Most of us who live in the West like to believe that we enjoy an ever more robust right of free speech. How many things that were unmentionable when we or our parents were children are now broadcast from the roof tops, not to mention the local news stand and computer screen?
In fact, though, about many things speech is far more curtailed now than it was a hundred years ago. I was reminded of this by “Caveat Emptor,” David Warren’s excellent though depressing comparison of how two different advertising campaigns in Canada have fared. On the one hand, there is the billboard advertisement paid for by LifeCanada, a pro-life group, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision to remove all legal restrictions on abortions in the Maple Leaf republic [correction: monarchy, as several readers have pointed out]. The advertisement read:
“9 months. The length of time an abortion is allowed in Canada. Abortion. Have we gone too far? www.AbortioninCanada.ca.”
Advertisement
You might approve of Canada’s law regarding abortion, or you might disapprove of it. LifeCanada disapproves and exercises its putative right of free speech 1) to remind the public of what the law actually is and 2) to ask whether it is a good thing. The result? Advertising Standards Canada last week ruled that the ad was “deceptive.” Why? Because, explained ASC, the ad did not deal with “access” issues. Meaning–what? As Warren notes, “The feminist red herring about “access” is not something worthy of serious discussion. When a woman wants an abortion in this country, she gets it, pronto. That is indeed a very good reason why abortions in the third trimester are comparatively rare. And yet they do happen, and they are quite legal. The billboard wasn’t discussing numbers, it was discussing law.”
Warren compares what happened to LifeCanada’s ad to the fate of a widely disseminated “public service” advertisement from the feminist Canadian Women’s Foundation meant to “create awareness of domestic violence.” “Under the headline, ‘Shelter from the Storm,’” Warren notes, the advertisement
depicts “a sullen, rather menacing father, staring defiantly at the camera” from one end of a sofa, and “a waifish, stressed-looking mother shielding anxious children’ at the other. (The descriptors are Barbara Kay’s, and I cannot improve on them.) A dotted vertical line divides this father from the rest of his family.
The message of this advertisement is as unambiguously hateful as it is clichéd and slick. Without any further words it communicates a savage denunciation of “white males,” and supports the feminist stereotype that they are violent, abusive, and tyrannical by nature. . . .
It is inconceivable that any “advertising standards” authority would rule such an advertisement “deceptive” at the present day. Even had they the desire, none would have the courage to face down the inevitable feminist wrath. The (typically white male) corporate executives who agree to disseminate such obvious hate literature, do so in an expectation of what would happen if they refused. And yet if the stereotype were true, they would be quivering in fear of all the sullen, menacing, defiant male customers they had mortally offended.
Welcome to the Orwellian realm of political correctness where white is black, night is day, and freedom is slavery.
As each do goes by, and examples of this become more and more prevalent, I wonder if there is any way to recover from this insanity. Or is it inevitable that we will all end up as did Winston Smith, ashamed of our betrayal, while weeping tears of joy and reconciliation over our love for Big Brother?
I left Canada over 20 years ago, because of the obvious smothering of the freedom to think and speak what I believed, regardless of whether it followed the essentially Marxist agenda of the Canadian media.
It’s not that I’m at all interested in making public speeches, but the cloying political correctness that meant people had to moderate their speech lest they be violating somebody’s “rights” was just so damn depressing.
I guess it’s not gotten any better.
What, pray, does Mr. Kimball mean by ‘Maple Leaf republic’? In the event that he is blithely unaware who the Queen of Canada is, I am obligated to inform that such a snippet is a tad premature, for the Crown happens to be an indigenous scone to the old and settled Dominion north of the 49th!
God Save the Queen of Canada!
“POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”
Wake up Candians.
Thought you might be interested in the following……”POLITICAL CORRECTNESS” was ABOLISHED in CANADA on Fr. Dec. 11th./2009 at the last sitting of the House of Commons in Ottawa. No more “Political Correctness” in Canada.
We can thank the CONSERVATIVES for this. Press release below.
PRESS RELEASE
Don’t Allow Political Correctness to Ruin Christmas
December 10, 2009
Today Fleetwood-Port Kells MP Nina Grewal rose in the House of Commons to denounce attempts to make Christmas more palatable for non-Christians. The Sikh MP called such attempts at political correctness unnecessary and out-of-step with Canadian values of cultural tolerance and equality. She asked Canadians to not deprive Christians of their religious holidays – just as we should not deny religious minorities of their celebrations – and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.
Said Mrs. Grewal:
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are getting ready for the Christmas festivities. It’s time for generosity, giving, and helping the less fortunate. But, Mr. Speaker, the spirit of the season is often bruised by unnecessary political correctness. Attempts are made to ban nativity scenes; holiday trees replace Christmas trees; the 12 days of giving replace the 12 days of Christmas; and reference to “God,” “Christ,” and “the Lord” are cast aside leaving us with just a meaningless, consumer-oriented holiday.
Mr. Speaker, I’m a Sikh and I’m not offended when Christians celebrate Christmas. Rather, I wish my Christian friends a Merry Christmas and they wish me a Happy Gurpurb or Happy Vaisakhi.
Cultural tolerance or ethnic equality should never mean diluting someone’s faith. It’s time we move from tolerance to acceptance. We should accept and respect each other’s beliefs. Let’s not deprive Christians of Christianity – let’s celebrate it! Merry Christmas everyone!