Perception is an interesting thing. Sometimes, it confirms what we know to be true...and sometimes, it's totally off-base.
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Take the new attack ads that the Liberals are considering using against Conservative leader Stephen Harper in the next election. They come against some stark black backgrounds, and convey the following messages:
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"If Stephen Harper becomes PM you'll have two health-care options: be rich or don't get sick."
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"In 2003, Stephen Harper urged Canada to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He said, 'There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein operates programs to produce weapons of mass destruction.'
"Oops."
"If Stephen Harper was prime minister last year, Canadians would be in Iraq this year."
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"Stephen Harper says, quote, west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from Eastern Canada, people who live in ghettos and who are not integrated into Western Canadian society."
"What's Harper saying? New Canadians shouldn't be allowed to vote?"
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They're brutal, ugly, blunt ads...and quite frankly, I believe them to be true. Yes, I know I'm a Liberal, but as I've said before, I believe Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are the greatest threat this country has seen in 20 years. Under their government, we would become a white-bread society where individual rights are superceeded by the tyrannical majority. We would become a close-minded, war-mongering, uncompromising, uncharitable nation. They would seek to dismantle the social fabric of an amazing country, and turn it into an ultra-conservative, fundamentalist Bush-style Republican gulag.
Strong words? Naturally... I have strong feelings on this issue. In 1968, when Pierre Trudeau came to power, we turned our backs on the frightening, startched-collar conservative life of our past, and turned to face a future of multiculturalism, tolerance, compassion, and compromise. We embraced everything that was good about globalization and cross-cultural understanding, and discarded virtually all of the closed-minded, insular characteristics that made us stodgy, boring, and allergic to progress.
Stephen Harper would try to turn back the clock. My perception of these ads, therefore, tell me that they're spot on the mark. This man will not be Prime Minister while I have a voice to rail against him and his kind. Stephen Harper isn't dangerous because he's evil (a word thrown around much too easily). Stephen Harper is dangerous because he is the most un-Canadian Canadian in our government today. Someone should tell him that the Leave-it-to-Beaver view of society ended a long time ago...even in Alberta!
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THEN AGAIN...
...perception can be ugly, twisted, discriminatory and disgusting in a way I can't even begin to describe.
Take the following in today's Globe and Mail:
By MARINA JIMENEZ
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
The Immigration and Refugee Board has rejected the asylum case of a Mexican homosexual man on the grounds that he is not "visibly effeminate" and therefore not vulnerable to persecution in his homeland.
That's right. Because Fernando Enrique Rivera is too masculine and straight-looking, doesn't have a lisp, or flame like a giant queen at an ABBA party, he is denied refugee status in Canada, despite having been blackmailed by police and having his career threatened due to his sexual orientation.
This is perception-as-caricature, and it's totally degrading. Anyone ever consider that if Rivera HAD been effeminate, he'd probably be in hospital right now, close to death as a result of gay bashing?
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Some might argue that my own left-leaning liberal values are affecting my perception of these stories. I wonder if it's occured to certain critics that most of the values I subscribe to are now considered main-stream Canadian values...and that they bluster and rant because they are in an increasingly-small minority.
I, on the other hand, rant and bluster because these people still have influence, and they must be fought. At least, that's my perception of the situation...
