remembering
Saturday, November 10, 2007
I guess I do this every year. I get thinking about why I like Canada so much right around the time of year that we take a day to remember the people who have died defending the rights of other Canadians.
The bulk of the collective remembering usually goes to those who died in or survived WWII, that being the last major confrontation that we were embroiled in, save for the various peacekeeping missions we have been embroiled in of late.
Its amazing to me that in spite of the enormous amount of killing currently and recently going on in other parts of the world, that we are relatively untouched by it. Not that I am downplaying for a second the lives of Canadian soldiers who have died in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa and elsewhere. I totally respect the person that is willing to give his or her life for someone else's rights. I wouldn't do it, except for the people that truly matter to me. My wife, my daughter, my sister. That's pretty much the list. I do however have a huge problem with the politics behind some of the recent conflicts, but that does not diminish for a moment my respect for the people who follow the orders that I disagree with.
I love my country and can't stand our current Prime Minister. I am a lefty, and do not agree with a single one (that I can think) of the Conservative Party's ideals. I believe in free speech, the right for a woman to make her own choices about her body, the right for medical science to be free of restraint from antiquated religious beliefs, and the right to think and do what I want so long as those actions don't harm anyone else. I believe that differences like sexual preference and skin colour are semantics and should have nothing to do with the setting of public policy. I further believe that belief in a supreme being has about as much place deciding public policy as belief in the tooth fairy.
If I had to pick a political persuasion I would claim to be a Libertarian, or even sometimes a Libertarian Socialist, but I usually end up voting Liberal as they end up being the party that hits the mark close enough and has a chance of winning.
In discussing my feelings for this awesome country to a friend earlier, I quoted something I posted about a few years ago, and I feel the text bears repeating here. Its from an old beer commercial, and aside from the glowing recommendation of hockey (which is the stupid cousin of the sports family), its origin doesn't necessarily mean the quality of its writing should be dismissed. You think if he were around now, Shakespeare wouldn't be writing porn scripts if the money was right?
Either way. I'm remembering with more humour than normal this year, but I still wear my poppy like everybody else. So just so its been said out loud again, Thanks.
The bulk of the collective remembering usually goes to those who died in or survived WWII, that being the last major confrontation that we were embroiled in, save for the various peacekeeping missions we have been embroiled in of late.
Its amazing to me that in spite of the enormous amount of killing currently and recently going on in other parts of the world, that we are relatively untouched by it. Not that I am downplaying for a second the lives of Canadian soldiers who have died in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa and elsewhere. I totally respect the person that is willing to give his or her life for someone else's rights. I wouldn't do it, except for the people that truly matter to me. My wife, my daughter, my sister. That's pretty much the list. I do however have a huge problem with the politics behind some of the recent conflicts, but that does not diminish for a moment my respect for the people who follow the orders that I disagree with.
I love my country and can't stand our current Prime Minister. I am a lefty, and do not agree with a single one (that I can think) of the Conservative Party's ideals. I believe in free speech, the right for a woman to make her own choices about her body, the right for medical science to be free of restraint from antiquated religious beliefs, and the right to think and do what I want so long as those actions don't harm anyone else. I believe that differences like sexual preference and skin colour are semantics and should have nothing to do with the setting of public policy. I further believe that belief in a supreme being has about as much place deciding public policy as belief in the tooth fairy.
If I had to pick a political persuasion I would claim to be a Libertarian, or even sometimes a Libertarian Socialist, but I usually end up voting Liberal as they end up being the party that hits the mark close enough and has a chance of winning.
In discussing my feelings for this awesome country to a friend earlier, I quoted something I posted about a few years ago, and I feel the text bears repeating here. Its from an old beer commercial, and aside from the glowing recommendation of hockey (which is the stupid cousin of the sports family), its origin doesn't necessarily mean the quality of its writing should be dismissed. You think if he were around now, Shakespeare wouldn't be writing porn scripts if the money was right?
Either way. I'm remembering with more humour than normal this year, but I still wear my poppy like everybody else. So just so its been said out loud again, Thanks.
Hey, I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader....
I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled....
and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,
although I'm certain they're really really nice.
I have a Prime Minister, not a president.
I speak English and French, not American.
And I pronounce it 'about', not 'a boot'.
I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.
I believe in peace keeping, not policing,
diversity, not assimilation,
and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch,
and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed' !!!!
Canada is the second largest landmass!
The first nation of hockey!
and the best part of North America
My name isJoeNOT Joe, (its Derek actually).
And I am Canadian!!!
Labels: everything else, rants
posted by raistlinsghost at 11/10/2007 01:01:00 PM
6 Comments:
I love that commercial.
Glen dosen't support this war either, there are too many ulterior motives and ass kissing going on. He will not hesitate to go and help during the flooding in Manitoba (check) and the ice storms (check) and the snow in of Toronto (check), but he has no intention of going to Afghanistan.
The wars we remember were so much simpler in perspective. There was a bad guy, killing lots of other people in the name of taking over the world.
I noticed in your poem about loving Canada that you believe in diversity, not assimilation. If that's true, you really don't love Canada. Anyone who doesn't expect, even demand, assimilation into his country's culture loves neither his country nor his culture.
If you love something you want to preserve it. Assimilation preserves cultures. Diversity destroys them. I don't mean just in Canada, but every where. If I moved to Japan the Japanese would have every right to demand that I accomodate to their ways. After all, I'd be in THEIR country. Japanese culture should dominate Japan. Canadian culture should dominate Canada. Surely you understand that.
You need to deprogram yourself from the diversity cult. Assimilation is what every country/culture should ask of its immigrants. If people don't want to be Canadian they shouldn't move to Canada. It's that simple.
I'm a Black American, btw.
jen: Sounds like Glen is the exact kind of person that should be filling the ranks of our military.
poorgrrl: Your statment that 'anyone who doesn't expect, even demand, assimilation into his country's culture loves neither his country nor his culture' clearly shows that you don't understand Canadians or our culture.
When you move to Canada you become a member of a country that embraces the many different beliefs, customs, faiths and histories of its citizens. There is no assimilation in Canada because our biggest strength is that we celebrate the differences in each other as we choose the path that we collectively walk together. Canadian culture IS the sum of all of our individual parts. And we know that loving something isn't preserving it at all. It is loving it enough to change with it as it grows.
And if you can't get that, than not only do I feel sorry for you, but I hope you get the opportunity to live amongst us and see for yourself what a place that embraces diversity is really like, so you can be pleasantly surprised at how wrong you are.
I couldn't agree more D.
I don't support the war, yet I respect the men & women fighting it. I, however, refuse to subcribe to the "Support the Troops" groupthink - do you get that up there too?
Ironically enough, I would also describe myself as a Libertarian Socialist (which down here might be even more idealistic than it is up there but so be it), yet vote Democrat to avoid throwing away my vote (Fuck you Ralph Nader).
We do get the groupthink here a bit, but I don't think its of the same variety that you get.
The way I see the US Government's position (and by extension, the media's), if you don't support the troops, you're an asshole. And if you do support the troops, you support the war. So you're pretty screwed unless you DO in fact support the war.
Here there is more of a delineation between the troops and whatever conflict they are currently embroiled in. I think its because our military is seen more as Peacekeepers that I think we have more of a general sense of national pride in them without having to take issue with whom they are being told to kill.
I concur.
Post a Comment
<< Home