I’ve Moved!
November 20, 2008
So I’m sure that most people have noticed that the site has been offline for a few days. There’s a reason for that, which I will get to shortly. But first, let me just say this:
In fact, I am blogging at a new site I have just finished setting up: kennethhynek.net. A full explanation for the reasons behind the move can be found here
.
That said, this is not the end of Time Immortal. My wife Grace has expressed interest in taking over blogging at this domain, and I am working to make sure that she gets set up here as soon as possible.
Also, my profound apologies for the modification to the site face; the move was not as seamless as I would have hoped, and many of the image files for this theme, and in the gallery, were corrupted during the course of their evacuation from my previous web host’s servers. Until such time as I have repaired them, I’ve put a clean-looking template in place of the previous one.
Update: for the purposes of further traffic shaping, new posts from kennethhynek.net will be excerpted below. Full articles can be read at the new blog.
Matt Good adds his two cents
January 15, 2008
I honestly wouldn’t have expected the lefty Canadian rocker to say this, and admittedly he wastes a lot of space criticizing . That said, Matthew Good still recognizes that Levant’s struggle against the AHRC has far-reaching implications for the right of all Canadians to freedom of expression. So good on him for stepping up and speaking out about this issue.
With regards to press freedoms, should the media have published the cartoons? I agree with Levant that, given the stipulations of The Charter, the press ultimately should be the ones to make that decision. Most Canadian publications chose not to run the cartoons, primarily because of the tensions caused by their initial publication overseas, perhaps to ensure the stability of ratings and subscriptions, or to avoid dealing with the numerous complaints that were sure to arise. In the world of corporate media, those are aspects that are rarely overlooked. Levant, who has written for Sun Media, who did not publish the cartoons, knows that all too well I would imagine.
…
Obviously, I am never going to disagree that the imposition of restrictions on freedom of speech or the press is anything but troublesome, with a few exceptions of course, those being when privately funded media outlets are used for propaganda purposes by foreign interests. I personally believe that this matter is, in its entirety, ridiculous, and that by becoming a matter before the Commission has only demonstrated the inability of those involved to act in a decent and understanding fashion. Frankly, the entire thing reeks of opportunism and close mindedness on both sides.
As I note, Good is a lefty, and tries to make his stance appear neutral and balanced by heaping criticism on both sides. That said, he makes a few excellent points about the necessity for freedom of expression, and Levant is quick to offer credit (and to correct Good on a few points):
As to his dislike for my use of the phrase “separation of mosque and state”, it was a deliberate choice of words. “Separation of church and state” is conventional wisdom amongst liberal and ACLU-types. I think it’s overstated — our Constitution is replete with references to the church, actually. But it’s a phrase associated with the secular left’s over-reaction to things like the Ten Commandments being displayed in court houses. I used that phrase specifically to remind knee-jerk anti-Christians of their professed hostility to religious censorship, in the hopes that they’d be consistent when it comes to Islam.
But as much as Good might stumble in his anxiousness to criticize Levant, it’s clear that he’s on the right side of the debate. Freedom of expression is too important to freedom in general; a government body which exists only to censor what can and cannot be said, thought, or published is a government body which must cease to exist.
