A B.C. man has filed a human rights complaint alleging religious discrimination after a TV comedian flew a plane pulling a "Jesus sucks" banner over Toronto. Dean Skoreyko of the northern B.C. town of Coldstream filed the complaint against Kenneth Hotz and Showcase TV. Mr. Skoreyko, who viewed the stunt online, said in a form filed with the B.C. human rights tribunal "my Christian beliefs and upbringing were publicly ridiculed."
Mr. Hotz is half of the Kenny vs. Spenny show, which turns on two rivals' attempts to compete with one another. The offending stunt was part of a contest between Mr. Hotz and co-host Spencer Rice to see who could offend the greatest number of people. Mr. Skoreyko, who once sought the federal Conservative nomination in Okanagan-Shuswap, told the National Post he filed the complaint on behalf of the silent majority that would object to such antics. He said he wanted to make the point that the human rights system applies double standards, favouring only minority interests.
When I first read about this stunt, I suppose I expected indignation from those sensitive types who had somehow managed to read the banner from the ground while on their way to church with their binoculars. And I suppose there's a point in there somewhere about minority vs. majority rights, although it has always been my understanding that the rights of the majority are automatically protected by the fact that they are... well, the majority (i.e. would this guy have been offended if they had flown a banner saying, "White Guys Suck"?)
But to claim that you were shocked and offended by a video on the internet that you would have had to have gone out of your way to find and download? Pulease. But hey, good on him for defending the sensibilities of those who would have objected. If they had seen it. Which they didn't.
Seriously, if this is the most offensive thing this guy can find on the internet, or for that matter on Kenny vs. Spenny, then he obviously isn't trying hard enough.
(and anyone care to bet on how long it takes for Charles McVety or his pals to point out that KvS gets Canadian tax credits?)
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HARPER'S "WAR ON COLLECTIVISM" FRUSTRATED BY ANNOYING FACTS
While Gerry Ritz and the entire Conservative free-market propaganda machine continue to try to convince western farmers that "marketing choice" will make them far more money for their crops, this rather inconvenient bit of news makes it into the media:
Canadians got more per bushel than U.S. farmers, wheat board says
Prairie farmers earned a record $7 billion from grain sold through the Canadian Wheat Board in 2007-08 — a 57 per cent increase over the previous year, the agency said Thursday in its annual report. [...] Western Canadian farmers got better prices than many U.S. farmers who sold their grain before prices spiked earlier this year.
Stupid facts.
(h/t to Buckdog)
