Doublethink at B'nai Brith

Doublethink:

To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully-constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them; to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy; to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved using doublethink.

B'nai Brith Canada... has gone public with a human rights complaint against the organization that is before the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. The complaint alleges anti-Muslim comments were made during a B'nai Brith-sponsored conference...

Underscoring the deficiency of the human rights commission system is that the complainant was not herself present at the conference. B'nai Brith has not been given the right to learn the identity of the accuser or accusers who were allegedly present, despite the organization's request for such information.

"This frivolous complaint against B'nai Brith is still in play nearly five years later, with no resolution in sight," said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B'nai Brith Canada. "The manner in which this case, as well as other recent human rights complaints have been handled, has exposed clear deficiencies in the system that must be addressed." 

David Matas, B'nai Brith Canada's Senior Legal Counsel and the author of the brief, stated: "We have been denied critical information in what amounts to a rumour-driven case against us, based entirely on hearsay. We have been refused the right to learn the identity of the accuser or accusers whose alleged claims form the basis of this complaint.  Adding insult to injury is that the Commission has recently appointed - almost five years into this process - an 'outside expert' whose name they refuse to divulge, thereby denying us the right to properly defend ourselves.

"The credibility of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission is at stake as this baseless complaint continues to drag. This is just one of a number of cases that have brought the entire human rights commission system into question."

Hate propaganda does nothing to advance freedom of expession... section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act constitutes a reasonable limit on section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms...

Hate speech... only causes enduring harm to its victims and to Canadian society...

Hate resembles no other crime because it reaches beyond the immediate victim or the victim's own community, and causes damage to society itself....

Dr. Mock opined that from a psychological point of view, hate laws have three beneficial purposes. First, because of the deleterious effects of hate, these laws send the message that promoting hatred and contempt will not be tolerated. Second, they create a deterrent that prevents the promotion of hatred that can lead to murder and genocide. Third, they send a message that regardless of Canadians immutable characteristics, they will be protected and allowed to develop in full self esteem.