Giacomo Vigna, a lawyer for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, is suing Ezra Levant because Ezra dared to attack his integrity using ridicule and sarcasm.
Vigna, in the middle of a hearing, says to the chair:
“I don’t feel very well. I feel dizzy, I feel anxiety, and I am not in a serene state of mind to proceed with this file today. I have a lot of things worrying me right now and I don’t want to elaborate… I am not dying, Mr. Chair, I don’t have the flu, but I am not mentally capable of proceeding under these circumstances.”
You mean you legally cannot make fun of that in this country? Can we say we live in a free country if we can't make fun of people?
Ezra comments:
Vigna’s demand letter continues in the same vein for quite some time. On page four and five, he again underlines what really made him mad – the video montage of George Costanza’s dad shouting “Serenity now!” on Seinfeld. I’m not sure what legal defence I’d use on that one – truth or fair comment. I think the judge would be too busy laughing to even listen. Again, I can’t believe that anyone would actually want to have a trial on the important legal question of whether or not his whimpering merits a comparison to a Seinfeld character. Maybe we can call in some expert witness to testify about just how badly Vigna embarrassed himself that day. Was it a Seinfeldian humiliation? Or did it reach South Park levels of self-degradation? I could talk about that for a week at trial, but I don’t know if Vigna could, without – you know what’s coming – losing his serenity.
I get the feeling that Vigna takes himself a little too seriously.
But this is the thing that just gets Ezra, and made me laugh my butt off:
No, my favourite line is his last sentence. After 13 pages of threats, 13 pages of trying to strike terror into my heart, what is Vigna’s coup de grace? What is his “or else”?
Vigna threatens to have the trial… in French!
J'ai mon voyage!
It's too bad that this is just a frivolous lawsuit, because Ezra will have to raise money to defend himself.
I don't think that this is very good news for the blogosphere. When you consider some of the mean things that bloggers say about one another-- or about politicians---far meaner and more defamatory than this-- it can't bode well for free speech.
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