(…)
Forget the details of the law for a moment. What ethical principle or social norm can possibly require any private publisher to offer free advertising to the CIC? Or to anyone else? Even if they were factually right about Mark Steyn being a Muslim-basher, wouldn’t this concept still be both odious and impractical?
In a free country, no publication should be required to turn over its presses to its critics. (*) We hope and expect that Maclean’s will follow this principle as it considers its response to the CIC’s latest gambit.
(*) Oooops! Thanks for finally coming out, dudes…
