Ezra brought his timid self to speak at Ryerson University yesterday:
During the opening of Levant's presentation, SSI president Hadas Hait read the RSU equity statement -- which is required to be "read aloud during the opening address of all meetings and events," according to the union's policy manual. The statement says that, "hate speech rooted in, but not limited to, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, anti-Semitic" will not be tolerated, and ends by asking the speaker if they agree.
Levant replied, "no," prompting laughs from the audience. He went on to describe the statement as an "Orwellian command."
He should be forced to apologize for both remarks.
When his show came on once I heard my wife exclaim, "Ezra! My hero!" I was not at all put out.
As a former Rye High grad, this is sadley the norm. "The 2014 Campus Freedom Index lists the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) as the fifth-worst in Canada for upholding freedom of expression" http://theeyeopener.com/2014/10/rsu-gets-a-failing-grade/
"This is the second year the RSU’s ranked in the top 10 worst student unions."
Go figure.
yes EBD, Ezra should be forced to apologize. And I'd pay to be there when he does that apology, cuz it would probably of such a nature that it would piss all the lefties off and make their heads explode:-)))
Well done Ezra !!!
I'm surprised that the RSU didn't have a mob just outside the door ready to move in and disrupt the speech the moment Ezra opened his mouth and it wouldn't have mattered whether he'd agreed to the Orwellian decree or not.
Asking for an apology about the Orwellian comment, that's double-plus-un-not-ironic.
I also was shocked he was allowed to speak and not mobbed a la Anne Coulter. Musta slipped by - guess that wont happen again.
But in today's Canada freedom of speech means agree with us or we will ridicule you. As Heather Malice in the Toronto Star put it, the only ones with right wing views are men who are violent. And then we have Shiny Pony our dictator in waiting, who doesn't allow dissent and ridicules our men and women in the military. Well, like father like son.
But of course:
"His speech was well received, with the exception of one student."
And lets get that ONE student's comment rather than ANY from the well received crowd. Not like they have an agenda or something.....
Universities are leftist group-think baby-minding centres these days. If you can organise a mob to chant and disrupt a planned event, you can never say that your learning institution is a bastion of free expression. Ever. I'm glad Ezra Levant sticks anything to anyone.
That one student would probably be better off returning to the middle east where he can carry out his cultural norms like pedophilia, rape, murder, and the repression of women and nonmuslims without being impeded by the law.
Timid.
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
;-)
It was an ironic usage intended for our in-house crowd who know that Ezra is the least shy/timid person extant, but it's a device/habit I should probably curb a bit. In this case, readers from the US and elsewhere who aren't familiar with Ezra might take the adjective literally - albeit I'd like to think the subsequent passage would tip them off.
Plus, I've noticed that there are a surprising (to me) number of people, almost always men, (my friend with Asperger's, for example) who take everything in the literal sense, and are incapable of understanding irony, understatement, metaphor, etc.
Ezra's appearance was likely in support of a small group of harassed people
trying to make their voices heard within the usual red fascist pro Muslim
extremism on tap at Rye High. The fact these anti freedom cowards in the
student body, its organizations, and the faculty likely decided to take a pass
at confronting Ezra on their home turf may show they are beginning to grasp
how odious their normal actions are to ordinary non-indoctrinated Canadians.
Ezra is right on. The discourse around 'hate speech' is simply a Stalinist manouver to shut down critical thinking and open debate. Requiring speaker to agree to an oath advocating same is truly sick and twisted. Universities have been literally taken over by Islamists and Marxists, fundamentalists both, who despise real inquiry.