Let’s give the “freedom convoy” protestors some credit: they never stormed the Parliament buildings nor ran over any counter-protesters like in Charlottesville. So, one gold star for them.
But you just knew we were going o have scenes like this:
And this:
An in-person vigil to remember the victims of a fatal attack on a Quebec City mosque exactly five years ago has been cancelled, with organizers citing safety concerns arising out of the presence of a convoy protesting vaccine mandates in Ottawa on Saturday.
The event, organized by the group Canadians United Against Hate, said it had been expecting more than 100 people at the only in-person event in the region organized to remember the Jan. 29, 2017, attack, which left six people dead and 19 wounded.
Originally meant to take place at the Human Rights Monument in downtown Ottawa, the event will now be held virtually on Saturday instead.
[…]
Members of the Muslim community and others, both in Quebec and elsewhere, are marking the five-year anniversary of the mosque attack.
A gunman entered the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City and opened fire on worshippers inside. Mamadou Tanou Barry, Ibrahima Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzeddine Soufiane and Aboubaker Thabti were killed, and 19 others were wounded in the attack.
And especially stories like this:
If you aren’t familiar with Terry Fox, he’s a Canadian hero who lost his leg to cancer and launched a run across the country, with a prosthetic leg, to raise money for cancer research. Sadly, he was unable to finish the run and passed away shortly thereafter. In Canada, you do not fuck with anything having to do with Terry Fox, period.
Even if these guys don’t represent the majority of protesters, the damage is done. They should have known that media outlets would be looking for the worst examples of offensive wingnuttery so they could plaster it all over their homepages and social media feeds. (To be fair, right-wing outlets regularly do the same thing for BLM protests.)
If they wanted real change, they got it. Canadians are ready to impose vaccine and mask mandates for the next fifty years after seeing this mess, if my Facebook feed is any indication.
David Shor was cancelled by his left-wing allies and fired from his job for saying that violent and offensive protests result in a backlash at the polls. What we saw yesterday wasn’t violent per se, but it was certainly offensive, and politicians who cozied up to the convoy will pay a price.
A law professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago raised the ire of students, was was subject to a disciplinary investigation, by using redacted version of racial slurs during a classroom discussion. But that’s not what makes this story special.
UIC suspended and launched an investigation into Kilborn after he posed a hypothetical question — which he has asked in previous years — using redacted references to two slurs, in a December 2020 law school exam. The question about employment discrimination referenced a plaintiff being called “a ‘n____’ and ‘b____’ (profane expressions for African Americans and women)” as evidence of discrimination. But even redacting the terms didn’t save Kilborn from discipline by university administrators.
The school reinstated him, but then re-opened the investigation and suspended him again after student protests led by Jesse Jackson. But that’s not what makes this story special.
Kilborn reached a resolution with UIC in July, in which he agreed to alert the dean before responding to student complaints about racial issues and to audio-record his classes. Kilborn welcomed both of these stipulations in order to protect himself against spurious complaints, and had already decided to take those actions independently. As part of that resolution, Kilborn and UIC ultimately reached an understanding that Kilborn would not have to attend sensitivity training.
However, in November, under pressure from UIC’s Black Law Students Association and Jesse Jackson, UIC reneged on its agreement with Kilborn and is now requiring him to participate in months-long “training on classroom conversations that address racism” and compelling him to write reflection papers before he can return to the classroom.
This is what makes this story special:
In a stunning display of unintended irony, the individualized training materials include the same redacted slur that Kilborn used in his test question.
“UIC crucifies Kilborn for using a redacted slur, then turns around and forces him into anti-racism training that uses that same slur,” said Ronnie London, head of FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund. “Kilborn is effectively showing up to re-education and being handed his own text.”
Similarly, Mike Pesca was forced out of Slate for his own alleged use of the N-word and defending the The New York Times’ Donald MacNeill for his use of the N-word during a group discussion about it. Turns out that Slate has actually used the slur - unredacted - dozens of times in its articles, but it didn’t matter. The Red Guards wanted his head and they got it. (Pesca, who’s been making the podcast rounds lately as he re-launches his own Gist podcast, raises this point in recent episodes of The Fifth Column and Blocked and Reported.)
I agree that social mores surrounding race, gay and trans rights, and hot-button issues evolve over time, often rightly so. The biggest problem I have with “cancel culture” is that these rules are seemingly subject to change without notice.
Actually, it turns out I did have Candace Owens becoming a moon landing troofer on my 2022 bingo card.
Interesting how many American “Patriots” are all in on theories which hold that American achievements like the moon landing were faked, or that the US government deliberately attacked its own people like on 9/11. (It probably makes more sense when you realize how many popular conspiracy theories, including the ones about the JFK assassination and AIDS being created by the US army, originated with KGB “active measures” operations. And as we’ve seen lately, right-wingers are quite besotted with one former KGB agent in particular.)
Also, the real answer to her question is that Michael Jordan’s first “retirement,” when he played baseball and beat the Monstars, was actually a suspension from the NBA for gambling which they kept secret to avoid bad publicity. Even I have to admit that theory makes way too much sense.
Two things:
#1. The UI-C law professor story is exactly the kind of thing that makes my blood curdle and produces a near irrepressible urge to launch into a Screaming Mimi anti-woke WTF-is-wrong-with-these-people rant. But this is so stupid and egregious, I got nuthin'. Other than this...on the occasions I sometimes feel some regret at not having a sheepskin on my wall, this kind of story quickly remedies that. Sort of akin to the reaction I have when I see ridiculously wealthy people behaving like total asshats...if that's what money does for you, I'm glad I don't have any.
#2. Glad the convoy thing was peaceful (loved that GIF that went with that story, btw). Regarding your reply as to the relative levels of crazy in our two countries, yeah, you guys probably are a little wackier than folks like me give you credit for, but considering any large population is always going to have a certain number of loose wingnuts rattling around, just in raw numbers I'd say that the super cargo carrier that delivered that commodity to this hemisphere stopped in Saint John first, kicked a container or two off onto the dock and then proceeded on to the Port of New York and New Jersey to off-load all of the rest.