1) You can tell how eager Coren is to soft-soap the whole FD situation by the fact that, if you pay attention, you can catch him in a fib. Specifically, during the first couple of minutes of the interview Coren claims that, while he knows who the subject of the complaint is (Bill Whatcott), he will not name the man. He doesn't really say why. And then, towards the very end of the interview (lets say the 35 minute mark) a caller phones in and asks if the subject of the complaint is "the same guy who ran for mayor of Edmonton". Connie replies that the man is indeed Bill Whatcott, and Coren FEIGNS SURPRISE. "Oh My God THAT guy?" etc. etc. What I take from this behavior is that Coren wanted to keep the interview on the level of abstraction--are you for Liberty and Free Speech or not?--rather than bring it down to particulars: do you support this freak Bill Whatcott and the contents of his pamphlets.
2) The big WTF? moment occurs at around the same time in the interview, when Coren is expressing a certain mild disapproval of Mr. Whatcott, and Connie says that Bill is "just expressing himself" the same way those homosexuals who walked around naked during Pride Week were expressing themselves. Coren clearly sees that things are sliding off the rails, and gets them back on track by noting that only very few homosexual men actually went naked during the event in question, a statement with which Connie finally agrees.
3) About midway through the interview, Connie made a claim which I found quite strange, asserting (roughly) that FD moderators make efforts to keep the site "family friendly". Wondering how they could justify this statement, while linking to material by Whatcott that is just short of snuff literature--which shows (for example) graphic images of decapitated bodies--I asked the people at FD yesterday. Mark Fourier, Connies' partner and FD administrator, responded as follows (writing as Entropy Squared):
Family friendly at Free Dominion means exactly what Mark Fournier and Connie Wilkins determines it to be, just as it means what you determine it means on your own site. Family friendly is a subjective term and we treat it as such. If we don't think it's family friendly, it goes. We have no obligation to justify or explain to anyone the decisions we make in this area.
Which is fascinating when you think of it. Connie goes on the Coren show and claims that Free Dominion is "family friendly" and you naturally think of phrases like "fun for the whole family", "kid friendly", and the like. But that's not what they mean at all. In fact, when used at FD the term is defined "on the fly"--it is whatever Connie and Mark say it is at the moment they utter the words. Link to pictures of severed heads and, if Connie and Mark approve, you're "family friendly". Bill Whatcott is, therefore, "family friendly", although you probably wouldn't want your kids reading his pamphlets, and you probably wouldn't want the family dog to get close enough to pee on him in. Protest the presence of Alberta separatists on the list (for example) and boom, your ass might just get fired out the door!
Family friendly, in other words, but not towards actual empirical families.
Thank god we can cherry pick charter rights! Just arbitrarily deny them to conservatives whenever you don't like what they are doing.
ReplyDeletehttp://marginalizedactiondinosaur.net/?p=673
Fatwah at FD,
http://marginalizedactiondinosaur.net/?p=688
What Bill said
04/24/06 “I can’t figure out why the homosexuals I ran into are on the side of the Muslims. After all, Muslims who practice Sharia law tend to advocate beheading homosexuals.”
03/09/06 “I defy Islamic censorship and speak about what I believe is the truth
about violent Islamism and its threat to religious liberty in Canada.”
“How many of us pay nothing but lip service to the Muslim threat here in Canada?”
“Probably everyone want to jail a Muslim.”
“I have to ask why we are importing them here?”
“Islamic fundamentalism and its threat to Canada’s religious and civil liberties.”
http://www.girlontheright.com/2007/07/i-am-spartacus.html
I picked up on the gay parade comment too. Coren quickly pointed out that Connie was overgeneralizing and she agreed.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, Coren also showed little enthusiasm for Bill Whatcott's extreme viewpoints.
Just arbitrarily deny them to conservatives whenever you don't like what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteGo take a Valium righty. That hasn't happened yet.
Joanne must think everyone else is too stupid to listen to Coren and has to *explain* what was said.
Oh, well..by the looks of things, she obviously has nothing better to do.
...which, come to think of it, is probably at the root of all wingnut sociopathy.
Go take a Valium righty. That hasn't happened yet.
ReplyDeleteWhen was a lefty ever charged for hating Christians?
How often have left wing sites done that.
Bills comments are tame compared to anything the left has done.
Course maybe your mirror broke when you looked in it.
When was a lefty ever charged for hating Christians?
ReplyDeleteWhich Christians? The child-rapers, the anti-semites or the Muslim persecutors?
Shut down FD! All hail liberal tyranny!
Sigh. BCL, I think this phrase is racist: "...and gets our little Indian back on the reservation."
ReplyDeleteWhich Christians? The child-rapers, the anti-semites or the Muslim persecutors?
ReplyDeleteThere you go, time for you to pay 140,000 in fines like Scott Brockie did for being Christian.
Oh wait you are a lefty so you get charter right number 2.
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.
Lets go picking "fundamental" cherries.
There is no "Muslim threat" in Canada. to think otherwise is to be a bedwetting coward.
What is this 1984? That sounds double plus good.
Last summer they were plotting to blow up the house of commons. A coward is someone who sticks their head in the sand and denies it.
If Bill says he wants to stop immigration he wants to do it before they level subways, murder journalists, a bedwetting coeward is someone who wants to keep letting them immigrate here until there is a problem because everywhere they go in the world they bring violence.
the CBC did a poll that found 84,000 muslims are willing to kill non believers and support terrrorism.
http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=2419
Now I would rather be honest about it than go into a corner like you and the CBC [who hid that part of the poll] and suck my thumb and hope the problem goes away. If you put tabasco on it you might break yourself of it.
Or is 84,000 supporters of terrorism not enough Mr 1984?
In Harry potter the bad guys try to silence speach don't say voldemort......
I see similarities.
If an idea is bad ridicule it but if this goes through lord Dion will be happy.
That is THE dumbest download service I have ever encountered in my life. I tried about eight times and finally gave up in frustration. Oh well, no big loss, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteFrom what you've written here though you have to be astounded at the relativism of these so-called "conservatives" at FreeDominion. Do these people even listen to themselves and what they're saying? Completely incoherent. And "family friendly"... that's a laugh given the personal antics of all the players involved here, including Mark, Connie and the fanatical fruitcake Whatcott. Veritable exemplars or moral rectitude that lot is! (*snort*)
Well, I got genslub3 to come off the spool, so my work here is done.
ReplyDeleteCome back when you sober up, gen.
Holly, I thought of that when I wrote it. However, I've always liked the phrase "going off the reservation" when used in a political context. It, and variants, are pretty common on, for example, PBS. If you can think of something equally colorful as a replacement, I will consider it.
ReplyDeleteHey, Dr. Wright... why don't you wait to see what the actual charges are before going all ballistic. It might also help if you put your argument together in a way that didn't make you come across as such an obnoxious kook.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of example is that setting for Connie's children from a previous marriage?
ReplyDeleteYou mean she's a...*gasp*...divorcée?
I'm going to start fainting soon from all the immorality.
BCL, I really don't think being colourful excuses the phrase. Most racist expressions tend to be colourful and expressive.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather be seen as a bad writer than a racist one. You could say, if you want, that he got her mind back on its one track after a brief derailment.
What, you're not going to throw a tantrum and tell me there's nothing wrong with it and I'm a fascist kangaroo court weirdo? You're not going to post my name and photo, and email Ezra Levant and everyone else you've ever heard of to share your outrage? How disappointingly mature of you. :)
ReplyDeleteHow about: "he chivvied his wandering duckling back into line." Or: "he blew his drifting leaf back into the main current."
Holly,
ReplyDeleteNormally I would hash it out with you, but today you win. Actually the change has already been made. Totally non-poetic, I'm afraid.
"Most organizations in north america wouldn't show the muslim cartoons.
ReplyDeleteBut they can show the virgin mary surrounded by shit. Piss christ was cool and lets not forget movies with a homosexual christ or christ having sex with a pig."
For what its worth, I think they should be allowed to show both. If you don't like it, don't buy it.
From my perspective, Mohamed, Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the the Tooth Fairy are all in the same league - surrounding them with piss or not.
Or are you arguing for MORE censorship? I'll let that irony sit with you for a minute...
How DARE you compare the Tooth Fairy to those others?
ReplyDeleteAt least people who believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny generally reap some rewards for their misguided faith.
"Last summer they were plotting to blow up the house of commons."
ReplyDeleteAnd they were idiots with no chance of ever accomplishing anything. And they were egged to do what little they did by the Mountie informant.
"the CBC did a poll that found 84,000 muslims are willing to kill non believers and support terrrorism.
Whatever you say chicken little. Dont forget to hide under your bed.
On our televisions, in Canada, better do like Mike and put my brain in the sand...
ReplyDeleteAfter all I can just switch the channel until I get on the wrong bus, subway, airplane, school, theater,...
"VisionTV says it will monitor one of its shows more closely after it broadcast a lecture by an Islamic preacher who said scripture requires Muslims to either fight jihad or finance it. The multi-faith channel, available in 7.8 million Canadian homes,
...
In the hour-long talk, Israr Ahmad said, "Jihad in the way of Allah, for the cause of Allah, can be pursued either with your financial resources or your bodily strength when you go to fight the enemy in the battlefield. So jihad, the highest form, is fighting in the cause of Allah."
Wonder if mikes kids watched that?
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/2007/07/ok-to-preach-jihad-in-canada-thats-not.html
LOL, the WTF moment was a little like a mask falling off for a second...
ReplyDeleteDinosaur guy - please, please tell me you're just some lefty trying to make conservatives look bad.
Sadly jj, he appears to be as presented - a dinosaur.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think we believed they were extinct.
Should have listened to Stockboy Day, frank. Kinsella was right. The Flintstones wasn't a documentary.
ReplyDeleteIt was a conservative home movie.
“Rain on your wedding day” is not ironic at all, as the song says. It is just bad luck – unless you like the rain.
ReplyDeleteBut if you like irony, strap yourself in, here’s a truckload.
I heard about this story on the net and then I listened to the interview. I don’t have a side and I don’t know these players but frankly, I thought Ms.Wilkins came across as a pretty decent person (spare me the shedevil who will destroy us all nonsense). I quickly surfed the site and a fellow by the name of Roy Wilson caught my attention. At first glance he seems to be very supportive of the site Ms. Wilkins runs.
Roy is a very odd and a seemingly challenged individual who thinks debate means yelling insults and telling people on a “discussion” board – you know, a place you are supposed to talk and share your thoughts, to shut up. Is that the irony here? Not on your life! This is just a warm up.
This fellow, who I now think of as Raging Roy because of this stupendously stupid graphic that says “keep honking, I am reloading” which he has on the screen. I guess he is a clever one – too clever for me at any rate.
Low and behold Raging Roy was actually on the CFRB show. Apparently his mind is “boggled” by all of this. Boggled! The host couldn’t dump him fast enough.
It went something like (paraphrase)
Host: Welcome to the show! You are on the air.
Raging Roy Wilson: I uh... uh... am a member... uh... for about... 2 to 3 years and posted... uh... 20,000 times... uh... and I want um ah... say that... um... the moderators are... uh... umm... uh... extremely... good! This is when he explains that his mind is “boggled”. No shit sherlock – talk about a statement of the obvious. The host had him figured at uh... um...
I Googled his name. Here’s the irony!
He and some clown from New York shut down a discussion board at CBC. There is a lot of boasting about it if you search. He and his mentor/hero said they were offended that they could not use the word Jew or Jewish because of a built in system that tried to discourage anti-Semites, Nazis and the like. Not good enough for Roy, a Jew, though. His poor wittle feelings were hurt - boo hoo. I wonder whom he called, CHRC? Of course, it is assuming he could figure it out. Maybe his discussion board-destroying buddy did the hard work, like making a call and submitting a complaint.
Here’s the kicker, and very appropriate at that! Check out this thread.
http://zgrams.zundelsite.org/pipermail/zgrams/2004-March/000781.html
Well done Raging Roy. I am sure your fellow chosen people are thrilled. You proved Zundel’s point! Bravo! You’re a Nazi collaborator! You showed them!!! What an idiot...
Any of you who support shutting down any discussion board, regardless of your political opinions, should learn a lesson here. If a knuckle dragging, deranged blowhard twit like Raging Roy can do this, who can’t?
What goes around...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:53,
ReplyDeleteI remember that guy too. That was the other somewhat painful moment in the interview. I will say one thing, he writes better than he speaks. Mr. Wilson sounded deeply medicated.