Kenneth - 06 May 2011 02:48 AM
I can appreciate that sentiment, Rob. No, not too precious, but perhaps just a bit more critical reflection.
I understand that trying to elicit humour from a horrific spectacle is a dangerous game and I wouldn’t want to be blamed for a tourism collapse in my home and native land. I was playing off another thread where I compared the christian submission to authority to the same phenomenon in the German Nazis (christians also) . . . so there was a tenuous thread of some relevance to the comparison. Perhaps I should have taken the time to make that point obvious rather than allowing the misinterpretation that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are committing crimes against humanity and other unforgivable atrocities. Thanks for bringing that message more clearly to my attention Kenneth.
Yet, while acknowledging that the potential implications of my comparison were erroneous, the parallels between the political operations of Hitler’s gang and that of Harper’s gang are not so dissimilar. Harper communicates with the media primarily through scripted announcements in staged settings, his “p.r. people” scrutinize all invited “crowds” at their gatherings, questions are all prearranged prior to the “open” sessions, those who disagree with him are villified and civil servants who speak out against his policies are fired or publicly denigrated, he has very little respect for the democratic process, he cannot compromise on his ideals, he is an autocrat, etc..
I guess I was still feeling the sting of our recent election where Harper’s Conservatives “won” a majority of the seats and will continue as our government. This result hurt even more when one considers that only 23.8% of eligible voters* cast their ‘X’ for Harper and yet his party won 167 (54%) of our Parliament’s 308 seats. Obviously our electoral process is horribly flawed and needs to be reformulated.
*39% of eligible voters did not cast a ballot; 23.8% voted Conservative; 19.5% voted New Democratic; 12.2% voted Liberal; 3.1% Bloc Quebecois; and 2.4% Green.
