06.03.2020 07:36 AM

Hypocrites come in all nationalities

During an extraordinary time when the world is talking about the virus of racism in the US, various pro-Trudeau bots want me to stop talking about racism here. I won’t.

32 Comments

  1. Jesse B says:

    You are so brave.

  2. Steve T says:

    I agree that Trudeau got off fairly lightly for his ill-considered actions. However, I think we need to start deconstructing the word “racism”.

    The Webster definition is: A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacity, or racial prejudice or discrimination.

    Wearing blackface is idiotic, and in poor taste, at least by today’s standards. However, it is racist? Unless you purport to act in a foolish way while in blackface (suggesting that blacks are foolish), I’m not sure it meets the definition. If it is racist, then presumably emulating the behaviours of anyone else (unless they are exactly your own race) could be construed that way.

    Having a disproportionate number of a particular race in jail, or on child welfare, is probably an indication of systemic and generational issues with poverty. However, it isn’t racist. It would only be racist if (a) there was a different set of laws for different races, or (b) there was a pattern of court rulings whereby individuals of one race received different prison sentences for exactly the same crime in exactly the same set of circumstances.

    I’ll even go out on a limb and say that George Floyd’s murder may or may not have been racist. It was certainly murder, and it certainly evidenced a police officer who had no regard for human life. But was it motivated by Floyd’s race? It is hard to know. That in no way makes it a lesser crime, or any less disgusting.

    • Chris Sigvaldason says:

      It is also not racist to disagree with the Federal Public Health apparatus’ handling of COVID, yet Liberals were fast to pile on anyone who dared. “Racism,” the word, has sure been thrown around with impunity in recent years.

  3. whyshouldIsellyourwheat says:

    The election of a racist in Canada, and the subsequent normalization and defense of a racist PM by the Laurentian establishment and their media is prima facie evidence of systematic racism in Canada.

    The evidence of Trudeau changing would be recognizing that a person who has engaged in multiple racist acts as a grown adult and as PM (Wilson-Raybould, the Liberal fundraiser) must resign as PM. He is asserting his white privilege by not resigning, which means all his rhetoric is for show only.

    • Max says:

      Just as Trump has his base (minority of the electorate), Justin has his. That’s what ‘first-past-the-post’ gets ya’ these days. Who knew Sing’s high-point would be the campaign itself? He squandered what little leverage the NDP had. Sided with Justin to shut down parliament in exchange for 10 paid sick days. A mere splinter in the NDP platform. He must be stunned by the harsh reality that JT doesn’t take his calls anymore.

  4. John W. says:

    I have made so many mistakes.

  5. Max says:

    jj, so you feel people (even those of great power, privilege) ought to change only when caught/found out/revealed to be hypocritical?

    • Max says:

      As it happens, yes there has been. Just passed the 3 year mark of the Truth & Reconciliation MMIW and its 231 recommendations. Words ring hollow. Especially virtuous ones not backed up by action. Still remember the fake drama tears offered up to Gord Downey at the last Hip concert.

      But hey, I get your point jj; if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it….

  6. I don’t think the PM is a dyed in the wool racist. I think he is privileged and not especially bright, and maybe somewhat insensitive to the struggles of people who were not born with his advantages. He did things he shouldn’t have done, when he was old enough to know better. I’m not buying the racist thing though. That term in replacing the epithet of “Nazi” for someone the left/progressives don’t like.

  7. the real Sean says:

    At this moment the Liberal Party of Canada does not have a valid voice on any issue re. race and ought to be ignored at every turn. Sorry Libs but if you are going to continue playing along with the ridiculous suicide cult of the fake leader, this is the price you pay. Irrelevance.

    • Warren says:

      Dude, they’re 22 points ahead of their nearest rival.

    • Terence says:

      You have no idea why people vote Liberal and in particular, vote Trudeau, do you? If we had proportional representation I would vote NDP or green, depending on my to local candidate. But right now I vote Liberal because my local Liberal MP is good but mostly because I can never vote conservative under any circumstances. The entire worldview represented by the party is out of touch with fundamental principles of justice and equality. They are OK with hierarchy and elites pushing everyone else around but thinks treating everyone the same is the same thing as equality when everyone else knows we need equity …. giving those who need an extra hand through no fault of their own that extra hand so they can enjoy similar outcomes. Its base is bathed in privilege and doesntt know it. Like a fish doesn’t know it’s wet. I don’t care what Trudeau does or says, I just know the Liberal party isn’t going to scrap the charter or sell off Medicare to one of Trump’s orcs or get us into world war three.

      • Pedant says:

        “Elites”

        The Trudeau Liberals have skyrocketed the mass immigration rate since 2015, suppressing wages and leading to a housing affordability crisis.

        Tell me. Who benefits from that? Ordinary working Canadians, or the elites?

      • A. Voter says:

        “They are OK with hierarchy and elites pushing everyone else around”
        This sounds like the Liberal Party on SNC Lavalin, the Mark Norman case, China, Iran, most Third World dictatorships and on and on.

      • The Doctor says:

        Scrap the Charter?
        Sell off Medicare?

        Can you please point me to a specific policy plank or platform of the CPC where either or both of those things were proposed?

      • Yet Another Calgarian says:

        Sell medicare to Trump?

        Why am I unsurprised to find you’d vote NDP or Green if you think Canada has Medicare or that its a federal responsibility constitutionally.

        The US isn’t the only one who is in desperate need of civics classes in school it appears.

  8. Joseph says:

    What I found hard to fathom about the black face kurfuffle was how the pictures which where published in a year book got missed when Trudeau was vetted prior to his entry into politics.
    This of course presumes an actual vetting, as opposed to a cover up of past misdeeds, took place.
    Of course any such cover up would require ample monetary resources and enough morally blind participants to pull it off, so many that such a conspiracy exceeds the plausible. Pulling off such a feat would mean the establishment is corrupt.

    • Chris Sigvaldason says:

      Funny, that.
      One won’t find anything that one doesn’t look for.
      Or doesn’t WANT to look for.

  9. Pedant says:

    Did Stockwell Day really just get hounded from his various jobs because he said that there racists in Canada but that most Canadians are not racist?

    Really? THAT was sufficient to deplatform him?

    • PJH says:

      Maybe his statements will explain why he was canned(In my mind, rightly so):

      “We have to recognize that our system is not perfect in Canada,” Day said during the panel discussion. “Yes, there’s a few idiot racists hanging around but Canada is not a racist country and most Canadians are not racist. And our system, that always needs to be improved, is not systemically racist.”

      Day went on to compare the bullying he endured as a child with the discrimination faced by visible minorities across the country.

      “Should I have gone through school and been mocked because I had glasses and was called four-eyes and because of the occupation of my parents?” Day asked. “Should I have been mocked for all that? No, of course not. But are Canadians largely and in majority racist? No, we are not.

      “We celebrate our diversity around the world and for the prime minister to insinuate — and it is an insinuation — that our system is systemically racist is wrong.”

      I wore glasses in Grade school and was teased at times with being called “four eyes”….but you know what, my Grade 5 teacher said that I looked “professorial” in them…and suddenly it was ok. I also wasnt the only other kid who had to wear them, either. I would never equate the teasing I experienced to the day to day bullying and discrimination that many visible minorities go through on a daily basis. It just goes to show how out of touch Mr. Day is,and his ever present lack of judgement…..but given that he showed up at his first presser as leader of the CA on a sea doo wearing a wet suit and life preserver, I’m not surprised.

      • Pedant says:

        What bullying and discrimination do minorities endure daily in Canada? Where is this institutional bigotry? Employment Equity is institutional discrimination, but not in a way that fits your narrative. The state of First Nations in Canada is dire but that is largely due to Liberals throwing money at chiefs with no accountability to using the taxpayer funds to improve their people’s lives.

        People can be cruel, was Day’s point, whether the source of the cruelty is racial, or based on class or some physical handicap, but the cruelty of individuals doesn’t equate to cruelty at an institutional level. Even if you think his statement is tone deaf that is not sufficient to deplatform him, in my opinion. Since Canadians are okay with a blackface addict as PM, I think they’ll be fine with nuanced views on race in Canada.

  10. PJH says:

    I bet Stockwell Day wishes he had. Ahhh, good ol’ Stock…….the political gift that just keeps on giving.
    Betcha he was allowed to keep his gig with Huawei, though.

    • Pedant says:

      What did he say that was wrong? I read the transcript. His remarks seemed perfectly reasonable and balanced. What’s the issue?

      If he had racial issues he might as well run for Liberal leader seeing as Liberal voters don’t seem to care about that.

  11. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Well, what else can you call racial profiling, stop and frisk, following law-abiding minorities in stores, stopping without just cause minorities driving upscale cars, calling the cops on minorities who have done nothing unlawful, etc.

    I don’t know what YOU call it but I call it quite deliberate subtle racism in 2020 Canada.

    • Steve T says:

      That list of items is not all in the same realm.

      – Racial profiling is racism

      – Stop and frisk is not racism, unless specific groups are targeted. If it is behaviour or activity that is targeted, then you may not like the stop and frisk policy, but it isn’t racism – it’s just a bad policy overall.

      – Following people because of their race is racism.

      – Stopping without just case is racism, but I suspect some of those stories are conflated. “Yeah sure, I had a burned-out taillight, or no license plate, but they wouldn’t have pulled over a white guy for that.” Really, says who?

      – Calling the cops on people who have done nothing wrong may be racism, but it would surprise me if the police responded to a call without some reason. So the caller lied, perhaps, but that is on them not the police (which may have been your point).

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Steve,

        I would put it to you that Stock was party right: by and large people, Canadians or otherwise, are not subtly racist but like me, they try not to be every single day because any form of racism is wrong and against God’s plan for human beings.

        But with respect, where Day misses the mark is where many in society are all too tolerant of it by their silence or making excuses for bad law enforcement. Often times, juries become enablers of same when they let people off who shouldn’t be.

        Sure, policing is hard and not for everyone and we’re grateful that someone wants to do that job but that in no way should cut bad cops any ice. Thank God most cops are decent and not little demi-gods obsessed with power and control due to their own inadequacies. That’s the breeding ground for a minority of cops getting out of control and acting out in at least a subtly racist form. And no surprise there, people often die when that happens.

  12. Walter says:

    Trudeau is NOT a full fledged racist.

    But I think we can agree that he is the most racist PM since WWII.
    1) Black Face,
    2) Indians need places for canoes,
    3) Trudeau “brown files”,
    4) Mixing up Japan leader with China,
    5) India trip.

  13. I Me This Guy says:

    My parents in the early 60s were about as woke as any parents in the 60s (not very) but I would have gotten my butt kicked, even in the early 60’s if I had done blackface. It would have been disrespectful to the ‘negro people’. Yet JT gets a pass. JT the product of the best schools in Canada, the scion of “The Greatest Canadian”. And We Canadians are all racist sez JT.

  14. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    What really burns my ass is when people claim there’s no real racism problem across the globe…no, no, they are making it up — it’s all in their imagination. Things race wise are just peachy and have been for decades. Another good one: not here in Canada!

    My response: are you merely deaf and dumb or are you a complete idiot? Jesus Christ, it’s before our very eyes for all to see. Simply mind blowing how some people think.

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