Tag Archives: politics

Freeland’s Comments in Washington

If you’ve ever read Bill Browder’s Red Notice, you will have learned something of a Chrystia Freeland that you had not known previously. (And if you haven’t read it, I recommend it – excellent book which should add to your understanding of Russia.) What you learn is that there was a time when she had substance and principles. Of course, entering the world of politics is going to take that away – it must. But I caught a glimmer of that Chrystia when she made her comments about mining and LNG on Friday. She sounded like a Cold Warrior, which, back when she was principled, she was. I thought it was interesting that she made those comments, and not her boss. Our prime minister lets her be the heavy so he can continue to be the bungee-jumping buffoon we’ve all come to know and not love.

It remains to be seen if there will be follow-through, and since Canada doesn’t have the capacity to send LNG to our European allies – at least directly, I suppose we can send it via the United States – perhaps the words were just that, words. But I was happy to see Cold Warrior Chrystia back, the woman who impressed Bill Browder in the 1990s. I was also happy to have Canada sound less wussy than the United States.

Father Damien

Even by the standards of AOC, her comments on Father Damien were moronic. This article offers a very thorough (and generous) analysis of her beliefs.

It’s not an original thought, but it’s one that bears repeating: iconoclasts like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez have a pitifully stunted view of humanity. And I mean that: we should feel pity for them. Imagine looking at an image of someone like Father Damien (or Queen Lili’uokalani, for that matter) and seeing nothing but a demographic: sex and race and nationality. He dedicated his life to providing pastoral and medical care to thousands of souls who suffered from a painful and humiliating disease before finally succumbing to the disease himself. Why can’t Ms. Ocasio-Cortez see that? Because her mind is infected with a very different illness: a poisonous ideology which renders all white men as mere villains in the tragedy of European imperialism.

“Stunted” is the perfect word for her. Is it only because she is young? Will she grow out of it? One lives in hope.

How Canada has Changed

Today marks the 40th anniverary of the hostage taking at the American Embassy in Tehran. It got me to thinking about the day the hostages were released: I was in high school, and I think I was in some sort of choir practice because I seem to remember it was after regular school hours and an announcement came over the PA that the American hostages were on their way home. We cheered! The whole group of us kids cheered, as did our teachers.

I wonder what the reaction would be now, in a typical Canadian high school, to the same news. I don’t think there would be the same feeling of solidarity with the United States. It’s very sad, but anti-Americanism (which existed then but was nothing like what it is now) has absolutely permeated every aspect of Canadian life (note especially media and education). The narcissism of small differences takes centre stage.

It’s certainly true that back then Canada had helped save a group of American hostages, through the courage of Ken Taylor. So perhaps that is why we kids felt connected – but I think it was more. Regarding the U.S. with contempt has become our default position – always assuming that somehow they “deserve” it when bad things befall them, always assuming that we are superior and safe from the same threats. I had hoped that his attitude had reached peak stupidity after 9-11, but I suspect it is currently worse. One could argue that Donald Trump hasn’t helped, but I think the contempt runs deeper. It is bread and butter to us.

Oh, I know there are exceptions (I am one of them), but they are just that.  It makes me tremendously sad that this sophomoric world view has become so deeply entrenched.