(no subject)

[waterspyder]

So who is up for a fight?

I got what I consider to be hate mail, bulk style, which means all of my neighbours got it too. Basically it implicates queer individuals as being immoral and socially corrupt and corrupting.

Okay, yeah, I'd like my MP to vote yes for equal marriage, however I feel the larger issue is that I should never be intimidated and marginalized by materials distributed through Canada Post, a Crown Corporation. That is my government consenting to allow members of its population to be emotionally abused.

That is how I feel, angry and marginalized.

Comments

[zenten.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on this, as long as we're not saying that anything that theoreticaly makes someone uncomfortable cannot be mailed, but instead you're not allowed to to have mass mailed material that attacks people's constitutionaly protected freedoms.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

How can Canada Post know what is in an envelope, they can't! Then the crime or offense befalls the sender. However I think it is negligent of Canada Post to distribute a bulk flyer that is visible that is obviously marginalizing a protected group.

Problem is equal marriage is not protected at this point in time.

The propaghanda they are spewing makes me angry on principle, but you can't fight that.

[queenie-writes.livejournal.com]

I'm with you hon. That letter pissed me off last night when you showed me.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Ok, so what exactly are you fighting?

Is it that Canada post should be more discriminating in terms of who they have as bulk mail clients?

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Bulk hate mail through the Canada Post mail system.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I disagree. It is not Canada Post's place to censor or block material - as long as the format of the mail is acceptable and the fees are paid, the content of the mail is irrelevant.

I'm perfectly okay with pursuing action against the people who sent it, whether that's suing, libel charges, or pursuing "inciting criminal acts" charges (depending on the extremety of the content), but it is NOT Canada Post's business, nor should it be, to decide what to transport until and unless the content is deemed illegal by a court.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Technically it should be illegal. While it is not inciting hatred, it is marginalizing a protected group and promoting discrimination. Canada Post's regulations prohibit the distribution of such material.

I really feel better laws should be put in place. It would be like receiving mail at your house, knowing all of your neighbours received it, that says all coloured people are criminals. Okay, great, so it's not true, but all of a sudden you may be living in a more hostile environment. I do think that a company that is funded by the Canadian public (Ie you and me) does have an obligation to refuse bulk mail that does such a thing.
Basically, I pay taxes so they can send me material in my own hoem that makes me feel apprehensive? Something is not right about that.
Private lettermail I think is definitely not the responsability of Canada Post to screen, but when you are sending out hundreds of thousands of flyers that openly marginalize a group of people, that is not cool!

[dolston.livejournal.com]

Your best bet would be to go over the letter and see if it qualifies has hate literature. If that is the case, you must go to the police to have this resolved.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Some of it I think I can make an argument for it. It implies that gays and lesbians are morally and socially corrupt among other things. I'm still looking up propaghanda laws for publicly disseminating knowingly false information against a protected group.

[feli-valkyria.livejournal.com]

Hate mail? What is this? I'll watch out for it myself.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Basically it is a letter urging all Ottawa South families to vote no against the proposed same-sex marriage bill, however the content of the flyer, while outwardly just offensive with claims like voting yes will destroy the 6,000 year old tradition of Canadian marriage (do the math, how old is Canada...), and misrepresentative quotations "marriage is the union between one man and one woman" which quotes it as law, when really it was an overturned court ruling. However, when you read it closely, you find slights against the moral character of gays and lesbians.

If promoting a stereotype about a group of people is not propogating prejudice, I don't know what is.

[kruszer.livejournal.com]

Who produced the materials? I wouldn't mind seeing it and adding my own two cents. I've increasingly had issues with Christians and right-ringed society who paint all homosexuals with the same brush.

This is NOT what we are called to do as Christians! When it's not a case of standing up for the rights of an innocent person (ie it's a sin that doesn't directly affect anyone else), Christians are called to respond with love and with humility and shame towards their own sins. (Matthew 7:1-5). Jesus himself said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." (John 8:3-11)

I'm sorry there are so many people who get haughty about their own "righteousness" and turn that pride against others. The Bible is very clear that all sins are equally damnable in God's eyes, so their pride is as bad a sin as what they perceive yours to be. While we are called to "Judge for [our]selves whether [something]is right" (Luke 12:57), we are not to point fingers and condemn as evil - because Matthew 7 as well as Romans 14:10, tells us that God is going to judge us by the same standards we're using to condemn others.

I hope you'll get the chance to come to the PLAGAL talk on Wednesday, you'll find that not all Christians are quite so hateful.

But yeah, let me know who's putting this kind of stuff out... grrr

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I know they aren't, and unfortunately Wednesdays are my bad days (work and class from 8am to 9pm).

This is actually not the work of an openly Christian group by the way. It is from "Concerned Canadian Parents" and reminds me of groups like the "Canadian Coalition for Families" and unless I horribly misread their platform, basically they frown upon anything but the quintessential nuclear family. That means no single parents, no common-law, no queer couples, no children out of wedlock, you get the idea.

These flyers have gone out all across Canada and if you read local newspapers, a lot of them are under the impression that it is a local organization. Unfortunately reporters have been unable to find out who this group is, where they are based or what their beliefs are as their only identifying address is a P.O. Box in a 7-11. I can understand why no one would want to use their home address, but still, at this time no one is able to establish who the group represents.

[kruszer.livejournal.com]

sounds likey they're more concerned about hidding their identity - where do these "Concerned parents" meet, seeing as there's no addresses to join local meetings... maybe they all cram into a 7-11 box? :P

This does sound a bit fishy - any credible organization would have established groups or at least A group somewhere, not to mention a web-site or something. I'm guessing this is a front - some organization wishing to appear neutral by going under a new name, or some rich church or individual with plenty of money to burn.

It's unfortunate, but I wouldn't at all be surprised if it was a Catholic/Christian group behind this.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Mark Holland (M.P Ajax-Pickering) says that while he has not found the responsable parties, he has found strong indications that these are being put out by a U.S. Christian group with an interest that this bill not pass in Canada. Interestingly enough, so far there have only been reports of these letters going out in Liberal ridings.

[mattcobill.livejournal.com]

*sound and mouth covering cough* Focus on the Family */sound and mouth covering cough*

Though.. they tend to be a hell of a lot more open about it.. like the full page ads in the ottawa Ssun, or the half page ad on page 6 in the citizen. They tend to stick with the "Same Sex Marriage is Bad M'Kay"

but in the states.. they get right down to the "Gay is Bad M'Kay." newspaper ads and mention ways they can make you Not Gay. Or Ex-Gay.

[valkyriejack.livejournal.com]

wtf?

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

That is the general feeling. The only good thing I can report is that this mailout has made people so angry that MP's are reporting that they are now getting more consituents writing and calling in to vote yes than before the flyer was mailed. The plan may just have backfired by inciting apathetic indivuduals to finally stand up and say their piece which was not in the direction they wanted

[valkyriejack.livejournal.com]

As long as it backfired...

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I'm still encouaging people to speak out against it.

That being said, I still want to see changes that prohibit those sorts of materials from being put the the mail. FedEx, UPS, sure, newspapers, flyers on the street, but I really do that that a business that is funded by the taxpaying public should not be involved in the distribution of the material. That means no postings in Laura Secord either (for those of you that didn't know Laura Secord was a Crown Corporation).

[valkyriejack.livejournal.com]

Yes. I agree completely.