When NDP leader Cam Broten, essentially, fired two MLA candidates last week over remarks made on social media; I knew the slippery slope had been started and I joked that maybe the election should be canceled because just about everybody that uses social media to comment on various issues has made a comment that could, at some point, come back and bite them. Well, Broten fired two more before the week was out (we don’t even know what was said) and then Mothers Against Drunk Driving got its pound of flesh by calling out a Sask Party candidate for his DUI convictions, with the latest one being fifteen years ago.
It’s clear that common sense has left the building. It just doesn’t exist. Don’t we, the people, want to know what our candidates think as opposed to watching them say and do what has become ‘expected’? If an NDP candidate thinks ‘stupid farmers’ are responsible for something he doesn’t like or if another candidate thinks ‘uranium should stay in the ground’, then I want to know that. Then, there are comments that, definitely, push the envelope and get personal, such as the one about Brad Wall and the suggestion his mother should have taken an abortion pill. My point on all of this is that we should let the voters decide if we are okay with these types of comments or not. Does the electorate feel fifteen years since a DUI charge was filed is long enough and all should be forgiven? What is the line as far as the level of acceptance?
To me, I have a hard time reconciling a childish, juvenile, chauvinistic remark made on Twitter four years ago that isn’t directed at any one specific person; to be a comment that just ruins my entire day and prevents me from functioning. But, apparently, some of us are, incredibly, sensitive and are outraged and can’t live our lives until the person who made the comment is jack hammered into the ground as opposed to hit with a fly swatter. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t support these comments, but the slippery slope has started. It’s chauvinistic comments, it’s a remark about Brad Wall’s mom, it’s a quote labeling farmers as less than intelligent, it’s a DUI conviction from 2001. What’s next? Broten disobeyed his parents when he was 13? Wall was kept after school one day for disrespecting a teacher? The gall of these leaders to think they can lead a province with such horrible skeletons in the closet. Can’t we all just grow up and use some perspective? Personally, I’m offended that a candidate has to answer for a DUI conviction that’s fifteen years old. To me, that’s a witch hunt and, potentially, inflammatory. But, I’m not going to file for sick leave over it. I’ll just hope the voters in his riding use their perspective (there’s that word again) and vote accordingly.
Clocks moved forward all across the country this weekend, except in Saskatchewan. It’s a good thing too. I saw a news story where reports of an increased number of strokes are attributable to moving the clock forward. Some people also say they have suffered increased stress and struggle to cope with the change. What’s happened to us?
I have to admit to wondering if we really are as offended about everything that we say we are offended by, or is it just a game to see how much trouble we can get someone else into?
We’ve even reached the point where, I think, you have people who have nothing better to do than sit at home and come up with the least possible offensive term for just about everything. The latest one – ‘Gender Reassignment Surgery’.
The media becomes increasingly disappointing with each passing week. Last week, Prime Minister Trudeau was praised for being able to go to the White House and sit down with the President of the United States and accomplish…well… I’m not sure. I’m thinking they had a great middle class supper and Sophie wore a couple of middle class dresses. But, I’m not sure what was done to enhance Canadian life for the rest of us. The media’s angle prior to Trudeau hob knobbing with Obama was that Canada doesn’t need the US and it would be a bad thing to align ourselves with them and their beliefs. Now, it’s okay and even encouraged and seen as a big feather in our hat.
For years, Donald Trump was a late night joke punchline. Now, there is a significant number of people in the United States that would like to see him be President. Again, I ask, what has happened to us? Many people said Trump wouldn’t get this far. Now, they are saying he has no chance of beating Hillary Clinton in a Presidential election. I say if Trump can beat several candidates just to get a nomination, I wouldn’t under-estimate him beating just one candidate come election time.
Nice person mentions this week to: Shelby Wilk, Braden Arnason, Scott Johnson, Nicole Campbell, and Al Strachan.
