Protesters outside the Toronto Public Library where Meghan Murphy gave a presentation
Speaking on the
Quillette podcast last week, David Frum described how his hometown of Toronto sometimes feels unrecognizable to him, having been utterly transformed by waves of successful immigrants. It's something you hear from many older Torontonians, who remain awestruck by their city's rapid metamorphosis from a sleepy provincial capital ruled by a clique of moralizing WASP conformists, to a glittering, cosmopolitan hub of entertainment and finance. But every once in a while, one still can catch a glimpse of the city's old, preachy cold-roast-beef identity. In fact, that is exactly what happened this week, when Meghan Murphy came to town.
And who is Meghan Murphy? According to CBC radio host Carol Off, Murphy is someone whose extremism summons to mind comparisons with "a Holocaust denier or a white supremacist." A
Globe & Mail writer dedicated a
column to branding Murphy an agent of "fear and meanness." Toronto Mayor John Tory was so concerned by Murphy's apparently horrifying message that he publicly
called out his city's chief librarian for permitting Murphy to deliver a speech on library premises. Hundreds of angry Torontonians gathered to protest that speech on Tuesday,
telling at least one Murphy supporter to "go kill yourself, go bleed out and die." The next day, Toronto's governing council
voted to review library policies, with a view toward ensuring that such a shocking spectacle would never again blacken the city's reputation. For good measure, a pair of drag queens named Fay and Fluffy
announced they would no longer come to the library to read books to children.
Comment: Then there are the bouts of incessant rain, which most places experience regularly now. Then there's the depravity-as-mass-consumerism. Then there's the police state. All the elements of Blade Runner have come to pass, right on schedule...