"Well, they would have if they knew about it. Also, you're racist"

Kinsella on the Saskatchewan Federation of Indian Nations' inexplicable decision to reinstate Jew-hater David Ahenakew:

Notably, the hate blogs - Brock, Currie, Shaidle, McMillan et al. - have all suspended their anti-aboriginal animus long enough to rally to Ahenakew's defence, and his "right" to call Jews a "disease."

There's one post about it on Small Dead Animals - not by Kate - which appears to be mocking the FSIN for its decision. On the blogs by Kathy Shaidle, Mike Brock and Jay Currie, nada.

And if I recall correctly, when the Ahenakew story broke a few years ago, most Canadian right-leaning bloggers - including myself - took the view that Ahenakew was an antisemitic scumbag who should be stripped of his Order of Canada, but that he shouldn't be prosecuted by the state for his views. I expect most of my readers to understand the difference between that and "defending" Ahenakew's remarks, even if Kinsella can't.

Damian P.

Update: in his comment section, Kinsella responds by pointing to posts by Brock and Shaidle (from January) and MacMillan (from 2005). He admits he can't find the Currie post, but that he saw it yesterday. I thought Kinsella was referring to posts they allegedly made in response to Ahenakew's reinstatement, but that obviously isn't what he had in mind.

The Brock and Shaidle posts echo my own position - Brock, in particular, makes it very clear that he has no time for Ahenakew's opinions about the Jews:

...the David Ahenakew case is a textbook example of why we don't need to prosecute "hate speech". Mr. Ahenakew is an anti-semite, who's views have led him to be stripped of his Order of Canada, he has be expelled from his memberships in native organizations; he has been publicly, and effectively ostracized. He is a sad man, who's hatred got him exactly what he deserved.

Throwing this man in jail is an overstep of the state's authority. It is not neccessary, and the lower court was right to throw the conviction out.

Little more nuanced than Kinsella makes it appear, no? Of course, Warren is not a man given to nuance:

[harsh response redacted]

Guess I should brace myself for the statement of claim...

Update II: I left a comment about this on Kinsella's site first, and then put up this post. In retrospect, blogging etiquette suggests I should have waited until Kinsella posted the comment and responded before I posted about it. I've left another comment on his site apologizing for jumping the gun.

Update III: Kinsella appears to have removed his harsh response from his comment section, and I've removed it from this post.

Posted by damian at April 2, 2008 01:56 PM