منتدى استراحات زايد - Jew haters and 'free' speech

Jew haters and 'free' speech

The Toronto District School Board has Israeli Apartheid Week figured out, unlike our universities

By Lorrie Goldstein, Senior Associate Editor
March 14, 2010

Common sense from educators when it comes to dealing with Jew haters and Jew baiters is so rare that when it happens, it should be applauded

That occurred March 2 when Toronto District School Board education director Chris Spence, following a motion by Trustee James Pasternak and discussions with senior staff, issued the following statement regarding Israeli Apartheid Week

“Our educational goal includes the building of understanding, trust and co-operation among groups and individuals in the TDSB. The event called ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ has the effect of fostering ill-will and disharmony among groups and individuals. The Government of Ontario and the opposition parties have unanimously adopted a resolution condemning ‘Israeli Apartheid Week.’ The Toronto District School Board therefore affirms that ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ and its activities are not permitted to take place on school or Board property, or as part of any activity under the jurisdiction of the TDSB

See? No muss, no fuss. No crazies screeching Jew-hating is protected by free speech. Plus, the board now has a sensible precedent in place banning, should anyone ever propose them, an Islamic Terrorism Week, or Muslim Honour Killing Week, or Black Crime Week, or anything similarly malicious

Admittedly, it’s easier for a school board to deal with Israeli Apartheid Week than a university because we agree children need to be protected from things adults don’t

For example, if your colleague tells you the Holocaust was a hoax and he can prove it, he’s entitled to his repugnant views. However, if a Grade 6 history teacher says that to his class, there could and should be official sanctions against him

Consequences
Those who argue this should fall under “free speech” don’t understand what it is. Free speech is the right to state your views without being censored, harassed, imprisoned, tortured or killed, but it doesn’t mean people are unaccountable for what they say, or for the context in which they say it. Speech has consequences

Further, free speech isn’t absolute. You can’t falsely shout “fire” in a crowded theatre. You can’t libel or slander someone, in the sense they have civil remedies

Under the Criminal Code, you can’t preach genocide or willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group, or threaten individuals

The problem when universities deal with Israeli Apartheid Week — which started at the University of Toronto in 2005 and has spread to about 40 universities — is that their (usually) liberal administrations often disappear up their politically correct behinds defending “free speech

Free speech isn’t the issue. The appropriate use of publicly-funded institutions is. At a university, the fact a group holds an Israeli Apartheid Week that may engage in one-sided attacks on Israel lacking context (i.e. security threats and terrorism) and that much of what is said is offensive to many Jews, and others, isn’t a valid reason to shut it down

Free speech applies. Israel isn’t above criticism and universities are places where we especially value freedom of inquiry, debate and controversial, even offensive, views

(Sadly, universities don’t have a stellar record of defending free speech when it matters. Say in Nazi Germany where many academics, far from resisting this appalling evil, became its apologists and scientists, conducting medical experiments that were actually torture

A university is a publicly-held trust and is accountable to society for how Israeli Apartheid Week (or anything else) is conducted. For example, that events are peaceful. That participants don’t threaten those who challenge their views or try to shut down their activities. (This also applies to those who oppose Israeli Apartheid Week

University administrators who defend “free speech” regarding IAW events, even as the cops have to be called in, miss the point

Demanding, with sanctions, appropriate conduct from all members of the university community isn’t suppressing free speech — it’s doing their jobs. If they don’t do it, they’re shirking their responsibilities

If anyone on campus defies reasonable standards of conduct, they can rent a room off campus, on their own dime, and Jew hate to their heart’s content

But not at a publicly-funded university and not under the false flag of “free speech

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