And so the over-reaction begins…the bad kind…even the good kind.
The bad kind is simple: I just finished watching the Calgary edition of CBC’s Canada Now, where former CSIS official & self-styled terror expert Dave Harris — testifying at a U.S. committee hearing — stated that he is more than happy that our new Conservative government is willing to shell out more money in order to protect us from, and I quote, “the dire threat” we face!
You must be joking!
How many Canadians truly believe we’re facing a dire threat from so-called second generation jihadists?
In today’s climate, everyone is in danger from the general threat of terrorism. But, if you honestly believe that there are hundreds of home-grown terrorists plotting and planning the destruction of our society — a society in which you are MORE than 10 times as likely to die in a traffic accident — then you need to share the drugs which you are copiously using!
Dire threat my ass! When our society becomes the equivalent of the old Northern Ireland, or today’s Israel, get back to me.
Harris also suggested that Canada enact a moratorium on immigration! We’re talking SERIOUS drug use…the delusional kind…
As for the good over-reactions? Well, if you visit Warren Kinsella’s blog, you’ll be introduced to the I AM NOT AFRAID movement. It’s goal is three fold:
(1) To use this web site as a forum for people to post their own personal ways of saying “I am not afraid”
(2) For those in and around Toronto, to organize a rally, march and attendance at a Blue Jays game in the next few weeks - because the Jays play in an area that was allegedly targeted;
(3) To get Canadians to reclaim public spaces across Canada - to go to restaurants, theatres, schools and any place where people gather - and show that they aren’t afraid, either…
I have nothing against what seems like an honest attempt to dispel fear and enjoy our public spaces…BUT…wouldn’t it be easier…and wouldn’t it say a hell of a lot more…for all of us to simply live our lives as usual, WITHOUT a campaign telling us to live our lives as usual?
And no offence, but someone could set off a nuclear warhead at the Roger’s Centre, and you STILL won’t get that many sympathy visitors to a Blue Jay’s game, considering that the Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing, and the World Cup of Soccer begins tomorrow. Come on, people…get your priorities straight!
So go ahead, don’t be afraid. Live your life…nothing in the last week indicates that normal life has changed in any way. I AM NOT AFRAID…and I don’t need an internet bumper-sticker to tell me that.
PS: Does this mean that EVERY TIME we’re hit with a calamity, we’ll need suffer some sort of giant-civic-party-reaction? A Rolling Stones concert to combat SARS…an initiative like I Am Not Afraid to combat bombings that never happened…
…what’s next? A mass-bird watching jamboree to combat the fear of bird flu? I can see it now…thousands of people in the forests and meadows, binoculars around their necks, holding hands…
As long as you don’t lean down to lick a dead crow, I think we can avoid THAT experience.
