Angrier and angrier
The Algonquin freaking community something gets pissed at a drinking comment and that gets press – but the National Association of Friendship Centres, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples coming out to condemn a candidate for advocating the slaughter of innocents – nothing. Not word one in the press.
I knew there was some media bias, but really?
You have no idea how insanely angry I was about this last week – I have witnesses to that. And you have no idea how mad racists make me – I have a pending libel suit to back that up, there’s a recently fired account exec who will confirm this, and you can ask around the Vancouver Public Library or in the Jew-baiting circles. Racists piss me off. But what the hell?
These petty bigots and their stupid drinking comments I’m used to that – and as long as you confront them, they smarten up. But actual unrepentant, raging, genocidal nuts – does no one really care or think that’s worth a mention? That tells me that the media and the Liberals don’t give a damn about petty racist comments, they’re just using them to batter their opponents over the head. That makes me angry.
You know what the problem is, RJ. The accusation of racism has been used so loosely and so carelessly for so bloody long that nobody even bats an eye about it any more.
There are stupid people from all walks of life, from all political persuasions and all ethnicities who say stupid things. Someone is always going to be offended or righteously indignant about just about anything that can be said in the political sphere, but when words like racism are offered up so frequently and so easily, they become completely ineffective.
I like to quote Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous line: “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.” I think that something akin to that can be said about both the accusation of racism and stupid remarks like those of Bedard’s. People who get all upset over the braying of an ass need to examine their own behaviour. They are basically giving the Bedards of the world power they have not earned.
Louise
September 19, 2008 at 4:59 am
Clearly, Louise, you have never gone out in public with non-white skin. The reason people (those people who you think need to “examine their own behaviour” – like leaving the house while black) jump all over these racist comments is because it exemplifies the attitudes that they get all the time. It’s proof, in public, of a rather every-day experience. This experience goes beyond stupid people saying stupid things – it extends to stupid people hiring and firing, stupid people at the CMHC, stupid people at the bank, stupid people at school, stupid people while you’re standing in line for lunch.
Sorry, where was I? Yes, I agree RJ, we need to be jumping all over this as well.
Renee
September 19, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Clearly, Renee, I spent the first half of my life defending and supporting the rights of Aboriginal peoples. I finally packed it in because the Aboriginal leadership and those wearing white skin were doing nothing but exploiting misery to advance their own ideological points of view. The backs of the miserable are the soapboxes upon which these so called “leaders” stand, so they need the “masses” to remain miserable. When big-shotism picks up political correctness, the cult of victimology is not far behind.
Louise
September 19, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Do either of you remember the Oka crisis? This conflict is very old and evidently still festering. Some context might help to understand it.
Louise
September 20, 2008 at 12:14 am
In my experience you can usually deal with racist views by talking and finding the causes of those opinions. I know my staff has expressed racist views from time to time, but we always talked them out and everyone leaves happy. But when people start advocating killing innocents, then there’s nothing left to talk about. Their mind has taken a holiday. There’s no excuse for Bedard and the advocates of violence don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Robert
September 20, 2008 at 5:49 am
You are right – racism cannot be tolerated. But I also think that Louise is right when she laments how desensitized we have become, because the word is simply used for villifying someone, instead of describing people who truly are racist.
So, where do we go from here?
xanthippa
September 20, 2008 at 11:08 am
I agree with you Robert, but I’m not convinced that Bedard was talking about “innocents”. There were real, identifiable people on the Kanasetaki (sp?) who set up the blockade on the road and at the base of the Mercier bridge and made daily life for a lot of people at Oka difficult for 78 days. One police officer was killed. Of course I don’t know for sure, but I think Bedard may be referring to this group of troublemakers who had more than just the people of Oka held hostage, but many in their own community as well.
I’m not saying whether or not their cause was just, nor am I saying what Bedard said was not a stupid thing to say (especially for someone running for office), but I don’t think its a call for “genocide”. After all, by definition, genocide is an attempt to wipe out an entire people just because of who they are.
If this group of Mohawks’ had their point of view prevail, this could be seen as an instance of a showdown between two countries that could easily have escalated into a war. Think of the recent incursion by Russia into Georgia. I think that’s what Bedard was implying by his words. Instead of being only a tense standoff that lasted 78 days, Bedard is suggesting the army should have taken it up a notch and invaded Mohawk territory and used violence. The men on the Kanesetaki side referred to themselves as warriors. Warriors die in wars.
When he says that nothing has changed, he likely referring to the thuggish faction on that reserve involved in organized crime, such as cigarette smuggling and drugs. These radical factions are the same groups that like to set up blockades every summer, without end.
We can argue over whether Quebec’s PM, Robert Bourassa, handled it smartly or not, but with all due respect, I think using the word genocide is over the top.
Louise
September 20, 2008 at 1:54 pm
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