What were we thinking?
Publisher Ezra Levant tells the inside story of why the Western Standard decided to publish the controversial cartoons--and the amazing things that happened after we did
Ezra Levant - March 13, 2006
The story has more or less played itself out. There are some loose ends, such as a complaint filed against us by some Calgary Muslim leaders, both to the police and to the human rights commission. Of course, this is a more civilized approach than the barbaric rioting overseas, and let us give credit to Canada's Muslims where it is due. But that authoritarian instinct--to run to the police and the courts to enforce a Muslim religious edict, or even to settle a score or an argument--is deeply troubling.
As a lawyer, I see those complaints as nuisance suits, designed to waste our time and money, and as a further warning to other media that to defy the imams is not cost free. But the larger problem is that the official leaders of Canada's Muslim community have not yet been inculcated in the concept of a truly diverse society, where differences of opinions are resolved without resort to the state, and where the rest of us do not have to submit to Muslim edicts. The biggest and most pleasant surprise in my week was the number of Muslim and Arab subscribers who signed up in solidarity with us. They told us they came to Canada to get away from sharia law, and they don't want that law following them here. Perhaps our new minister of citizenship and immigration, Monte Solberg, will beef up the civics classes for new immigrants. Under the Liberal government, new immigrants were handed a little Canadian flag and told to vote Liberal. Perhaps it's time we taught the supremacy of Canada's Constitution, and that in this country we all submit to Queen Elizabeth's laws.
The ruckus is over and we all survived. Hopefully, that in itself will encourage other media to live up to the industry's supposed ideals in the future. For decades, journalists have claimed to follow a higher standard than other commercial industries, and have often looked contemptuously on other businesses. We see now that it was all a sham; when a real threat came to freedom of expression--not a benign church lady protesting Piss Christ, or a harmless customs officer trying to block some pornography, but the risk of true violence--Canada's official keepers of freedom of speech hid under their desks. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association was silent; PEN Canada and Amnesty International actually told journalists to restrict what they say. So much for them. We should never grant them the moral high ground again. And Canadians who trusted those cowardly guardians with their liberal values--feminism, gay rights, abortion, secularism, true diversity, things that are at risk under sharia law--should do some contemplation. It's an odd thing when a western magazine, widely perceived as conservative, is the chief bulwark against a theocratic muzzle on Canada's Toronto-based liberal media.
I've never been prouder of our magazine, and everyone associated with it. Not a single member of our staff and not one of our owners disagreed with our decision to publish. And all this right on our second anniversary of publication. I can promise you many more years of independent, honest reporting that tells it like it is.
We received more than 7,000 letters in response to our decision to run the Danish cartoons--some supporting us, some condemning us. Thanks to all who took the time to write. Though we can't run all the letters, here's what some of you had to say:
Why publish the cartoons when you see the chaos that these publications are creating around the world? Must we bring the violence to Canada? Are you out of your minds? What in heaven's name is wrong with you people? Do you want to be "right" or do you want to be happy?
J. Bilodeau
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