Brem sent along this interesting story that broke this morning. Apparently Vancouver postal workers staged an impromptu 15-minute walkout after being told to process a homophobic pamphlet for distribution to Vancouverites:
The 28-page pamphlet is published by a fundamentalist Baptist group based in Ontario, and condemns homosexuality as ungodly, unhealthy and unnatural.
Vancouver mail sorter Andy Henderson was the first person at his postal station to notice the pamphlet and was shocked by what he read. “The first words I saw when I picked it up were: ‘The plague of this 21st Century: the consequences of the sin of homosexuality (AIDS).’ “
Here’s what Canada Post management’s had to say by way of a response:
Canada Post spokeswoman Colleen Frick says the company has a contract to deliver the brochure and it will do just that. She notes that it was “deemed acceptable and appropriate for mailing under the Canada postal guide.
“The criteria is very specific. And if something is not deemed obscene in nature, then the item will be acceptable for mailing. And this particular item was deemed appropriate. So it will be delivered.”
First, I’m not sure what criteria Canada Post is talking about. I found this page which describes ‘non-mailable matter’ this way:
Any person using the mail for the delivery of any one of the following items commits an offence:
- articles that are obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous
- any information relating to bookmaking, pool-setting, betting or waging
- articles relating to unlawful lottery schemes
- any article relating to schemes to deceive or defraud the public
- articles or special messages sent to any person with the intention to obtain money under false pretences.
If you ask me, that’s not specific at all. I mean, one man’s ‘immoral or scurrilous’ is another man’s Saturday night out. Canada Post’s defence seems pretty shaky. However, that’s kind of a red herring.
Yes, this is possibly hate literature. If so, I hope the authorities charge the pamphlet writer under Canada’s anti-hate legislation. However, the last thing I want is a random group of unelected citizens deciding what I can or cannot receive in the mail. Canada Post workers seem to have forgotten their social studies lessons about the three arms of government. The messenger doesn’t get to censor the message.
Here’s a sampling of what the blogosphere thinks about this story:
- Damian – “The pamphlet certainly sounds disgusting, but it is the government’s right to decide whether it should be criminalized as hate speech or banned from the mail, not postal workers. On principle, I would not support such a move, but at least Members of Parliament have some democratic legitimacy. The members of CUPW are acting like, well, fundamentalists.”
- Invisible Person – “In order to create and sustain a stable society, we need protection for all the viewpoints on the spectrum: I have a hard time understanding anyone who fetishizes blastocysts as equal to viable human creatures, but I understand that view exists, as weird as it is, and they should be allowed to speak.”
- Tyresias – “I don’t even know where to start about this. It is hate mail. How was it not deemed “obscene in nature”? Why are they forced to deliver it? Good on the workers for putting on a protest!”
- Jay-cawk – “this shit seriously irritates me. how is crap that is obviously hate mail towards homos is deemed acceptable for mailing. if i wrote something similar towards blacks or asians or jewish or whatever it would more than likely be deem unacceptable.”
- Tim – Isn’t it interesting that the CP writer managed to turn a report into an editorial by describing this Baptist organization as “fundamentalist” which, as we all know, is a euphemism (although now it has been morphed into an epithet of its own by the wingnut, self-righteousm vitriolic left) for a slew of Christophobic hate slurs.
I’ve read several news accounts of this incident, and none of them name the group responsible. They cite Reverend Sterling Clark, who wrote the pamphlet, who is apparently part of a ‘Baptist group’ in Waterdown, Ontario. According to the national directory of Baptist churches (and Google), there’s only one Baptist church in Waterdown. It’s the Flamborough Baptist Church. Neither the national directory nor the Flamborough website makes any mention of Clark. I could find no refernces to a Canadian reverend named Sterling Clark on the web at all.
I wonder if there isn’t really a Baptist group behind this, and whether Clark isn’t an ordained minister of any church. He sounds like one sad, hateful nut if you ask me.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Number one under the guidelines is about as vague as the definition for pornography in the U.S.
I heard an interview with the minister (reverend? I don’t know the proper term) in question on “On the Coast”, CBC Radio One, this evening. Unfortunately, I cannot provide you the link: it seems that the website is about a week behind…
Anyway, the minister was an elderly man who was I believe a little confused about medicine. It sounds like he publishes a periodical, “The Baptist Beacon”, which he then circulates randomly across districts in Canada. This month it happened to come to Vancouver; and the theme of this month’s publication was this guy’s views on scripture and homosexuality.
A few decades ago (maybe even more recently), it would have been quite possible for postal workers to refuse to deliver mail that said, “Yay with being gay!” for the same visceral-disgust reasons. It wouldn’t have been any more right for them to do that.
It’s a vile message, and unfortunately the man who wrote it got on the radio because of the furor. Then again, maybe it is fortunate, since he came out (so to speak) as the fool he is. But I too don’t want my letter carrier deciding what I receive.
If he had mailed them in unmarked envelopes, would we even know?
I haven’t seen the mail so I can’t really say whether it is hate mail or not. I don’t like the sound of what I’ve read in your quote, but is likely sticky, as it borders on religious freedom.
At any rate I commend the postal workers who did see the mailing for applying their conscience and some social action. If they hadn’t, we wouldn’t be discussing it. I for one am happy to be living in a country where the citizens peacefully draw attention to potential issues like this. There are many cases of attrocities that slip through in history because people are ‘just doing their jobs’…
On the other hand, when one is brought up with a certain systematic form of indoctrination, it is easy to form certain ways of looking at the world. I’ve seen this in my own life as I’ve grown out of some of the more narrow views I held when I was young. Education all the way. So I wouldn’t hate back whoever wrote the pamphlet, because it’s basically spreading hate communication too, but less obviously.
I received one of these in the mail a few months back and was utterly discusted. Luckily the person that wrote this piece of filth had left their contac info on the pamphlet, so I sent them an email.
Surprise Surprise, never got a reply.
Oh well, I think this stuff is completely wrong, though, as much as it pains me to say, it should not be restricted from being sent in the mail. It is a part of a persons’ freedom or speach and press to do this. It’s wrong and filthly, in my opinion, but it is their right to do this kind of thing.
There are better ways of dealing with this kind of thing than not delivering the mail.
Soultrance
http://www.dingorue.com
Lots of interesting discussion for what is basically junk mail/SPAM.
I got a lot of unaddressed crap in my mailbox, I barely give it a glance and drop it irectly to the recycling bin.
I agree with you, Darren. So much for Canada being a free country.
Is Canada Post considered a common carrier? If so they pretty much have to deliver what people want to send unless that delivery breaks the law. By comparison, Telus as an interet provider is a common carrier, which is why it broke the law when it blocked websites from customers in its union dispute last year.
I don’t think this pamphlet is going to change anyone’s mind. But it would be interesting to prepare a kids colouring book about atheism to be delivered by Canada Post and see what reaction it gets from the Baptist community 😉
By the way, talk to your postie about unwanted, unaddressed mail. Mine gave me two small red stickers to put on my mail slot, and I no longer get unaddressed mail. At all. Ever. It’s sweet.
I have family members who work for the Post Office. Although I haven’t discussed this particular issue with them, we’ve discussed the “content carrier not content creator” role before. I would strongly suspect that the union staged this protest in order to protect its members. The union knows that they can’t stop hate literature from going through the mail. Nevertheless, they don’t want their members to look like disseminators of hate mail. So, by putting on a protest, they make the public aware of the campaign, increase chances that the pamphlet will be deemed inappropriate or hateful, and make it less likely for a few wingnuts to target their members. They also help to make it clear that the union does not have a problem with people who are gay, which could make it easier to attract new members to the union membership. (Although working for Canada Post is attractive in southwest BC, it’s not exactly fun in Iqaluit or Labrador.)
It bothers me that letter carriers think they have the authority to determine what is and is not appropriate for me to read. I’m quite capable of making that decision on my own. I might not have agreed with the contents of this pamphlet when it showed up at my door, but I guess now I’ll never know. Hopefully they’re not filtering out other mail that I might find valuable but that they deem inappropriate for my mental consumption.
Honestly, I find it appalling that letter carriers think they’re in a position to decide what mail they will and will not deliver.