Red Friday and the Republicanization of Canada's New™Government
In these vile and vicious times, there are no limits to the depths politicians will sink to in order to secure votes through "divide and conquer" tactics, even using the military as a prop. They may do it bigger and splashier south of the border, but Harper's learned well from Bush -- at Camp Petawawa this morning the only thing missing was the codpiece.
Right from the start, the "wear red on Friday" thing struck me as a bit of an Americanism, but I'd never slag anyone for honestly expressing their support for our troops, however they choose to do it. At one point it might have actually been a nice idea for the troops to see pictures of masses of people wearing red in their support. Unfortunately, very early on Red Friday was co-opted by the Conservative Party for use as a political tool, agent of divisiveness and a chance to say: "Conservatives support the troops, everyone else is a surrender monkey and a fucker". No opportunity is missed to take shots at the opposition on a day that supposedly is about the troops.
Watching Harper today, I was vaguely nauseated by his blatant politicizing of our kids' blood and guts being spilled. But I was still startled to hear him say: "We have to fight them over there so we won't have to confront them over here". With that steaming load, Harper turned Red Friday into a "Conservapublican" War Marketing tool, demeaning everything it's supposed to stand for. The mission isn't to "fight them over there so we won't have to fight them over here", it's to help make Afghanistan a little more livable for Afghanis. Our kids aren't fighting for bullshit platitudes and they're definitely not risking life and limb so that back at home, our country can collapse into dirty, divisive Rovian political feces-throwing.
Shame on you, Stephen Harper, you sleazy fuck.
Right from the start, the "wear red on Friday" thing struck me as a bit of an Americanism, but I'd never slag anyone for honestly expressing their support for our troops, however they choose to do it. At one point it might have actually been a nice idea for the troops to see pictures of masses of people wearing red in their support. Unfortunately, very early on Red Friday was co-opted by the Conservative Party for use as a political tool, agent of divisiveness and a chance to say: "Conservatives support the troops, everyone else is a surrender monkey and a fucker". No opportunity is missed to take shots at the opposition on a day that supposedly is about the troops.
Watching Harper today, I was vaguely nauseated by his blatant politicizing of our kids' blood and guts being spilled. But I was still startled to hear him say: "We have to fight them over there so we won't have to confront them over here". With that steaming load, Harper turned Red Friday into a "Conservapublican" War Marketing tool, demeaning everything it's supposed to stand for. The mission isn't to "fight them over there so we won't have to fight them over here", it's to help make Afghanistan a little more livable for Afghanis. Our kids aren't fighting for bullshit platitudes and they're definitely not risking life and limb so that back at home, our country can collapse into dirty, divisive Rovian political feces-throwing.
Shame on you, Stephen Harper, you sleazy fuck.
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