scaramouche

Tuesday, 07 July 2009

Bernie’s new M.O.?: Could it be that the CJC’s head honcho is finally taking Alan Borovoy’s advice to fight “hate speech” with “effective invective” instead of by running off in a panic to the state censors every time some bonehead expresses a fondness for Hitler? One can only hope and pray, since Bernie himself twitters this one, from the Ottawa Citizen (my bolds):

The head of the Canadian Jewish Congress says he was "astounded" at the comments of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, who praised Adolf Hitler this weekend as being a man who "got things done."

Bernie Farber said Ecclestone, the auto racing league's commercial rights owner, should stick to what he knows best rather than making outlandish statements

"The man is an ignoramus," Farber said. "There's nobody today that would honestly pat Adolf Hitler on the back as being somebody worthy of any attention. The only thing Hitler is worthy of is being a historical evil. Ecclestone's expertise is in racing cars; let him stick to pistons and engines.

"It's absolutely astounding that in the year 2009 that a person like Bernie Ecclestone, or anybody that has the ear of the public, would in any way pay any positive attention to the most evil figure in modern history. The man should be ashamed of himself."

In an interview with The Times newspaper in London, Ecclestone praised strong leadership and said that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies.

Ecclestone said: "In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was, in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done.

"In the end he got lost, so he wasn't a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it ... so either way he wasn't a dictator."

Saying he liked "strong leaders" such as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Ecclestone suggested that FIA president Max Mosley would make a good British prime minister.

Farber stopped short of suggesting any actions be taken against Ecclestone, who has compared women to household appliances in the past.

"I think sometimes when you hold people up to the glare of public attention and let the people decide for themselves once they see what a person is all about, that sometimes is more than enough," Farber said.

Wow. That represents nothing less than a quantum leap forward for someone so heavily invested in the censorship industry. Of course, it could be that he "stopped short" because Ecclestone is out of the Canadian thought cops' jurisdiction. But let's give Bernie the benefit of the doubt for now and see if this is a sign that there's been a major breakthough in his thinking.

Posted by: scaramouche at 12:28 | link | comments (7)

Comments:

#1 07 July 2009 - 16:32

Farber Twitters??!! WOW, how can I get on his list?

Anonymous

#2 07 July 2009 - 17:31

Click on "Bernie himself twitters" in the above.

scaramouche

#3 07 July 2009 - 18:34

Damn, I have to give Bernie credit, not many in his position are technically savy or get the importance of this form of mass communication

Anonymous

#4 07 July 2009 - 18:54

To put things in a bit of perspective, Britney Spears--who ain't exactly Madame Marie Curie--has the technical acumen to twitter: http://twitter.com/BritneySpears

scaramouche

#5 07 July 2009 - 18:57

Paris Hilton twitters too: http://twitter.com/BabyGirlParis

scaramouche

#6 07 July 2009 - 23:08

Do you actually believe that its really Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton doing the twittering? Come on folks you are not that dense!!

Anonymous

#7 09 July 2009 - 03:34

Are you suggesting Bernie Twitters for Brittany and Paris?

BCF

Anonymous

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Posted by: scaramouche at 12:28 | link | comments (7)