Monday, October 14, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving

To new and long-term readers, the best of the season. 


H/t Greg Perry

And this warning seems appropriate for the times in which we live:

Suddenly, Canadians aren’t so different from Americans

We Canadians have always seen ourselves — rightly or wrongly — as  smarter, kinder, more sensible, more progressive and more forward-thinking than our American neighbours. We watch with a mix of horror and bemusement the three-ring circus American politics has become. Then along came Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and suddenly we have to ask ourselves “What happened?” His insufferable sloganeering — if I hear “axe the tax” one more time, I think I’ll scream — his aspiration to climb down to the lowest common denominator, and his mean-spirited, schoolyard name calling have somehow appealed to a shockingly large portion of our population. He has increasingly been following the Donald Trump playbook, maybe even trying to “trump” Trump with his outrageous accusations.

Suddenly, we find ourselves not so different from Americans and the social and political mess in which they find themselves. Ironically, we still don’t see ourselves as “them.” We need to open our eyes and search our consciences because at this rate, if things don’t change, it won’t be long.

Michael Bines, Toronto 

5 comments:

  1. Firstly ... HAPPY THANKSGIVING and thanks for your service in the blogging trenches
    On the Ameri-canadian differentiation
    We are exactly the same except Canadians in their conceit and passive aggressive polite style believe we are much more sophisticated and above the fray.
    Cue the Alberta UPC and the 'lil pp le pire convoy crew to kill the progressive nature of conservative and prove we might be the greater of the two evils with our exaggerated arrogance. Harper voiced all the rhetoric of the current wannabe authoritarian dictators but couched in dog whistles (when he wasn't quoting Adolph verbatim.)

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    1. Thanks, Anon. It would seem that historically we have had too high an opinion of ourselves; that self-esteem is clearly being eroded by the politics we bear witness to today. I wonder as well if our capacity for critical thinking has eroded to the point when we need almost cartoonish depictions of political leadership, as seen in both Trump and PP.

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  2. I find it increasingly attractive to retreat into my cave Lorne and let the political world go by but unfortunately that solves nothing and our kids are left holding the bag. The next few weeks in the U.S. of Eh will dictate much of how the whole world goes for the foreseeable future but the Trumph wannabes as in PP are not going to help stem the slide into disaster.
    The bigger turkeys are yet to pull us into the fire with them!
    Merry Xmas?

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    1. I couldn't agree more, Rural. There are days when I wish only to pull the blanket over my head, but as you say, it solves nothing. I feel keenly about the dysfunctional world that will be the norm for our children and grandchildren.

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