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Saturday, April 03, 2004
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TALK ABOUT THE PASSION, PART THE SIXTH
The controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's love letter to Yaweh continues despite the film's sudden disappearance. It appears that, despite the arguments of crap bags like Bill Donohue of the Catholic Defense League, that the Passion of the Christ may in fact be contributing to a rise in anti-Semitism. Should I be surprised now or later.
The Pew Research Center for the People & Press has conducted a poll that clearly demonstrates a rise in the belief that the Jews killed Christ.
In fact, the rise is rather dramatic. in 1997, 19 percent of respondents held this belief, today the number has risen to 26%.
"The greatest increase was among young people and blacks.
Thirty-four percent of those under age 30 now believe Jews were responsible, compared to 10 percent in 1997, the Pew Center said. And 42 percent of blacks hold that view, compared to 21 percent seven years ago."
These are pretty shocking numbers, particularly the under 30 statistic because people in that demographic are the most likely to act out physically on misguied hatred. It remains rare that senior citizens are arrested for firebombing a synagogue. If you follow the news on such things at all, you'll notice that such offenders are almost always white, male, under-educated Christians under the age of 25.
Here's where things actually get interesting. Since the release of the Passion there has been a notable rise in anti-Semitic vandalism in Toronto. The media has been very careful not to tie the incidents to the film, but the timing is just a little coincidental. This, in and of itself, is pretty pedestrian, but Canada has a "hate-speech" law . It is actually an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada to offend members of an "identifiable group." Such groups are defined under the law as :" people distinguished by their "color, race, religion or ethnic origin."
Such a law is, in my opinion, an insane violation of free speech in a democracy. Not that Canada has a really high regard for free speech in the first place. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms addresses free speech as follows;
"2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association."
This can be found in part 1, section 2 of the Charter. However, this is trumped by section 1, which reads,
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. (Emphasis mine)
Many Canadians are unfamiliar with their own Constitution and believe that we have freedoms comparable to those guaranteed under the United States Constitution. There are significant differences. For example, the First Amendment begins with the words, "Congress shall make no law." This is vastly different that section 1 of the Charter, which clearly allows for limitations of the exercise of democratic rights. Americans enjoy an absolute right to free speech (with the exception of speech that can lead to immediate physical harm to others as defined in Schenck v. United States.) Canadians enjoy no such absolute protection.
It is entirely possible that, should a connection be made between the Passion and the recent rash of anti-Semitic vandalism in the city of Toronto, that Mel Gibson, Icon Productions or both could be prosecuted in Canadian courts.
Interesting, no?
UPDATE: In other Bible-belting news, I continue to be fascinated how a 2,000 year old book continues to inspire such violence. I'm thinking of pitching my own reality TV show to Fox, "When Worshippers Attack." I think it'll be a big hit.
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