I am not expecting a warm response to this article by the marketplace of outrage and grievance on here but it should be read, should be considered and should be important to everybody.
AS Australia debates the repeal of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, let me introduce you to two Canadians.
One is a champion of progressive causes, the other is a staunch conservative. One played a critical role in setting up the first of the human rights commissions in Canada, the other was hauled before these same human rights commissions for writing things that caused offence to a few Muslims.
More important, though, is what unites them: a passionate and longstanding defence of free speech in a country that became increasingly comfortable with mothballing humanity’s most basic human right. Both men are firmly opposed to laws that allow those pursuing identity politics to leverage the power of the state to shut down views they don’t like.
Now in his 80s, Alan Borovoy, the founder of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, helped push for the creation of human rights commissions in Canada in the 1960s and 70s in his then job at Canada’s Labor Committee for Human Rights. In recent years, Borovoy has also become a critic of how these commissions have overreached.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/one-voice-on-free-speech/story-e6frg6z6-1226878150991
