Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Best ProMedia Column I Have Read This Year.

PunditryStillMatters
WhenItGoesStraightToTheParrot'sFjordingHeartVille

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Update: Holy doodles!.....For the first time in >3,000 posts I think I pulled an almost Wente (and I'm not talking about this guy)....Why?....Because I initially forgot to link to the column from Dan Gardner...A million billion apologies...Feel free to reprimand me, but only as a secret thought experiment, of course...Thanks to the Anon-O-Mouse concerned for being so nice and polite regarding the oversight in the comments...
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It's an O'Cit bit from Dan Gardner in which he voices his dismay at the obfuscatory codswallopanarianism that is the FedCon carbon tax-cap-trade attack stratergy designed to drive up the negatives of NDP leader Thomas Mulcair for no good reason at all.

Even more troubling for Mr. Gardner is our (ie. the Canadian public's) response to this soul-destroying crap.

Now.

Before I post Mr. Gardner's money quote, please note the following....

1) In the preamble he (Mr. Gardner) refers to the infamous Dead Parrot skit, with complete and proper attribution to one M. Python.

2) All the words in the quote, except for a wee bit of explanatory explanation I added inside the brackets, are, indeed, Mr. Gardner's (i.e. I do not now, and nor have I ever in the past, worked for the Globe and [nolongerempire] Mail).

Here goes...

...This is all a carefully calculated stratagem, of course. “As long as a conversation continues about what Mulcair does and doesn’t support, he’s in a defensive position,” Tim Powers told (the CP's Bruce) Cheadle. Powers should know. He’s a Conservative strategist.

But the worst part is the people in the PMO won’t mind this column at all, or any of the others like it. Sure, I’m calling them cynical liars who would wince when they look in the mirror if they had the slightest intellectual integrity. But they don’t care. They know that most people don’t follow politics closely and don’t have time to learn what cap-and-whutzit is or figure out how some obscure regulation will ultimately cost them money.

These people will hear some noise and catch the gist: The NDP wants a new tax and Stephen Harper is against it. That’s a good gist for the public to catch.

And journalists who get angry and try to correct the record only add to the noise. So who cares if they get angry?

This is a perfect demonstration of why people like me are driven to distraction by this government. It’s not the policies. I disagree with many but most are pretty moderate and reasonable and a few are excellent and overdue.

It’s the gobsmacking cynicism and the contempt that is its foundation. Contempt for Parliament, the judiciary, the media, and anyone who gets in their way. But most of all, contempt for Canadians. Stephen Harper is looking us straight in the eye and saying, “it’s not dead. It’s resting.”

He thinks he can get away with that. He thinks we’re morons.

Maybe he can get away with that. Maybe we are morons...



It really does get to the heart of the matter, don't you think.

So, given that...

How to fix the problem?

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carbon tax indeed, Mr. Harper.

Your favorite henchman Gordon Campbell hit the BC people, more than once with a carbon tax.

Harper and his henchman Campbell, also scammed the HST, and forced that on the BC people too.

Perhaps if Harper's mouth was big enough, he could get both of his feet in it.

The media are Harper's propaganda machines. They are a total disgrace to their professions. BC has the most biased media, in all of Canada. That is, except for Wente.

Chris said...

Yeah, that was one great but scary bit of writing. My first thought was: how can one guy do this to a whole country? Then I pointed out to myself that he isn't doing it by himself, that there's a machine behind all this. Then I went out for a really fast walk to calm down.

I think the only answer is for people to get angry, get loud and get out into the streets. Read, think, talk to your neighbours and your kids, take back your schoolrooms and school boards and city councils, tell the provincial government it's over and the NDP that we have some expectations, call your MP, then call whoever will be running against him.

Figure out what needs done, find the thing you do best and do it.

Most of all, take a deep breath, lose the cynicism and link elbows with your fellow citizens.

You know what this calls for? That lineup you see in soccer games when the other team is taking a kick at your goal. We all have to line up in front of democracy, one arm around the guy next to us and one hand over our nuts. And then stare them in the eye without flinching.

lungta said...

My riding voted 77.4 conservative.
Mention anything to them and the response is still
"na na ne nana we won"
The "conservative" branding of reform-alliance-social credit worked very well
These people are still voting with an image of Peter Lougheed, in their head.
How to fix the problem?
From anouther of my comments
"So when are we going to stand up and say, "Enough?"
My tiny contribution is to get on every opposition email list and when they come begging
to remind them that their philosophies are not as divergent as the reform-alliance-conservative confabulation was
and they had better get their act together in a unified front under one banner
or be complicit in the destruction of Canada by sin of omission.
Not recognizing the threat of harper vrs. "my party" is either egotistical stupidity or willful ignorance, NEITHER WORTHY OF SUPPORT.
please come back when you have sorted out your priorities and have a workable plan other than steal votes from each other and split the middle allowing another conservative majority."

my other option involves the burning of my computer and lots of beer

Chris said...

Oh. Carol Goar, over at the Toronto Star, has another idea: civil disobedience in the form of a tax strike.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1262157--harper-rewrites-the-rules-of-democracy

Nice.

Anonymous said...

For those who want to read Dan Gardner column in the Ottawa Citizen, you can find it here:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Column+parrot+just+resting/7275471/story.html

RossK said...

Thanks Anon--

Gosh, that might the first time, ever, I've forgotten to add a link.

It's like I pulled an MW.

Apologies everyone...This calls for a half-a-mama-me(dia) culpa!

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And, for the record I agree with Chris....But I have another idea - will try and write about it soon.

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