Meanwhile, Back at My Alma Mater

h/t curt jester

The Student Union at my old Alma Mater, York U, shut down a scheduled debate on the subject of abortion just hours before it was to have taken place. Both the hosting parties had agreed to the debate, chose some speakers, were ready to have an academic debate in the old tradition- neither side seemed to have any problem with holding a debate, so why step in?

Because the topic itself is forbidden. The sides were told "there is freedom of speech to a limit, and that abortion is not an issue to debate." The student union "demanded that the event not take place." Debating abortion, said the student union, is like "debating whether a man should be allowed to beat his wife."

I wish I could say I was surprised at this. I had hoped that the students might rally against this encroachment on their free speech. If there is one way to get a topic discussed around here, it's to ban it. Usually.

And in a stunning coincidence, I just got a letter from the university asking me to donate some money. I am preparing a reply. I was thinking of borrowing a response from a Russian writer to a critic. (salty humour alert): "I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. Your letter is in front of me. Soon it will be behind me."

Ah, education. As one of the cartoons said recently, it's the wonderful process of taking an empty mind and replacing it with a closed one.

About Boycotts

Recently there has been a spate of articles on the blogs about The Golden Compass and its sequels. I have read several articles today alone. There was one here, and another one here. Some people are calling for boycotts.

I haven't read the books beyond the first few pages. They didn't grab me, so a didn't bother. I don't know enough about the alleged anti-Catholicism to comment with any authority. What I have heard from some who have read it sounds pretty damning, but I also remember reading claims made by people about the Harry Potter books (which I did read) which bore no relationship to anything I had read in the books. That said, I have read some comments by the author which make me think there is some substance to the allegations. The man is an atheist; he wants our children to be as well.

So what are we to do? If these books are wrong, we are bound to bear witness against them, and teach our children against them. However, boycotts are tricky. They have a very bad tendency to backfire. The aforementioned Harry Potter books, for instance, really benefited by all the free advertising they received from people calling for their banning. If we were to call for Pullman's books to be banned, the same thing would happen. It is nothing but free advertising, and we may be inadvertently encouraging people into the path of the beast.

It requires wisdom, and wisdom is, sadly, not my strongest suit. If we could find a way to pass it over but quietly let people know what is wrong, and quietly dismiss these books, we may not stir up much interest in their favour, and fewer souls may be damaged.

I may have to read the books myself on this one, so I may know what I am talking about, so I can speak to people who have read the books and try to show them what is wrong, and where. But it is always difficult to know what is best. Any thoughts from out there would be appreciated.

Banner for being Banned by SOV2

UPDATED:
We've been banned by SOV 2 and they want us to put up this "banner"

Since I don't like felt banners I made my own to celebrate my banning by SOV2

Which one do you think I should put in my sidebar. Answer in combox.

UPDATE:

Kasia from Clamrampant makes a good point. SO I added the slogan to this one.:

I think I like the second one, over a combo of both the first two.