by matttbastard
I really didn’t want to politicize this day. Respectful National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women statements have been released by the NDP, Grits and Bloc. Uncle Steve and Co., on the other hand, have chosen to draft a “statement” (as of this writing not yet posted to the SWC website) that reads like an election-year style stump speech. 107 words on the Montreal Massacre; 205 spent self-righteously shilling partisan Conservative policy initiatives.
Classy.
There is also, however, this steaming, stinking load of contrarian horseshit from Barbara Kay, published in yesterday’s National Post, which is…well, good fucking God:
[T]he Canadian public never seems to weary of the annual Dec. 6 tribute to the 1989 Montreal Polytechnique shooting massacre of 14 women. Indeed, 12/6’s branding power burgeons with every anniversary: The theme of violence against women dominates the media; new physical memorials are constructed; additional programs decrying domestic violence against women are entrenched in school curricula; masses of white ribbons are distributed; more stringent gun control is more strenuously urged. Their cumulative effect is to link all Canadian men to a global conspiracy against women of jihadist proportions.
[…]
Public tributes to the fallen can bring out the best or the worst in our national character. We see the best in our beautiful Remembrance Day ceremonies, formulated in an era of national pride and cultural confidence, when male heroism was considered a quality deserving of public recognition. But now, a “grandfathered” Nov. 11 is the only day of the year when feminist ideologues refrain from overt misandry.
We see the worst on Dec. 6, a day when truly one may reasonably ask, “doesn’t grieving have a shelf life?” We should indeed wind it down, for it is as unethical to denounce an entire gender for an individual’s behaviour as we all acknowledge it would be in the case of a race or religion.
[…]
Commemorative ceremonies serve an edifying purpose when they facilitate a unifying rite of formal mourning for national tragedies, ceremonies that strengthen collective resolve to combat real, not perceived threats. Unifying is the key word: If public ceremonies divide instead of uniting the citizenry, they demoralize rather than edify the nation.
We should not fund grief rituals that nurture conspiracy theories and phobias. The 12/6 tribute has become a propaganda mill for both. It is high time we turned our attention and public funds to worthier commemorative projects. How is it that we have yet to inaugurate a yearly ceremony for the 25 Canadians who died in the Trade Towers?
The relative indifference displayed by Kay’s ideological brethren in Parliament, taken in context with their record with regards to women’s issues, leads one to believe that her misogynistic, hate-saturated screed is, by proxy, their true December 6th statement.
bastard.logic 