FROM the desk of Daren Jonescu:

A follow-up on the story of Canada’s use of famous hockey commentator Don Cherry as their “Goldstein,” the enemy-of-convenience at whom everyone in Orwell’s Oceania is encouraged to shout invective for two minutes, just to purge all negative feelings by spewing them at an outsider, rather than fomenting anger against the oppressive State.

I see that Bobby Orr, whom Cherry coached during the final years of his career as a Boston Bruin, when he was arguably the best player in the NHL, has stepped up to defend his old coach and friend in an American radio interview.

He’s not a bigot and he’s not a racist. This guy is the most generous, caring guy that I know. What they’ve done to him up there is disgraceful, it really is. It’s a new world I guess. Freedom of speech doesn’t matter.

Orr nails the point I have been focusing on in my own comments on the issue. It’s a new world. It is not the world in which people used to appreciate free thinkers, blunt talkers, iconoclastic opining. It is a world in which only pre-approved, progressive-friendly (aka “sensitive” and “inclusive”) speech is permitted in the public square. Cherry’s opinions on the subject of immigrants and patriotism, which would, a generation ago, have been considered standard fare in a discussion of that topic, are now a cause of mass outrage, major news stories, and “an important public debate” — not about whether immigrants are sufficiently appreciative of the bounties of their new home, mind you, but rather about whether a man ought to be allowed to engage in a “racist rant” and “hate speech” without paying a price.

For today, you see, in multicultural Canada, it is racist and hateful by definition to question whether recent immigrants are being encouraged to show the kind of pride in Canada’s heritage and fallen heroes that earlier generations were encouraged to feel as a matter of course. In fact, Cherry’s question, aside from the abrasive tone he may have used in delivering it, seems like a most basic one that all nations should and must ask about their immigration policies: How can we ensure that people seeking citizenship in this country are satisfactorily educated about the country’s history, and taught to show a proper level of allegiance to, and appreciation for, the principles and past generations that built the country, including making it the kind of country that welcomes those very immigrants as new citizens?

The carefully-stoked furor over Cherry’s remarks revealed that Canada is no longer willing to brook even such basic questions about the principles of immigration.

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