GOLDEN COMPASS SHOLD BE ALLOWED BUT THE HYPOCRISY IS NOXIOUS
I know I am a little late to this debate as work has continued to be hectic this fall, but I thought I would offer some brief thoughts.
First off, the Halton Catholic School Board should allow the students to read the Golden Compass. Period. As a libertarian for free speech, that is the only position I can have.
But I need to make a few points.
1. They did not ban it as has been widely reported. They took it off of the recommeded reading list. Children can still read it, they only need to ask the librarian.
2. The book is not being questioned because it was written by an atheist. I'd be willing to bet half the teachers in the Catholic system are nominally atheist. The book is being questioned because taken as a trilogy, it is not only about the literal killing of God, but the villain itself is the Roman Catholic Church.
3. No, the words
"Roman Catholic Church" are not used, but the villain is the Magisterium. And the Magisterium is the teaching arm of the Roman Catholic Church. Put another way, lets say the villain was called an Imam but the word "Muslim" was never used. Or what if the villainous organization was called F.A.G. but the word "gay" was never used. All right, that already happened in
Team America.
4. Do you think public schools don't ban books or take them off of the required reading list? Try finding a copy of
Gone With the Wind,
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,
American Psycho or
Uncle Tom's Cabin in a Toronto Public School? The difference is when this happens, it is a part of accepted left wing, politically correct orthodoxy.
5. The hypocrisy of this issue is noxious.
NDP MP: SELLING YOUNG GIRLS PART DEUX
In the comments section, someone re-iterated to me that this would be a co-op. That got me thinking...
Many hookers discriminate based on issues such as race and age (
ie. they will only see clients of a certain ethnicity or age); will this still be allowed?
Similarly, even within the realm of the sex trade, hookers who perform certain acts (
pertaining to specific and messy scatalogical bodily functions) are looked down upon; would all hookers be required to perform these acts in the name of equality?
What about quality control? Vintners in Ontario have the VQA; meat packing companies and the health industry have quality control units; will we have to pay a group of people to use prostitutes to make sure all of the techniques used are up to snuff.
What if some are not up on the basics? Will we issue them a training manual with diagrams?
Some hookers go way above and beyond the call for duty with regards to outfits such as police officer, PVC Nun, dominatrix etc. You get the idea. Will the government allow a budget to all prostitutes in the name of equality?
Will they be allowed in public schools on career day?
Yeah, I think we know the answer to that one.
What if a prostitute only wants to service opposite sex clients? Will they be required to perform for same-sex clients as well? I mean, if it is government regulated, we can't discriminate.
What if a straight 'john' books a female hooker who it turns out is not available but a transgendered prostitute is; if the john refuses, can they be taken to a human rights tribunal?
What if a gay hooker is used to being a top; will he have to learn to be a bottom, even if it causes medical problems?
We are not allowed to discriminate in employment for people who have HIV/AIDS; would the same go here? What if they use protection? Will that be good enough? If you think that is over the top, remember the brouhaha over the Red Cross blood donation policies.
What of discrimination based on looks; something tells me that in their quest for equality, government run brothels would have a very low standard of looks for the hookers. You would probably go in looking for someone like Angelina Jolie in thigh high boots and garters and have to be content with someone who looked like...well, Libby Davies in really comfortable shoes and sweat socks.
The more I think about this...this is an idea so stupid; so magnificently and profoundly sub-moronic, it could only come to pass. Canada would not have it any other way.
NDP MP: FREE MARKET SELLING OF YOUNG GIRLS O.K.
I am not surprised Libby Davies is
behind this idea and I am only glad Stephen Harper is PM right now and will not pay attention to her. I am however saddened, but not surprised that some,
quite frankly ignorant, Blogging Tories are getting on the frat boy 'yeehaaa' bandwagon on this one.Legalizing brothels is not an idea that comes free of negative repercussions. As I asked on another blog:
What message do we send to young girls (or boys)? That selling their body is a legitimate profession?
Do you want your government to earn money off of the backs of young, broken girls?
What age should a girl be before she would be allowed to sell her body in a brothel? To this question, one hapless blogger said it should be whatever the age of consent is.
Yes, we should want to live in a society where a 14 year old child is allowed to sell her pubescent body to a businessman cheating on his wife on weekends for burger money. (all sarcasm) My God. Have people gone insane?The blogger, who should be embarrased, was a Blogging Tory. I used to think only Rabble had the true wing-nuts.
I have spoken to many prostitutes and strippers in my life. Many of them are broken women who do not choose to sell their bodies. They are damaged people who made those choices out of desperation. Selling one's body is not the same as selling a cookie. Buying someone's body is not the same as buying a coffee at Starbucks.
I also find it funny how the NDP will balk at legitimizing business that could help the poor with cheaper products (ie. Walmart) but the moment a group of hookers want to form a business for the selling of young female bodies, they have no problem.
My, what wonderful free-market capitalists these silver spoon socialists turn out to be.If any of you think this is a good idea, I suggest you leave the confines of your office where you are earning 5 figures. Put down the two weeks too early Holiday Frappe from Tim's and take a walk to one of the seedier parts of town. Try to strike up a conversation with some prostitutes.
Look at how old they look for people so young. Try to see how legalizing what they do will not make them feel any better.
If you can't see that, then maybe all of the criticism about the shallowness of the free market is right.
LIBERAL ARTISTS SICK OF LIBERAL ART
One of the things that I believe - scratch that - know, is that
too many conservatives do not care about the ideology of the art or entertainment that they consume and purchase. They figure
"as long as I am entertained, who cares?"That's why they proudly put millions into The DaVinci Code,
The Bourne Ultimatum and the latest
Bruce Springsteen CD.
Now obviously, there is nothing inherently wrong with that and you should choose to like a piece of art/product based on reasons far more complex than just ideology. But you should also be
aware of how that ideology affects the world around you.Here are two articles from the British newspaper
The Guardian, both by people who are, to some degree, fed up with left wing dominance in the arts. What is fascinating is that
the writers themselves are left-wing.
First up, Mark Ravenhill,
a gay playwright who is tired of writing gay.
"Now, I'm surprised to say, I'm happy never to write another gay character again. It feels as though every aspect of the gay experience has been narrated, performed and picked over in the past 30 years. It has left us with some brilliant work. Alongside all the bad generic gay work, artists such as Derek Jarman, Alan Hollinghurst, Tony Kushner and others have left a body of work that is both gay and great. But that work seems over now."Next up is an article asking where the right-wing voices are in the British theatre?
Where are the right-wing voices who will take the establishment on? For decades, British theatre has been dominated by playwrights sympathetic to a liberal consensus. The culture of the left has been represented by strident plays and angry playwrights - but where are the voices of the right, and why can't the stage accommodate both?What is of note, is that these articles are being
written by people on the left for a left-wing newspaper. Britain is far more leftist than Canada at this point in its history. Yet, it seems that even some left-wing artists in Britian are fed up.
Ewan McGregor recently decried Britian's nanny state and Tom Stoppard, a conservative, is fed up with the left.In America, left-wing films like
Lions for Lambs,
Rendition and
In the Valley of Elah, all flopped and more newspapers are commenting on that. I do sense a small change coming. That is natural. Sadly, English Canada will be the last to reflect this.
