Shen Yung And Not Your Father's PC Party

The Shen Young Performing Arts troupe recently had their Alberta 2013 performance dates thrown into question when the Alberta Government revoked an agreement to use the Jubilee Auditoriums in Edmonton and Calgary.

The troupe celebrates Chinese Culture in a spectacular show of music and dance.  In their own words:

Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts was established in 2006 with the mission of reviving 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture.After more than 60 years of Communist rule in China, and especially after the Cultural Revolution, Chinese traditional culture has been all but completely demolished. However, the deeper spiritual core of the ancient culture, with its values of benevolence, honor, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity, as well as a reverence for the gods and the heavens, cannot be destroyed.

The troupe held sold out shows in Calgary in April 2012 but were unhappy because of some problems they had with the facility.  When they couldn't get their issues resolved they sent out a media release explaining their concerns.  What happened next, behind the scenes is fairly obvious, and the result was the government cancelling the agreement to allow the troupe's shows in 2013.  Alberta's Culture Minister Heather Klimchuk wrote a letter to the group informing them of the cancellation.  It was not written in all caps.

Shen Yung is connected with Falun Gong (aka Falun Dafa), a religious group banned and persecuted in China.  Falun Gong is loosely based in Chinese Buddhism, and by most objective accounts is quite harmless.  There are Falun Gong societies everywhere in the West where there are Chinese Communities, including Calgary and Edmonton.  Religious freedom and freedom of conscience is a Charter Right in Canada, which extends even into Alberta.

The problem here is the very serious allegation being made by the group that the Chinese Government has pressured the Alberta Government into these punitive actions against Shen Yung.  The CBC and Canadian Press have been reporting on this. For example, Travel Alberta suddenly pulled out of a sponsorship deal that would have involved some mutual promotion.  Also, Tourism Calgary withdrew from a White Hat ceremony. Classy.

It becomes apparent through various comments and emails that the Chinese Consulate has been intervening with Calgary City Council and Alberta Governments against the group.  Sadly at this point, it is not economically feasible for Alberta to alienate Chinese business interests. Floor painter meet corner.

The key issue here is freedom of expression and not allowing foreign governments to interfere in Alberta's cultural activities.  The other issue is transparency.  The Auditoriums are Government owned.  These are really nice facilities, and it's rather objectionable that they are the centre of a campaign to bully and repress a cultural events.

Yes, this is not your father's PC Party.  Our father's generation knew a thing or two about fascism.

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Draw Mohammed Day 2012

I forgot today was the third annual  Draw Mohammed Day, a popular internet movement born out of frustration with violent reactions to simple parodies such as cartoons.  While I had mixed feelings about it, on the whole I think these kind of movements are quite appropriate.  Islam is one of the last ideologies in the world where thought crimes, even by non-adherents can result in rather violent over-reactions.

People are right to insist on an unfettered right to make fun of something as a form of free speech or conscience. In our western tradition we have quite a long history of satire and mockery.  We finally got to a point in our civilization where we (mostly) no longer persecute people for mocking the sacred or important. Partly because of the spread of democracy and the corresponding individual rights it contains, but also because authoritarianism and intimidation never worked as way to change people's minds. Everyone knows it doesn't work.

I can't draw so I submit the above stock cartoon as my depiction of the prophet.  If I could draw I would make something subtle and tasteful.  I would make Mohammed a woman.  If the founder of Islam were a woman it would be the greatest irony of history.  It would drop a bomb on the widespread misogyny of religion in general, and Islam in particular.

The other problem is I don't really have a firm opinion on whether Mohammed actually existed or not. Like Jesus, there are a number of possibilities, from being made up completely, to being a composite of a few people, to being a real person obscured wholly by mythology.  So all this outrage could be over someone who didn't exist.

I am an atheist, someone who rejects god and gods, revelation,  and superstitions. As a result it doesn't interest me too much to get overly obsessive about one particular religion.  Among the social media types who argue about religion and culture there is definitely a sub-culture of Islamophobia.   I don't really wish to get involved with that level of hatred.  I think it's okay to hate ideas or ideologies, but not people or groups of people. It's irrational. In Canada nowadays you more than likely have friends, co-workers, and neighbors who are Muslim.  We have to co-exist.

And besides, if you wake up one day and find out you sound just like Mark Steyn or Ezra Levant, it's game over for your brain.



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James Travers: Remembrance,Country

James Travers is such a great writer. Here he says exactly what needs to be said, at a politically incorrect time.

There are many things my father and uncle wouldn’t recognize. They wouldn’t understand a country where patriotism is partisan, where men and women in uniform are used as political props or where death and sports are shamelessly conflated on Hockey Night in Canada.

Every year on Remembrance day there's that one thing that I see or read that just caves me in.

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