Typically Canadian

[mbarrick]

As usual we are, despite all the flack for "doing nothing" quietly doing more than expected, more than we said we would, and doing it right. The headlines on all the papers today are about how "disappointed" the American government is with us, yet the American embassador to Canada, Paul Celucci, also had these words about our naval presence in the Persian Gulf which is still there because we are still in Afghanistan:

Ironically, because of the presence in the Persian Gulf, they will provide more support for this war in Iraq indirectly than most of those 46 countries that are fully supporting us. It's kind of an odd situation.

So, to those that are "ashamed" of our "lack of involvement" - shut the fuck up. Our government did the ethically right thing by staying in line with our prinicples regarding the UN, international law, and peacekeeping. Never forget that Canada invented peacekeeping and ever since we first distinguished ourselves in the Boer War, Canadian soldiers have continued to earn and maintain the respect of friends and enemies alike. General Rommel, the German commander of the North African theatre in WWII, said that if he had Canadian soldiers with American equipment he could win the war. In the first gas attacks of WWI at Yprès, it was the Canadians alone that held the line while everyone else ran and died. Canada was in WWII two years ahead of America and it was the Canadians (including my father) who spearheaded the invasion of Italy in WWII and cleared the way for the Brits and Americans. It was Canadians (again including my father) that landed at Dieppe and prooved that the invasion of Normandy, while difficult, was not impossible. Our peacekeepers were in Korea and, despite the reputation garnered from American draft-dodging, our volunteer millitary was in Vietnam. And in the first Gulf War it was Canadian fighter jets that were sent in first, specifically to be shot at, so the Americans could come in with relative safety to take out the anti-aircraft guns.

Be proud of Canada. Be proud that we have the guts and moral fortitude to finish wars and ethics enough not to start them.

Comments

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

What you "think" (perhaps "feel" would be the better word) is lacking in wisdom and knowledge.

Let's look at your gripes:

Anti-semitism: This exists everywhere there are Jews. It's an inevitable consequence of ignorant people fearing what is different and what they do not understand. Unlike America, however, Canada has anti-hate legislation that is routinely enforced and an official policy of multiculturalism that is intended to encourge and support difference rather than the "melting pot"/"e pluribus unum" approach. These laws and policies don't play favourites, they apply regardless of skin-colour and equally to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, Catholics, Protestants, and Jews alike. "Weak religion" follows necessarily out of this tolerance and the separation of church and state. Would you prefer the "tolerance" of a state strong on religion such as the Afghanistan under the Taliban, Spain in the days of the Inquisition, or any number of other examples? America was founded on the virtues of the ideas you are deriding. The United States was intended to be just that, a federation of united, largely autonomous states with a very limited federal government, not unlike what the European Union has become. Wise men very carefully drafted laws and procedures designed specifically at limiting the strength of the federal government. These have all be slowly subverted and the United States has become the very sort of centrally organized empire that it rebelled against and originally set itself up as the very antithesis of.

So what priciples don't you agree with? Innocent until proven guilty? Rule of law? Freedom of religion? Equality?

Here's a nice cup of shut-the-fuck-up, go sip on it while you grow a brain.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

i got a good chuckle out of your last line...it was so out of left-field...but well expressed...i'll be chuckling about that all day long...

[dream-king.livejournal.com]

Yet based on a recent study, Canada has had a 60% increase in anti-Semitic activity which is so widely accepted now in mainstream circles that no one even bats an eye to it. You have people burning in effigy Jewish symbols while hiding under the comments of them being pro-peace and anti-war.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

That is because the state flag of Israel has the Star of David on it. If one were to burn the flag of Azerbajian, Turkey, Pakistan or Tunisia, all of which bear the sicle moon and star would that make one necessarily anti-Muslim? Would burning the flag of England, Denmark, Scotland, Norway, Iceland or any of the others that bear a Christian cross make one anti-Christian? One can disagree with the actions of the Israeli state without necessarily being anti-Semetic. Not all Israelis are Jews (only 80%) and not all Jews are Zionists.

I know where you stand on this and I know there is no convincing you, especially right after Purim, so I won't belabour the point any further.

[dream-king.livejournal.com]

Those instances have nothing to do with burning the Israeli flag, they have to do with attacks on Jews, Jewish institutions and Jewish cemetaries. From Synagogues in Vancouver, to Cemetaries in Alberta to assaults Jews in Ontario and Quebec.

You are right that not all Jews are Zionist, it pains me to admit that my brother whom I love and adore who is ultra-Orthodox is not Zionist and does not believe that a secular State of Israel should exist, more over that a religious state should not exist until the time of the Messiah, despite the fact that he himself is an Israeli citizen like myself. But they (Jews who are not Zionistic) are in the minority.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

An excellent post, I grant you. I'll make no apology or explination for my idiom, although clearly you do have brain. Nonetheless, I've no inclination to debate this further at this time.

[infusco.livejournal.com]

dude, while i agree with the statement you make in the post and was infuriated by Cellucci's comments, I must insist you retract the "Here's a nice cup of shut-the-fuck-up, go sip on it while you grow a brain." statement.

Our neighbours to the south are known for bullying and foul language, attempting to end an argument by verbally insulting or attacking opposition or making threats.

Everyone has a right to an opinion, even a sole dissenting one, that is what freedom of speech is all about. So will you be nice and apologize to the lady for attacking her or were you planning on applying for citizenship somewhere else in the world? Didn't sound too diplomatic, eh? ;)

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

And this is precisely why I orginally chose (http://www.livejournal.com/users/mbarrick/357786.html) not to say anything about this issue. I am not without opinion and my opinions are not without reason and historical context. I don't have the time or the general inclination to participate in arm-chair politics. Two quotes I am very fond of are:

I cannot in any degree approve of those restless and busy meddlers who, called neither by birth nor fortune to take part in the management of public affairs, are yet always projecting reforms; and if I thought that this tract contained aught which might justify the suspicion that I was a victim of such folly, I would by no means permit its publication. I have never contemplated anything higher than the reformation of my own opinions, and basing them on a foundation wholly my own.

• René Déscartes, "Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences"

and: