The thought crimes of Ezra Levant

I caught a brief interview of Ezra Levant on the Glenn Beck show tonight and was amazed at what I heard. Two years ago, as publisher of a Canadian magazine called Western Standard, Levant printed cartoon images of Mohammed. These were the same cartoons that caused threats and riots when published in a Danish newspaper. You can view them here.

A radical Muslim imam by the name of Syed Soharwardy complained to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, who proceeded to take action against Mr. Levant. While the Canadian taxpayers paid for the government investigation against him, Levant had to pay for his own defense out of his pocket (and via donations from supporters).

Mr. Levant wrote a pointed editorial in the Globe and Mail newspaper explaining the situation and his opinion of it.

When Levant was brought in for his initial meeting (what he calls an interrogation) with the Commission in Alberta, he insisted on videotaping the proceedings. He then published segments of the video on YouTube (the second one is my favorite). The woman sitting across from him is an "officer" of the Human Rights Commission. Watch as Levant expresses, in no uncertain terms, his opinion of the inquiry.







You can follow the story at Levant's website: http://www.ezralevant.com

Let's keep in mind that what Levant allegedly did to violate human rights was print cartoon depictions of Mohammed.

The allusions to Orwell's 1984 are obvious, but I'm reminded of something C.S. Lewis wrote:

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men [and women] with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice."