Selective Rights Are No Rights At All

I saw the movie DEFIANCE Saturday night (January 31, 2009) in Ottawa.

DEFIANCE is the story of a group of Jewish Brothers (Bielskis) living in Belarus, who instead of surrendering to the Nazis and their collaborators, decided instead to defend themselves and all other Jews who wanted to live as FREE PEOPLE.

The movie is very sad and very inspiring, in as much as it was made obvious that there were two very distinct mindsets amongst the Jewish community in this circumstance, but in general, amongst most people.

There was the mindset of people who hoped their tormentors would not harm them too much if they offered no resistance and every type of cooperation possible.

Then there were the Bielskis and their followers who preferred to die fighting on their feet facing their enemy, rather than die on their knees with bowed heads.

SIX MILLION Jews died in the Death Camps. But so did SIX MILLION non-Jews.

Then there were the TENS of MILLIONS of perceived enemies of Communist Russia who were also summarily executed or sent off to rot in Siberia and the Russian Gulag before, during and after the war.

More than 60 years have past since those horrible days. But nothing has really changed.

There are still genocidal atrocities being committed throughout the world in the name of culture, religion and JUSTICE.

In some cases where there is genocide that touches the so-called civilized world, such as in the former Yugoslavia, the world pays attention and intervenes.

But, when the genocide is on the African Continent no one gives a damn unless it involves White on Black discrimination, then the whole world goes ape-shit. Otherwise, when it’s Blacks murdering Blacks, we sort of pretend that it’s a horrible thing while we plan for our next restaurant supper. Ho-Hum.

The same thing is absolutely true when it involves Arabs or Moslems murdering each other. No one gives a rat’s ass. Not even the very LEFTIST women’s rights groups who close their eyes to the greatest discrimination on the planet, being the treatment of women in Arab/Moslem countries.

But, let just one Jew defend himself, herself, his or her own family and country, and the whole world comes to a screeching halt because a Jew has had the temerity to fight back.

A month hasn’t yet passed since Israel fought a defensive war against TERRORIST Hamas Palestinians, who were helped by their Iranian sponsors in Gaza.

Yet, the Criminal Court at The Hague has lost no time whatsoever in determining whether they can lay War Crime Charges against Israeli leaders, military commanders and combat soldiers.

Funny thing – I don’t recall the Criminal Court at The Hague making any effort to lay charges against those in Gaza and elsewhere who were, and still are responsible for launching rockets against civilian populations in Israel.

In most of Europe leading up to the Holocaust, whether it was in France or Spain where Jews were targeted for very special treatment at the Inquisitions, or in Eastern Europe including Russia, Poland, Ukraine (etc) for Pogroms, it was all done under the guise of government in the name of justice.

The reason we have Charters of Rights throughout the civilized world is to protect the RIGHTS of INDIVIDUALS from government. They are NOT in place to protect minorities from majorities, since minorities are very often in positions of unbalanced influence.

CHARTERS OF RIGHTS are in place to protect the RIGHTS of EVERYONE. And any Charter that does otherwise is a sham to the meaning of Freedom.

More atrocities have been perpetrated upon the people in the guise of restricted RIGHTS imposed by government, than for any other reason.

Here’s the bottom line:

IT ALL STARTS WITH FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.

Other than normal exceptions to Freedom of Expression where you can’t falsely yell fire in a crowded theater, defame a person’s reputation by lies, or incite violence against identifiable groups, any other unwarranted restrictions on Freedom of Expression are an attack on all FREEDOMS.

Any special treatment against one person or culture that is exceptional to the treatment of all people and cultures is an attack on the FREEDOMS of everyone.

I write this, because we in the West are sliding down a very slippery slope where Democrats in the USA are moving towards censoring Conservative Talk Radio under the so-called Fairness Doctrine.

In Canada, Talk Radio is already heavily censored through the CRTC (Canadian Radio and television Commission) by intimidating broadcasters who have initiated self-imposed mealy-mouthed standards to appease those who are in power.

Also in Canada, we’ve accepted special rights and privileges for French speakers that are not available to any other groups.

In Europe, the slippery slope is creating a Euro/Islamic society that will eventually strip Europe of Western based democratic values.

Since we choose to ignore history and pretend that the nature of mankind has changed, we are condemning ourselves to a repeat of the horrors of yesterday.

There are appeasers who will not offer any resistance in the face of a challenge to their rights in their cowardly hope for the best. But will do all they can to hobble those who are willing to stand up and speak out.

Then there are the Bielskis who will do whatever has to be done to protect and preserve.

In which group do you find yourself?

I will write more about this in my next editorial.

Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov