Intellectual freedom in Canada: Another reason to be proud of my country

We were first to walk out when some anti-Semitic rant started at the UN:

Ahmadinejad & Co. aren't Holocaust deniers because of the dearth of historical documentation. They do so because they can, and because it suits their own interests to do so, and because in the regimes they represent the state lies to its people as a matter of course and to such a degree that there is no longer an objective reality only a self-constructed one. In Libya and Syria and far too many "nations," truth is simply what the thug in the presidential palace declares it to be. But don't worry, Obama assures them, we're not "defined by our differences."

Hey, that's great, isn't it? Yet, if you can no longer distinguish between the truth and a lie, why be surprised that the lie metastasizes and becomes, if not yet quite respectable, at least semirespectable and acceptable in polite society?

Some Western nations walked out of Ahmadinejad's speech: Canada was first; Austria stuck around; America left somewhere in between. "It is disappointing that Mr. Ahmadinejad has once again chosen to espouse hateful, offensive and anti-Semitic rhetoric," huffed U.S. spokesman Mark Kornblau.

Oh, come off it, you ludicrous poseur. ...

Anti-Semitism is not, and never has been, a harmless vice. Unfortunately, far too much rhetoric against the state of Israel has morphed into a cover for traditional anti-Semitism - you can tell because mid-rant the speaker begins to deny that the Holocaust occurred.

Canada was quite right to call Iran's Ahmadinejad on this. Canadian diplomats should be ordered to walk out on any gathering where racist or anti-Semitic rhetoric is declaimed from the podium.

I've met former Israeli Canadians who say plenty of negative things about the government of Israel (that's why they are here and not there). I just listen and observe; I have met plenty of Canadians of all stripes who say negative things about the government of Canada too. Here, anyone can bitch and whine, because we are slowly shutting down the "human rights" commissions that might make it unsafe.

My opinion: If you have a vote and don't use it, go to blazes and don't bug me. I cannot do a single thing about your uncast vote. If you don't like the government, you did it to yourself.