Fear Mongering at its Finest
It looks like the federal government has expanded its campaign of trying to frighten Canadians into the international sphere. Our foreign minister, Lawrence Cannon, tested out the new strategy at a recent speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto recently. No doubt the elite were empowered and gratified to hear that our country, in addition to protecting the interests of our citizens at home, imagines itself charged with the responsibility to deliver safety and freedom across the entire globe, all for our benefit when we travel.
As reported in the Toronto Daily Star by reporter Linda Diebel, Cannon delivered a speech that was "dark and described a bleak and scary world" riddled with terrorism, drug dealing and crime. The nuclear threat posed by Iran and North Korea featured prominently too, just in case the other concerns weren't enough to make us truly frightened.
Just what is this all about? Do they think their scare mongering about imaginary crime waves at home is so successful they just want to go Big on the international stage too? Or is the scare mongering about Canada not successful enough, so they are adding the international component to jack up the volume? Maybe it's just posing for the G-20 Summit this summer, which is what his speech was supposed to be about.
Whatever the reason for it, I don't like it, and I don't think scare mongering Canadians into a perpetual state of fear does anyone much good, especially when the boogey-men are so often imaginary, and the facts to support their contentions just aren't there. In fact, the truth is the opposite, in the case of the alleged crime wave they are using to justify their increased criminal sanctions against Canadians.
If only we could find politicians, and a political party with a positive vision for Canada, instead of the Orwellian double talk and blatant disregard for the truth that is this government's specialty. I'm sick of being manipulated, and sick of living with a government that thinks it's appropriate to frighten its citizens.
8 comments:
Please, Sir. Just sit down. There's no need to be alarmed. Just calm down. Please. If you don't calm down I'll have to call the pilot. So please, just calm down. No, Sir, there's no need to get excited -I'm only asking you to take off your shoes so you'll be more comfortable. Please. TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES, SIR. NOW. That's better. And that thing you keep sticking in your mouth, give me that please. Yes, I know, a 'respirator' -but we can't take any chances now, can we? Sir? Sir?....
29 Somali Canadians murdered in Alberta in the past few years (who knew there were even 29 Somali-Candians in Alberta?) And 8 murders in Quinte region in the past ten months. I don't think the Conservatives need to rely on imaginary crime waves for their scaremongering or do you think the newspapers reports of these crimes are invented as well?
It boils down to tribalism with this group. I remember this " you're either with us or against us " mentality with the Mike Harris dog and pony show. Now, we get reborn Harrisites, that's all. Trudeau held that unbridled tribalism was one of the fundamental dangers to the world, and to multicultural societies like Canada. It's no wonder this government shows little sympathy or understanding to our large cities with their diverse populations. The world is indeed a very, very dangerous place if you percieve it to be.
I didn't know there were large numbers of Somalis living in Alberta either -at least not until last July when I went to Brooks, Alta. to see the Brooks Aquaduct. It was near the aquaduct that I found a trailer camp behind a chain link fence where everyone seemed to be black and tall and slim.
It wasn't until I got back that I found out the people who lived there were strikebreakers brought in by Tyson Meat Packers to facilitate the continuance of slaughterhouse operations during a prolonged strike.
So. If you're from any impoverished African nation and you want to get refugee status and come to Canada, this rotten little excuse for a government we've got will stop you dead in your shoeless tracks before you get past an embassy fence. Forget it, bucko, you ain't wanted on the voyage. Unless of course....well...unless you wouldn't mind helping us help our big American corporate friends lower the standard of living for everybody that's ever tried to make this a better country -in which case Come Right In and Welcome To Brooks, Alberta -Land Of Opportunity.
Now let's get you something to wear on those feet, shall we?
"I don't think scare mongering Canadians into a perpetual state of fear does anyone much good, especially when the boogey-men are so often imaginary, and the facts to support their contentions just aren't there"
Sounds sooooo similar to the whine of climate-change fear-mongering greeniks and progressives. Now that's boogey-broad to worry about.
"helping us help our big American corporate friends lower the standard of living for everybody that's ever tried to make this a better country"
Let's ask the Somali's what they think of their venture to Canada to work as cheap labour? Compared to the labour conditions of foreigners in other lands -- say Fillipino maids in any Arab land, or the North Vietnamese shipped throughout the former Soviet bloc to pay off the debts of commie support to establish a leftist dictatorshit. Or the summary expulsion of Asians from Uganda by that racist cannibal, Idi Amin, or the violent emasculation of white-skinned honkey farmers by that leftist-installed racist nigger, Mugabe.
Yes, lets compare the lot of "guest workers" in various locations of the world and see how Canada fares in the opinion of "the foreigners." And then contrast that with the smug righteousmess of white Canucky yuks.
Doncha love the logic of anonymous, who takes a specific situation like some Somalis killed in Alberta and extrapolates it to deny years of data collection by Stats Canada that proves crime is down, way down in Canada. Anon. is the kind of chump who thinks climate change isn't real because we got a lot of snow last year.
And while we're at it, since when is Wally privy to the opinions of workers in Canada's guest worker program? Even though I provided assistance to some of them with employment related legal issues through the years, I still wouldn't claim to be an expert on their thoughts and feelings about being here.
But then I don't know everything like our Wally. He reminds me of a line on a birthday card I sent my my brother some years ago, saying
"Another year older, another year closer to making shit up".
"And while we're at it, since when is Wally privy to the opinions of workers in Canada's guest worker program? Even though I provided assistance to some of them with employment related legal issues through the years, I still wouldn't claim to be an expert on their thoughts and feelings about being here."
Nor have I ever asserted to be an expert, although you would have one think so. Better to make a cheap pointless attack than to address the points in my comment.
Since you delineated how you provided assistance "to some of them", then let me add that in my case I enjoyed the privilege of working with several immigrant groups over the years in the most multicultural city on the planet.
I testified at a refugee hearing on behalf of a Romanian who was sentenced to work in an uranium mine without protection. During the Ceausescu era, profiteers from AECL were building a CANDU in Romania, turning a blind eye to forced labour. Guess who declined to protest this -- Canadian leftists, environmentalists, progressives and labour activists.
I worked with Vietnamese boat people; they published me in their journal. I worked with Afghan refugees during the Soviet genocide, and yes they invited me to speak to them, published me. I workedf for several years with the Romany community as they fled persecution in Europe. Oh and a few other immigrant orgs.
So Deb, when you listed your credentials, I acknowledge them because you learned much from that contact. Of course there is no reciprocal generosity from you.
"But then I don't know everything like our Wally."
What a petty schoolyard whine. First of all, I am NOT "our Wally." I belong to me, exclusively. I am a full-blooded, pure-bred individual. I proselytize
individuality, that yanqui concept that you denigrate often.
Individualism is the ultimate diversity. Get it?
"He reminds me of a line on a birthday card I sent my my brother some years ago, saying "Another year older, another year closer to making shit up".
As far as making shit up, you do that in spades. Think of your slur that I was a woman-hater. Think of your fantasy assertion that the upper exchelons of the Kawartha educational system is overwhelmingly male. More? Don't make me list all the shit you have made up over the past year in this forum.
But all in all, I do want to commend your recent articles here wherein you apply your considerable knowledge of poverty issues. They have been enriching. Very enriching.
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