The [Vancouver] ordinance prohibits the posting of signs that aren’t approved by the city, except for those celebrating the 2010 Winter Olympics. The law applies in a 40-block area downtown.If I lived there, I'd be really tempted to paint the side of my house with the Pepsi logo on one side and "Coke Sucks, Support Freedom of Speech" on the other side. It's really amusing how almost every government that trumpets "freedom of speech" interprets that to mean "speech we agree with, otherwise, shut the frell up."
The city also won provincial approval giving enforcement officials the right to enter private homes and businesses on 24- hours’ notice and remove any offending signs at the owner’s expense. An earlier law required two weeks’ notice.
I once thought Canada was a bastion of freedom and liberty. But it seems that they will sell their ideas out for Olympic gelt as fast as possible.
3 comments:
Canada does not view "commercial speech" as speech because it is for the purpose of selling, not for the purpose of public discourse in the arena of ideas. Whereas the United States is One Nation Under Corporation, Canada still believes the purpose of free speech is for the people to speak freely, not for the corporations to advertise their crap.
Sounds to me like you're buying into the Corporate America bullshit that they should be free to despoil everything they want to, whether it is our landscape, our political discourse, our health care system, or whatever, because it is their "right". No. Corporations are a creation of government. Without the government grant of limited liability, there is no such thing. One Nation under Corporation is simply offensive. The creator has come to be controlled by its creation, and the fact that some folks unknowingly repeat right-wing corporate talking points that One Nation under Corporation is "freedom" is just further evidence of just how degraded our national discourse has become thanks to these vicious venal corporate liars.
- Badtux the Uncorporate Penguin
Not at all. But this regulation is not targeted at limiting commercial speech or its placement; it is targeted at controlling content. You want to advertise a Coca-Cola product? The city of Vancouver approves. You want to advertise a PepsiCo product? No fucking way.
And good luck putting up a sign that criticizes the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
That's a content restriction and it is inherently evil.
One should be asking who is really calling the shots because it is probably not Vancouver. They sold their souls to the IOCC and became their lapdogs to get the honor of hosting the Olympics. This is the same thing that was seen in Beijing but for them that was normal. Can you say that this could be a glimpse of what a corporate controlled government would be like?
Post a Comment