Ezra loses a Libel case...

[Toma]

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/11...?utm_hp_ref=tw

Only $80k.... but it's a start.

[D. Dub]

Nice. He is such a yammering twat waffle.

[G-ZUS]

What a piece of shit.

[D. Dub]

Funny enough, Toma. I'm "old", and in the old days, about 1992 or so, I was at the U of C at the same time as Levant AND Rob Anders --- even back then you could see the seeds of xenophobic extremism being planted.

[Toma]

Really?? I went to school with these twits (and you), and didn't take the opportunity to beat them like red headed step children?

FUCK

lol

Oh,, Ezra is begging for money again

[broken_legs]

I hate Ezras BS reporting style, but I like some if the things he talks about.

I was on his side that these kangaroo human rights courts are a joke.

But at the same time hes a prick. So mixed feelings.

[finboy]

What a great thing to wake up to in the morning

[HuMz]

I don't see how this can be entirely positive when looking at whole situation at hand and the right to free speech. It's not like Khurrum Awan was on the receiving end of some form of injustice or fighting a noble cause. This was the youth president of the Canadian Islamic Council that released the statement condemning the government's terror designation of Hamas and Hezbollah.

I find Ezra to be way to aggressive and militant in how he dialogues but the last thing this country needs is to have people silenced for disagreeing opinions. Unfortunately it sounds like Ezra said some things about Awan that were more personal and he couldn't back it up, hopefully he learns to tone it down a bit.

[16hypen3sp]

He's heavy on the freedom of speech. Nothing wrong with that. He's also in Red Deer today... I was thinking of going to say hi.

[killramos]

Originally posted by HuMz
I don't see how this can be entirely positive when looking at whole situation at hand and the right to free speech. It's not like Khurrum Awan was on the receiving end of some form of injustice or fighting a noble cause. This was the youth president of the Canadian Islamic Council that released the statement condemning the government's terror designation of Hamas and Hezbollah.

I find Ezra to be way to aggressive and militant in how he dialogues but the last thing this country needs is to have people silenced for disagreeing opinions. Unfortunately it sounds like Ezra said some things about Awan that were more personal and he couldn't back it up, hopefully he learns to tone it down a bit.

I think this call was a bad case for free speech which more people should be concerned about...

One of the reasons he lost was his specifically calling Awan an anti-semite...

Was Ezra an asshole? Absolutely. But reading the descriptions of the case its difficult to see where he was actually culpable...

Would Toma appreciate being brought up on libel charges for all the people he calls Zenophobic?

The difference between Ezra and Toma is the size of the microphone and a swing of spectrum

Ezra is appealing to the supreme court on free speech claims anyways so it isn't close to over...

[A790]

Originally posted by HuMz
I don't see how this can be entirely positive when looking at whole situation at hand and the right to free speech. It's not like Khurrum Awan was on the receiving end of some form of injustice or fighting a noble cause. This was the youth president of the Canadian Islamic Council that released the statement condemning the government's terror designation of Hamas and Hezbollah.

I find Ezra to be way to aggressive and militant in how he dialogues but the last thing this country needs is to have people silenced for disagreeing opinions. Unfortunately it sounds like Ezra said some things about Awan that were more personal and he couldn't back it up, hopefully he learns to tone it down a bit.

He wasn't silenced by the government. He was sued civilly and lost. Substantial difference.

[ZenOps]

Maybe he went over the line a little bit with unsubstantiated facts, but opinion should always be allowed (if not encouraged)

If I wanted to make a thread "Rob Anders the Liar Part VII, the Empire wears plaid" Then one should be able to do that without facing punitive fines. Or how about "Harper, lighten up - even the US doesn't like you enough to let Keystone pass".

"Henry VIII, stop killing your wives" - If the internet was around then, probably would have got a commoner in jail back in the day.

BTW: Somehow in the back of my head, I'm thinking that if Trudeau was prez - Keystone would have passed. Much easiergoing beerbuddy type of personality, a much better fit for the current US admin.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by killramos


I think this call was a bad case for free speech which more people should be concerned about...

One of the reasons he lost was his specifically calling Awan an anti-semite...

Was Ezra an asshole? Absolutely. But reading the descriptions of the case its difficult to see where he was actually culpable...

Would Toma appreciate being brought up on libel charges for all the people he calls Zenophobic?

The difference between Ezra and Toma is the size of the microphone and a swing of spectrum

Ezra is appealing to the supreme court on free speech claims anyways so it isn't close to over...

I disagree that this is a free speech issue. Basically he made up lies and published them. Free speech does not, nor should it include the ability to lie and not have consequences. That should apply to both the government and the public.

Imagine for a minute that you could trust the media, what a wonderful thing that would be?

[blitz]

Originally posted by codetrap
I disagree that this is a free speech issue. Basically he made up lies and published them. Free speech does not, nor should it include the ability to lie and not have consequences. That should apply to both the government and the public.

Imagine for a minute that you could trust the media, what a wonderful thing that would be?

Agreed. I think some people in this thread don't really understand the world 'libel'

[killramos]

Originally posted by codetrap
I disagree that this is a free speech issue. Basically he made up lies and published them. Free speech does not, nor should it include the ability to lie and not have consequences. That should apply to both the government and the public.

Imagine for a minute that you could trust the media, what a wonderful thing that would be?

Of course, you cant do that.

I am just not sure there was good enough evidence of libel in the case. But then again I'm not a judge. The concern i have is they they tried to make an example out of him. Which is where the appeal will be interesting.

Ezra is a lawyer and he is usually careful enough about staying on the right side of the line.

Not trying to defend Ezra specifically, just always concerned about the state of free speech in our society. Particularly against the new "right to not be offended"

[HuMz]

Originally posted by A790

He wasn't silenced by the government. He was sued civilly and lost. Substantial difference.

I didn't think I implied that he was silenced by the government, that wasn't my intent anyway. It is the justice system which upholds the rule of law and determines what constitutes the difference between freedom of speech and a defamation suit.

And when you're hit with a defamation suit and forced to retract statements and delete written posts viewable to the public that is what we all would consider silenced.

The McLean's article in which the Canadian Islamic Congress also went after in the court of law are important topics which need light. And crying that it's Islamophobia when people are expressing a difference of opinion is ridiculous and is a threat to our way of life.

[ZenOps]

Truth is only as good as what the majority of the population believes at any given time.

If the majority believes man landed on the moon, then its fairly easy to say that they did, although one should still respect the 18% or so that do not.

If the majority says that pieces of paper, and little numbers on computer screens are money - then that is what it is at the time.

There was a time when the vast majority of scientists in the world said that Tetraethyllead was "harmless", same with DDT.

[01RedDX]

.

[ZenOps]

But you see: I believe that I am not lying at all when I say that man did not land on the moon. From the information that I have gathered over a lifetime, and subjectively understanding history - I can take that stance. Thats not to say that it may not someday be possible (probably 2050 or later though, as a guess but a dozen times in 1969 - hells no.)

Is it allright for me to call everyone who believes that man landed on the moon - liars? From my perspective, they are - or at the very least very badly misinformed.

What if noone ever stood up to the tetraethyllead gasoline manufacturers when 99.9% of the population said it was harmless? Should the one scientist who believed he was right, never have said anything? Was he in fact, wrong for not acting sooner, and perhaps preventing millions of tons of atmospheric lead from poisoning the earth?

Should anyone *ever* be thrown in a courtroom for "lying" if they totally believe that their stance is truthful?

[codetrap]

Originally posted by killramos
Not trying to defend Ezra specifically, just always concerned about the state of free speech in our society. Particularly against the new "right to not be offended"

No, it's all good. I understand where you're coming from. However in my opinion there's a vast difference between libel and being offended. I don't have a problem with calling a spade a spade, or by saying, "In my opinion..", as those are truth. But blatantly making up stuff and then publishing it as truth is entirely different. In this case it appears that Ezra published opinion as fact, and he should be held accountable for that.