Too Late, Too Late

 

“Come, my friends
Tis not too late to seek a newer world..."

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I don't post nearly as prolifically as I once did, in large part, I suspect, because I have lost the hope that things can be improved in ways that change the world from its present, ineluctable trajectory. The Tennyson quote given at the top is something I no longer believe in, for reasons I discussed recently. Rather, I think about tending my own garden, in the sense intended by Voltaire.

That does not, however, mean I have lost my taste for truth, at least my interpretation of it. I do abide by the maxim, "Better a bitter truth than a sweet lie."

It is in that spirit that I take issue with The Star's latest editorial, which sees the record-low turnout of voters for our June 2 provincial election as largely the failure of the parties opposing Ford's Progressive Conservatives to offer a compelling reason to vote for them. As one who has held his nose in countless elections, that view holds little currency with me.

Rather, the following letter from the print edition of today's Star speaks a deeper and darker truth, in my view:

Election result reveals a greedy, selfish Ontario

• Toronto Star
• 5 Jun 2022

Ford celebrates his majority win; Del Duca steps down, June 2

Dear Ontario,

You allowed the refund of your licence plate stickers to buy your vote. You voted selfishly, with only your own interests in mind.

You forgot about the thousands of seniors who died, lonely and neglected, in our longterm-care homes during the pandemic.

You forgot about the unravelling of some of the best environmental protection legislation in the country.

You forgot about the dozens of Ministerial Zoning Orders that pushed through developments against the wishes of communities.

The goodness of a society is measured by how well it takes care of those less fortunate and those who can’t speak for themselves. Our seniors, our needy, our disabled, our birds and insects and wild animals and rivers and lakes and wetlands and farmlands — they needed you to vote on their behalf.

This election revealed a greedy, selfish Ontario with a short memory, and a willingness to destroy our environment for short-term gain. How will you explain the consequences of your actions to your children and grandchildren?

Shame on you.

Karen Heisz, Toronto

Amen, Karen.

Brittlestar: People Are Stupid

No, it's not the result of yesterday's provincial election that prompted this title, although in light of it, Brittlestar's latest does seem apt. 

BTW, only 43% managed to rouse themselves from their torpor to vote yesterday.

H/t Moudakis

Now Here's A Thought

 For sane and reasonable Americans, this has gotta hurt:

H/t Mike Lukovich

Pavlov Had His Bell

 ... and the dogs responded accordingly. Marjorie Taylor Greene has her "peach tree dishes," also guaranteed to get the MAGA dogs salivating, even baying.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says the government is planning to “zap” people inside their bodies if they try to eat a real cheeseburger.

De Adder Strikes Again

I have nothing to add to this depiction by Michael de Adder of a diseased America we would all be well-advised to steer clear of.

The End Of Days

In these latter days of our life as a species, there is little that shocks or dismays me. Instead, I find my predominant emotion now is one of disappointment:

Disappointment that we never realized our potential as a species. 

Disappointment that our headlong plunge into oblivion is done with eyes wide open, getting and spending, using and abusing, directed mostly by our petty and shortsighted impulses and preoccupations. 

We could have been so much more.

There will be no apotheosis, and there certainly will be no deus ex machina to bring us back from the brink. That is surely the stuff of fantasy, the hope of the benighted.

Probably George Carlin said it best in a 1996 interview. Thanks to the salamander horde for posting this on Twitter:

In Gun We Trust

 

H/t Moudakis

Just a brief post.

As a parent of two and a grandfather of one (our granddaughter was born last August), I do not have the stomach, the heart or the psychic strength to really contemplate the ongoing horror that is the United States. Nor can I read or watch the protracted coverage in the media of the self-induced, oh so predictable, massacres that have become a regular part of that blighted landscape.

Although we in Canada have had our share of terrible shootings, the fact that they are rare is largely attributable to the sanity that undergirds our gun laws. It really is as simple as that. Contrast that with all of the misdirected comments about mental illness in the U.S. when the inevitable happens again and again there, with nary a mention of the real underlying cause, the American love of the gun and the the weak laws that fuel that love. 

One final note: despite the dimensions of the tragedies, I don't see why Canadian media are spending so much time and so many resources covering what has happened in that alien country. It will not bring back the victims, and, I believe, it blurs the distinctions between us and them. 

Note to the U.S. It is time you changed your national motto to one more reflective of your befouled character.