Adding to the debate, or adding to the fire?

Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard has made one of those editorial decisions which may have ramifications far beyond subscription lists and advertising concerns.

Levant, has decided to publish those infamous and now incendiary caricatures about the prophet Muhammad. A move that no doubt will bring his right wing publication a fair amount of publicity and perhaps more.

The Western Standard is based out of Alberta and will become one of the more widely available publications in Canada to print the contentious cartoons. A small University paper in PEI attempted to distribute them last week, but had its copies seized by a nervous University management over the issue. Most major media outlets have chosen not to publish the cartoons, but rather provide a description of them and the ensuing violence that has greeted their release.


Levant is portraying his decision as simply a freedom of speech issue, calling the cartoons innocuous and suggesting that his readers be allowed to judge their suitability for themselves. He also questioned the reticence of major Canadian news services to publish the cartoons, suggesting political correctness is shading their news judgment.

The decision to publish the cartoons in Canada has been greeted with condemnation from the Muslim Canadian Congress, which calls the plan totally unnecessary and provocative. They suggest that anyone that wished to have seen the what they deem as offensive cartoons would simply have to call them up on the net.

It's questionable how many may actually discover the cartoons in the Standard, it's not one of the top tier sellers in Canada and some news stands report they sell less than twelve issues a month of the newsmagazine. This edition may push those circulation numbers up a bit, providing the news stands wish to accept the upcoming edition of the magazine.

It will be interesting, maybe worrisome to some, to see the reaction in Canada to the publishing of the caricatures. Freedom of Speech meets cultural sensitivities, not normally a controversial issue in Canada. But the reaction around the world paints a picture of a runaway train of outrage. One wonders if it will derail in Calgary in ten days, when the magazines and their controversial pictures arrive on the news stands.