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PERVERSE TRIBUTE TO POLITICAL BRAVERY
By Michael Coren
Edmonton Sun
Wed, August 13, 2008
Canada
Training smacks of stupidity Russian giant would've detested
It is, I suppose, entirely fitting that Alexander Solzhenitsyn should
die in the same week that Canadian politicians decided to do two
invincibly stupid things.
Fitting because the great, grand Russian novelist had told the decaying
West for years that we no longer understood what freedom really was
and had long taken it for granted. We were, he said, sliding into an
abyss of empty gestures, emotional lunacy and authoritarianism.
It should be seen as a form of perverse tribute to the genius and
an affirmation of what he predicted that our leaders announced that
airport immigration and customs staff now would be obliged to attend
sensitivity training courses when dealing with -- yes, you've guessed
it -- Muslim and Arab flyers.
Officials at our airports are notorious for being some of the least
pleasant in the free world.
No, scrap free world. In the world. They're honest and relatively
efficient but bitingly unfriendly and renowned for treating everybody
as a potential criminal instead of as a tourist or returning citizen.
Compared with their brethren in London, Rome, the Middle East --
and even the occasional dictatorship -- they are rigid and officious.
But fair. They'll ask pointless questions to elderly and harmless old
ladies from Portugal, Italy and Scotland visiting their grandchildren
just as they will hijab-wearing teens from Saudi Arabia and bearded
youths from Iran. It is, after all, what they're paid to do.
It might be, however, that those who protect us at airports have
dared to read the newspapers and watch the television -- or even,
we must hope, have listened to their supervisors -- and concluded
that the majority of people who have tried to hijack aircraft in
recent history have beenMuslim or Arab.
Which does not for a moment suggest that every Muslim or Arab is a
terrorist, or that most Muslims or Arabs are terrorists. But it does
suggest that a large number of terrorists are Arab or Muslim.
Leading anyone who has a good mind rather than a politically correct
empty head to conclude that a moderate but informed observation of
those about to board a plane with hundreds of innocent people --
often innocent Muslim and Arab people -- might just be a good idea.
Sensitivity? If it means not thrusting a bacon sandwich in someone's
face, quite right.
But if it means failing to do one's job or, perhaps, not allowing a
dog to sniff everyone's luggage for explosives, irrespective of the
owner's race, gender or religion, then it is stupidity.
Then again, if all goes terribly wrong we can always apologize.
To everyone. Ask our prime minister. Much as Stephen Harper might be a
moral giant compared to his liberal opponents, his recent insistence
on saying sorry to the Sikh community for the turning away of a boat
full of Indian immigrants in 1914 borders on the surreal.
Hey, it wasn't me. Wasn't my mom. Wasn't Harper. The bad guys
are all dead, as are the good guys. Just as are so many victims
of Scottish Highland clearances, Irish famine, Ukrainian genocide,
Jewish Holocaust, Armenian massacre, Silesian purges and on and on. It
was a very long time ago. Move on.
But all have descendants with votes, so the Tories will say sorry to
almost all of them.
Oh, Alexander, why did you bother? From the Gulag of Soviet fascism
to the self-built prison of political cowardice.
Sorry, not sufficiently sensitive today!
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Michael Coren
Edmonton Sun
Wed, August 13, 2008
Canada
Training smacks of stupidity Russian giant would've detested
It is, I suppose, entirely fitting that Alexander Solzhenitsyn should
die in the same week that Canadian politicians decided to do two
invincibly stupid things.
Fitting because the great, grand Russian novelist had told the decaying
West for years that we no longer understood what freedom really was
and had long taken it for granted. We were, he said, sliding into an
abyss of empty gestures, emotional lunacy and authoritarianism.
It should be seen as a form of perverse tribute to the genius and
an affirmation of what he predicted that our leaders announced that
airport immigration and customs staff now would be obliged to attend
sensitivity training courses when dealing with -- yes, you've guessed
it -- Muslim and Arab flyers.
Officials at our airports are notorious for being some of the least
pleasant in the free world.
No, scrap free world. In the world. They're honest and relatively
efficient but bitingly unfriendly and renowned for treating everybody
as a potential criminal instead of as a tourist or returning citizen.
Compared with their brethren in London, Rome, the Middle East --
and even the occasional dictatorship -- they are rigid and officious.
But fair. They'll ask pointless questions to elderly and harmless old
ladies from Portugal, Italy and Scotland visiting their grandchildren
just as they will hijab-wearing teens from Saudi Arabia and bearded
youths from Iran. It is, after all, what they're paid to do.
It might be, however, that those who protect us at airports have
dared to read the newspapers and watch the television -- or even,
we must hope, have listened to their supervisors -- and concluded
that the majority of people who have tried to hijack aircraft in
recent history have beenMuslim or Arab.
Which does not for a moment suggest that every Muslim or Arab is a
terrorist, or that most Muslims or Arabs are terrorists. But it does
suggest that a large number of terrorists are Arab or Muslim.
Leading anyone who has a good mind rather than a politically correct
empty head to conclude that a moderate but informed observation of
those about to board a plane with hundreds of innocent people --
often innocent Muslim and Arab people -- might just be a good idea.
Sensitivity? If it means not thrusting a bacon sandwich in someone's
face, quite right.
But if it means failing to do one's job or, perhaps, not allowing a
dog to sniff everyone's luggage for explosives, irrespective of the
owner's race, gender or religion, then it is stupidity.
Then again, if all goes terribly wrong we can always apologize.
To everyone. Ask our prime minister. Much as Stephen Harper might be a
moral giant compared to his liberal opponents, his recent insistence
on saying sorry to the Sikh community for the turning away of a boat
full of Indian immigrants in 1914 borders on the surreal.
Hey, it wasn't me. Wasn't my mom. Wasn't Harper. The bad guys
are all dead, as are the good guys. Just as are so many victims
of Scottish Highland clearances, Irish famine, Ukrainian genocide,
Jewish Holocaust, Armenian massacre, Silesian purges and on and on. It
was a very long time ago. Move on.
But all have descendants with votes, so the Tories will say sorry to
almost all of them.
Oh, Alexander, why did you bother? From the Gulag of Soviet fascism
to the self-built prison of political cowardice.
Sorry, not sufficiently sensitive today!
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress