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February 14, 2005
Be Careful What You Wish For
In an interesting piece, John Leo tries to imagine what Alec Baldwin will find if he ever decides to flee the Long Arm of The BushReich:
Except for murder, a rate of violent crime as disgraceful as that of the United States. Many U.S. newspapers salute Canada for its low crime rate. But according to the International Crime Victimization Survey, the rate of certain “contact” crimes (robbery, sexual assault, and assault with force) is over 1.5 times higher in Canada than in the United States.The customary problems of socialized medicine.
A 2000 report from the Heritage Foundation found long waiting lists, government rationing, and substandard care in Canada’s system. Drug spending is controlled, according to the report, by limiting the number of approved drugs and slowing down the approval process. In one four-year period, Canada approved only 24 of 400 new drugs. Keep coming down here for healthcare, Canadians.A national infatuation with censorship.
Canadians tend to be a benign people who value niceness. So they have a strong tendency to suppress speech that they see as lacking in niceness. Un-nice books and videos are seized at the border or banned from libraries. Any material cited for “undue exploitation of sex” or for being “degrading or dehumanizing” can be banned.Speech is illegal if it “promotes hatred” or spreads “false news.” Advertising “directed at children” can be ruled illegal. If the recorded message on your answering machine is deemed discriminatory, you can be prosecuted for it. In Saskatchewan, a newspaper ad listing four biblical citations against homosexuality (just the listing, no text), accompanied by two hand-holding male stick figures with a line drawn across them, was ruled a human-rights offense, and the man who placed the ad was directed to pay $1,800 each to three gay men who were offended by the ad. “Canadians put up with an insane amount of crap that Americans might not,” said David Sutherland, former director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.
It is this last that really intrigues me. Should Mr. Baldwin ever find the courage to follow through on his pledge to leave our fair shores, how long would Hollywood's spoiled pretty boy be willing to tolerate the arctic wind of Canada's political correctness movement?
Posted by Cassandra at February 14, 2005 06:50 AM
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Comments
Speech is illegal if it “promotes hatred” or spreads “false news.”
So by those standards I suppose Dan Rather and Eason Jordan would be arrested in Kanada?
Posted by: Joatmoaf at February 14, 2005 07:39 AM
Hiya, Joat!
No, I think if speech in Canada "promotes hatred" of or spreads "false news" about the US or its policies, it is fine.
Posted by: MathMom at February 14, 2005 07:47 AM
I'm just thinking it wouldn't exactly be out of character for Mr. Baldwin to start criticizing his adopted country after a suitable interval... what happens then???
Posted by: Cassandra at February 14, 2005 08:08 AM
Mr Baldwin wearing an orange jumpsuit, maybe?
Posted by: purple raider at February 14, 2005 08:39 AM
And Ward Churchill can caddy for them.
They might find their appendages somewhat
shrunk, but that is the risk you take when you run with a dangling participle.
Posted by: Cricket at February 14, 2005 08:44 PM