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Monday, January 14, 2008
A Tale of Two Cities
In Surrey, British Columbia, the mob rules. Laibar Singh, an admitted criminal hides behind the walls of a temple, confident that the authorities will not bring him – or his lawless defenders – to account. In Calgary, Alberta the state demands that Ezra Levant, a free-born citizen of the West provide them with an account of his thoughts and opinions and threatens to punish him if they deem them to be unacceptable. Two cities, two stories – but one tale. For some it is the best of times but or free men and women they are the worst of times.
The best of times: For race hustlers. For grievance pimps. For politicians dependent upon votes from ethnic blocs. For foreign fascists. For guilty white liberals. For the idle and the useless. For bureaucrats. For meddlers.
The worst of times: For the productive. For the righteous. For the spirited. For those who want this country to survive. For those who want our civilization to prosper.
This is a tale of how we lost our country. My Grandfather fought ’39-’45 to defend freedom and to uphold the rule of law. We – or more accurately those older than myself – have tossed it away. I shouldn’t dodge the blame myself. I’ve talked and voted, debated and donated – but that’s all. If I were half the man my Grandfather was, I’d take a flamethrower to this place.
What happened in Surrey – and what’s happening in Caledonia – is the most grotesque manifestation of how liberalism is a disease of civilization. In the past I have said that liberalism – and by that I mean left-liberalism as it is practiced in the West – is like AIDS. It does not, by itself, attack the body or kill the carrier. Instead, it destroys the ability of the infected person’s body to defend itself against other contagions – both mild and major. Thus do humans with AIDS die from colds. Thus do civilizations with liberalism find themselves dying from minor complaints.
We all know the story of Laibar Singh. He’s a criminal who entered this country illegally, who made an abusive refugee claim, and who was rejected. He was ordered deported from this country. After that happened, he suffered a stroke. Now his supporters make the absurd argument that we ought to let him stay now that he’s going to be an even-greater burden upon taxpayers and honest citizens. When the government rightly rejected this claim and sought to proceed with a removal already delayed for too long, a mob assembled at the airport and stopped the execution of the law. The authorities, rather than uphold the law, meekly accepted the will of the mob. We used to know how to handle such things. The phrase “read the riot act” passed into everyday speech for a reason. But, with other mobs howling over the accidental death of an out-of-control man, the government was hardly ready to use force to defend the law. Any threat of force would, in any case, not be terribly credible. The mob knows this. We don’t have the Indian Army of British India. They knew how to deal with mobs.
So, this man allowed to retreat behind the walls of a Surrey temple. When the authorities made another attempt to deport him, again they were obstructed by a mob – this time one howling about the supposed sanctity of their temple. The government, rather than offend the sensibilities of these people, backed down again – and seems disinclined to act further. Most people think that they’ll find some way of backing down. I agree – there’s not an Indira Gandhi among our leaders. Just like in Caledonia, they will opt for the path of ease rather than that of right. The mob wins – we lose.
When the government kow-tows to mobs, we no longer have a government to call our own. When our government does not defend us – and we fail to defend ourselves – we cease to be a nation and instead become little more than an accumulation of people warily sharing accommodations.
I wish I could say that the mere breakdown of the rule of law was all that we had to deal with.
It is not enough for some that our government has ceased to defend us. Now it is conspiring with petty grievance-mongers across the land to actually attack us.
Watching Ezra Levant’s breathtaking performance before the drone-like human rights bureaucrat, I was reminded of something that the journalist Michael White wrote about Labour’s campaign in the 1983 general election: there was something magnificently brave about it – but it was like the Battle of the Somme. This is a show trial – the result is all but pre-ordained and, even if it isn’t, the process is a punishment in and of itself.
What is his crime? His magazine published the Danish cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed – which were the subject of an international uproar in which Islamists committed many murders and other acts of violence. He is not accused of slander. He is not accused of inciting people to riot. He is not accused of anything more than telling truths which hurt the feelings of some random jackass.
Like Mark Steyn, Ezra Levant is on trial for telling the truth. They are being attacked for defending our civilization. Honest men – men prepared to risk to tell the truth – are the lynchpin of our defense and the disease is coming for them.
Mobs protect criminals from justice while truthful men are threatened for their honesty. That is Canada.
We are besieged. Our most sacred rights are under attack. Enemies wish to deprive us of our liberty – indeed, have already deprived us of many liberties by declaring certain thoughts to be proscribed and declaring arbitrary punishments for them. They attack our very lives by bowing to the rule of the mob, when the mob is made up of the right sort of people. Today the mobs want criminal aliens allowed to stay at my and your expense and want to seize out-of-the-way public lands. What of tomorrow, when they want other crimes excused and when they want other lands? Will we resist then, or will a public long-acclimatized to tyranny meekly accept their fate?
I am reminded of Robert Graves’ book, Claudius the God. In it the Emperor Claudius wishes to restore the ancient freedoms of the Roman people, only to find that a people long-accustomed to the monotony of dull tyranny are incapable of liberty. In keeping with the ambitions of Orwell’s Oceania, our governments and our cultural masters have left most of us unable to resist by depriving us of the ideas necessary for resistance and rebellion.
What is to be done? There are, perhaps, options open to us still. But, frankly, I don’t believe that most of you care enough to listen. Most people – even most so-called conservatives – are content enough to hold onto whatever they can for as long as they can as we slide into the abyss.
I am filled with despair. Whatever tactical victories we might achieve – we are losing the war. Anti-retroviral treatment might extend our lives by many years but the disease is still going to get us in the end unless we find a cure – or unless something else gets us first.
Posted by Adam T. Yoshida on January 14, 2008 in Canadian Politics | Permalink
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Comments
As it stands now the Trudeau Charter is rendered useless. HRC's are there to insure those rights are snuffed right out, at least the threat is always there and it favors the complainant.
Those who get hauled before the Commissars at the behest of complainers, often from "foreign fascists", have to pay a lot of money to legals to fight for those rights and freedoms we WERE guaranteed under the Charter.
They've even become thought police, want to know what our thoughts are.
What have we got left? About as much freedom as any fascist regime if this case against Ezra Levant is any example.
This is theater of the absurd, Socialist to the core and needs government intervention. We either have those GUARANTEED freedoms and rights or we do not.
The Charter giveth, the HRC's taketh away.
Posted by: Liz J | 2008-01-14 5:45:37 AM
"The Charter giveth, the HRC's taketh away"
Well, the charter giveth only until the state changes its mind, which it can do with or without justification:
"1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such REASONABLE LIMITS prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."
"7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof EXCEPT in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice."
"33. (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate NOTWITHSTANDING a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter."
The charter is thus, in effect, meaningless as a constitutional protection of our rights.
Posted by: Johan i Kanada | 2008-01-14 7:12:20 AM
The push-back on political correctness/its institutions and agencies has started in the blogosphere - provincially, federally, and internationally. So far, the MSM - with the exception of the National Post and perhaps a very small number of others - is totally silent right now on the HRC issues but time will tell. Sooner rather than later, they are going to have to start weighing in.
Re the Singh/Surrey situation. Minister Day was covered in a report in the National Post/Sunday/13th. He makes the comment that what happened (not once but twice in Surrey) should not be enough to have the Border Agency be seen as weak.
Well, guess what. It makes the Border Agency and all involved agencies/politicians look very weak. To have the same thing occur a second time and in the same fashion - mob-swarming with the intent to intimidate and prevent justice from unfolding -is disgraceful. This is nothing less than obstruction of justice and #3 decision had better be a good one and made to stick.
Once again the Conservatives are getting tagged with disgraceful baggage left by the Liberals. This guy entered Canada illegally in 2003 and should have been deported long before the Cons ever came to power and before his medical situation occurred (whatever this really is as there seems to be some debate about what "it" is).
Either we have the rule of law in Canada or we do not. Surrey, Caledonia, The Toronto School Division, the revolving justice system, ethnic "block" voting, whatever - it is time to take Canada back.
The HRCs (federal and provincial), the IRB, and a good part of the so called Border Agency are long past their best before date. The Education system is not far behind.
When the 20-30 year olds have had enough and gain the confidence to challenge, things will begin to happen. The baby boomer generation, for the most part, has contributed to/quietly acquiesced to giving away Canada to political correctness, leveraging out money at 7x, maybe even 10x to make a $35 Billion dollar bailout necessary (which still might not be enough) for our banks, etc., etc. So don't expect them to be much help as part of the solution.
Up to now the seniors have simply been "to nice" because thats the way most were raised. Look for some change in mood from this demographic.
Posted by: calgary clipper | 2008-01-14 7:35:44 AM
Don't count on Ed Stupid to do anything about this in Alberta.
Epsi
Posted by: Epsilon | 2008-01-14 8:24:55 AM
Johan, you are right, you have defined the Charter.
The Charter is a ruse, a feel good tool. We are told we have rights and freedoms, we are not told they can be challenged at great expense.
We're all at the mercy of the subjective 'reasonableness' of the legals who are Socialistic to the core.
Recall Martin, in his last days on the stump, vowing to get rid of the Notwithstanding clause. Never mind the Charter would not have been signed without that override being included.
Posted by: Liz J | 2008-01-14 8:53:12 AM
Excellent description Johan.
In the Singh case the rule of law has been replaced by mob rule and more than once. From what I have learned he has cost us tax payers $400.000 in free medical care to date. It seems that in spite of all the claims made by the Sikh community in the MSM, they have failed to cough up the money. If we are unable to carry out the deportation of one single illegal, then we are indeed in bad shape. Of course as expected anyone who objects to this mockery of the rule of law is immediately called a racist, which is rubbish.
Posted by: Alain | 2008-01-14 11:35:55 AM
Laibar Singh is a crook faking an illness. Canadians are being suckered in by the Sikh community - the Sikhs don't even like Laibar Singh themselves since they have yet to raise a penny for his care - but he is a useful tool for the Sikh community to achieve their objective of gaining power over the government by intimidation and the threat of violence. India doesn't put up with this crap, Canada should not either.
Posted by: philanthropist | 2008-01-14 3:17:11 PM
Liar'bar Singh will have to be deported, a message must be sent. The Sikhs cannot have any influence or any special treatment in this democracy.
We have had all the violence we need with the Air India tragedy. We cannot allow that experience to repeat itself by trusting such people. Ship them off to where they can fight on their own turf and face the consequences. We do not live that way in this country. We have no accommodation for such people, their agenda does not deserve the safety and security of this land.
Posted by: Liz J | 2008-01-14 4:01:47 PM
I have read all the comments and agree with all of them. I have lived in this country all my life and have watched it simply go to hell in a hand basket because of the policies of our "liberal" friends. Multiculturalism and diversity have been a disaster for Canada which used to reflect the hundreds of years of Anglo Saxon development (Quebec excepted). We no longer have a country but a collection of mini-states all trying to establish societies that they left behind while sucking off the countries taxpayers. Frankly, I see no real hope for improvement and I am concerned for the future of my grandchildren.
Posted by: Concerned Canadian | 2008-01-14 10:50:38 PM
philanthropist;
Actually, India does put up with this crap. Indira Ghandi tried to put a stop to it, and got herself killed for it. The current Prime Minister came to power through intimidation. I'd say that's a far cry from controlling the situation.
Posted by: dp | 2008-01-15 9:41:06 AM
CC,
Great post. It is concerning, however, tell your grandchildren it's more important to preserve their Anglo Saxon heritage than to preserve Canada. (La survivance, Quebecers call it.)History shows that countries come and go but extinction is forever.
Posted by: DJ | 2008-01-15 12:38:12 PM
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