Tactical Retreat of Darkness

National Post:

Calgary Muslim leader Syed Soharwardy says he is withdrawing his Alberta Human Rights Commission complaint against former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant.

Whipped!

"Over the two years that we have gone through the process, I understand that most Canadians see this as an issue of freedom of speech, that that principle is sacred and holy in our society," said Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

"I believe Canadian society is mature enough not to absorb the messages that the cartoons sent. Only a very small fraction of Canadian media decided to publish those cartoons."

Jacob Sullum (via Instapundit) writes:

By his account, then, Soharwardy had not heard of this whole freedom-of-speech thing until after he filed his complaint with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission, and it took him two years to fully absorb how important it is to Canadians. During that time, he also took the measure of Canadians and judged them "mature enough" to look at cartoons depicting Muhammad without going on an anti-Muslim rampage. I think it may take a few more years for Soharwardy to get the concept at stake in his tiff with Levant.

Yeah, Saudi thugs don't tend to be perceptive.

Comments

[Cafe Alpha]

It's interesting to see Soharwardy trying to put the reactions of Canadians into the impoverished intellectual framework he's familiar with.

"issue of freedom of speech, that that principle is sacred and holy in our society"

Oh my fucking God! He is entirely unequipped to understand the principles of a free society when he had one and only one principle of merit "sacred[ness]"

Oh fuck!

It worries me that children in the west are being raised with this concept that there can be one and only one principle of merit in their minds.

[Cafe Alpha]

According to Ezra Levant's lawyer, Soharwardy only says he's withdrawn the complaint - he's lying. He has not legally withdrawn it. We'll have to see whether he will actually do what he currently only claims that he's done.

[Cafe Alpha]

By the way, I phrased that first comment much more cogently on Ezra's site - quote

From the National Post article:
"Over the two years that we have gone through the process, I understand that most Canadians see this as an issue of freedom of speech, that that principle is sacred and holy in our society," said Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

One can see his brain working, trying to put the reactions of Canadians in to the intellectually impoverished framework of an Islamic education where there are no concepts of human rights, of freedom, of democracy, of social contract, no separation of powers or checks and balances - the list of principles he doesn't understand is endless.

He has only a single principle of merit, "sacred[ness]".

It worries me that a man like him has a position of religious authority in Canada, that he will be encouraging his parishioners to raise their children thinking in this way. Where there is one and only one single value in their thinking - "holy[ness]".

[Cafe Alpha]

Someone in the Reason thread made a point I'd forgotten, but which is clear:

At least Soharwardy was using the legal system instead of just having Ezra killed. In that sense he may have alread assimilated one of the most vital principles of our culture.