Monday, December 17, 2007

Re: Mark Steyn is losing   [Mark Steyn]

Stanley, you may be right. The Canadian Islamic Congress is arguing that my article is a "crime". By accepting the case, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has indicated it's prepared at least to consider the possibility that it's a "crime". That in itself is a significant concession to my opponents, and damaging not just to me but to the concept of a free press.

Over in London, Melanie Phillips has her say on the matter in The Spectator. Miss Phillips is the author of the bestselling Londonistan, and my column about her book is also part of the Canadian Islamic Congress' complaint against me. I conclude it as follows:

One final thought: Miss Phillips is one of Britain's best-known newspaper columnists. She appears constantly on national TV and radio. No publisher has lost money on her. Yet Londonistan wound up being published first in New York, and its subsequent appearance in Britain is thanks not to Little, Brown (who published her last big book) but to a small independent imprint called Gibson Square. I don't know Miss Phillips's agent, but it's hard not to suspect that glamorous literary London decided it would prefer to keep a safe distance from this incendiary subject.

That's how nations die — not by war or conquest, but by a thousand trivial concessions, until one day you wake up and you don't need to sign a formal instrument of surrender because you did it piecemeal.

12/17 06:32 PMShare