Tag Archives: cancel culture

Another Legion Branch Caves to LGBTQ Protest & Cancels Free Speech

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Another Legion Branch Caves to LGBTQ Protest & Cancels Free Speech

Victoria Free Speech activist Gordon Watson reports: “Attached is a letter from Meghan Murphy concerning the outrageous way the Canadian Legion grovelled to the weirdos after her very successful event in Victoria Sept 14th.   
Miss Murphy had rented the room at the Legion in Victoria. where she was telling the truth about how the mental illness of “gender dysphoria”  harms children and women. What wonderful irony — the Legion, ostensibly representing people who’d gone to war to defend “core values” …   coming down hard AGAINST freedom of speech !

Gordon Watson

Open letter to The Royal Canadian Legion regarding their coerced response to
hosting Vancouver Island Speaks
We will not accept being libeled, censored, and bullied at every turn, simply
for defending the rights of women and kids
MEGHAN
MURPHY
OCT
14

READ IN
APP

 
Disappointingly but predictably, following last month’s Vancouver Island Speaks event in
Victoria, local activists launched a harassment campaign against our venue, The Royal
Canadian Legion (Trafalgar/Pro Patria Legion Branch 292). The pattern of capitulation
is unacceptable, and functions to silence free and fair speech in Canada. We will never
stop fighting, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to host events in Canada when
venues cave to the bullying and libel of a small but loud minority of activists. Please
consider supporting our fight and speech by signing onto our open letter to the Legion.
To sign your name to this letter, go to: www.vancouverislandspeaks.org/about
~~~
The Royal Canadian Legion
National Headquarters
86 Aird Place

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Ottawa, ON K2L 0A1
October 3rd, 2024
To whom it may concern,
On Saturday, September 14, 2024, Vancouver Island Speaks! (VIS) hosted their fifth event in B.C.,
discussing the debate and issues surrounding gender identity ideology, women’s rights, free speech, and
kids’ safety. These events aim to bring a much suppressed, misrepresented, and censored conversation out
into the open, and allow Canadians of all stripes to learn more, hear from other community members, and
share their views and concerns. All five events have been well-attended, peaceful, and inspiring. In this
case, after having lost our first venue, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 292 in Victoria hosted us.
The women who speak on these panels draw from their experiences growing up female in this world, as
well as from research, data, and news reports. Most of us never expected to have to fight for our rights
and spaces in 2024, as women, nor our right to free expression, as Canadians. We never anticipated
having to stand up publicly and insist men not be given access to women’s sports, prisons, shelters and
change rooms. We certainly never imagined being protested, vilified, harassed, censored, libelled, and
threatened for doing so, painted as criminals by our own “feminist” governments, but here we are.
Holding these events has always been a challenge. In every single case, the venues who
agree to host us are subject to harassment campaigns, threatened and bullied into
cancelling and denouncing our group and message, often without any real understanding of what our
message is, and why these small but loud groups demand we be cancelled.
While our September 14th event went off without any issue, a small group of local activists sought to
pressure the Legion into denouncing us, using fear-mongering and manipulative language, aimed at
instilling fear by painting us as “hateful” and dangerous. A sample letter offered by an individual going
by the name Lin Robinson-Young as a template for activists read:
To the Royal Canadian Legion, its Members, and its Leadership:
I am writing to you as a member and/or ally of the 2SLGBTQI+ community. I was
deeply hurt to hear that on Saturday, September 14th, 2024, the Victoria branch of
the Royal Canadian Legion hosted a panel focused on perpetuating hateful

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anti-transgender rhetoric at an event hosted by “Vancouver Island Speaks” called
“Surgeries, Sports & Speech in Tranada”. This panel represented yet another attack
on the rights of our transgender community members, and the Legion’s decision to
host this event fails to align with your June 3rd, 2019 commitment to not affiliate with
groups that promote hatred or violence toward protected groups including on the
basis of gender, or your website’s core values, which include being “supportive,
inclusive, courteous and fair to all”.
The allowance of the Legion for this panel to be hosted at the Legion’s Victoria
Branch betrays the trust of 2SLGBTQI+ people in Victoria and in Canada overall.
How are we meant to trust an organization that is willing to host a panel promoting
hate speech against our transgender siblings, parents, and children? Transgender
people remain a deeply vulnerable population – even in Canada, transgender people
experience more physical and sexual violence and report worse mental health
statuses than cisgender people (Statistics Canada 2018). Even the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service warned us in February of this year that “extremists could
“inspire and encourage” serious violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community”
(Tunney 2024).
The featured panelists at the hateful event hosted at the Victoria Legion building
included Meghan Murphy, a transphobic internet personality who was banned from X
for violating rules prohibiting hate speech against trans people; Mia Hughes, founder
of “caWsbar”, an “advocacy group” which is “focused on one issue: denying trans
people rights” (McArdle 2023); Linda Blade, who says that trans athletes “harm […]
female athletes” and pose an “almost existential threat” to cisgender athletes (2021);
Bryony Dixon, who “publicly stated transitioning threatens queer youth, specifically
gay children, and that medically prescribed hormone blockers to ease gender
dysphoria “castrates” children” (Morton, 2023); and Magdalena Huston, who is
associated with Murphy and characterizes transgender people’s self-realizations as
“social contagion” (Huston 2024).
Our 2SLGBTQI+ community must assume that by hosting this event, these fair-right,
anti-transgender viewpoints must align with that of the Royal Canadian Legion unless

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otherwise indicated. In fact, one of our Victoria community members called the
Victoria branch yesterday while the panel was taking place and had a conversation
that seemingly endorses this:
“The guy on the phone says he was a bartender. I told them that they are hosting a
hate group. Guy said ‘no, we are renting out a room – whatever they do up there is
not our business.’ I asked ‘Would you rent out to Nazis?’ and he said ‘Sure, if they
were paying.’”
In these times where Canada’s social progress is threatening to reverse itself, we as
allies and members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community look to organizations such as
yourselves to not only refuse to aid and abet hateful rhetoric against our community,
but to actively include us and fight for our right to exist, just as our veterans fought
for. I therefore urge you not only to denounce the Sept 14 event and its organizers
and to formally apologize to the 2SLGBTQI+ community for hosting a group that
promoted hate toward us, but to make and announce a public donation to the Victoria
Pride Society as a gesture of support and good will.
Sincerely,
[Name]
Sources:
www.them.us/story/megan-murphy-terf-twitter-lawsuit
www.meghanmurphy.ca/p/never-give-up-never-surrender
www.transgendermap.com/issues/topics/media/mia-hughes/
www.maelys.bio/2023/06/anti-trans-mob-in-ottawa/
https://thediscourse.ca/nanaimo/nanaimo-fringe-festival-director-steps-down
www.threads.net/@magdalenahuston/post/C-s-cLSSvuw
www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00009-eng.htm
www.cbc.ca/news/politics/csis-lgbtq-warning-violence-1.7114801
https://web.archive.org/web/20240323014905/https://legion.ca/news/2019/06/03/legi
on-r eleases-hate-group-policy
https://web.archive.org/web/20240829103013/https://rcl292.ca/our-branch/about-
page.php?id=32

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www.facebook.com/JodieGastel/postspfbid028FZFyJYLWStqQNqmRTM2Fx6
This letter, and others like it, including one from an activist named Tressa Brotsky, asked the
Trafalgar/Pro Patria Legion to apologize for having hosted our event in order to “show compassion to and
for trans people and their families and communities.” In her letter, Brotsky claimed that the aim of VIS is
to “limit the rights and health of vulnerable people, and specifically to try to stop access to life-saving
healthcare for children and youth of all sexes and genders.”
This is a wildly defamatory statement. In truth, we aim to protect the health of children and vulnerable
people and aim to raise the alarm about the wide-ranging harms of so-called “gender medicine” and
surgeries on minors who are not able to consent to such life-altering decisions, nor are they fully informed
of the irreversible consequences of these treatments. Brodsky cites previous unwarranted cancellations of
our bookings at other venues as justification for the Legion to cancel this one and to reject future
bookings, writing:
A number of business [sic] have cancelled their booking with Vancouver Island Speaks once they
discovered that the charisma and half-disclosures of Meghan Murphy and organizers mask their
fundamental belief that trans people should not be allowed equal healthcare or to exist in Canada.
Not only are the letters and public statements made about our group, directed at the Legion and other
venues, defamatory, but they are chock-full of medical misinformation; ideologically driven, with no
basis in fact or science; and hyperbolic, inserting motivations that only exist in the imaginations of the
authors. The aim of these activists is to frighten people into compliance by implying we aim to harm
rather than help (and to simply have open, honest debate), bullying organizations into cancelling our
events, denouncing our group, and refusing future bookings. This behaviour is authoritarian,
undemocratic, and insulting to our veterans and the aim of the Royal Legion of Canada.
The truth is that no venue has cancelled VIS events because they disagree with our views or beliefs.
Venues have cancelled or denounced us because they have been terrorized, threatened, harassed, bullied,
and, in the words of our last venue managers, “abused” by these activists and their supporters. Venues and
staff are confused and reasonably frightened.
In response to Brotsky’s letter, the Branch Manager of the Trafalgar/ProPatria Legion, Lorrie Weston,
wrote via email :

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I am Deeply ashamed and distraught over the group that was in attendance on Saturday, September
14th, 2024.
I understood this group to be a non-profit focusing on current woman’s issue. There is in NO Way that
the Legion supports the beliefs of this group.
We have been and always will be here to support all military and all those who serve or have served.
There are not enough words to convey our deep sadness over this and apologize profusely to those
who were hurt by this.
Activists took this private email and began sharing it as a “public statement” from the Legion about the
“anti-trans event held at their venue.” When one of our organizers called the legion to ask for clarification
on the statement, she was told that the branch manager “had repercussions from the Navy base, as well as
from our head, BC Yukon command and Ottawa.” Weston told us she had been ordered to “issue an
apology that if we’ve hurt anybody’s feelings as a result, like, that I am completely distraught and
ashamed that people would think that of our Legion.”
The immediate capitulation of the Legion to the activists’ J’accuse! is emblematic of these activist tactics,
which have been used to assail us for years — to censor our speech, libel us, and to ensure that the
Canadian public does not hear our concerns, or is misled and misinformed about our just, fair, and
reasonable concerns and views.
We support and advocate for the rights and protections of women and girls in Canada and across the
globe. We are Canadians committed to human rights and the values of a liberal democracy. We support
free speech, child safeguarding, and ethical, evidence-based, approaches to health care. We advocate for
compassionate, ethical treatment of all Canadians, especially of minors who struggle with body image,
mental health issues, and the natural and often distressing experience of puberty.
We are grateful to the Royal Canadian Legion for hosting our event. Every member of our volunteer
security team are veterans. Holding our event at a Legion has profound
significance to them. They fought for the rights we now enjoy in liberal democracies and know all too
well what happens to women and girls in places that do not enjoy those rights.
Our security team — again, veterans — supports our work by protecting us from activists like those who

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contacted you, as they seek to cause us harm. Not emotional harm — real, physical harm.
Meghan Murphy, for example, has been threatened with violence for nearly a decade for speaking out in
defense of women’s sex-based rights. She has received death threats, been stalked, and has been attacked
in public. She requires bodyguards, security, and a police presence almost every time she speaks in public
as a result. This is not an uncommon experience for those of us who are critical of gender identity
ideology and its harms. It is the norm and it is shameful.
Tactics employed by these activists include: intimidation, threats of violence, threats of sexual assault and
rape, targeting employment, actual physical attacks, and criminalization.
They target women in particular, knowing we are vulnerable.
Women and girls remain a deeply vulnerable population globally — even in Canada. Women experience
physical and sexual violence at disproportionate rates (Statistics Canada 2018). Female inmates are
particularly vulnerable, often with histories of trauma, poverty, addiction, mental health issues; they come
from marginalized communities and harsh backgrounds, yet are now being incarcerated with violent male
sex offenders, with no way to advocate for themselves.
The letter template used by some of the activists who contacted you cites a statement
published on June 3rd, 2019, with regard to “hate groups.” The letter argues that “your
decision to host this event fails to align with your June 3rd, 2019 commitment to not affiliate with groups
that promote hatred or violence toward protected groups including on the basis of gender, or your
website’s core values, which include being ‘supportive, inclusive, courteous and fair to all.’”
Surely, women and girls fall under the category of “all.” Surely we deserve to be treated fairly and with
the same rules and respect as any other group. Surely the Legion stands for women’s rights, and wouldn’t
cave to pressure from bullies who threaten our rights, safety, and wellbeing. Surely, the Legion supports
women and community members in their efforts to gather and discuss their concerns about the impact of
something as controversial as gender identity ideology on women and kids — the most vulnerable among
us.
VIS events are inclusive — everyone is welcome, provided they don’t endanger or disrupt. Ironically, we
are accused of being exclusive, while being excluded ourselves.

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What we do is dangerous, but we continue to fight, at our own risk, with no institutional, corporate, or
government support, in the face of constant threats, harassment, and censorship, because preserving
women’s rights and protecting kids, as well as defending free speech in Canada is of pivotal importance.
More important than our jobs, safety, comfort, or income.
The defamation in these letters and social media posts collapse in the face of VIS’s demonstrated value of
reality-based analysis, direct communication, and transparency. We invite The Royal Canadian Legion,
your members and allies, as well as all interested and concerned Canadians to see for themselves what we
have to say, openly, proudly and clearly. We are not ashamed of our words.
We urge you to review the footage of our Vancouver Island Speaks events, and determine for yourself
whether or not they constitute “hate” and should be cancelled and censored.
Sincerely,
Meghan Murphy, VIS Organizer, Writer and Podcaster, Founder of Feminist Current

Bryony Dixon, VIS Organizer, Director of Development and Events at Civilization Works

Niki Fortier, VIS Organizer and Royal Canadian Legion member

Linda Blade, PhD Kinesiology, Co-founder of the International Consortium on Female Sport (ICFS) and Board Member of Canadian
Women’s Sex-Based Rights (caWsbar)

Mia Hughes, Director of Genspect Canada and Director of Gender at Civilization Works

Michelle Mackness, Vice Director of Genspect Canada

April Hutchinson, Canadian powerlifter, founder of Keep Female Sports Female XX

Janayh Wright, VIS speaker and businesswoman

Magdalena Huston, VIS speaker

Kim Zander, Women’s Space Vancouver

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Matthew Foxcroft, Business Owner
Christopher Shaw, UBC
Stuart Parker, Los Altos Institute
Kim Goldberg, Author/Poet
John Thompson, C.D. Canadian Forces Decoration
Kevan Hudson
Ingrid Berg, Attendee
Scott Geiler, LGB Alliance supporter
Sarah Rean
Syed Abbas
Eric Kaufmann, University of Buckingham
Elizabeth Ely, Retired Musician
Melanie Bennet
Rose Forte
Leslie MacMillan
Wilma Lawrence, Supporter of free speech
Harald Hewett, Attendee
Donna Schurman, Concerned citizen
Shawn Shirazi, Gays Against Groomers
Felicia Rembrandt, Lesbian
Suzanne Baril, Freedom
Pamela Buffone, Canadian Gender Report
Stella O’Malley, Genspect
Brian Driscoll
Gale Tyler, retired BC teacher
Margaret Sherlock
Karin Litzcke
Dr. Joan Russell, UELAC. RDB self-identified.
Michele Kofod
Savanah Wright
Lorraine Hepting
Linda Batten, Retired educator
Kate Macdonald, Duncan Businesses owner

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Paul ORorke
Ruth Waddell, BScN
Bryant Kashmere
Jenniffer Millington
K Houtby
Frank Pluta, Freedom of Speech believer
Steven Lay, local business owner
Toni Vonk, Gender Dissent
Brenda Brooks, Descendant of WW1 and WW2 veterans/Writer
Sandra Currie, Women’s Space Vancouver
Kristine Anderson, Vancouver Island resident
Kelly Constabaris, Adult Human Female
Ian Glass, Friend
Linda Stone
Jacqueline Carstensen

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Quesnel Mayor Defies Cancel Culture: ‘Most difficult time of our lives’: Mayor Responds to Backlash Over Wife Reading Residential School Book

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‘Most difficult time of our lives’: mayor responds to backlash over wife reading residential school book

A modern-day witch hunt continues to unfold in Quesnel, British Columbia, as calls from local First Nations, some community members, and a few city council members for the mayor to resign persist.

The thoughtcrime that sparked the moral panic surrounding Mayor Ron Paull wasn’t even related to his own actions.

Instead, cancel culture mobsters are demanding Paull’s resignation after learning that Paull’s wife, Pat Morton, read a book they don’t like and shared it with a couple of other people, suggesting they do the same. Additionally, Paull says falsehoods claiming he distributed the book around town are also spreading.

The book, authored by several and entitled “Grave Error: How The Media Misled Us and the Truth about Residential Schools“, was a top Amazon seller shortly after being first published in 2023 by True North and Dorchester. [Grave Error is available for $45 postage included from C-FAR Books, P.O. Box 332, Rexdale, ON., M9W 5L3, Canada.]

Similar to our 2022 Rebel News documentary, “Kamloops: The Buried Truth“, the book provides compelling evidence debunking a sensational claim made in May 2021 by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation band government in Kamloops.

The claim was that “the confirmation of the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School” had been discovered in unmarked graves.

Grave Error, which consists of a collection of essays and articles, also provides evidence challenging prominent narratives about residential schools, such as the belief that attendance at all such institutions was compulsory and that thousands of Indigenous children went missing while attending them.

Since the backlash over the book in Quesnel, the book as resurfaced among Amazon’s top four bestsellers.

“I would say that this is indeed for me, and I think it’s the same for Pat as well, the most difficult time of our lives,” Paull told Rebel News while reflecting on what the couple has gone through in recent days.

Despite all the messages of love and support they’re receiving, Mayor Paull describes the past 11 days, which included a protest against him demanding his resignation supported by a few of his own colleagues on council, as being harder on him and his wife than the loss of their parents.

Paull says he assumes the spouses of council members and city officials should “have their own opinions and beliefs.”

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Paull replied when asked if he will resign under the mounting pressure.  – Drea Humphrey, Rebel News, April 8, 2024

Christian Decency Protest Leader Bubba Pollock Addresses CAFE & Alternative Forum, “Tactics & Strategies for Fighting Cancel Culture” Toronto, September 14, 2023

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Christian Decency Protest Leader Bubba Pollock Addresses CAFE & Alternative Forum, “Tactics & Strategies for Fighting Cancel Culture” Toronto, September 14, 2023

WHO IS BUBBA POLLOCK?/

• 34 year-old businessman, semi-retired
• Born in London, went to UWO and Duke University
• Got a degree in business
• Lived and worked in London for many years, worked several
different jobs
• Talk about experience with cancel culture (media articles, social
media comments, messages, getting banned from flag football
etc.)
• Not “death punch” for me as it might be for realtor with 2 kids
and wife in a single-earner household or a small business owner
with their name on the business
• Today I want to talk about strategies we as a group and as
individuals, no matter your situation, can use to fight cancel
culture

Tactics & Strategies for Fighting Cancel Culture


Doxing
• Doxing is identifying who a person is, what their views are and any information about
them (workplace and organizations they’re a part of)
• Call to action to a bigger group to make the person’s life difficult
• Call to many people to reach out to these places and complain about the person,
demanding they be “cancelled”


How to Counter Doxing
• Use false statements people make to advantage, false negative statements made
publicly may be slanderous, SAVE THEM
• Legally, “To prevail in a defamation suit, whether for libel or slander, the plaintiff must show:
That the statements in dispute are defamatory. That the plaintiff was alluded to by the terms.
That the statements were spoken to at least one person other than the plaintiff”
• Protect yourself from doxing: know the policies & procedures of any organizations
you’re part of, regularly get a copy of your HR file, know organizational rules, and call
them out if they violate them


Taking the War to the Woke Crowd
• Take away the money, take away their platform, take away their power
• Find ways to hit their bottom line
• Protest businesses and organizations that support woke culture
• Hit the bottom line of individuals who are active in cancel culture
• Use misinformation to tax their resources for security and counter-protestors at events


Strategies Used Against Drag Story Time
• The goal is to make protests a big event, a big issue to tax their resources, create
supporter fatigue, and force them to pay for police and security
• Document any illegal activity by the other side, report it to police to justify our own
private security
• Show the average person who supports us that they don’t have to fear cancel culture,
get them to stand up and speak up
Get Average People to Become Active
• Step outside your circle, use a soft approach to get people on your side
• Police don’t have resources to watch most members, but protect yourself by keeping
everything legal

Latest Victim of Politically Correct Cancel Culture: Jamie Cudmore, Assistant Rugby Coach, Fired for Criticizing Political Radicalism of Losing Women’s Rugby Team in Tokyo

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Latest Victim of Politically Correct Cancel Culture: Jamie Cudmore, Assistant Rugby Coach Fired

Canada’s poisonous cancel culture of speech control has claimed another victim. Jamie Cudmore is a former player and was assistant coach for the men’s national XVs team. After the women’s team rugby team imploded at the Olympics, losing to France and Fiji, he criticized their political stands — social justice warrior stuff about Indians and racial inclusion. He suggested that maybe more concentration on their game and less of political preaching might have served them better.

He tweeted: “

“Karma is a bitch! #Survivorsmyass,. I think someone could decolonize 9th place tomorrow.”His references to “survivors” and “decolonize” echoed statements the women’s team have made in the past.

The shameless Rugby Canada promptly fired Jamie Cudmore but had the gall to say they wished “to promote a healthy, inclusive culture” — just not inclusive or Mr. Cudmore or any political dissent.

On the other hand, Charity Williams of the women’s team relieved herself of such mawkish statements as: ““But as we know, we are more than athletes. This is what it looks like when you decolonize your space.” What does that even mean? And then: “we will be playing for us, the 1794 Indigenous children and counting, all the Black athletes who are only seen as valuable when they are successful and all survivors of abuse whose stories are not trusted 🧡” And, ““My hope is our team continues a legacy of creating safe and empowering spaces and organizations across Turtle Island and the world,” For the uninitiated, “Turtle Island” is what some Indians call Canada.

This self-styled victim couldn’t even gag out “Canada”. The only victim here is dissident Jamie Cudmore. — Paul Fromm

Canadian rugby coach fired following tweets criticizing Olympic women’s team

Jamie Cudmore, a former player and now an assistant coach for the men’s national XVs team, wrote the tweets after the women’s team crashed out of medal contention at Tokyo 2020

Anne-Cecile Ciofani of France in action with Elissa Alarie of Canada.
Anne-Cecile Ciofani of France in action with Elissa Alarie of Canada. Photo by SIPHIWE SIBEKO /REUTERS

A veteran of the Canadian men’s rugby team, who faced a stampede of criticism after he wrote a series of tweets criticizing the political stances taken by the national women’s rugby sevens team, has been fired by Rugby Canada.

Jamie Cudmore, a former player who was serving an assistant coach for the men’s national XVs team, as well as running the national development academy in Langford, B.C., was terminated Friday afternoon, Rugby Canada confirmed in an email.

Canadian rugby coach fired following tweets criticizing Olympic women’s team

After the women’s team crashed out of medal contention at Tokyo 2020, rather than criticizing the poor play of the team — they suffered heavy defeats against Fiji and France — Cudmore took aim at the team’s politics.

“Karma is a bitch! #Survivorsmyass,” he initially tweeted before sharing an image — not seen by Postmedia — that Twitter flagged as “potentially sensitive content.” He then tweeted “I think someone could decolonize 9th place tomorrow.”

His references to “survivors” and “decolonize” echoed statements the women’s team have made in the past.

“LFG China,” he also tweeted, in support of the Chinese women’s team, who needed a big win over Japan to qualify ahead of Canada. (China beat Japan 29-0 to leap ahead of the Canadians in the overall standings.)

Cudmore later deleted the tweets.

Rugby Canada reacted swiftly, sending out a response early Friday morning via social media.

“Rugby Canada stands with our women’s 7s athletes. We support the team in their efforts both on and off the rugby pitch and are proud of the way they have represented our country. Rugby Canada is aware of recent social media comments made about the team and worked to ensure they were removed as quickly as possible,” the national organization said.

“Our organizational values include solidarity and respect, and everyone on our staff is expected to help create an inclusive environment for all.”

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Rugby Canada’s senior management team decided Friday afternoon to terminate Cudmore’s employment, effective immediately.

“This decision comes as a result of a review of recent social media postings which were unacceptable and in breach of organization policy,” Rugby Canada said in a statement.

“Rugby Canada’s core values, including integrity and respect, must be exemplified in all our rugby programs and we are determined to promote a healthy, inclusive culture now and in future,” Rugby Canada board chair Sally Dennis added.

Last winter, the women’s team filed a series of complaints against former head coach John Tait, which were investigated under Rugby Canada’s harassment and bullying policies. Tait was cleared by the investigation but his position was untenable and he stepped down after more than a decade in charge of the women’s program.

Before these games began, the women spoke up about human rights issues, especially around racial and cultural inclusion and the historical treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada, as well as the structure of their own program.

“A year ago, our team would be sitting here solely talking about the game — and the game is important to us and we are ready for that,” Charity Williams said in a pre-Games press conference. “But as we know, we are more than athletes. This is what it looks like when you decolonize your space.”

“I’ve been on this team for eight years and from my experience, I’ve never felt like there is a true place for me here. But sitting here today, I can say I trust my teammates are open to listening and learning,” she added. “My hope is our team continues a legacy of creating safe and empowering spaces and organizations across Turtle Island and the world,” she added.

Early Friday morning, ahead of Canada’s placing round game vs. Brazil — the Canadians won 45-0 — Williams responded on social media to Cudmore.

“I wanted to take this moment to talk about our performance and how proud I am of this team beyond any result. Because I am, and what we accomplished this year is far greater than one weekend. What this team stands for and who we have become means that young female athletes across Canada can play their sport and feel safe. I’m proud of that,” Williams said.

“But instead I have to sit here once again and share what we’ve been going through as a team. The consistent hatred we have received from people in our own organization. I’m only sharing because this is what we have been dealing with for months. From private texts, to public stalking online and in person. The bullying and harassment that we have received for coming forward is outrageous & scary at times. This is the reason we called for an internal investigation because we haven’t been safe,” she added. “But still, with everything, we have pushed through tears, pain, & joy, all of it to get us here. It’s not the result we wanted but we worked f—ing hard.

“Beyond all of that I want to thank those of you who have supported us thus far..we have heard you and we love you. We don’t regret a single moment and the team’s heads are all held high right now. 2 more games that we will be playing for us, the 1794 Indigenous children and counting, all the Black athletes who are only seen as valuable when they are successful and all survivors of abuse whose stories are not trusted 🧡”

And now…Cancel Culture’s latest victim? CHICK-FIL-A!

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New York Dems Seek to Block Chick-fil-A From State’s Rest Stops 
– Newsmax

Dr. Seuss? Canceled.

Old Glory? Canceled.

4th of July? Canceled.

And now…Cancel Culture’s latest victim? CHICK-FIL-A!
  That’s right. New York Democrats are trying to CANCEL Chick-Fil-A and BLOCK America’s beloved chicken sandwich from New York’s rest stops — all because the fast-food company is run by conservatives.

This cancel culture nonsense needs to END. Do you agree? Then stand with Chick-Fil-A NOW!

STAND WITH CHICK-FIL-A

ADD YOUR NAME TO THE 
OFFICIAL HOUSE GOP PETITION

Your response is MISSING!
  ADD YOUR NAME

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THE LATEST VICTIM OF CANCEL CULTURE: Monsignor Owen Keenan Said Residential Schools Did Much Good & is Now Under Fire from the Anti-Catholics & the Woke

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THE LATEST VICTIM OF CANCEL CULTURE: Monsignor Owen Keenan Said Residential Schools Did Much Good & is Now Under Fire from the Anti-Catholics & the Woke

Social Sharing

Clips of last Sunday’s controversial sermon widely criticized on social media

Samantha Beattie · CBC News · Posted: Jun 24, 2021 5:00 AM ET | Last Updated: June 24

Rev. Owen Keenan, a Roman Catholic priest in Mississauga, Ont., west of Toronto, gives daily mass at the Merciful Redeemer Parish on June 15, 2021. He is under fire for comments about residential schools he made in a recent sermon. (Merciful Redeemer Parish/YouTube)

A Mississauga, Ont., priest is under fire after a sermon referencing the “good done” by the Roman Catholic Church in residential schools, saying some might go so far as to even thank it.

During his sermon at the Merciful Redeemer Parish last Sunday, Monsignor Owen Keenan referenced the Kamloops, B.C., residential school where the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation reported it had discovered the preliminary remains of more than 200 children in unmarked graves in May.

“Two-thirds of the country is blaming the church, which we love, for the tragedies that occurred there,” he said on a video originally posted to the church’s YouTube page but since deleted. Clips of his sermon continue to circulate on social media.

“I presume the same number would thank the church for the good done in those schools, but of course, that question was never asked and we are not allowed to even say that good was done there. I await to see what comes to my inbox.” 

‘Extremely harmful to reconciliation’

A clip of Keenan’s comments sparked outrage on social media, with one person tweeting that the priest’s comments were “really disgusting” and that “the Church is not the victim.”  https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1407034853208563719&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fnews%2Fcanada%2Ftoronto%2Fmississauga-pastor-catholic-church-residential-schools-1.6077248&sessionId=6d223c00a2342d68bbddc4c179704f7fb0073c3e&siteScreenName=cbc&theme=light&widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&width=550px

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, a practising Catholic, said  she was “extremely disappointed” by her pastor’s comments about residential schools.

Reading from a prepared statement at a news conference Thursday, the mayor called Keenan’s homily “deeply insensitive to Indigenous Canadians, particularly at a time when Indigenous communities are in pain as they unearth more mass graves at the sites of former residential schools.”

“His comments show a fundamental misunderstanding of one of the core tragedies of the residential school system in Canada,” she said. “The children were forcibly separated from their parents.”

Crombie said how Canada’s history has been taught obscures the truth behind what really happened: The federal government and many churches, including the Catholic Church, operated these schools for close to 150 years, committing atrocities and silencing voices forever.

“No apology from the federal government or the church will be enough to undo the havoc that was wreaked through these institutions,” Crombie said. “But an apology is where we must start. It’s a basic and it’s a fundamental foundation to our reconciliation.”

Dr. Suzanne Shoush, who is Indigenous, works for the Catholic-run health network Unity Health Toronto. She is demanding the Pope apologize for the church’s role in residential schools. She said comments like those made by Keenan are damaging to reconciliation and exemplify why Catholic leaders need to intervene. 

“This is part of the reason why we keep pushing to have a formal asking of forgiveness to Indigenous people in Canada from the Pope himself,” she said. 

“It’s really critical that it comes from the leadership so that we stop having these incredibly ignorant and harmful comments coming from across the church. I think that what we’re seeing is extremely harmful to reconciliation.”

An undated photo of Kamloops residential school students and a priest. (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation)

Keenan also said in his sermon that while the church should apologize for its participation in the “ill-devised government project,” it should also wait to find out who was buried at the Kamloops site and why before “rendering ultimate judgment.” 

During a mass on June 6, Keenan said the discovery was “very sad” and a symbol of the “ongoing tragedy” of government policies against Indigenous people, but also that:

“We don’t know how those children died. We don’t know, we can’t know, if they would’ve died if they stayed at home.”

While he called for prayers and reconciliation, he also said, “Many people had very positive experiences of residential schools. Many people received health care and education and joyful experiences.

“They weren’t universally awful. But there’s still no place for the horrors that are alleged to have occurred there.”

Residential school survivors have shared horrific accounts of abuse, starvation and neglect, and difficulties getting  documents from the Catholic Church, which ran the majority of  the schools. The final 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins by stating that what took place at residential schools “can be best described as ‘cultural genocide.'” 

“The church actively sought to exercise exclusive control over the welfare of these children and therefore are exclusively responsible for the conditions which these children lived in,” Shoush said.

In a statement to CBC News Wednesday, Keenan defended his comments, saying that he was trying to help his congregation struggling with negative news about the church. 

“I am deeply sorry, embarrassed, ashamed and shocked at the revelations of abuse, destruction and harm done in residential schools across this country,” he said in the statement. “I in no way condone the system …  As a Catholic and a priest, I wish I could say ‘I’m sorry’ to everyone who suffered harm.”

The Archdiocese of Toronto said in a statement it’s been in contact with Keenan “to convey the deep pain and anger” some felt. He has “pledged to fully educate himself” about the history of residential schools. 

“We apologize to anyone offended by his remarks,” the archdiocese said. 

Pastor criticizes Pride flags at schools

In the same sermon, Keenan criticized Catholic schools for flying Pride flags this month, saying the church had hoped they’d show “courage” by displaying a cross or sacred heart instead. He described the Pride flag as “the standard of contemporary sexual licence” that’s replacing Catholic symbols.

Keenan did not respond to questions from CBC News about his comments toward the LGBTQ community. 

Crombie said she told Keenan his comments have no place in the city of Mississauga. 

Priest under fire after sermon on the ‘good done’ by Catholic Church on residential schools

Social Sharing

Clips of last Sunday’s controversial sermon widely criticized on social media

Samantha Beattie · CBC News · Posted: Jun 24, 2021 5:00 AM ET | Last Updated: June 24

Rev. Owen Keenan, a Roman Catholic priest in Mississauga, Ont., west of Toronto, gives daily mass at the Merciful Redeemer Parish on June 15, 2021. He is under fire for comments about residential schools he made in a recent sermon. (Merciful Redeemer Parish/YouTube)

A Mississauga, Ont., priest is under fire after a sermon referencing the “good done” by the Roman Catholic Church in residential schools, saying some might go so far as to even thank it.

During his sermon at the Merciful Redeemer Parish last Sunday, Monsignor Owen Keenan referenced the Kamloops, B.C., residential school where the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation reported it had discovered the preliminary remains of more than 200 children in unmarked graves in May.

“Two-thirds of the country is blaming the church, which we love, for the tragedies that occurred there,” he said on a video originally posted to the church’s YouTube page but since deleted. Clips of his sermon continue to circulate on social media.

“I presume the same number would thank the church for the good done in those schools, but of course, that question was never asked and we are not allowed to even say that good was done there. I await to see what comes to my inbox.” 

‘Extremely harmful to reconciliation’

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, a practising Catholic, said  she was “extremely disappointed” by her pastor’s comments about residential schools.

Reading from a prepared statement at a news conference Thursday, the mayor called Keenan’s homily “deeply insensitive to Indigenous Canadians, particularly at a time when Indigenous communities are in pain as they unearth more mass graves at the sites of former residential schools.”

“His comments show a fundamental misunderstanding of one of the core tragedies of the residential school system in Canada,” she said. “The children were forcibly separated from their parents.”

Crombie said how Canada’s history has been taught obscures the truth behind what really happened: The federal government and many churches, including the Catholic Church, operated these schools for close to 150 years, committing atrocities and silencing voices forever.

“No apology from the federal government or the church will be enough to undo the havoc that was wreaked through these institutions,” Crombie said. “But an apology is where we must start. It’s a basic and it’s a fundamental foundation to our reconciliation.”

Dr. Suzanne Shoush, who is Indigenous, works for the Catholic-run health network Unity Health Toronto. She is demanding the Pope apologize for the church’s role in residential schools. She said comments like those made by Keenan are damaging to reconciliation and exemplify why Catholic leaders need to intervene. 

“This is part of the reason why we keep pushing to have a formal asking of forgiveness to Indigenous people in Canada from the Pope himself,” she said. 

“It’s really critical that it comes from the leadership so that we stop having these incredibly ignorant and harmful comments coming from across the church. I think that what we’re seeing is extremely harmful to reconciliation.”

An undated photo of Kamloops residential school students and a priest. (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation)

Keenan also said in his sermon that while the church should apologize for its participation in the “ill-devised government project,” it should also wait to find out who was buried at the Kamloops site and why before “rendering ultimate judgment.” 

During a mass on June 6, Keenan said the discovery was “very sad” and a symbol of the “ongoing tragedy” of government policies against Indigenous people, but also that:

“We don’t know how those children died. We don’t know, we can’t know, if they would’ve died if they stayed at home.”

While he called for prayers and reconciliation, he also said, “Many people had very positive experiences of residential schools. Many people received health care and education and joyful experiences.

“They weren’t universally awful. But there’s still no place for the horrors that are alleged to have occurred there.”

Residential school survivors have shared horrific accounts of abuse, starvation and neglect, and difficulties getting  documents from the Catholic Church, which ran the majority of  the schools. The final 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins by stating that what took place at residential schools “can be best described as ‘cultural genocide.'” 

“The church actively sought to exercise exclusive control over the welfare of these children and therefore are exclusively responsible for the conditions which these children lived in,” Shoush said.

In a statement to CBC News Wednesday, Keenan defended his comments, saying that he was trying to help his congregation struggling with negative news about the church. 

“I am deeply sorry, embarrassed, ashamed and shocked at the revelations of abuse, destruction and harm done in residential schools across this country,” he said in the statement. “I in no way condone the system …  As a Catholic and a priest, I wish I could say ‘I’m sorry’ to everyone who suffered harm.”

The Archdiocese of Toronto said in a statement it’s been in contact with Keenan “to convey the deep pain and anger” some felt. He has “pledged to fully educate himself” about the history of residential schools. 

“We apologize to anyone offended by his remarks,” the archdiocese said. 

Pastor criticizes Pride flags at schools

In the same sermon, Keenan criticized Catholic schools for flying Pride flags this month, saying the church had hoped they’d show “courage” by displaying a cross or sacred heart instead. He described the Pride flag as “the standard of contemporary sexual licence” that’s replacing Catholic symbols.

Keenan did not respond to questions from CBC News about his comments toward the LGBTQ community. 

Crombie said she told Keenan his comments have no place in the city of Mississauga. 

“He expressed his shame and remorse,” she said. 

Keith Baybayon says schools help make LGBTQ students feel more included and safe by flying the Pride flag. (Jared Thomas/CBC)

LGBTQ activist Keith Baybayon, who is also a student trustee with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, said members of the Catholic Church have ramped up these kinds of comments as more Ontario school boards agree to fly Pride flags every June. The flag holds a special meaning of inclusion for the LGBTQ community that the cross doesn’t, he said.

“Flying the Pride flag can really express solidarity that the school boards have with their LGBTQ students and staff, ensuring that they belong, their voices are heard,” Baybayon said. 

“We’re not taking away the cross. We’re not taking away the sacred heart. They’re all going up there to ensure that every single person is represented in our board.” 

oard.” 

Support Monsignor Owen Keenan’s right to free speech. Mississauga’s Merciful Redeemer Parish. Email: Pastor@mercifulredeemer.orgAddress: 2775 Erin Centre Blvd, Mississauga, ON L5M 5W2Phone: 1 (905) 812-0030

Cancel Culture Claims Another Victim — Mike Stafford

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Cancel Culture Claims Another Victim — Mike Stafford

The Red Guards of cancel culture claim another victim. The longtime AM 640 radio host Mike Stafford was fired almost immediately after using what is described as a “racial slur” (probably Paki) for East Indians in a PRIVATE employee chat group. He didn’t use the term on air

Kathryn Marshall: The cancel culture mob could come looking for you, too

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Kathryn Marshall: The cancel culture mob could come looking for you, too

Due process goes out the window when it comes to cancel culture. By the time all the facts come to light, it is too lateAuthor of the article:Kathryn MarshallPublishing date:Jan 26, 2021  •  5 days ago  •  3 minute read

Cancel culture is a toxic practice that we should cancel, writes Kathryn Marshall. PHOTO BY SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

Article content

You know it is getting bad when even Mr. Bean is calling you out. In an interview earlier this month, Rowan Atkinson equated cancel culture with a “medieval mob, roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.”

It is an apt comparison.

Kathryn Marshall: The cancel culture mob could come looking for you, too
Close sticky video

In 2015, British journalist Jon Ronson wrote a great book called “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed,” where he explored public shaming on the internet and interviewed people who had been on the receiving end of the online mob. No one could have predicted how online public shaming would mutate into the ubiquitous and toxic cancel culture that has become so powerful today.

A medieval mob, roaming the streets looking for someone to burnROWAN ATKINSON

Cancel culture doesn’t just come for celebrities and politicians. It pursues regular everyday folk, too. As an employment lawyer, I have seen my fair share of unjust terminations. One aspect of cancel culture I find particularly troubling is how the mob goes after people’s jobs. This is no trite matter. It is one thing to call someone out and shame them on online. But to attack a person’s ability to put food on the table is a line that shouldn’t be crossed. It doesn’t take much pressure from the cancel culture mob to cancel someone’s employment contract. Employers, especially large companies, are terrified of bad press and the thought of trending on Twitter for the wrong reasons is the stuff of nightmares

A few angry emails and an unsightly mention in a BuzzFeed article may be all it takes to get you cancelled at work. Forget about an investigation or proper human resources protocols — there isn’t time for that. One of cancel culture’s greatest strengths is its speed. With social media and the 24/7 news cycle, the process of cancelling a human can take mere hours.

In any other scenario where a complaint is made against an employee, there would usually be a proper investigation process undertaken by the employer that could take weeks, maybe months. The employee would be permitted to present a defence and the full context would be examined. Termination for cause, which is the capital offence of employment law, would be a last-resort option.

A statue of justice is seen outside Vancouver’s law courts. Due process goes out the window in cases of cancel culture, writes Kathryn Marshall. PHOTO BY MARK VAN MANEN/POSTMEDIA NEWS

Due process goes out the window when it comes to cancel culture. By the time all the facts come to light, it is too late. The damage has been done and the mob is onto its next victim.

If companies would just keep their nerve instead of panicking and hitting the fire button, they could avoid potential liability from unjustly fired employees. The cancel culture mob usually loses interest after a few days, but the lawsuits from terminated employees linger.

A friend once asked me, isn’t cancel culture just the product of a free market, like consumer activism? The answer is no. Cancel culture is about power and control. It is a highly effective tool that gives a self-appointed and often small mob the power to control who has and doesn’t have a platform or voice. What it takes to be cancelled is completely fluid and changes almost daily. Cancel culture is the antithesis of free speech and the enemy of due process and fairness.

Cancel culture is the antithesis of free speech and the enemy of due process and fairness

The goal isn’t just to humiliate or to shame. And it certainly isn’t to elicit an apology. The objective is to literally remove a person from every semblance of their life — personal and professional. To destroy that person’s career, influence, respect and render them so radioactive that no company, person or employer will ever want to touch them with a 10-foot pole. In other words, cancelled.

There are always stories of a cancel culture victim months later, where some reporter has dredged up all the facts and evidence and tells the full story in the proper context. You read it and think — that was really unfair. And then you go about your day, while that person has to live the rest of their life with this humiliation plastered all over the internet.

Are there some people and groups out there who deserve to be deplatformed? Of course — this has always been the case.

But do the vast majority of people who have made a mistake or said or done the wrong thing at some point in their life deserve due process and a second chance?

Yes.

Cancel culture is a toxic practice that we should cancel.

Lawyer Horst Mahler released from prison in Germany after serving 10 years: Ten Years for the Thought Crime of Questioning the New Secular Religion of “holocaust”

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Lawyer Horst Mahler released from prison in Germany after serving 10 years

Published by carolyn on Sun, 2020-11-01 12:48

Horst Mahler’s long-awaited release from prison was not covered by the mainstream media. He’s one of those charismatic “heroes of the Right” the establishment tries to “cancel.”

By Carolyn Yeager

THE 84-YEAR-OLD LAWYER WAS RELEASED FROM A PRISON IN THE EASTERN STATE of Brandenburg on Monday afternoon, Oct. 26, a spokesman for the Brandenburg Justice Ministry said.

He was released under strict security conditions, which may have included ‘no welcoming party’ because it seems there is practically a news blackout on the whole affair.

Mahler was jailed in 2009 after being given a 10-year-plus sentence for “incitement to racial hatred” and for Holocaust denial — which is a crime in Germany.

Mahler was temporarily released in 2015 for medical reasons—he suffers from diabetes and reportedly has had two foot-leg amputations while in prison because of lack of exercise and inadequate diet, and is now confined to a wheelchair. After being released in 2015, he made ‘non-permitted’ statements and traveled to Hungary where he requested political asylum. The Hungarian authorities (under Orban) refused his request and extradited him back to Germany where he was transferred back to prison in 2017.

New Charges

Mahler’s freedom may be once again cut short because German authorites are already coming up with new charges against him. Prosecutors in the city of Cottbus (on the German-Polish border) say they are putting out a new arrest warrant against him for remarks published online. A spokesman for the Potsdam Regional Court announced a total of six charges for texts, writings and publications, all of which are intended to constitute an offense of sedition.

Mahler has denounced the new charges, saying his remarks were “purely opinions” that he has never denied. “These are contributions to the interpretation of contemporary events on an ideological basis,” said Mahler.

The above information was gleaned from Deutsche Welle.com and The Teller Report.com. I will follow up on this news as I am able to find it. Readers’ legitimate contributions are welcome.

Ursula Haverbeck is now scheduled to be released on November 5, so we look forward to that also. Stay tuned.

Tags 

Horst Mahler, Jailing free speech, cancel culture

Telegraph The Orwellian double-think of the woke elite blinds them to their own ridiculousness Both Cambridge and the Booker Prize claim to be defending free speech while simultaneously cancelling people they disagree with

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Telegraph The Orwellian double-think of the woke elite blinds them to their own ridiculousness Both Cambridge and the Booker Prize claim to be defending free speech while simultaneously cancelling people they disagree withMADELINE GRANT28 June 2020 • 7:00amWith the Archbishop of Canterbury urging ecclesiastical iconoclasm with a vim not seen since the days of Thomas Cranmer, one could almost think the culture war’s excesses had lost their ability to shock. Yet last week produced two examples so blatant, so deranged and so shameless as to astonish even the most cynical observer.
Archbishop of Canterbury says Church needs to reconsider portraying Jesu…Statues in Canterbury Cathedral are also going to be looked at “very carefully” to see if they should be there, …

First, Cambridge University’s defence of Dr Priyamvada Gopal, a lecturer in postcolonial literature who sparked a (not unreasonable) public backlash after tweeting that “White lives don’t matter. As white lives”. Amid calls for her dismissal, Cambridge released a supportive message, apparently condemning “cancel culture” in all its forms:
Cambridge defends academic who said ‘white lives don’t matter’Dr Priyamvada Gopal, an expert in postcolonial literature, claimed her tweets were ‘speaking to a structure and …

“The university defends the right of its academics to express their own lawful opinions which others might find controversial and deplores in the strongest terms abuse and personal attacks”.Noble sentiments indeed, but it also happens to be a lie – and one so barefaced that it would almost be funny if it weren’t so tragic. Under a “progressive” new vice chancellor, Cambridge has led the way in appeasing the outrage mob. It has singularly failed to defend conservative academics such as the sociologist Noah Carl – summarily dismissed after an open letter from faculty members accused him of racism. It took university authorities just 48 hours to rescind Jordan Peterson’s visiting fellowship, while the students’ union claimed his “work and views” were “not representative of the student body”. Curiouser and curiouser. In claiming to value free speech (but only for certain opinions) Cambridge is guilty both of double standards, and double-think.
Intolerant zealots are strangling the intellectual freedom of our univer…Academics have a duty to win the debate, not stifle it


Jordan Peterson accuses Cambridge University of being ‘unprofessional’ a…The controversial professor Jordan Peterson has said Cambridge University is “unprofessional” after he found out…

Similar sleight of mind can be seen in the tragicomical conduct of Booker Prize organisers, who sacked their long-time patroness Baroness Nicholson as honorary vice-president for the “crimes” of voting against gay marriage in 2013, believing in biological sex and “misgendering” someone on Twitter. An equally Orwellian statement followed:
JK Rowling has ‘fallen in with the wrong crowd’, says trans activistFox Fisher said Rowling was ‘fearful’ of transgender people and needed to spend more time with them

“We deplore racism, homophobia and transphobia, and do not discriminate on any grounds. Literature is open, plural and questioning. We believe every author’s work should be approached by readers in the same spirit.”No satire could match this delicious declaration of support for openness and plurality of opinion, while sacking someone people disagreed with. Like adults who wear Crocs in public, they seem to have forgotten that we can see them.The double-think is as unsurprising as it is flagrant. Once-niche “critical theory” has infiltrated contemporary discourse, with its rejection of logic, reason and objective reality. And revolutionaries always become what they claim to abhor, like the French radicals who repressed formal religion and ended up worshipping an amorphous Cult of Reason, and replaced the judiciary with “people’s courts”. Today, we are similarly discovering what atrocities may be committed under the guise of the Rights of Man.Dominating every major wing of cultural life, small wonder that the Left feels so comfortable in its exquisite hypocrisies. Influential appointments have the ring of a cosy, quasi-incestuous club, a conveyor belt of Left-wing opinion linking Guardian editorships, heads of Oxbridge colleges, public health quangocrats and more. Readers may recall the popular game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, in which film buffs challenge each other to find the shortest path between an arbitrary actor and the prolific Bacon. A colleague suggests a version for the quangocracy; “Six Degrees of Shami Chakrabarti”.For how long can this state of affairs continue? Being obliged to parrot propaganda and declare the sky is pink to retain your livelihood is emotionally draining. Neither is it healthy for our institutions to be so consistently out of step with public opinion, overseen by a detached cultural elite that is only occasionally roused from its perch by a disobliging election or referendum result. Few of us wish to inhabit a monoculture, and the quality of artistic output is already suffering; take the Booker Prize’s own deterioration in the literary landscape.Worst of all, it will destroy genuine progress. In liberal California, presumably to pave the way for “affirmative action” measures, the legislature has just voted to strike anti-discrimination commitments from its constitution – a development that should terrify all thinking people. Britain is never far behind America and already ours is a topsy-turvy world, in which bullies feign victimhood, discrimination masquerades as social justice and “feminist” activists use the mantle of progressivism to hound women with impunity. Truly, we are through the looking glass now.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16060/political-correctness-britain-trevor-phillips

‘Political Correctness’ in the UK: Shut Down Discussion Before It Can Start

by Denis MacEoin
June 9, 2020 at 5:00 am




  • Political correctness, whatever its commendable origins in a wish to protect minorities on a basis of race, sexuality, or religious belief, has come to do great damage in its sometimes neurotic condemnation of anything its advocates find offensive.
  • Among some individuals, the word “Islamophobe” seems to have replaced the word Communist as sort of a new form of McCarthyism with which to smear, defame and neutralize anyone with whom one might disagree — presumably to shut down any kind of discussion before it can even start.
  • While it is appropriate to… bring in balanced Muslim opinions about how to define “Islamophobia,” organizations with links to more radical Muslim groupings are probably not the most helpful partners.
  • Without a serious debate on these issues, no one… can engage in comprehensive discussions about how Western societies should handle the problems of discrimination, integration, citizenship, free speech, secular values, human rights and all the areas of our collective lives that have come to the fore… in recent years.
  • Trevor Phillips is uniquely placed to bring light to these discussions. A well-respected man in both British and international society, he should never be shut down by anyone, especially for the ostensible sake of political correctness.
For many years now, Trevor Phillips has been one of the most prominent individuals of black ancestry in the United Kingdom. A well-respected man in both British and international society, he should never be shut down by anyone, especially for the ostensible sake of political correctness. Pictured: Phillips in 2010. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

For many years now, Trevor Phillips OBE has been one of the most prominent individuals of black ancestry in the United Kingdom. He is a multitalented individual who has played significant roles in business, politics, journalism, and more throughout a long life (he is now 66). A full list of his achievements would take up most of this article. Here are only a few examples:

He was, until June 2018, the President of the John Lewis Partnership, Europe’s largest employee-owned company. He has also Chairman of Index on Censorship, the international campaign group for freedom of expression, and was founding chair of both the Greater London Authority, and of Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission. Originally chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, and as head of the EHRC, Phillips was a controversial figure: he was an opponent of multiculturalism, apparently preferring a more constrained policy towards integration, a view he still maintains. Although a member (until recently) of the left-wing Labour party, he is still a senior fellow with the leading Conservative think tank, Policy Exchange.

Shockingly, on March 9, Phillips was suspended from the Labour Party on the grounds of “Islamophobia.” That this exclusion is shocking should be obvious given the man’s long history of anti-racism, principled and critical support for national counter-terrorist laws, rejection of Islamic terrorism and Muslim rape gangs, and his focus on faith-based integration. This latter is discussed in his 2016 book for the Civitas think tank, Race and Faith: The Deafening Silence.

As chairman of Index on Censorship, Phillips has a policy largely derived from the First Amendment of the US Constitution, in order to permit freedom of speech and the press. Although there are some restrictions in the UK regarding hate speech and national security, free speech remains a broad principle. It is here that Phillips apparently fell afoul of “politically correct” criticism.

“Political correctness”, whatever its commendable origins in a wish to protect minorities on a basis of race, sexuality, or religious belief, has come to do great damage in its sometimes neurotic condemnation of anything its advocates find offensive.

For many, especially, it seems. on the left, the notion of what is called “Islamophobia” has come to the fore as the perfect expression of politically correct speech and writing. This acceptance seems to have taken place despite the appalling use of anti-Semitic hate speech and anti-Jewish activism before and during the era of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of Britain’s Labour Party. One is inclined to think of pots calling kettles black. If the politically correct can get it so wrong about antisemitism, may they not be equally wrong about “Islamophobia”?

It is not hard to define antisemitism if we are guided by the Working Definition given by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, but defining Islamophobia is fraught with difficulties. That it exists in some form, as do most prejudices, is hardly controversial. In the UK alone, 2018 saw a record number of attacks on Muslims, sometimes, not surprisingly, in response to Muslim attacks on non-Muslims.

In 2019, an Australian, Brenton Tarrant, murdered 51 Muslims in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand — crimes to which he has now pled guilty. Such attacks, and often the speech that goes with them, reflect a deep-seated racism and bigotry that is rightly condemned across most countries. Less violent but equally unacceptable is the persecution of its Uighur population by China’s Communist Party.

It should go without saying that Trevor Phillips — and often many people accused of seemingly the most innocuous transgressions, such as a British teacher in the Sudan naming a children’s teddy bear Mohammed, or in present-day Nigeria, simply being a Christian — bears no resemblance to any of these.

In 2016, before the current row, Gatestone Senior Fellow Douglas Murray penned an article in the Spectator expressing admiration for Phillips and defending him against early accusations of Islamophobia. Yet, four years on, he has been termed an “Islamophobe” by a major political party and many in the press. Among some individuals, the word “Islamophobe” seems to have replaced the word Communist as sort of a new form of McCarthyism with which to smear, defame and neutralize anyone with whom one might disagree — presumably to shut down any kind of discussion before it can even start.

Phillips himself has worked alone and with colleagues on the problems surrounding the definition of Islamophobia. In 2018, he wrote the foreword to Policy Exchange’s response to an extremely flawed definition from the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims. The definition had been heavily criticized, not least by the police, for undermining free speech and counter-terrorism work. Phillips supported the author, Sir John Jenkins KCMG, who exposed the risks to free speech and a healthy democracy if the APPG report were to become law. The following year, Phillips — with Jenkins and Dr. Martyn Frampton — wrote for the same think tank a piece entitled, On Islamophobia: A Problem of Definition. In it, he differed materially from the views of Nathan Lean, the left-wing author of The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims, who takes even the mildest criticism of Islam or Muslims as Islamophobic in nature.

One of the concerns expressed in Phillips’s responses to the APPG lay in the fact that the parliamentarians involved might have allowed themselves to be influenced too broadly by Muslim lobbies that seemed not truly representative, such as the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Engagement and Development group (MEND).

While it is appropriate to recognize Jewish contributions to definitions of antisemitism (such as the internationally supported IHRA version mentioned above) and to bring in balanced Muslim opinions about how to define Islamophobia, organizations with links to more radical Muslim groupings are most likely not the most helpful partners. To eradicate hatred for balanced and peace-loving Muslims, it is probably not all that productive totally to avoid references to Islamic radicalism or issues surrounding women’s rights, treatment of non-Muslims, prescribed punishments, treatment of children, and blasphemy to name but a few — which is what more traditionalist Muslims might prefer we did.

Without a serious debate on these issues, no one — from schools to political parties, think tanks, parliaments, churches and synagogues — can engage in comprehensive discussions about how Western societies should handle the problems of discrimination, integration, citizenship, free speech, secular values, human rights and all the areas of our collective lives that have come to the fore with the revival of radical and traditionalist Islam in recent decades.

Trevor Phillips is uniquely placed to bring light to these discussions. A well-respected man in both British and international society, he should never be shut down by anyone for the ostensible sake of political correctness.

Following Labour’s condemnation of Phillips as a supposed “Islamophobe”, Policy Exchange published another piece The Trial: The strange case of Trevor Phillips, again by Frampton, in which he dissected the charge raised against Phillips. In the end, it appears that however many enemies Phillips may have, he is assured of having many friends. This conclusion is reflected in that the UK government has just appointed him as an advisor to a formal inquiry into the disproportionate number of deaths from Covid-19.

Dr. Denis MacEoin is a former British university lecturer in Islamic Studies and a Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Gatestone Institute.