This is an apology to my American friends.
I'm sorry, but you're fucked. Like...really fucked. You live in a country where a woman who believes that God causes her to speak in tongues is popular and has a real chance at becoming the vice-president. It was bad enough when Bush Jr. was in the House; Karl Rove was behind him and it was so cynical that the rest of us could see through it.
But this is just like, wow. These people really believe these things. And they want you to believe these things. And if you don't, if you refuse, you are not a person to them and they want you out of their country.
You're wondering why I care. I'm Canadian, yes. I'm also more politically-minded than many people I know. "Shouldn't you be keeping your nose in Canadian politics and out of American politics?" I'd like to, trust me I would like that very much. If national politics existed in a vacuum and we didn't have to consider the ramifications of our neighbours, I would. But since the night I heard the announcement that Bill Clinton beat George Bush Sr. for president, I have known that our futures are intertwined.
There are three opinions now on how Canadians perceive Stephen Harper's relationship with George W. Bush. They are as follows:
1. Stephen Harper does anything that Bush asks him to do.
2. Stephen Harper is not Bush's puppet.
3. Stephen Harper does anything that Bush asks him to do but we love it because we're a god-fearing nation that wants to be just like the U.S. and let's go kill some Middle Easterners.
Well, the third one is a teensy exaggeration. But it's true, there are those conservatives who believe we're better off following the example given to us by the United States. It can be a good example, or a bad example. Generally we're much more liberal; we're fine with gay marriage and gay rights, we have public health care for everyone, we keep intelligent design out of the classrooms. There are those who find these things abhorrent but I'm happy with them.
But we are, as Homer Simpson once called us, "America Junior." We have a rich history but most of us know the American one much better. We have an incredible culture (many, really, spread out over the land) but we absorb so much of our culture from the U.S. instead. We have a beautiful land, enormous and housing some of the best people on the planet, but we like to travel to the U.S. instead. Your country even gets us involved in political disputes. Thanks for testing your missiles here, jerks.
(At this point, I'd also like to apologize to my American peeps because they're not Canadian.)
I'm terrified of the possibility that American "values" will permeate into Canada. We currently have our conservative government that is only allowing certain things (ie: gay marriage) because they don't have the Parliament majority to make it pass. I'm panicked by the idea that we'll be overcome by this pro-religion, anti-science, anti-sense garbage that's painting the U.S. a deep Republican red, reminiscent of blood. The politicians play into it, cynical bastards that they are, and the people just eat it up. Ignorance is not a "value" and it's not a trait that I ever want to have to use when describing the Canadian population in general.
I got into this topic when I was discussing Sarah Palin with my boyfriend, who's Finnish. He's also incredibly liberal and he follows American politics more closely than I do. He'd been listening to speeches given at the RNC and he was upset because the speakers (especially Sarah Palin) were giving speeches that were made up entirely of lies. And the crowds just applauded like it was gospel. There's this terror that runs through the hearts of liberals when we hear that this whackjob is popular. It's a terror that screams "They might actually win."
But there is hope, my friends.
Don't let yourselves get down. While she may be popular now, it's because no one knows her yet. Things will come out about her, of that I am certain. Her policies will reveal her motives and her inexperience; her family situation has already shown that her policies lead to failure.
When you hear speeches of her speaking and note the audience resounding in cheers, remember that these speeches are given to those who don't have independent thoughts. No one in the audience is there to question; the candidates will never speak to a group that would question them. These are speeches given at the RNC, in front of people who absolutely believe the wrong things, and will never learn the truth. You'll never hear Sarah Palin speak to people from Planned Parenthood because she won't allow criticism (and because -gasp- she'd be afraid that they're right).
My boyfriend called the Sarah Palin pick "Rovian," in that it's cynical and masterminded and really...evil. While McCain might not give a hooping funt about the poor, ignorant folks, he's throwing them a bone by presenting this idiotic woman to take over what will really become a useless position. And the worst part is that people think it's sincere. These people trust their politicians implicitly and believe that they know best. They don't.
So we have to hope that there are those who know better. And there are. While Obama and Biden might not be the ideal candidates, they're better than the alternative. Democrats have won the White House before, so this isn't impossible. Brave, brilliant, moderate men have held this power before (and some of those were voted in when only white men with money could vote - the Republican base!) and they can do so again. We need passion and we need hope. We also have to trust that people aren't blinded by shiny crosses and empty lies so that they can vote properly. I don't mind people voting Republican, so long as they do it while well-informed.
The world hasn't been lost to religion and ignorance yet. We just have to keep fighting.
I'm sorry, but you're fucked. Like...really fucked. You live in a country where a woman who believes that God causes her to speak in tongues is popular and has a real chance at becoming the vice-president. It was bad enough when Bush Jr. was in the House; Karl Rove was behind him and it was so cynical that the rest of us could see through it.
But this is just like, wow. These people really believe these things. And they want you to believe these things. And if you don't, if you refuse, you are not a person to them and they want you out of their country.
You're wondering why I care. I'm Canadian, yes. I'm also more politically-minded than many people I know. "Shouldn't you be keeping your nose in Canadian politics and out of American politics?" I'd like to, trust me I would like that very much. If national politics existed in a vacuum and we didn't have to consider the ramifications of our neighbours, I would. But since the night I heard the announcement that Bill Clinton beat George Bush Sr. for president, I have known that our futures are intertwined.
There are three opinions now on how Canadians perceive Stephen Harper's relationship with George W. Bush. They are as follows:
1. Stephen Harper does anything that Bush asks him to do.
2. Stephen Harper is not Bush's puppet.
3. Stephen Harper does anything that Bush asks him to do but we love it because we're a god-fearing nation that wants to be just like the U.S. and let's go kill some Middle Easterners.
Well, the third one is a teensy exaggeration. But it's true, there are those conservatives who believe we're better off following the example given to us by the United States. It can be a good example, or a bad example. Generally we're much more liberal; we're fine with gay marriage and gay rights, we have public health care for everyone, we keep intelligent design out of the classrooms. There are those who find these things abhorrent but I'm happy with them.
But we are, as Homer Simpson once called us, "America Junior." We have a rich history but most of us know the American one much better. We have an incredible culture (many, really, spread out over the land) but we absorb so much of our culture from the U.S. instead. We have a beautiful land, enormous and housing some of the best people on the planet, but we like to travel to the U.S. instead. Your country even gets us involved in political disputes. Thanks for testing your missiles here, jerks.
(At this point, I'd also like to apologize to my American peeps because they're not Canadian.)
I'm terrified of the possibility that American "values" will permeate into Canada. We currently have our conservative government that is only allowing certain things (ie: gay marriage) because they don't have the Parliament majority to make it pass. I'm panicked by the idea that we'll be overcome by this pro-religion, anti-science, anti-sense garbage that's painting the U.S. a deep Republican red, reminiscent of blood. The politicians play into it, cynical bastards that they are, and the people just eat it up. Ignorance is not a "value" and it's not a trait that I ever want to have to use when describing the Canadian population in general.
I got into this topic when I was discussing Sarah Palin with my boyfriend, who's Finnish. He's also incredibly liberal and he follows American politics more closely than I do. He'd been listening to speeches given at the RNC and he was upset because the speakers (especially Sarah Palin) were giving speeches that were made up entirely of lies. And the crowds just applauded like it was gospel. There's this terror that runs through the hearts of liberals when we hear that this whackjob is popular. It's a terror that screams "They might actually win."
But there is hope, my friends.
Don't let yourselves get down. While she may be popular now, it's because no one knows her yet. Things will come out about her, of that I am certain. Her policies will reveal her motives and her inexperience; her family situation has already shown that her policies lead to failure.
When you hear speeches of her speaking and note the audience resounding in cheers, remember that these speeches are given to those who don't have independent thoughts. No one in the audience is there to question; the candidates will never speak to a group that would question them. These are speeches given at the RNC, in front of people who absolutely believe the wrong things, and will never learn the truth. You'll never hear Sarah Palin speak to people from Planned Parenthood because she won't allow criticism (and because -gasp- she'd be afraid that they're right).
My boyfriend called the Sarah Palin pick "Rovian," in that it's cynical and masterminded and really...evil. While McCain might not give a hooping funt about the poor, ignorant folks, he's throwing them a bone by presenting this idiotic woman to take over what will really become a useless position. And the worst part is that people think it's sincere. These people trust their politicians implicitly and believe that they know best. They don't.
So we have to hope that there are those who know better. And there are. While Obama and Biden might not be the ideal candidates, they're better than the alternative. Democrats have won the White House before, so this isn't impossible. Brave, brilliant, moderate men have held this power before (and some of those were voted in when only white men with money could vote - the Republican base!) and they can do so again. We need passion and we need hope. We also have to trust that people aren't blinded by shiny crosses and empty lies so that they can vote properly. I don't mind people voting Republican, so long as they do it while well-informed.
The world hasn't been lost to religion and ignorance yet. We just have to keep fighting.
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