R-v-Elliott-Submissions-15-April-7

August 1st, 2012 and November 20th, 2012, you were of the belief that
there’s nothing really else for men to ask for by the way of rights?
A. Well, here’s the thing. Men are constrained in a lot of ways, but they’re
not constrained by feminism, they’re constrained by
patriarchy. And the problem with the men’s rights movement is that
it designates feminism as the reason that men are suffering. When really
the problem is patriarchy. So, yeah, I do think men’s rights is kind of a
crock. 81
89. Regarding how Ms. Guthrie perceived Mr. Elliott’s political views, the following
exchange occurred:
Q. My question, Ms. Guthrie, was that when Mr. Elliott makes what may
appear to some people valid social criticism, you took his criticism each
and every time to be a crock, during the relative period of, agree?
A. Absolutely.
Q. Right. Nothing Mr. Elliott said had any value to you, agree?
A. Mr. Elliott’s political views are ones that I feel are spurious.
A. Yes.
Q. Right. Because primarily it doesn’t correspond at all with what you
believe?
A. Or with reality.
Q. With reality, right. Exactly. From your perspective, Mr. Elliott wasn’t
operating in reality because he didn’t adopt (a), the public shaming of
Bendilin Spurr, right?
A. Sorry, what are you ... what are you asking exactly?
Q. Mr. Elliott’s opposition to your public shaming of Bendilin Spurr
was devoid of any sort of meaningful social content?
A. I felt that it was invalid, yeah. 82
90. It is submitted that Ms. Guthrie’s testimony (which is confirmed by many of the
tweets in evidence) establishes that, generally, Ms. Guthrie holds a bold, nonnuanced
position regarding men’s rights: there are no rights left for men to fight
for. Of course, Ms. Guthrie is entitled to her deeply held belief that Mr. Elliott’s
political views are spurious, but it is submitted that she should also appreciate the
distinction between valid political commentary and threatening, harassing
conduct. As will be discussed, infra, a politician (Ms. Guthrie) who transmits her
political opinions to the world on Twitter cannot reasonably be fearful when
another politically-engaged Twitter user (Mr. Elliott) comments on her politics on
the same social media platform.
91. In any event, it is submitted that Mr. Elliott’s August 3, 2012 tweets referencing
the Toronto Star newspaper article were certainly valid political commentary and
81 Stephanie Guthrie: July 23, 2014, p. 67, line 26 to p. 69, line 15.
82 Stephanie Guthrie: July 23, 2014, p. 68, line 28 to p. 69, line 25.
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