# Cancel culture alive and well in Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707 "2021-05-09T17:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/1 "2021-05-09T17:26:53Z")
I just discovered that a tenured professor at Mt. Alison University in Sackville, New Brunswick has been suspended without pay after student protests caused by her saying on her personal web site that Black Lives Matter was a radical movement. Never mind that in her mind that was not pejorative, the students objected and the university suspended her. Her “offending” website is located as follows: [https://bambisafkar.ca/](https://bambisafkar.ca/) I should mention that I have known her personally for years and she as far from being a racist as possible. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/2 "2021-05-09T17:32:47Z")
I don’t see how wanting equal rights is radical, but her milage may vary. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/3 "2021-05-09T18:16:43Z")
Deleting post because I think I found the article in question. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/4 "2021-05-09T18:27:50Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Never mind that in her mind that was not pejorative That is not how it works. I have heard many bigots say many bigoted remarks over the years that they themselves do not think are bigoted. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/5 "2021-05-09T18:34:39Z")
[This looks like the article:](https://bambisafkar.ca/index.php/2020/07/29/black-lives-matter-are-to-so-called-black-new-brunswickers-and-to-all-of-us-by-extension-what-islamists-are-to-muslims-and-to-all-of-us/) > No matter the source of external or internal funding, no matter any guilt feeling we may have for the sins of earlier generations (in Canada or elsewhere), no matter the apparent beauty of the cause… the whole _BLM_ movement is not as innocent as you may want to think. > > Thus, Dearest New Brunswick along with all its esteemed politicians, PLEASE be mindful of the following: > > Bambi urges you not to fall into the trap of caving in to _BLM_ ‘s demands, as they will keep asking for more and more (e.g., see what happened in other cities in Canada). Indeed, this movement seems to function like any other radical group, including Islamism (Bambi did not say the Muslim religion, mind you, and she knows what she is talking about here). Groups like BLM usually intimidate to get what they want. They infiltrate existing entities/organizations, and… brains! They do not stop. They just push and push. Even if at times they may deceive you by hiding their real agenda, they do not hesitate to use means that you and Bambi would never resort to. > > This is why, please do not let _Black Lives Matter_ (BLM) do to NB what Islamists have done to Bambi’s birth country and to its neighbourhood… or what they do to us in the Western’s world, including Canada. So she not only uses the word ‘radical’ pejoratively, she is clearly strongly opposed to the whole BLM movement itself. Also see [this article](https://bambisafkar.ca/index.php/2020/07/29/black-lives-matter-are-to-so-called-black-new-brunswickers-and-to-all-of-us-by-extension-what-islamists-are-to-muslims-and-to-all-of-us/) and [this one](https://bambisafkar.ca/index.php/2020/11/15/why-are-we-calling-for-the-politicization-of-medicine/). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/6 "2021-05-09T18:41:27Z")
I went ahead and typed “radical” into the search to try and find the article on her site. And if the top article I found is the one in question, your characterization of it is not accurate. This is what I found: > [Isn’t it sad when young New Brunswickers seem to be radicalized to that extent? – Bambi's Afkar](https://bambisafkar.ca/index.php/2021/01/23/isnt-it-sad-when-young-new-brunswickers-seem-to-be-radicalized-to-that-extent/) The title alone makes it clear she is using the term “radicalized” in a negative sense, but that’s not the issue I have with it. No, it is an article about how the alt-right isn’t actually white supremacist, and pushes the idea that calling it such is the same as racism. It is ignoring the actual history of the alt-right movement, which was in fact founded by white supremacists who chose a more palatable label. She flat out says the people who label the alt-right in this way are part of a cult. She refers to the information above as propaganda and delusion. She says it’s a form of fundamentalism in the name of “justice or anti-fascism or anti ’ _colonialism’_”, which she views as an “intellectual tragedy.” And she compares the whole thing to how people will overgeneralize Islam to be violent because of its radicals. She also acts as if talking about colonialism and the alt-right condemns all New Brunswick politicians, when it would only do so for, you know, the ones who identify as alt-right or ignore the harms of colonialism. As a professor, she seems rather uninformed about why people see colonialism as a bad thing these days—that we see it as people from one country subjugating another country and its people. This whole thing where you try to equate fighting bigotry with being bigots is just an utterly common type of pro-bigotry apologia that I’m not remotely surprised by the reaction. It’s not like her article isn’t quite disparaging in its tone. Edit: I see @GreenWyvern searched the other way, for BLM, and found a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/7 "2021-05-09T18:45:05Z")
So she’s absolutely guilty of badthink. There is no room in the academy for badthink. She’s probably also a refusenik. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/8 "2021-05-09T18:45:41Z")
Do you know what a refusenik was? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/9 "2021-05-09T18:47:51Z")
Her GoFundMe page: ~~_Link deleted_~~ ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/10 "2021-05-09T18:49:19Z")
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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/11 "2021-05-09T18:50:13Z")
**Modnote** : Please don’t post links to GoFundMe pages without checking with the Mod staff first. I am deleting the link. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/12 "2021-05-09T18:51:09Z")
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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/13 "2021-05-09T18:54:02Z")
“On the road to Sackville” sounds like a euphemism for “maybe getting fired.” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/14 "2021-05-09T18:55:04Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Do you know what a refusenik was? Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Originally a refusenik was someone the state refused to allow to emigrate. Usually ‘undesirables’ like Jews, but could be any other persecuted group or individual. Later, it became used to describe people who generally didn’t go along with the Soviet plan (or plans in other states sometimes). The state would claim they were lawbreakers, but many ‘refuseniks’ were just people who resisted following the State’s orders and plans. Failure to comply or follow the group can get you labeled a ‘refusenik’, whether you are Jewish or not. The colloquial use of the word doesn’t have much to do with its original meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/15 "2021-05-09T19:00:54Z")
My only comment is that for a tenured professor she does a terrible job of explaining what her point is. Having read her piece, I really have no idea what she thinks is the parallel between BLM and Islamist extremism, or what she imagines BLM’s ultimate nefarious agenda to be. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/16 "2021-05-09T19:01:11Z")
She’s clearly a dumbass, based both on the content of her diatribe and her failure to see the results of publishing it. This school has a real problem if she is representative of it’s faculty. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/17 "2021-05-09T19:04:31Z")
Given its history as it applies to soviet Jews, and some articles written about Jews not supporting BLM (a group that is generally extremely supportive, but stereotyped to not be) I think it’s an unfortunate use in this example, but I’ll move on. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/18 "2021-05-09T19:10:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > She’s clearly a dumbass, based both on the content of her diatribe and her failure to see the results of publishing it. This school has a real problem if she is representative of it’s faculty. Indeed. Even if there are theoretical principles of academic freedom of expression that _might_ in principle be relevant here, it would be challenging for anyone to make a stand behind someone who doesn’t appear to have the intellectual qualifications to be in the job in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/19 "2021-05-09T19:21:55Z")
So… she should have known that airing a bad opinion would get her in trouble, so speaking out shows she’s dumb and therefore dhouldn’t be employed? Why not go a step further? In the Soviet Union, failure to agree with the precepts of Communism could get you thrown into a mental hospital on the grounds that Communism is so obviously correct that anyone who disagrees with it must have mental issues. Or maybe she should just be made to walk the streets in shame with a dunce cap on her head while people in colorful uniforms march behind and heap scorn on her. That’s probably closer to where we are at, except we do the shaming online now. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707/20 "2021-05-09T19:44:26Z")
Like I’ve said before, anti-woke is the new witch or the new blasphemer. It doesn’t matter what she believes. What matters is she challenged the tool that folks are using to manipulate the masses and that’s heresy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-alive-and-well-in-canada/941707.md?page=2)