Words
I asked for people, conservatives in particular, to respond to Kate McMillan’s willingness to use Holocaust imagery to make a sick joke. People responded, and are still responding. If you’d like to, contact me here. Please use your real name and try and keep it brief.
Not all of the comments support my view – check out the last one, at the bottom of this post, but only if you are prepared to be disgusted – but most respondents, conservatives included, are appalled by what she did.
A sampling of comments so far:
• Josh Somer: What Kate pulled was absolutely disgusting and a new low for the blogosphere. And this is coming from someone who generally takes her side on most issues. As a Jew, I'm disgusted that she would exploit other people's suffering and misery to play a cheap trick on someone. As a conservative, I'm disgusted to think that people might associate the rest of us with someone of such low character.
• Jordan Cooper: Warren, even the Conservatives that I do know out here in Saskatchewan would be repulsed by that prank. There are some things that deserve never to be made fun of and the Holocaust is one of them. I know you are no fan of Wikipedia but I glanced over [there], and the photos bring up a lot of emotions. Funny is not one of them.
• Michael Slavitch: Warren, Excellent hound work, flushing out the skunks. My parents survived the horrors of WWII, my dad was a slave laborer and my neighbor growing up in Winnipeg survived the camp at Lubin-Majdanek. Both are long dead. Their memories live on.
Given that the best revenge is success, so I suggest contacting your publisher regarding a book that uncovers blogs of hate and how they influence the media. I'll buy it. Hardcover. Retail. Thanks.
• Zac Spicer: Warren, I'm sure that you don't need another voice to add to the already growing chorus of those who are disgusted with Kate MacMillan's revolting "joke" today, but I thought that I would quickly send you a note telling you that I admire your courage. It's not easy taking on Kate and her army of vile harpies who have been gleefully patting her on the back for her sick attempt at "humour" Please keep up the fight and know that we're all with you.
• Owen Brady: Yes, Kate McMillan's actions were despicable. Does she not realize that there are people still today who want to "disprove" the Holocaust? Making disgusting jokes like this is an attempt to trivialize it, and furthers their cause.
Thanks for speaking up so loudly on this. I've noticed a lot of racist bullshit being written these days, both on blogs and in the mainstream media, and this is the first major response to it I've noticed in a long time.
• Hugh Whalen: There are many things in life that say something substantial about a person. Who their friends are; who their enemies are; and what they find funny are three. Ms. McMillan has a problem with the third and anyone should be proud to count her amongst their enemies...
• Nicholas Kadysh: Hey Warren: As a tory who's found himself working against you in elections past, I've got to say: I may not agree with you on everything, but on this I'm right with you. I can't believe that Ms. McMillan would disgrace the memory of those who died in the Holocaust for a prank. If she wants the "Canadian Ann Coulter" crown, she has certainly earned it with this one. No conservative in their right mind would support her in this.
• James Bow: You've had plenty of people, including Conservatives, thankfully, take Kate to task for this shameless and ludicrously unfunny 'joke', but I thought I'd add my voice. In addition to making light of the Holocaust, I am completely at a loss as to what this prank is supposed to accomplish. How does this in any way make you look bad? It's a complete mystery to me, which is probably why the whole blogosphere is just staring in silence at these two individuals, guffawing at their own joke.
• Rob Gilmour: Mr. Kinsella, I refuse to lend this individual credibility by mentioning her name, but her “joke” is disgusting. Both of my grandfathers fought the Nazis, one of which was killed during the war. As a Tory, but more as a human being, I am embarrassed that anyone would, or could, think this stunt funny. Random aside: I wonder where all those who jumped to chastise your pre-writ cookie joke (which I did not find tasteless, other than I just didn’t think it was overly funny) are now, no doubt preparing to rise to your defense? Lastly, I know that two wrongs don’t make a right, but I’d like to meet that Tom Robinson chump in a bar one night. Please keep fighting - this one is beyond comprehension.
• Paul Michna: I'm relatively speechless, so I'm afraid I'll have to be brief...because in my complete and utter shock, I simply can't find the words to convey how utterly stunned I am that someone could do this…whenever I think Kate MacMillan has hit the bottom of the barrel and can literally tunnel no further down into the slime, she again proves that there's no depth she can't sink to. Wow, she pulled one over on you, Warren - except, of course, she had to use millions of dead Holocaust victims in order to do so. The mind reels - the sane mind, anyway…Btw, congrats on your new position with the CJC, and also on leaving the NatPost - a move that, imho, was far overdue on your part.
• The Christian Conservative [name withheld by request]: I've stayed out of this whole firestorm that's been brewing in the blogosphere... until now. The fake tattoo? Not funny. A rather juvenile attempt to get a laugh, if you ask me... making a mockery of such death and destruction, just to take a cheap shot at you Warren, well, that's not cool in my books.
• Peter Andreasen: I could send in an obligatory shock and outrage email, and make no mistake, I am disgusted. As an Albertan conservative, I've found a lot within the conservative world view that helps me make sense of things and hopefully move towards better solutions that will help everyone in our country lead healthier and safer lives. Conservative thought has a great and long tradition of thinkers, such as Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, have helped cast Nazism and anti-Semitism as the mind filth that it is. People like McMillan think that jokes such as this are harmless, made in the name of partisanship or shock value. I'm sure McMillan isn't consciously an anti-Semite. but her lack of care for the impact of her ideas could have such a negative impact upon society. As Jewish survivor of Hannah Arendt said, evil is banality. Once we stop taking things like the Holocaust seriously, we've lost everything that Western democrats have fought so hard and so long to keep.
• Fraser Macdonald: Warren - another Tory here that just doesn't get what Kate McMillan thinks she is doing here. I actually disagree with you about Steyn (and Levant - sort of), but it saddens me that Kate thinks these views are at all defensible in either the Conservative Party or any public forum. Thank you for making the point forcefully. Here's hoping she gains some more human decency before spewing this crap again.
• Name Withheld: Warren, this is not the first time Kate has found atrocities funny fodder for her games on the internet.
• Dave Darling: I'm not going to click on any of the links to her site. But if this is true, that woman is truly sick. I feel sorry for her more than anything else. I don't even really understand what she could possibly hope to gain from this sort of stunt. Sad.
• Mark Graham: Kate's so-called "joke" is neither funny, nor is it particularly enlightening. And this is not because I don't get it. I do: look, Warren has such a big ego he assumes that the photo is from a survivor when it's really form a biker chick. It's just not witty or even remotely funny, on its own terms and because it is so insensitive. Nor, frankly, is the joke helpful to folks like me trying to make an intelligent case for free speech in this country.
• Richard Izdebski: Any holocaust survivors still alive will be at least 70(ish) years old. Does it look like the arm of a 70 year old Holocaust survivor? Really? Is this the arm of a 70 year old Holocaust survivor?
• Phil Lockwood: One of my grandfathers fought the Nazis in Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain. My other grandfather watched the violent murder of his brother and mother by the SS in the Ukraine - subsequently, he managed to escape a German concentration camp and make it to Switzerland. His wife, my Polish grandmother, lost her entire family to the Germans and Soviets. The life stories of these three people have had an incredible impact on me. This is part of the reasons why I serve in the Canadian Forces today. My life experiences through these people and my job have brought me a tremendous appreciation for history, especially military history. I am very much a staunch Canadian conservative. As such, at times, I have enjoyed the blog "smalldeadanimals". I am also a major fan of your blog. I've noticed that there is an unfriendly rivalry between you two and I've ignored it for the most part. However, after seeing the disgusting thing that Ms. McMillan did, I am completely opposed to her. Her actions denote a moral character that is worse than a pile of ****. The Holocaust, and that terrible conflict, is not a joking matter!
• David Sachs: …this certainly blows away that idea. I'd have to sit here all morning to figure out how to put this into words. I can't wait for that, so consider it more
inexpressible disgust. What kind of person thinks that's a joke? Worse, what is the meaning behind her joke? Is it that anyone can fake a tattoo? Is it that holocaust survivors are fake? Oh, wait, I found the words. What a [expletive deleted].
• John Johnstone: It’s easy to target powerless people (e,g., old Nazis) and fringe white supremacist groups – they’re not going to harm you; they have no real support. If you really were an ardent supporter of Jews and Israel as you claim, I’d like to see you go after the deadly serious Islamofacists – the fanatical rioters in the streets – who would chop your head off and rip you limb from limb without a second thought. Well, maybe not...that might take an actual pair of certainly male reproductive anatomical parts…the Liberal/liberal, fascist establishment [represents] filth and depravity…
• Jim McShane: Hi Warren, long time reader, first time writer. I agree with the vast majority of what you say. This McMillan thing was crude and sick.
• Sandy [Crux-of-the-Matter]: As a Blogging Tory and a slightly to the right thinker, I am appalled at what Kate at Small Dead Animals has done. Right or left thinking has absolutely nothing to do with being a racist or making light of the Holocaust. Or, at least it shouldn't. What possible gain can anyone get at trying to make a fool out of a fellow blogger -- no matter what our political differences? While someone may disagree with WK from time to time, and I do regularly, why on earth in the name of good taste and decency, is it necessary to embark on some kind of gotcha operation like this? When I was in barely out of my teens, during 1961, I spend some time studying in Toronto. I had a flat in a house where the woman of the house was in Israel for most of the year I was there. Both she and her husband had numbers on their arms. Their story was horrendous and yet they survived with grace and dignity. She was away because she was a witness at the trial of Adolf Eichmann. No, there is nothing funny or satirical in what Kate did. For shame!
• Jay Currie: Kate is not a bigot. You accuse her of using this badge of our collective shame as a joke while you were perfectly prepared to use it to bolster your political position. Kate's brilliant hoax had a broader point - it put you into the same position as the poor chumps gulled by the CHRC online "investigators". I hope it will make you think about such tactics. And, while you are thinking, consider what constitutes the greatest threat to the Jews and to the West in the modern world. Rather than hunting decrepit old camp guards and pathetic neo-Nazi losers, let's take a really close look at militant Islam's Jew hatred.
• Mike DiCola: No matter what form the "I was only joking!" bleat may take, there is no excuse, none, for her to have framed the "joke" the way she did. I'm honestly thinking she's in the midst of some deeper life crisis because this is so far over the top, it suggests that someone's mental wiring has suffered a serious emotional jar -- sufficient to make this obscenity seem reasonable by comparison. Thing 2: The SDA comment stream shows an appalling display of the sort of "Heehee, ya shore-nuff got'im good, Kate" reaction that, were I Ms McMillan, I would be taking a serious look at the irrevocable damage being done to any credibility I might have left in the blogging community at large. The fact that her comment stream includes its share lewd propositions would seem to bear this out. In other words, with friends like this... etc. I'd always considered SDA a potential sounding board for aggregating the views of the right on a wide range of issues. No more. The tattoo post, plus the language and tone of her supporters, recalls for me only the well-deserved dismissal that (probably apocryphally) is supposed to have been a Native American shun: "Your words have no meaning, and I no longer hear them."
• Liam Dynes: Long story short: do not stop doing what you are doing. I just spent a chunk of my work day reading every single comment on Saskbigot's page, and while I do feel slightly lesser for having done it, I also feel stronger in my resolve that what I (we all proper forward-thinking people) believe in and believe is right. I also believe more than ever precisely how necessary voices like yours are in a culture so filled with apathy and stupidity (in the younger generation -- myself included at 26) especially. I've followed you for a while now (meeting you at a CUP conference; reading/loving Fury's Hour, Kicking Ass, the new one; this here blog), but never before have a realized the true importance of a loud voice saying the right thing in a way that was crystallized as clearly as it was just now.
• Harry [surname withheld]: It's not enough for these bozos to misread and misrepresent the special legislation that Canadians are lucky enough to have, which sets us apart as an example of what civil societies can be. Making a mockery of the dead is abhorrent to every culture, which just goes to show that if you lie down long enough with small dead animals, you wake up with more than fleas. What a pathetic excuse for humanity this harpy is. But she's given us one important thing. Now it's too obvious that folks who will stoop to disgusting stunts like this to prove "their point" are hopelessly misguided, and their opinions are simply not worth our civilized time to consider.
Comments from prominent conservative bloggers, none fans of mine, and passed along by others:
• Free Mark Steyn Blog: ...there’s humour, and there’s pranks, and then there’s this sort of thing. Here at FreeMarkSteyn, we make a world of mock at our opponents, and various sacred cows of the moment. Our use of humour has a point – sometimes provocative – but within the bounds of good taste...The danger of any conflict is becoming what you oppose, or worse; or imagining that any escalation is allowable in the name of the cause...we’d not ever make such ‘jokes’, because of the risk of offending human dignity – our own, that of real survivors of genocide... Anything does not go.
• Ezra Levant: Kate's is not a prank I would have done. I've been to Yad Vashem too often to be irreverent about tattoos on Holocaust survivors. I'll grant Kinsella that it was humour in questionable taste.
• A.L. Wudrick: Kate made a joke in extremely bad taste. I don’t find it funny at all. I think she’s making light of a serious factual historical tragedy. I think it’s insulting to Jews, and shows poor judgment. It suggests she’s more interested in making Warren Kinsella look stupid than demonstrating she has any compassion for survivors of the Holocaust.
• Damian Penny: …this one really left a bad taste in my mouth…I'm sure Kate's intent was to make Kinsella look ridiculous, not to make light of the Holocaust. But if some "anti-Zionist" blogger pulled the same kind of trick on me, I know what conclusions I'd be inclined to draw. This was completely uncalled for.
And, again, apologies for the crudity of this one, but I asked for opinion pro and con, and got it. It fairly reflects the mental acuity of many of Kate McMillan’s defenders – and it speaks for itself:
Name: Tom Robinson
IP Address: 72.39.182.107 (d39-182-107.home1.cgocable.net)
User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Email: fredbracken77@yahoo.ca
Subject: Muslim lover, Free speech hater!
Comment:
On Monday, February 11, 2008, 08:42 AM, Tom Robinson wrote:
Why don't you go and suck on one of your Muslims friends cocks? you're a terrorist sympathizer and should be ashamed of yourself.
Fuck off goof! Grow up, and go to the mosque right now and give all your money to that terrorist rapist named Allah. And maybe you'll get your 50 12 year old male virgins to fuck all the way up until the next election. Faggot.
Not all of the comments support my view – check out the last one, at the bottom of this post, but only if you are prepared to be disgusted – but most respondents, conservatives included, are appalled by what she did.
A sampling of comments so far:
• Josh Somer: What Kate pulled was absolutely disgusting and a new low for the blogosphere. And this is coming from someone who generally takes her side on most issues. As a Jew, I'm disgusted that she would exploit other people's suffering and misery to play a cheap trick on someone. As a conservative, I'm disgusted to think that people might associate the rest of us with someone of such low character.
• Jordan Cooper: Warren, even the Conservatives that I do know out here in Saskatchewan would be repulsed by that prank. There are some things that deserve never to be made fun of and the Holocaust is one of them. I know you are no fan of Wikipedia but I glanced over [there], and the photos bring up a lot of emotions. Funny is not one of them.
• Michael Slavitch: Warren, Excellent hound work, flushing out the skunks. My parents survived the horrors of WWII, my dad was a slave laborer and my neighbor growing up in Winnipeg survived the camp at Lubin-Majdanek. Both are long dead. Their memories live on.
Given that the best revenge is success, so I suggest contacting your publisher regarding a book that uncovers blogs of hate and how they influence the media. I'll buy it. Hardcover. Retail. Thanks.
• Zac Spicer: Warren, I'm sure that you don't need another voice to add to the already growing chorus of those who are disgusted with Kate MacMillan's revolting "joke" today, but I thought that I would quickly send you a note telling you that I admire your courage. It's not easy taking on Kate and her army of vile harpies who have been gleefully patting her on the back for her sick attempt at "humour" Please keep up the fight and know that we're all with you.
• Owen Brady: Yes, Kate McMillan's actions were despicable. Does she not realize that there are people still today who want to "disprove" the Holocaust? Making disgusting jokes like this is an attempt to trivialize it, and furthers their cause.
Thanks for speaking up so loudly on this. I've noticed a lot of racist bullshit being written these days, both on blogs and in the mainstream media, and this is the first major response to it I've noticed in a long time.
• Hugh Whalen: There are many things in life that say something substantial about a person. Who their friends are; who their enemies are; and what they find funny are three. Ms. McMillan has a problem with the third and anyone should be proud to count her amongst their enemies...
• Nicholas Kadysh: Hey Warren: As a tory who's found himself working against you in elections past, I've got to say: I may not agree with you on everything, but on this I'm right with you. I can't believe that Ms. McMillan would disgrace the memory of those who died in the Holocaust for a prank. If she wants the "Canadian Ann Coulter" crown, she has certainly earned it with this one. No conservative in their right mind would support her in this.
• James Bow: You've had plenty of people, including Conservatives, thankfully, take Kate to task for this shameless and ludicrously unfunny 'joke', but I thought I'd add my voice. In addition to making light of the Holocaust, I am completely at a loss as to what this prank is supposed to accomplish. How does this in any way make you look bad? It's a complete mystery to me, which is probably why the whole blogosphere is just staring in silence at these two individuals, guffawing at their own joke.
• Rob Gilmour: Mr. Kinsella, I refuse to lend this individual credibility by mentioning her name, but her “joke” is disgusting. Both of my grandfathers fought the Nazis, one of which was killed during the war. As a Tory, but more as a human being, I am embarrassed that anyone would, or could, think this stunt funny. Random aside: I wonder where all those who jumped to chastise your pre-writ cookie joke (which I did not find tasteless, other than I just didn’t think it was overly funny) are now, no doubt preparing to rise to your defense? Lastly, I know that two wrongs don’t make a right, but I’d like to meet that Tom Robinson chump in a bar one night. Please keep fighting - this one is beyond comprehension.
• Paul Michna: I'm relatively speechless, so I'm afraid I'll have to be brief...because in my complete and utter shock, I simply can't find the words to convey how utterly stunned I am that someone could do this…whenever I think Kate MacMillan has hit the bottom of the barrel and can literally tunnel no further down into the slime, she again proves that there's no depth she can't sink to. Wow, she pulled one over on you, Warren - except, of course, she had to use millions of dead Holocaust victims in order to do so. The mind reels - the sane mind, anyway…Btw, congrats on your new position with the CJC, and also on leaving the NatPost - a move that, imho, was far overdue on your part.
• The Christian Conservative [name withheld by request]: I've stayed out of this whole firestorm that's been brewing in the blogosphere... until now. The fake tattoo? Not funny. A rather juvenile attempt to get a laugh, if you ask me... making a mockery of such death and destruction, just to take a cheap shot at you Warren, well, that's not cool in my books.
• Peter Andreasen: I could send in an obligatory shock and outrage email, and make no mistake, I am disgusted. As an Albertan conservative, I've found a lot within the conservative world view that helps me make sense of things and hopefully move towards better solutions that will help everyone in our country lead healthier and safer lives. Conservative thought has a great and long tradition of thinkers, such as Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, have helped cast Nazism and anti-Semitism as the mind filth that it is. People like McMillan think that jokes such as this are harmless, made in the name of partisanship or shock value. I'm sure McMillan isn't consciously an anti-Semite. but her lack of care for the impact of her ideas could have such a negative impact upon society. As Jewish survivor of Hannah Arendt said, evil is banality. Once we stop taking things like the Holocaust seriously, we've lost everything that Western democrats have fought so hard and so long to keep.
• Fraser Macdonald: Warren - another Tory here that just doesn't get what Kate McMillan thinks she is doing here. I actually disagree with you about Steyn (and Levant - sort of), but it saddens me that Kate thinks these views are at all defensible in either the Conservative Party or any public forum. Thank you for making the point forcefully. Here's hoping she gains some more human decency before spewing this crap again.
• Name Withheld: Warren, this is not the first time Kate has found atrocities funny fodder for her games on the internet.
• Dave Darling: I'm not going to click on any of the links to her site. But if this is true, that woman is truly sick. I feel sorry for her more than anything else. I don't even really understand what she could possibly hope to gain from this sort of stunt. Sad.
• Mark Graham: Kate's so-called "joke" is neither funny, nor is it particularly enlightening. And this is not because I don't get it. I do: look, Warren has such a big ego he assumes that the photo is from a survivor when it's really form a biker chick. It's just not witty or even remotely funny, on its own terms and because it is so insensitive. Nor, frankly, is the joke helpful to folks like me trying to make an intelligent case for free speech in this country.
• Richard Izdebski: Any holocaust survivors still alive will be at least 70(ish) years old. Does it look like the arm of a 70 year old Holocaust survivor? Really? Is this the arm of a 70 year old Holocaust survivor?
• Phil Lockwood: One of my grandfathers fought the Nazis in Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain. My other grandfather watched the violent murder of his brother and mother by the SS in the Ukraine - subsequently, he managed to escape a German concentration camp and make it to Switzerland. His wife, my Polish grandmother, lost her entire family to the Germans and Soviets. The life stories of these three people have had an incredible impact on me. This is part of the reasons why I serve in the Canadian Forces today. My life experiences through these people and my job have brought me a tremendous appreciation for history, especially military history. I am very much a staunch Canadian conservative. As such, at times, I have enjoyed the blog "smalldeadanimals". I am also a major fan of your blog. I've noticed that there is an unfriendly rivalry between you two and I've ignored it for the most part. However, after seeing the disgusting thing that Ms. McMillan did, I am completely opposed to her. Her actions denote a moral character that is worse than a pile of ****. The Holocaust, and that terrible conflict, is not a joking matter!
• David Sachs: …this certainly blows away that idea. I'd have to sit here all morning to figure out how to put this into words. I can't wait for that, so consider it more
inexpressible disgust. What kind of person thinks that's a joke? Worse, what is the meaning behind her joke? Is it that anyone can fake a tattoo? Is it that holocaust survivors are fake? Oh, wait, I found the words. What a [expletive deleted].
• John Johnstone: It’s easy to target powerless people (e,g., old Nazis) and fringe white supremacist groups – they’re not going to harm you; they have no real support. If you really were an ardent supporter of Jews and Israel as you claim, I’d like to see you go after the deadly serious Islamofacists – the fanatical rioters in the streets – who would chop your head off and rip you limb from limb without a second thought. Well, maybe not...that might take an actual pair of certainly male reproductive anatomical parts…the Liberal/liberal, fascist establishment [represents] filth and depravity…
• Jim McShane: Hi Warren, long time reader, first time writer. I agree with the vast majority of what you say. This McMillan thing was crude and sick.
• Sandy [Crux-of-the-Matter]: As a Blogging Tory and a slightly to the right thinker, I am appalled at what Kate at Small Dead Animals has done. Right or left thinking has absolutely nothing to do with being a racist or making light of the Holocaust. Or, at least it shouldn't. What possible gain can anyone get at trying to make a fool out of a fellow blogger -- no matter what our political differences? While someone may disagree with WK from time to time, and I do regularly, why on earth in the name of good taste and decency, is it necessary to embark on some kind of gotcha operation like this? When I was in barely out of my teens, during 1961, I spend some time studying in Toronto. I had a flat in a house where the woman of the house was in Israel for most of the year I was there. Both she and her husband had numbers on their arms. Their story was horrendous and yet they survived with grace and dignity. She was away because she was a witness at the trial of Adolf Eichmann. No, there is nothing funny or satirical in what Kate did. For shame!
• Jay Currie: Kate is not a bigot. You accuse her of using this badge of our collective shame as a joke while you were perfectly prepared to use it to bolster your political position. Kate's brilliant hoax had a broader point - it put you into the same position as the poor chumps gulled by the CHRC online "investigators". I hope it will make you think about such tactics. And, while you are thinking, consider what constitutes the greatest threat to the Jews and to the West in the modern world. Rather than hunting decrepit old camp guards and pathetic neo-Nazi losers, let's take a really close look at militant Islam's Jew hatred.
• Mike DiCola: No matter what form the "I was only joking!" bleat may take, there is no excuse, none, for her to have framed the "joke" the way she did. I'm honestly thinking she's in the midst of some deeper life crisis because this is so far over the top, it suggests that someone's mental wiring has suffered a serious emotional jar -- sufficient to make this obscenity seem reasonable by comparison. Thing 2: The SDA comment stream shows an appalling display of the sort of "Heehee, ya shore-nuff got'im good, Kate" reaction that, were I Ms McMillan, I would be taking a serious look at the irrevocable damage being done to any credibility I might have left in the blogging community at large. The fact that her comment stream includes its share lewd propositions would seem to bear this out. In other words, with friends like this... etc. I'd always considered SDA a potential sounding board for aggregating the views of the right on a wide range of issues. No more. The tattoo post, plus the language and tone of her supporters, recalls for me only the well-deserved dismissal that (probably apocryphally) is supposed to have been a Native American shun: "Your words have no meaning, and I no longer hear them."
• Liam Dynes: Long story short: do not stop doing what you are doing. I just spent a chunk of my work day reading every single comment on Saskbigot's page, and while I do feel slightly lesser for having done it, I also feel stronger in my resolve that what I (we all proper forward-thinking people) believe in and believe is right. I also believe more than ever precisely how necessary voices like yours are in a culture so filled with apathy and stupidity (in the younger generation -- myself included at 26) especially. I've followed you for a while now (meeting you at a CUP conference; reading/loving Fury's Hour, Kicking Ass, the new one; this here blog), but never before have a realized the true importance of a loud voice saying the right thing in a way that was crystallized as clearly as it was just now.
• Harry [surname withheld]: It's not enough for these bozos to misread and misrepresent the special legislation that Canadians are lucky enough to have, which sets us apart as an example of what civil societies can be. Making a mockery of the dead is abhorrent to every culture, which just goes to show that if you lie down long enough with small dead animals, you wake up with more than fleas. What a pathetic excuse for humanity this harpy is. But she's given us one important thing. Now it's too obvious that folks who will stoop to disgusting stunts like this to prove "their point" are hopelessly misguided, and their opinions are simply not worth our civilized time to consider.
Comments from prominent conservative bloggers, none fans of mine, and passed along by others:
• Free Mark Steyn Blog: ...there’s humour, and there’s pranks, and then there’s this sort of thing. Here at FreeMarkSteyn, we make a world of mock at our opponents, and various sacred cows of the moment. Our use of humour has a point – sometimes provocative – but within the bounds of good taste...The danger of any conflict is becoming what you oppose, or worse; or imagining that any escalation is allowable in the name of the cause...we’d not ever make such ‘jokes’, because of the risk of offending human dignity – our own, that of real survivors of genocide... Anything does not go.
• Ezra Levant: Kate's is not a prank I would have done. I've been to Yad Vashem too often to be irreverent about tattoos on Holocaust survivors. I'll grant Kinsella that it was humour in questionable taste.
• A.L. Wudrick: Kate made a joke in extremely bad taste. I don’t find it funny at all. I think she’s making light of a serious factual historical tragedy. I think it’s insulting to Jews, and shows poor judgment. It suggests she’s more interested in making Warren Kinsella look stupid than demonstrating she has any compassion for survivors of the Holocaust.
• Damian Penny: …this one really left a bad taste in my mouth…I'm sure Kate's intent was to make Kinsella look ridiculous, not to make light of the Holocaust. But if some "anti-Zionist" blogger pulled the same kind of trick on me, I know what conclusions I'd be inclined to draw. This was completely uncalled for.
And, again, apologies for the crudity of this one, but I asked for opinion pro and con, and got it. It fairly reflects the mental acuity of many of Kate McMillan’s defenders – and it speaks for itself:
Name: Tom Robinson
IP Address: 72.39.182.107 (d39-182-107.home1.cgocable.net)
User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Email: fredbracken77@yahoo.ca
Subject: Muslim lover, Free speech hater!
Comment:
On Monday, February 11, 2008, 08:42 AM, Tom Robinson wrote:
Why don't you go and suck on one of your Muslims friends cocks? you're a terrorist sympathizer and should be ashamed of yourself.
Fuck off goof! Grow up, and go to the mosque right now and give all your money to that terrorist rapist named Allah. And maybe you'll get your 50 12 year old male virgins to fuck all the way up until the next election. Faggot.