The most astounding thing to me about this Toronto Star piece is that Salutin is still alive. I thought he died when he bit off Frodo's finger and plunged into the molten fires of Mount Doom:
...I’d say it comes from failing to make a distinction: free speech as getting to say what you think, versus getting to say it loudly enough to have an impact. It’s about access. Anyone can mutter their true thoughts on a street corner or in an obscure blog. Steyn and Levant have always been able to say what they want, from platforms reaching large audiences, and been paid well enough for it to make a decent living. Those enraged by them, who charge and sue, have little opportunity to respond on that level; so they go the depressive, negative route of trying to shut them down legally. Believe me, if they were offered equivalent access as an alternative, they’d grab it.
The most painful case I know is Canadian Muslims, especially Arabs, responding to how they’ve been derisively portrayed for decades in major media, with few chances to respond on their own behalf. I cannot portray their frustration. They accost you socially or at their hangdog conferences and plead less for redress than for a simple acknowledgment of how unfair it is. I know many outsiders will reject that and insist “the media” have been resolutely anti-Israel, even anti-Semitic. I don’t know how to address that. ..
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