Taylor: white supremacist, pseudo-scientist, or plain old victim of censorship

Harvard president Larry Summers recently stumbled into a hailstorm of controversy after he dared to imply that men tend to be better at science and mathematics than women. When cognitive scientist Steven Pinker (Harvard had just snatched him from MIT in a big science coup) was asked, "Do you think Summers' remarks were within the pale of legitimate academic discourse?" he replied, "Good grief, shouldn't everything be within the pale of legitimate discourse, as long as it is presented with some degree of rigor? That's the difference between a university and a madrasah [an Islamic theological college]."

It seems the University of Ottawa is leaning more to the madrasah side. On January 12, my brother Kyle suggested to his university that they invite a speaker, Jared Taylor, to do a talk on the pros and cons of diversity. The university's community life board was thrilled. It said diversity has become "the most pressing issue with students today." The University of Ottawa has had some serious friction as ethnic student groups try to assimilate into the West without sacrificing their values. This problem is prevalent in most Canadian universities. Including my alma mater, Carleton University.

In fall of 2002, Muslim student groups were outraged to notice that all the bars on campus serve alcohol. So one of the bars, Rooster's, was made into an alcohol-free spot where Muslims could relax and enjoy Western culture without its infuriatingly non-Muslim characteristics.

Similarly, if you tune into CKCU (the community radio station based at Carleton) today you will hear almost nothing but ethnic talk shows spoken in that particular special interest group's native tongue. Is that what the Billboard charts define as college radio? CKCU was started by Dan Akroyd back in the '60s as a place to hear commercial-free rock 'n' roll you would hear nowhere else, not to push the university's multicultural agenda.

And if you look at The Charlatan, Carleton's school newspaper, today you will see a highly censored trade journal that is about as irreverent and daring as the Tulip Festival. Go into the archives of the paper and you will see an editor's photo from back in the 1970s consisting of a penis wearing sunglasses. In the early '90s the only pubic hair in the magazine was when they discussed banning my magazine, Vice, on campus.

Today the paper doesn't even mention genitalia for fear of offending its non-Western readership. So the bars can't serve booze, the radio station can't play college radio, and the school newspaper can't talk about its students. This is the story of the Canadian university. What better place to discuss the ins and outs of multiculturalism?

LOVE AND HATE

Kyle and I quickly made a flyer that had two fists with "love" and "hate" on them and a picture of Jared Taylor's face. The flyer was a bit incendiary, as all good posters are, but it prompted student groups to google Jared and find out if anyone disliked him. Of course, few went to Taylor's website (www.amren.com ) or checked any of his writings. Most did what most intellectually lazy leftists do; they checked the Internet for potential enemies. Probably, if the poster featured a flower and said, "The garden of culture, a look at diversity on campus," nobody would have said a word.

If you google Taylor you will find rhetoric like, "He uses a pseudo science to disguise supremacist beliefs in expert language." After pressure from googlers at University of Ottawa the Faculty pulled out and the talk was banned. It was painfully obvious where they got their information. Almost everyone opposed to the talk used the terms "pseudo science" and "expert language." Kiavash Najafi from the political studies student association told Kyle, "we do not wish to spend time and money on discussing racist propaganda, even when it is disguised in expert language." Bob Kimberly, the president of the communications students association, let slip that he feared Jared's command of English would be eloquent enough to make everyone else look bad. "That," he declared, would create "an unfair balance of power." Similarly queer language was used by Caroline Andrew, the dean of the faculty of social sciences, who told Kyle she "can't support the talk" because she "doesn't agree with Jared Taylor's origins and links."

Research associate Mohammad Akram said, "If we will promote the idea of Jared Taylor, a time will come in future [when] people will fight together just for color supremacy. Canada is the best country of the world. Like India, where we have beauty and unity in diversity." (Is there a nation on Earth whose history is more rife with ethnic tension than India?)

The problem, of course, is that Jared Taylor discusses the downside of integration and mass immigration and he is white. Filipina Michelle Malkin says the same things. She even wrote a book, called In Defense of Internment, about the merits of racial profiling, but she can do that because she's Asian. Black liberal demigod, writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, was passionately against integration, but she spoke during something liberals call "her crazy years." Los Angeles radio personality Terry Anderson is black. He thinks mass immigration is out of control. You never hear the left talk about him. Or what about Juan Mann (www.deportaliens.com)? Nobody seems more eloquent than this U.S. Hispanic at discussing the problems with diversity and illegal aliens but nobody calls him a white supremacist. Have any of Taylor's critics been to issues-views.com where blacks furiously criticize affirmative action, immigration, reparations, multiculturalism and much more?

"LEGITIMATE DISCOURSE"

The truth is Jared Taylor has never said anything to imply whites are superior to anyone else. Neither has anyone listed here. The only times you will see racial superiority discussed with any kind of power behind it is when Hispanic nationalists discuss their plans to replace North Americans with Latinos or when you talk to Israelis about why their homeland is the most segregated place on earth. But all of these opinions are "within the pale of legitimate discourse." They should be discussed, openly, in schools, so students can learn the truth for themselves. Isn't that what academia is all about? Stirring up the water so the truth can float to the top?

Nobody was willing to discuss it further with Kyle. He offered to make the talk a debate and even promised to get NDP MP Ed Broadbent as an antidote to Jared's so-called "toxic talk." But no. The consensus was "I am for free speech but there is no way I am going to let this talk happen."

Recently I spoke to Stuart Trew of Ottawa XPress, who told me, "Christ, these guys aren't made of money. They can't bring to town every hack with something to say."

The truth is pro-diversity campus groups are made of money. OPIRG receives $98,403 per semester from students at the University of Ottawa. International House receives $52,893 per semester. This means that over four years of study, Kyle and his fellow students will have contributed approximately $1,210,368 to the pros of diversity. The University of Ottawa spent $20,000 having Ralph Nader tell them things they already believed. Taylor is a Yale grad who has written five books, speaks fluent Japanese, has visited every country in the Middle East, and was merely asking for plane fare.

Feedback: letters@ottawaxpress.ca

 
 

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Ottawa, Express Yourselves...Especially The Future Leaders Of This Country.......     What is the point of education? Is it more than accumulating large amounts of debt and trying in vain to find yourself a job hopefully in the degree you graduated in within the labour market? Is education and certainly post-secondary education, the years where you break away from conservative thinking while you were living for free under your parent's roof and make decisions for your own based on what you learn out there in the often challenging and opinionized society that we live in? Where does a young student learn about opinion, bias and diversity? Do you experience these things riding the bus to school? Maybe in small doses..but opportunites like hearing a David Suzuki or a Ralph Nader or a Jared Taylor is part of the listening-thinking-deciding factor of growing up. You may not agree with some of what he talks about but, there at least you heard what he had to say and you take away a small piece from the experience and then you look for other opportunities to hear someone else with another point of view. In time, you slowly gather up all of these nuggets of information and you start to have a stronger sense of what you believe. The fragments of detail become a solid piece of belief based on the collected evidence. Students must be exposed to many takes on a wide array of opinions otherwise what is the point of their journey into post-secondary education? So much of our educational years are teachers ramming stuff down our throats and then professors wonder why we are so introverted, unopinionated and unconfrontational? We all have tongues for uses other than slurping ice cream on a hot June afternoon, licking stamps to send postcards to our folks back home and licking a Kleenex to rub that ketchup residue off our kids cheek before they get ready to get their class picture taken. We have tongues so that we can clearly make an opinion, our opinion and the more diversity we hear about a broad range of topics, the more complete the message.
Steve Landry	{1 vote}	April 27th, 2005
More of a rant than a defense     I saw the provocative headline, read the article with interest and by the end was so irked by the content. Was Jared Taylor ever actually banned in Canada? What are his views on multiculturalism? Why the rant against so-called ethnic groups? McInnis never presents an reasonable argument for allowing Jared Taylor to speak . His defense consists of attacking Taylor's attackers with the same laziness he condemns. His use of the word ethnic is obsolete in that it implies that only some people possess ethnicity. Ethnic everyone is ethnic whether it is central to their identity or not and, contrary to McInnis' implication, Western and ethnic are not mutually exclusive terms. About "ethnic talk shows" : over a week (refer to program guide), CKCU broadcasts an average of 2 hours a day of multicultural programming, consistent with its license for community based campus radio. Non-alcoholics: what's wrong with meeting the demand for a no alcohol gathering spot that not a cafeteria if it harms no one, doesn't take away from their enjoyment of alcohol on campus? India: Ethnic strife is in its history but so is ethnic harmony (e.g. Akbar's Mogul Empire). Anyhow, many contradictory statements can be made about a big country with a long history that have been true at some point. McInnis brings up the friction arises when people or institutions with different values interact. Perhaps Jared Taylor and Gavin McInnis are coping with a similar stress, difficulty with the fact that the current and future state of the West does not correspond to their nostalgic idea of homogenous times past (with minorities under control, campus radio all college rock). I agree that controversial opinions should be openly discussed (not that this inevitably leads to truth) and that people should form their own opinion of Taylor. Yes, he should be free to speak but this doesn't mean that the University must welcome him or pay his way, Japanese and Yale degree notwithstanding.
Tara Dwivedi	{22 votes}	March 24th, 2005
I'm a celebrity?     I was very intrigued by Xpress's publication of Gavin McInnes' article on free speech in regards to Jared Taylor and the University of Ottawa. I was particularly interested in a few main points, first of which being that I was actually QUOTED in this article, as the President of the Communication Students at U of O. This is moderately bizarre since not onlywas I NEVER INTERVIEWED on this subject, I've never met nor spoken to one Gavin Miles McInnes in my life. It comes as absolutely no surprise then, given this fact, that not only is my name spelled wrong (a surefire example of poor journalism), but I am GROSSLY misquoted. In Gavin's defence on this issue, I can imagine it being virtually impossible to correctly quote an individual with whom you've never spoken nor heard from. In general, there are VAST problems with this article, not the least of which being that it is written ENTIRELY third-hand. I don't know if Gavin McInnes has ever been to Ottawa, or he could very well be FROM Ottawa for all I know. But the fact is, he did NOT interview anyone that is quoted in the article, but merely wrote it based on his own brother's allegations and accusations. This in itself could potentially be grounds for legal issues, but given the fact that admittedly I am an avid reader of both Xpress and Vice magazine (for which Gavin writes), I don't feel it necessary to take any action. But if nothing else, it has caused me to question the legitimacy of all things published in these two publications, as obviously their journalistic integrity is far from infallible.
Bob Kimberley	{4 votes}	March 23rd, 2005
Times are a changing (and not for the better)...     If you think PC multi cultural madness has gone crazy just look around you and be very afraid. The United States claims to be the most democratic country on the planet where the right to free speech is a paragon of virtue held up before all else. Ya? Try burning a flag in protest. Why is it that Michael Moore's film was almost not released because the right wing agenda has deemed that anyone who criticizes the government is a traitor. McCarthyism is back with a vengeance. Can you imagine a series like "All in the Family" getting the green light now? An anti-war series like M*A*S*H*? Unless of course you're anti male and anti white and then it's ok. For example "The Boondocks" is a comic strip (which is quite funny) written from the black perspective. Recently there was an uproar when two of the characters made the comment "Must be a White thing" in a derogatory context. I laughed because it was funny, but can you imagine Lynne Johnson saying "Must be a Black thing?" and getting away with it? Not a chance in hell. I have no idea if men are smarter in math (I know I'm not), nor do I care. What does bother me is the lack of free speech that exists in today's society because everyone is afraid of offending someone else.
James Harrison	{17 votes}	March 22nd, 2005
Why the warning?     I'm just curious as to why Mr. McInnis's editorial begins with a warning? Mr. Akpta's colorful articles don't seem to have a warning?
Dave Zarboni	{8 votes}	March 17th, 2005
Opinions are like...     There is no doubt that when one discusses ethic groups, racial differences and cultural issues, everyone will have an opinion, and a strong one at that. It seems that in today's society some people wield two opinions - one that is the official PC view, and the one that they grumble about under their breath, with close friends and those of a similar background. That being said, much of the article above is an oversimplification - "the bars can't serve booze, the radio station can't play college radio, and the school newspaper can't talk about its students."??? If I read correctly, only one bar no longer serves alcohol, there is a great deal of variety in CKCU programming, and the school paper reports on just about anything. This is not a problem that can be solved easily, if at all. People will always have differing opinions - and all we can hope to do is help raise awareness, inform and educate.
Karlis Bouse		April 4th, 2005
News flash!     News flash...the state of Free Speech at Canadian universities is a joke. Did I mention I used to go to Concordia University? If you know anything about that university's recent problems then you can already guess the direction of this rant. <<>> Political correctness may have started as a fine idea but since 9/11 academic institutions the world over have taken to blatant censorship in the name of public security and other such rubbish but honestly what's the point of educating minds and asking greatness of them if you won't allow for opportunities where their minds can be pushed? What's the point of making the nature of discourse no anemic and anal on campuses that nothing genuine or radical has a chance of being born? I guess the logic being that you don't want to rock the boat but if you're not rocking it once in a while what's the incentive for the boat to move at all? If that's the case, why do you even need one? Good question, I'd say.
Pedro Eggers		April 2nd, 2005
The funniest thing about this is that....     The Muslim students were not what they had in mind when they made Rooster's non-alcoholic bar, or at least I didn't think so. I was informed by the people involved with CUSA themselves that Rooster's was losing money when they were serving alcohol, so as not to lose more money, they made Rooster's non-alcoholic, and that way, they could also make profit with the other bar, Oliver's, which serves alcohol. Also, talking about free speech, look at the United States. There's a reason why they have such problems with racism. Often, when you look at the media, it's only the people with power and the opportunities to speak. If I elaborate further, I could probably write an essay, but suffice to say that this is why one needs to be careful about what being said widely before it oppress people further. Not that I condone censorship or anything, but is it such a bad idea to stop saying hateful things?
Indri Pasaribu	{1 vote}	March 31st, 2005
Woe Canada     The discussion here is interesting, and typical. Most Canadians aren't as enthusiastic about "multiculturalism" and mass immigration as "official" Canada would like. Hence, those attached to these concepts are afraid of public discussion and criticism, however mild, and view the people of Canada as potential enemies almost. It's all rather like Soviet Russia, where the purpose was to promote abstract ideals and ideology, entirely at odds with the way real people normally wish to live and the attachments they form, which is typically based on family, kinship, religion and custom. The "new Canada" was rightly termed by Lucien Bouchard as no longer a "real country i.e. one which is at all like a real nation inhabited by people with a shared history - it's now more akin to soulless apparatus to distribute money and "rights", desperate to ensure some basis for allegiance. Canada's immigration and multiculturalism seek to make a traditional country impossible here - a country where people feel kinship and commonality. It's not as happy-clappy in Canada as liberals like to make out, and the real test will be in times of hardship. I for one am not optimistic, and it's important that opinions like those of Jared Taylor get an airing. Canadians nowadays can live decades without hearing a properly thought out conservative argument for anything, so no wonder liberal hyperbole and sophistry rule supreme. Can there be any doubt that Canada is the most politically correct country on earth?
David Avren	{1 vote}	March 30th, 2005
It's all true     Sorry Bob, you did use the words "unfair balance of power." You said them to my brother Kyle. You can only sue when you DIDN'T say the quote. Also, I notice the ivory tower academics at Ottawa U smugly claiming they never banned Jared Taylor. True, they did not physically stand at the entrance to the University, flaming torches in hand and say, "You can't talk." They did however ensure he was prevented from speaking. They are under the impression that postponing the question for months and passing the buck well beyond the date of the talk, is not banning. It is. How typically Ottawan to hide behind bureaucracy and delays instead of being brave enough to stand up and clearly make a decision. Incidentally, my brother is trying to get a new date set and is still running into talk like, "If you want me to make a decision right now I can't. I need to talk to more student groups."
Gavin McInnes	{1 vote}	March 25th, 2005
Alcohol on University Campuses     It is not only Muslims who are complaining about too much alcohol on campus. Campus magazines and newspapers promote alcohol use as the perfect drink for wild parties when you want to have a good time. Even on TV you see beer commercials where students are having the time of their lives. With a legal drinking age of 18 in Quebec many students can't resist to get stoned for the first time. I have known some students who use this form of self medication to get through their school day. Freshmen need to be taught responsible drinking by their parents or in student orientation sessions before the semester starts. Some have even died by getting involved in dangerous drinking contests. What a needless waste. The universities should rather be promoting mineral water, milk and fruit juices. I always believed that students attended university to learn not to have never ending partying!
Stephen Talko		March 23rd, 2005
I don't quite understand...?!     I don't quite understand this controversy, after Jared Taylor dared to imply that men tend to be better at science and mathematics than women (a fact taken from Canadian statistics). So what's wrong with the fact that females are also far more inclined than men to major in English, French, any other foreign languages, communications, psychology, and the health sector. And, it is a statistical fact that men are more inclined to major in mathematics, physics sciences, and computer. I think, what should be more interesting to mention in this article, is that women are closing the gender gap, not only in educational, but in job equity. And, that's a great achievement for all of us!
Valerie Augier	{1 vote}	March 22nd, 2005
Free speech goes both ways     Why should Jared Taylor be banned when speakers on the other side of things are allowed? What happened to free speech and academic freedom? How is preventing a person from airing his views, hardly as offensive as some think they are, in an intelligent and organised manner, a good thing? It goes against so much that universities and free societies in general stand for. The concepts of multiculturalism, multiracialism, diversity, etc, have not been implemented long enough for us to see the real consequences: They are still experiments, works in progress. Why then are they treated like the gospel truth? Time will tell whether they are right or not, but there has not been enough time. This is a debate that needs to be had, but one side, and we know which one, will most likely just resort to accusations of racism, rather than address the topic.
Daniel Horn	{4 votes}	March 21st, 2005
Can't please 'em all,     As I read about the extreme lengths to which Universities and Canada in general, I can't help but wonder where we should draw the line. We are lucky to live in a very accomodating country, but to a certain point, we cannot be expected to bend over backwards to every special interest group. Both of my parents are immigrants, and they both taught me the importance of keeping my native culture, but also the importance of a measure of assimilation. You cannot come to a foreign country, and have the arrogance to expect it to change itself just for you. People should try to worka little harder accomodating Canada, and not the inverse. So: a muslim group does not like that alcohol is served at a bar. Should the University designate a bar alcohol free? Heck, why not just ban booze across campus! (Imagine all the happy students!). I say no. If alcohol can't be served in a bar anymore, where then?? And it's not like anybody is forcing anybody to go to the bars... I'm sure the are cafe's on campus. Use your heads! So, if Jared Taylor has something to say, let him say it. He's as good a guest speaker as any it seems. Sometimes it takes a devil's advocate to turn more heads, and stimulate discussion. If the university wants to just invite speakers, with boring, department store opinions, what do the students get out of that? Universities, and everybody for that matter, should be encouraging free thought. It should be left up to the audience to decide for themselves if what they hear is good or rubbish. If a person is well read, and can back up what they say, they should not be censored.
Dominic Aebi	{8 votes}	March 19th, 2005
OK?     If anyone has a problem with there being a few shows on CKCU in different languages...read the programming site. CKCU has a great website with a schedule of all the shows playing. Oh boo hoo, I have to listen to Indian radio on Sundays at 1...oh wait, no I don't have to at all. Is having a non-alcoholic bar at a university such a bad idea really? I never thought of the schools as being censored, I thought of them as being more diverse, making room and representing all the people at the school. There have always been multi-cultural students at the university, it's nice that they are represented now. I haven't given as much thought to it as Taylor has, I just live here.
Josee Lacroix	{2 votes}	March 19th, 2005
Harmony     I believe that we should all practice tolerance, actually, tolerance probably isn't the right word to use...it implies that we should put up with things instead of embracing them....perhaps we should practice harmony instead. Making one bar non-alcoholic is not the end of the world, and it helps some of the school's Muslim students feel mre comfortable. What is wrong with that? As far as I'm concerned, why have bars on campus at all? But I digress. It isn't as though they took away the booze from ALL the bars on campus. There isn't enough understanding between groups. Muslims should respect Western culture even if the beliefs are different. Christians should respect Muslim culture even if the beliefs are different. Just because we have different cultural customs doesn't mean we have to hate each other.
Nancy Garbish	{7 votes}	March 19th, 2005
Jared Taylor should be free to speak in Canada, or any Western nation     I've been visiting Mr. Taylor's website (http://www.amren.com) since 1995, and personally met the man in 2000, and my opinion is that he's a perfectly respectable and erudite individual who's ideas, however much some (but certainly not all) in the community may dislike them, are deserving of a free and open hearing within any Western society worthy of the name. Mr. Tayor is NOT a fascist, nor an advocate of violence, or any other form of illegal activity. He does believe that due to mass immigration from the Third World, and low birth rates amongst White people in North America, Europe and Australia/NZ, that White/Western civilization and White/Western culture, and indeed the very White racial formation as a biological whole, are in not-quite imminent danger of extinction. And he regard this as a bad thing which ought to be reversed, just as the mavens of political correctness/mind control would regard such an occurrence with respect to ANY OTHER RACIAL, CIVILIZATIONAL OR CULTURAL GROUPING, as everyone reading this well knows. Some may object to the very moderate form of White racial nationalism advocated by men like Mr. Taylor and the recently late Dr. Samuel Francis, but there exists no rational basis for doing so. Such objections are based on an essentially religious view that it is immoral for White people to care about their own race, while it remains axiomatic that all other races would care about theirs. Hogwash! White people OUGHT to love their own race, as more and more are realizing each day. REJECT EXTINCTION! FREEDOM OF SPEECH FOR CANADA!
Kevin O'Keeffe	{8 votes}	March 18th, 2005
Drinking in meeting places     The fact that there are two other places on campus where we can get drunk cannot possibly be excuse for undemocratic removal of the bar from university centre. Removing the bar from the third floor to the first floor only serves interest of a minority group of people, while many students want to drink in place where all the activities happens there. Therefore I can say the university policy does not include the view of the majority of the students.
Mohsen Nasrin	{5 votes}	March 18th, 2005
Say it ain't so, Gavin?     I honestly can't pass judgement on Jared Taylor until I know more. His point that the non-white people similar to his is fair enough (there's a fine line between multiculturalism and a melting pot and affirmative action would be unnecessary if people weren't racist). On the other hand, the first half of the article (on which his frustration is ground) is totally unresearched. This is surprising considering that he reproaches others for not doing proper research! Slagging Roosters for being booze-free is silly. There are other things worthy of complaint about Roosters (they can't make falafels) but that it doesn't serve alcohol isn't one of them. There are two other places on campus to get drunk. An alcohol-free space is a welcome change. Also, CKCU has music shows. Meltdown, Tickle Me Punk, Friday Morning Cartunes etc... In fact, I think CKCU should do more for Carleton students - especially now since the CKCU tuition levy was recently put into question. As for The Charlatan, it does suck but Gavin might be pleased to know that in November and December, it printed editor-approved anti-francophone content so in his eyes, it probably doesn't suck as much as he thought. Part of me wants to tell Gavin McInnes, the former singer of Ottawa band Anal Chinook "say it ain't so!" but at this point, I'm not surprised. If anyone is interested in reading more of Gavin's neo-conservative drivel, go here: http://www.amconmag.com/08_11_03/feature.html Apparently insulting your readership does help get more readers.
Paul Galipeau	{1 vote}	March 17th, 2005

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