1) Marie-Line Gentes, the woman bringing the complaint, is a wildlife biologist who studied at the University of Saskatchewan and now teaches at Vanier College in Quebec. While the post she complains about contains slurs directed at Muslims, she is not herself Muslim. Furthermore, her complaint concerns a thread launched over a year ago, though she makes nods towards other more recent material on the board that might also constitute "hate literature". I have some sympathy with the FD charge that being offended on the behalf of somebody else is a bit of a sham. On the other hand, its not about "right" or "wrong" so much it is about legal or illegal.
2) Bill Whatcott, the pamphleteer and gay-basher that is the target of the complaint, is trying to raise money on Free Dominion's behalf. Some doubts have been expressed on the Board as to whether having a known distributor of Hate Lit hustle funds for your defense in a case involving the hosting of Hate Literature (Bill's) on your website is such a great idea.
3) The owners of the Free Dominion website will be on Michael Coren on Sunday at 7:30 pm (CFRB). The story will then spread to the MSM, as will the name "Bill Whatcott" and the contents of his fliers. A bit of Fear and Loathing on FD about the prospect.
4) As to the question, should Conservatives harass Ms. Gentes (publish photos of her, her phone number, etc.), opinion on FD has probably tilted about three to one against. Yesterday it was about 50/50.
5) Fellow Libloggers/Progbloggers: some perspective, please. Doesn't this make the whole incident with MyBlahg look trivial?
Update: reading the Babble thread where Mr. Whatcott went to raise cash, it is no longer clear to me whether he meant to raise it on behalf of FD or to cover his own expenses. I will leave point 2) above as is, however, because its funnier that way, and the more general point--that many on FD would like Whatcott to STFU--still holds.
16 comments:
The incident with Robert was a trumped up sham. Not one of Cherniak's finer moments I have to say.
Exactly.
I honestly wonder how many of those in support of that particular witch hunt at the time still support it in retrospect.
I think the wingnuts had this coming. Wasn't it just yesterday that someone posted a link to SDA calling for all Jamicians to be shot? Kate's response, a link about how Jamicians have a lower IQ.
I think a little bit of MSM spot lighting of what really goes on at "Conservative" websites is a really good thing.
Anon 9:41,
Well I am sort of torn. I'm usually of the opinion that "what happens in the blogosphere stays in the blogosphere". But on the other hand, it looks like that view may have no basis in Canadian law, in which case the moderators at FD shouldda seen it coming.
I DON'T really worry about the same thing overtaking the progressive side of the blogosphere. You see the occasional intemperate remark, but the original thread ref'd in the complaint stretched across 80 pages of more or less sympathetic remarks. I've never seen anything like that on our side of the fence.
Well get this, just when you thought it might be possible to rustle up some sort of sympathy for the folks at FD or at least close ranks with them on principle, they're publishing personal details about the complainant and commenters are openly suggesting that she be, um, dealt with... What a bunch of pricks.
As I said earlier FD had it coming.
I saw the posts about the complainant personal details and the implied threats. I hope leads to criminal charges also.
This may get a lot worse for the wingnuts, they aren't going enjoy the spotlight and articles about their conduct after a while. I suspect even the right wing nutjobs like Adler will stay away when they are forced to report on what FD has actually been posting.
I truly believe that if more people knew what Conservatives say when they think no one is listening, there would be alot less CPC voters.
I am looking forward to the fallout despite the fact that I think the CHRC compliant will be unsuccessful.
Relatively few FDers are true CPC supporters.
They are whiners and complainers, most of whom parked their votes with the CPC and its predecessors (not including the PCs) in the hopes they could advance their agenda.
They're the kind of people who thought Ralph Klein was too liberal (instead of just an idiot), and move from one fringe party to another.
Now that it's clear Harper isn't the complete lunatic they hoped he'd be, they've dropped him, saving him the trouble of having to drop them himself.
Honestly, for a Conservative politician wishing for a majority, being denounced by Connie Wilkins is a wet dream.
Reality Bites you are incorrect.
Many people won't be able to make the distinction between FD and the CPC. They will see a conservative website and transpose the views expressed to the CPC.
The general public doesn't usually concern itself with the details.
Wingnuts like FD are the dirty little secret of CPC. They need their votes but also need to keep them hidden.
Any opportunity to expose the nutjobs should be exploited. I hope FD and places like SDA gets alot of detailed coverage.
Even news coverage of the more radical elements of Blogging Tories would be welcomed.
Reality Bites is correct.
Of the 40 or so regular posters at the Freedominion site not one of them in fact are CPC members.
Whiners and complainers is an apt description however it is noted that almost ALL of the posters subscribe to the extreme right wing, religious fundamentalist doctrine. Actually, Ms. Wilkins herself steps in to flay a less than zealous pro-life poster who has the chutzpah to be an outspoken Harper-CPC believer. Either that poster leaves, is banned or actually pays lip service to Wilkins anti-Harper opinion.
Wilkins is perhaps one of the most venomous of the few females on that Board and anyone who dares to argue with her is demeaned and bullied by Wilkins to the point of choosing to never post there again.
She actively promotes one of the more extreme egotists, Dronebuster/Paycheck, aka Pacheco, in his self-absorbed anti-female rantings re feminism, pro-choice, contraception, etc., etc. A complete pyscho actually.
From day one Wilkins motivation on her Board has been to promote her pro-life, pro-family values, anti-SSM, agenda.
Not since the Board's onset has it been anything but a vehicle for Wilkins and her sycophant members to attempt to intimidate and coerce whomever strays within Wilkins web.
The boasting about the 7,000 members is pathetic. Checking the membership list; the majority initially were all Americans who have never posted since 2002.
The rest of the list represents hundreds and hundreds of names who have never posted for years and a total of 60 or so present day members who regularly post. That is it.
Wilkins and her band of bullies and self-absorbed, self-righteous hypocrites deserve to be made to answer for the real intolerance and hatred spewed by the many on that site.
What will be the true irony of this CHRC investigation is that the inhabitants of this Freedominion board will be shown to be nothing more than a group of disaffected and in some cases totally obsessed neurotics.
A Tory,
So all this noise is actually made by just 40 people?
I'm sorry, a. tory, but that is not entirely true.
A number of them have left the party, but some have not. I'm not going to name any names (or handles) but there are at least three current EDA exec members who post there that I know of, and I'm hardly an FD or CPC insider. And there were more in the past, including Wilkins and Fournier.
Basically she's just a tad upset that the CPC promised her that if she'd shut her gob about abortion for a while, they'd absolutely, 100% outlaw equal marriage - something I pointed out at the time they never had the slightest intention of doing, because it was impossible, and Harper's pretense of "civil unions with all the rights and responsibilities of marriage" is something not constitutionally possible in Canada due to separation of provincial and federal powers.
The writing was on the wall for FD during the last election campaign, when Paul Goldring, an Edmonton MP who has attended FD dinners and introduced Connie Wilkins and Mark Fournier, told the media that people on FD have extreme views (after his campaign manager was forced to resign over pro-separatist remarks made there.)
There are still some CPC people there, but as I've said before, nothing will make the CPC brass happier than seeing FD twist in the wind.
a tory
Take a look at how many times the word conservative in all it's flavours appears on the FD homepage.
The point is that some regular voters (not political blog junky) that see the website may consider the view reflected on FD to be those of the CPC.
Especially if this the MSM reports the story as "CHRC Takes Action Against Conservative Website".
Even if you dismiss FD, how to explain the trash posted on SDA? Are they not part of the Blogging Tories? Hopefully some Jamaican sues Kate's ass and showcase that trash heap to the country also.
I pretty sure posts about all Jamaicans being shot constitutes a hate crime.
I know sooner or later it will be the wingnuts that bring Harper down.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
I don't feel one bit of pity for the Tories after all the venom they have spewed.
Very rare has there been the occasion that a BT has called out Kate and rest of SDA crowd for their hateful and racist posts.
I hope the whole country learns about your dirty little secrets because of cases like this.
Those who agree with the views expressed on SDA and FD probably are already hardcore CPC voters. Hopefully those that disagree will be rightfully disgusted leave CPC forever.
By the way the only reason FD is no longer a part of BT is because they got into a tiff with BT over the creation of BT forums.
A point of correction...
some have left the CPC disaffected after the last year and a half but many there are faithful members of the CPC....
they had a freedominion.ca party room at the conference in Montreal....
during the election the majority were active on campaigns...
And RB is wrong I think. I do not believe that Connie ever expressed that Harper's stance on gay marriage was worth being quiet about abortion. Many there did but I don't think Connie.
Hailey
You may be right on that point about Connie. She was absolutely furious that her resolution on banning late-term abortions was not even allowed to be debated (something I told you would happen long before the convention). And she has made the famous quote "No one was ever killed at a gay wedding."
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