People Are Stupid

Gone are the days when one could write out a political diatribe in the form of a poem (and no not a clever, dumbed-down limerick) and have people not only read it with enthusiasm but understand it and allow it to inform their opinion of current events. Yes this was the same era when it was considered normal to dump buckets of sewage from a window and into the street but is dumping massive quantities of our feces directly into lakes, rivers and oceans really any more bright or enlightened? But I digress. All I'm saying is that, as everybody by now knows, but really doesn't fear enough, is that our attention span craves the succinct and vapid headlines and catchy sound bytes that media organizations, run by mega corporations, generate ad infinitum.....So, no politically insightful poem. Not even an attempt to outline, in only half decent prose, why our society allows itself to be misinformed, self-centred to the point of a collective neuroses, shortsighted, all-consuming and emotionally challenged, yet ruled for the most part by this same knee-jerk handicap. Nope. Just an attention grabbing and grade-school simple title : "People Are Stupid" (thought it might be more "grippy", as Stephen Colbert might put it) followed by a heart-felt rant.

I guess stupid people deserve a stupid government. Which is what will happen if what current polls are predicting comes to pass and the choice is made here in Canada in the coming days to elect the Conservative Party. Yes we are all pissed at the Liberals for being arrogant and scandal-ridden but are the Conservatives really the only viable alternative? Ask yourself: Do they make the best choice for a protest vote? If they do get elected we're in for bad times of a different sort all together (not to mention that they themselves would in no way be immune to similar scandals as have plagued the Liberal party). Because remember this is the same party that has publicly declared being open to support Bush's and the Pentagon's idiotic and thus far ineffectual missile defense program (forget the moral implications of joining in, I'm sure at some point down the road we'd have to contribute big bucks too); they're 100 percent pro-business (okay, not so different from the Liberals actually, but it's the kinds of business they'd be in bed with and the fact that they wouldn't temper their relationship with at least a smidgen of humanity) which means the average person's needs as well as the needs of the environment get placed a dismal second, or even lower if the need for a better second arises that would help business and politicians other assorted buddies.

And of course, we would have gone into Iraq had the Conservatives been in power, meaning the Government of Canada would also, like Britain and the U.S., have broken International Law, ignored the will of the United Nations and made us even more of a terrorist target than we already are for being in Afghanistan. We'd be forking out tax dollars and the lives of Canadian soldiers for an illegal, ill-conceived and unwinnable invas....I mean "war".

Let's see....

What else?

Oh ya.

Harper and Bush are buddies and share an ultra-right wing, neo-con, Creationist, Christian ideology... 'nuff said.

Okay, not enough. Read this and tremble:

Harper, Bush Share Roots In Controversial Philosophy

Anyway, I've got to get back to work. All I'm really trying to say is people need to think a bit more clearly and inform themselves. If they want to kick the Liberals out yet have any sort of progressive continuity in terms of the direction of our nation is currently taking then vote for the NDP. Yes they'll have a hell of time (remember what happened when they got elected in Ontario) but at least you can be sure they are trying to help us and do the right thing for everyone even when they stir shit up and probably end up stumbling. But they aren't in bed with any big business because they are anathemical to those would-be kings and I'd like to see someone in this country, even if they fail, try to show some backbone in the face of tough issues like health care, corporate tax breaks and loop holes, education, urban development, the environment, defense and human rights. All the other parties seem to be talk tough then back down when a fight is required. The Liberals took some stands on some controversial topics, on which the Conservatives would have caved, which unfortunately is what still makes them a better alternative to the Conservatives. But if we want to give them a collective kick in the pants right out the doors of parliament Hill let's do it by grabbing those benign yet inexperienced bunch of clip-on tie wearing ex-hippies called the New Democrats and hoist them onto the hot seat. At least the headlines that will trail their actions will be a bit more spicy and just plain new!