It is very discouraging to see the growing levels of intolerance in the world. The latest incident in our country was at the Fete National when people tried to shout down two english acts (presenting bilingual sets) at a concert in Quebec. Several sponsors of the event also withdrew their support when the acts were announced. I sense this is an example of what a separate Quebec would be like, intolerance for anything other than french language. It’s not like these groups were the major component of the entertainment package. Even now, the language police harass businesses about signs that have multiple languages if the french is not bigger by a certain factor. There’s protecting a language and then there’s intolerance towards anyone or anything that isn’t french. If a business chose to have all of it’s signage in chinese, it’s indicating that it is catering to a specific group and not the population as a whole and really what is wrong with that?
In Iran, we have a deadly form of intolerance. I heard that in one situation there were 3 million more votes than there were voters, if this was close to the truth then the results of that election can be questioned. The hard liners are using extreme methods to suppress any opposition because the will not tolerate any change of the status quo. Iran is a country that was the cradle of civilization and should be a major player in the middle east. Unfortunately, they could be a force for good of the world but they seem to be bent on being a force for radical and intolerant views and their actions are destabilizing the area.
Back in Canada, Human Rights commissions were created to protect the rights of the minorities. They have taken that to an extreme and now they are infringing on our basic freedoms such as free speech and ideas. This is political correctness taken to the extreme. It appears that some have found ways of milking this system for profit by filing and wining questionable cases. The actions put a chill on free speech because it ends up costing the speaker a lot of money defending themselves.
In the words of Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along”.
