Sid Ryan,Academics,Freedom of Speech,Hypocricy & Israel
January 25, 2009 by Dirk
Watching Terry Glavin , Andrew Potter and Warren Kinsella brandishing the blunt instrument of anti-semitism is truly entertaining to witness.
Their phony self righteous indignation and ham fisted ridiculing of Sid Ryan is akin to the, mean spirited he said she said gossip,one normally associates with the right-wing radio talk show circus.
Having followed and read many interesting articles & books by all three of these guys,I for one find their views on this “issue” perplexing & simplistic. Indeed totally out of character with what I have come to expect & appreciate in their books & writings.This particularly applies to Terry Glavin who’s many books I have not only enjoyed,but found value in.
For sure some of what Sid Ryan had to say was not only ill conceived , but dumb,in fact many on the “left” have spoken out against Sid Ryan’s absurd statement,including this blogger.
But that said he sure as hell should not be labeled anti-semitic ,nor should he have to fear losing his job due to the pressure from the self righteous peanut gallery.Particular for something as trivial,as thinking out loud.
Where is the outrage over the brutal killings,of hundreds upon hundreds of Palestinian civilians 1/3 of whom were children, by Israel ?… i.e,the events that led Sid Ryan to express outrage against Israel’s actions,in the form of a CUPE resolution(words).
Anyway one cuts it,Sid Ryan’s call for a “boycott of Israeli academic’s” which was to be included in a CUPE resolution ,was not motivated by intolerance or “anti-semitism”.Rather it was more a lapse in judgment,to much tongue wagging and not enough thinking.
Where is the outrage and indignation from Terry Glavin,Andrew Potter or the academic “community” in general in response to Israeli actions,i.e the banning of authors & academics and by extension freedom of expression.For example Norman Finkelstein…
Just one of many academics & scholars,who are banned & harassed in Israel .
What of the Israeli actions that prevent Palestinian students,writers and academics from attending Universities outside of the occupied territories ? Or of fulfilling scholarship possibilities etc etc ?
Where is the outrage over Israeli actions,i.e the bombing of Palestinian and U.N,schools and universities ?
Their silence on these real issues, as compared to their shrillness on faux issues,is not only deafening but casts a long shadow of doubt on their ideas of intellectual fairness & honesty.
Press release from the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association:
Senior Ignatieff Liberal’s “cat meat” comment offends the Chinese community
Chinese Canadian Conservative Association calls on Liberal leader to fire Senior Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella
Toronto – Alex Yuan, chair of the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association called on Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to distance himself from the comments made by senior Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella. In a recent blog posting Kinsella likened the meat found in Chinese cuisine to cat meat.
“Back in the Big Owe for a couple weeks, so what better way to kick things off than with some BBQ cat and rice at the Yang Sheng, hangout of our youth? Yay!”
Kinsella repeated the offensive comment in a video posting on his website.
“Our community is deeply concerned with Mr. Kinsella’s comments. Kinsella repeats the most vulgar and offensive stereotypes by associating the meat served by Chinese restaurants to cat meat. He has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and disrespected the Chinese culture,” continued Yuan.
“This is not the first instance of such intolerant remarks by Mr. Kinsella therefore we call upon Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to fire Mr. Kinsella as his senior strategist and apologize to the community.”
Mr. Kinsella was forced to apologize for another intolerant blog posting in 2007. In the 2007, he wrote a post suggesting that Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod would rather bake cookies than run for office.
For more information please contact:
Tom Pang, CCCA Director
416-447-0446
Tom I’m not feeling you,should you not be posting this at some Liberal site like, Warren’s ?
But while I am on the topic don’t you think that you & your organization,and I am sure it’s a fine org,are getting yourselves all worked up over nothing ?
Anyway good luck with that.
[...] know Terry,Sid Ryan messed up on some minor points of language,yawn. But as for sanction the same Palestinian [...]