The Macleans complaint has come to a conclusion

The complaint against Macleans magazine by Mohamed Elmasry and Dr. Nayir Habib, before the BC Human Rights Tribunal, and which was taken to show trial several months ago, was ruled upon today by the “judges” at the BC Human Rights Tribunal.  Macleans magazine and columnist Mark Steyn, are off the hook.  They have been acquitted. 

Now, whether this is a victory or not remains to be determined.  I personally feel that it is not. 

Our speech is our own, and should not be hampered by our government.  The Macleans complaint, and that the Macleans complaint was seen by the BCHRT, was incredible to behold, especially in a country which considers itself even remotely democratic. 

As such, the investigation, and the show trial, were hotly contested. A ruckus was risen.  And what became of it?

This verdict, I’m sure.  The HRC’s in Canada want to go back to what it is that they’re good at, which is persecuting those who can’t fight back; white supremacists on obscure web forums, lone pastors, and the like.  People without resources enough to fight back successfully, and who are ground easily enough to powder under the HRC bureaucratic grind. 

When the BCHRT took on the Macleans case, they bit off more than they could chew.  They got a response which endangered their continued existence, and so they ruled to acquit so that they could continue in their previous, relatively unknown, tradition.

And quite frankly, it’s probably going to work, to an extent.  They released the verdict on the eve of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, on the eve of an American election, a Canadian federal election, and a local municipal election.  A very convenient time to release their verdict.

This is no victory.  Just a continuance of our uphill battle against increasingly socialistic and authoritarian thinking.  It sounds cold to say, but I do wish that Mark and Macleans had been ruled against, if only so that the anger could have been stirred up again.

But now, if the impetus is to be maintained and increased, then it will be that much more upon our shoulders to do so. 

I guess in a way that’s kind of nice.  Hell, it gives me something to do, right?