Intrigued by fawning posts from across the moronosphere, I checked out Ezra Levant’s new website, and am delighted, and a bit surprised, to report that Ezra has finally initiated a project that the Bunker can support wholeheartedly - a Union of Bloggers. Well, half wholeheartedly - there ARE a couple of niggly little details I’m curious about.
It’s certainly hard to resist the notion of Canada’s Right Wing Standard Bearer setting up a “union” of any sort at all. And of course, the vaguely heroic mission statement of the “Union” is hard to argue with. I’m sure all of us, progressive OR regressive, can get behind the goal of ”provid[ing] Canadian bloggers with the legal, financial and political resources to resist baseless attacks on their freedom of expression.” My emphasis.
So I explored the site a bit to learn more. And my exploration led me to post this very polite (I think) query on the “Union’s” site, here.
What an excellent idea. Stageleft is certainly 100% in favour of “providing Canadian bloggers with the legal, financial and political resources to resist baseless attacks on their freedom of expression.”
There’s a fair amount of flex in there, of course, a few details that still need to be worked out.
I note that you’ve got your paypal system for donations up and running, but so far, no information about exactly how the contributions are going to be managed. Or accounted for to the membership. Or actually used. That would be useful, I think - some kind of accountability for contributions.
I note also that the governance structure is also “under development”. It would be useful to describe to us, the potential membership, how the process of setting strategic goals, policies and procedures for this new entity will be accomplished, and how we get to participate in that process.
And about the “membership” thing. I went to the “Join” page, which told me only that you’re “currently working out our terms of membership”, but that I can “sign up with your details now, and we’ll contact you when we’re ready for you to join us!”
But the only place to “sign up with my details” appears to be on the Paypal page.
Am I missing something here? You’re suggesting I make a contribution to your non-registered “union” before you’ve told us how you’re going to spend and account for the money, what the terms of membership are, how this “organization” will be structured and governed, how its goals will be set, how its leadership will be selected, how its members will participate in the development and implementation of those goals?
That’s not a great way to start an “organization”, so I assume I’m just missing the page where we can join prior to handing over our money, until you clarify exactly how you intend to manage, spend and account to us for it. Could you refer to the place where we’re supposed to “sign up”?
But those small quibbles aside, great idea! As one of the few sites that proudly refuses to edit or censor any comments received, we support your goal entirely. We look forward to working with you on building an organization that truly does permit and promote freedom of speech among bloggers.
I should clarify. I say I “posted” this note. After hitting “send”, I got a cheerful little popup that said my comment was being held pending moderation. Seemed a bit funny for a site dedicated to “freedom of expression”, but I suppose you can’t be too careful. I posted to this page at about 10:15 am on Sunday the 10th. I’ll keep checking back and let you know when it appears. As you’ll note, it is a note which very politely raises legitimate questions: I can’t see what anyone could find objectionable, unless, of course, they simply didn’t want to respond to difficult questions. But I’m sure that’s not the case.
The other funny thing was that all the other 27 comments in the thread were hymns of praise to Ezra. Not a dissenting note in the entire thread. Some of the more spectacular gushes were contributed by our own Scenty (who, of course, censors the folks who disagree with him on his blog), Richard Evans, and other stellar defenders of free speech. Cough.
Now, cynics who’ve experienced these mock-Popular Crusades before - you know, the “Send Ezra Money Because He Might Get Sued By Muslims” Drive, the “Buy Lots Of Copies Of Exra’s Dying Magazine To Show You’re Not Afraid” Campaign, and so on - may think this is simply one more unabashed self-promotion and fundraising gimmick. They might look askance at an “organization” that demands your money without telling you how, when, where or by whom it’s going to be managed or reported on. They might wonder about whether an “organization” without any structure or governance is actually an “organization” at all. (Hey, isn’t there something awfully familiar about all this?)
But I say - give the man a CHANCE, you Cynics cynics! Ezra deserves our thanks and praise for creating a forum in which some of the most contemptible censors and propagandists in blogdom can come together and learn something about the meaning of free and open discussion, and its importance in maintaining a democracy. And as soon as he lets my comment through moderation (that’s the FREE EXPRESSION bit) , and explains how the membership will drive this “Union” (that’s the DEMOCRACY bit), I expect we shall see a hundred flowers bloom.
Or maybe not.
UPDATE
Well, here it is 9:30 pm, and other comments have appeared in the same thread. Now, some would take that as a sign that that Ezra, in a gesture of cynical hypocrisy, simply isn’t going to allow anything questioning his “union” on his new site promoting “Freedom Of Speech.” We remain hopeful, however.
UPDATE
Twenty five hours later: my questions about Ezra’s “Union” to promote Freedom Of Speech” appear to have been dumped. Must be a server problem, or something.
My comment asking Ezra whether or not his union of bloggers would defend a blogger from a baseless attack on their freedom of speech by him was rejected.