And Their Words Shall Reveal Them

Every so often, someone writes something where it is not the main thrust of their argument that leaps out at me as significant, rather it is the terms in which they frame it.

According to Michael Coren, arguing for improving civil rights conditions at home (where ever that might be) is a matter of left wing hypocrisy:

Dumb as well as hypocritical. Freedom of expression for us because we are tolerant. No freedom of expression for you because you're not. There's consistency for you. It's not about Israel or homosexuality or feminism, but about truth and common sense. For goodness sake, someone pass a motion.

Well coming from Coren, one of Canada's loudest, most noxious bigots, I don't suppose I should be overly shocked that he frames hypocrisy in the following kind of terms:

Feminist New Democrats call for Canadian troops to leave Afghanistan, thus abandoning Afghan women to the Taliban.

Just look for a moment at his phrasing here. Apparently, it is a form of hypocrisy in Coren's mind to be opposed to Little Stevie's Grand Adventure in Afghanistan - after all, if you argue for women's equality at home, you should be appalled by the Taliban. Well, truth be told, most people are appalled by the Taliban - but those among us who actually think about things a little also recognize that Canada's military engagement in Afghanistan is unlikely to change that particular issue in the long run.

Of course, we all know that the right wing Cons in this country don't like feminism at the best of times - it undermines the male patriarchy and their grip on political power. (Goodness knows, there are those who argue that women's emancipation was a mistake, and I don't doubt that for a minute Coren's among them - even if he doesn't dare say it out loud)

Of course, he saves his harshest comments and wishes for the GLBT people:

If they declared their sexuality in Palestine, or for that matter in Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia or anywhere else in the region, they would likely be murdered. One particularly ingenuous method of killing one's local male homosexual in Palestine is to push a wall on him.

Again, here we must examine his words. There is a tone of admiration for the idea of killing someone by flattening them with a wall. He doesn't call it vicious, vile or sadistic, no, Coren reserves the admiring term "ingenuous" for this particular form of savagery, almost as if he wishes he could use it at home - where such an act would get him 25 to life - and if he's lucky that would be in solitary confinement.

Coren accuses the "left wing" of hypocrisy, but in doing so demonstrates his own distaste for women's rights, or even the basic right of GLBT people to live their lives in relative peace without fear of being assaulted or worse. Instead, he waxes poetic over the violence that is visited upon people.

Says a lot about him, doesn't it?