Just for fun, and because there is nothing as satisfying as saying "I told you so," let's have a look at Danielle Smith in the media. The way she is spinning her problems now is enacting not just one but two of the things I've talked about in this blog before. One, she says "urban elites" are against her. We can assume the addition of "elite" to urban makes it derogatory, because in the right wing world, there can be nothing worse than being elite, reading Harper's in an independent coffee shop while drinking a non-fat chai latte, or having the kind of social and cultural analysis that can be gained through a Liberal Arts education. Here she goes again with the narratives of persecution. I can't help thinking it's not that smart to point out that smart people don't like you much. The second problem she is once again enacting is her tendency to blame the media. As I've said before, bad policy results in negative media attention; it's not a liberal plot. And in this case, bad policy also resulted in a poor election performance. It's not the urban elites or a liberal bias in media that brought down Danielle Smith. In fact, if we were to go back and study the election coverage, there is a case to be made that if there was media bias, it was favourable to Smith. I also had a good laugh when, the day after the election, Smith admitted she and her party might have to take a second look at their policies. Not their fundamental beliefs mind you, just their policies. I'd suggest you all take a few Liberal Arts courses and look at your beliefs too.
Of course, there is one other I told you so to be had, and that is never mess with abortion in Canadian politics. After the Wildrose loss and the decimation of Stephen Woodworth in Federal Parliament over M312, maybe we will finally be able to move on from this divisive strategy. It is never appropriate to threaten the rights of a whole group of people. All of us in Canada should be secure in our rights whether we are women or gay or immigrants or Liberal Arts students. On that, here is my recap of what abortion meant in the Alberta Election in an April 30 guest blog of mine on Abortion Gang. Of course the media is concentrating on the "bozo eruptions" of the homophobic Hunsperger and the Caucasian Ron Leech as well as Smith's own bizarro decision to out herself as a climate change denier when they tell the story of the fall of the Wildrose. But we all know where it started - abortion, conscience rights and the promise to shut down the Alberta Human Rights Commission. It was this trifecta of issues that created the first chink in the Wildrose armour.
I'm hoping we're past playing the politics of division. Perhaps as long as we have a first past the post system the politics of divide and conquer will win out. But a girl can dream.
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Think Twice, Vote Once
People say when you vote, you exercise your power. I see it slightly differently. I think when you vote, you give away a piece of your power. You decide who to give it to, and that is a bit of power. But the person you vote for gets to wield your power for much longer than the few minutes you are behind the cardboard, marking your "x." I'd like to say the person you vote for will use this new power you've given them on your behalf, but that's not always true. That's why you have to try hard to understand who you are giving this piece of yourself to. You have to make sure they will use it in a way that represents you, in a way you would use it if you still had it.
There's this book I really like called "Bowling Alone" by Robert D. Putnam. It explains social change in America and the collapse of community and how in the past, people used to belong to organizations in the community, the PTA, and bowling leagues, organizations that knitted together our social fabric. To completely simplify Putnam's gorgeous argument, this doesn't happen as much anymore. Now we're bowling alone with our Wii in the basement. We're not connected. And when we're not connected, we start thinking more about our own individual needs and less about the needs of our neighbours. In this circumstance, it is no wonder that libertarian ideals creep insidiously into our governments. I enjoyed the book when Putnam was talking about the United States. I could observe the argument with the cool logic that distance provides. Now it's personal. Now it's about where I live, about my home. Now I'm sitting with the book in my hands reading it in a new way.
I keep saying, Albertans want change, but is Wildrose the change they really want? I can't believe the polls. I thought I was living in a place where people cared about each other, where human rights were respected, where homophobia and racism and other plagues of ignorance were, for the most part, in the past. Occasional outbursts were becoming fewer and farther between. I feel disappointed and disheartened. I feel I have been out of step, living in an idea of community that was only that - an idea. The Alberta I thought I lived in, the one that was moving forward, seems to be a myth.
It's been tempting for me to walk to the solitary Wildrose sign in my immediate vicinity, knock on the door and say, "Really? Explain your thinking to me," and try to engage in a discussion. This is how convinced I am that my neighbours share a commitment to and deep respect for their fellow Albertans. I haven't done it yet. I'm glad because today I talked to their next door neighbour who was raking her yard in this beautiful sunshine and, of course, we started talking about the election. She tilted her head towards the neighbour's yard and their Wildrose sign and said, "I should have known they'd be Wildrosers. When they moved in, we were having work done on the foundation and she said, 'Who is the wop doing your work?' I didn't even know her name yet and she's using words like wop with me. They're a lost cause." Good to know. But still, in other neighbourhoods where Wildrose signs are more plentiful, I find it hard to believe that all those people behind all those front doors are true believers in the firewall, use words I haven't heard since Archie Bunker, and would like to see gay people burn in the lake of fire. But tomorrow I will have to face reality. Either this province is the place I thought it was, or it's not.
A few days ago at my local coffee shop, the owner asked "What's the word?" as he always does. It's his catch phrase. I said, "Apparently, it's okay to be a climate change denier again." He laughed out loud, but then looked around nervously. He doesn't want to piss off any customers. Once he saw the coast was clear, he said, "I can't believe this is happening." We commiserated. Someone else piped in and said, "At this point, Danielle Smith could be an axe-murderer, and voters would say the victim probably deserved it." I have another friend who joked that since Danielle Smith says that climate change isn't real, the rising temperature must be caused by all the gays burning in the lake of fire. It's not funny so much as it is sad that in 2011, someone is giving us material for jokes like this. (If you want some good ones, go on twitter and search the #wildroserumours. Hilarious. Pathetic. Scary. Disappointing.) If they win, we'll be giving John Stewart material for years.
Think hard about who you are giving your power to, who you are giving your vote to. I know if you're reading this blog, you are not inclined to vote Wildrose anyway. Make it your business to change a mind today.
For the record, here are Daveberta's endorsements. I'm lucky to live in one of the ridings he mentions. For the rest of you, think twice because you only get to vote once.
There's this book I really like called "Bowling Alone" by Robert D. Putnam. It explains social change in America and the collapse of community and how in the past, people used to belong to organizations in the community, the PTA, and bowling leagues, organizations that knitted together our social fabric. To completely simplify Putnam's gorgeous argument, this doesn't happen as much anymore. Now we're bowling alone with our Wii in the basement. We're not connected. And when we're not connected, we start thinking more about our own individual needs and less about the needs of our neighbours. In this circumstance, it is no wonder that libertarian ideals creep insidiously into our governments. I enjoyed the book when Putnam was talking about the United States. I could observe the argument with the cool logic that distance provides. Now it's personal. Now it's about where I live, about my home. Now I'm sitting with the book in my hands reading it in a new way.
I keep saying, Albertans want change, but is Wildrose the change they really want? I can't believe the polls. I thought I was living in a place where people cared about each other, where human rights were respected, where homophobia and racism and other plagues of ignorance were, for the most part, in the past. Occasional outbursts were becoming fewer and farther between. I feel disappointed and disheartened. I feel I have been out of step, living in an idea of community that was only that - an idea. The Alberta I thought I lived in, the one that was moving forward, seems to be a myth.
It's been tempting for me to walk to the solitary Wildrose sign in my immediate vicinity, knock on the door and say, "Really? Explain your thinking to me," and try to engage in a discussion. This is how convinced I am that my neighbours share a commitment to and deep respect for their fellow Albertans. I haven't done it yet. I'm glad because today I talked to their next door neighbour who was raking her yard in this beautiful sunshine and, of course, we started talking about the election. She tilted her head towards the neighbour's yard and their Wildrose sign and said, "I should have known they'd be Wildrosers. When they moved in, we were having work done on the foundation and she said, 'Who is the wop doing your work?' I didn't even know her name yet and she's using words like wop with me. They're a lost cause." Good to know. But still, in other neighbourhoods where Wildrose signs are more plentiful, I find it hard to believe that all those people behind all those front doors are true believers in the firewall, use words I haven't heard since Archie Bunker, and would like to see gay people burn in the lake of fire. But tomorrow I will have to face reality. Either this province is the place I thought it was, or it's not.
A few days ago at my local coffee shop, the owner asked "What's the word?" as he always does. It's his catch phrase. I said, "Apparently, it's okay to be a climate change denier again." He laughed out loud, but then looked around nervously. He doesn't want to piss off any customers. Once he saw the coast was clear, he said, "I can't believe this is happening." We commiserated. Someone else piped in and said, "At this point, Danielle Smith could be an axe-murderer, and voters would say the victim probably deserved it." I have another friend who joked that since Danielle Smith says that climate change isn't real, the rising temperature must be caused by all the gays burning in the lake of fire. It's not funny so much as it is sad that in 2011, someone is giving us material for jokes like this. (If you want some good ones, go on twitter and search the #wildroserumours. Hilarious. Pathetic. Scary. Disappointing.) If they win, we'll be giving John Stewart material for years.
Think hard about who you are giving your power to, who you are giving your vote to. I know if you're reading this blog, you are not inclined to vote Wildrose anyway. Make it your business to change a mind today.
For the record, here are Daveberta's endorsements. I'm lucky to live in one of the ridings he mentions. For the rest of you, think twice because you only get to vote once.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Wildrose: adding racism to sexism and homophobia
Recent developments continue to show the Wildrose for who they really are. In spite of the $1000 promised to candidates who can keep their mouths shut, those crazy candidates just can't help themselves. Today, we have a Wildrose candidate, Ron Leech in Calgary-Greenway, attributing his success to being white. Way to go. As of this moment, the link to this article in the Calgary Herald is mysteriously "broken" and the Page Is Not Found, so I'm clipping it from when I had it, just to prove it was there.
www.calgaryherald.com
The article read, "A day after an Edmonton-based Wildrose candidate came under fire for controversial religious views, a Calgary-based candidate with the party found himself in the headlines for on-air comments suggesting his chances of victory were better than his non-white rivals."
Here it is in Metro, with the quote from the candidate taken from a radio interview on the weekend. "I think as a Caucasian I have an advantage," Leech said. "When different community leaders such as a Sikh leader or a Muslim leader speak, they really speak to their own people in many ways. As a Caucasian, I believe that I can to all the community." Oh, yes. The White Folks are Normative, don't you know. White, being Normal, means White is the Voice, the Voice of All. It's hard to know where to go with this without ranting, so I will let you rant on your own in your own homes.
The other candidate the now vanished Calgary Herald article is referring to is the Heinous Hunsperger, of course, who, on his blog said some of the most offensive things I've read in years about homosexuality. Read about it at Daveberta, who includes the text of the Hunsperger blog (also, mysteriously vanished now from its original site.) I guess he won't be getting his thousand bucks either. Again, I just don't know where to go with this without ranting. Rant away to your friends, please.
The worst offender of all might be Danielle Smith herself. Apparently, Smith isn't convinced that climate change is real. No thousand bucks for Danielle either. The "faux"gressive and self-described pro-choice and pro-gay rights wannabe leader hasn't condemned any of the statements made by her candidates. Draw your own conclusions.
Welcome to Alberta in 1950 everyone. Welcome to the future. Think Twice. Vote Once.
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