- This is pull medium, not a push medium.
- There are lots of other places to read things written by smart people, avail yourself of them
Anyone wanting to take on a real journalist and complain about "slime" daring to fight for a better life, please stop by Kevin's place and discus Quebec student protests, your sense of entitlement, or Pete Seeger. Please, please tell Kevin how much you know about Pete Seeger.
What else? Well, Sonny has a great piece on Dark Shadows. He's a professional writer, so enjoy tearing him a new one.
Sean Twist writes about culture, geeky and otherwise. He'd love for some of my commenters to drop by and tell him how useless blogs are. Bring your A game or you won't even get out of moderation.
Denise at Pass The Douchey's continues her great blogging about dance, atheism, and American religious douchebags.
Superfun Happy Slide has been scientifically proven to be a better writer than me.He's way, way more interesting too.
Harebell at a Voice From the Pack continues to hammer away at social injustice and bad soccer refereeing with a fervour that borders on manic. He's a machine and worth the trip to Steinbach.
Finally, as most commenters fancy themselves wordsmiths, drop by Leanne Moffat's web site. She has a great piece on fucking everything and is looking for your fucking contribution.
If that fails, well, there are always bunnies.
I think this little ditty from 1973 puts a fine point on things for all anonymous commenters and Gary Bell fans.
The Regina Riot and the on to ottawa trekkers are not the same as the Bazinet thing. The On to ottawa trekkers had previous arrests for things like vagrancy. Their main transgressions were being out of work, homeless and interested in political mobilization for the improvement of conditions. Most of them had so many interactions with police that they did not use their christian names, instead relying on street nicknames like "Slim". The purpose of this was to confound the system in terms of whether you were a new or repeat offender. The 1930s had the state terrified of communism so the political activism amongst the younger unemployed men had the government a little on edge. The fact that the western Canadian population was actively aiding the On to Ottawa Trekkers had Prime Minister Bennett, the first incarnation of Harper, really on edge. You can find some great quotes from Bennett about why the use of force to deal with the trekkers was necessary and desirable. In other words, this was no ill defined Occupy movement - the On to Ottawa Trekkers had a real and just cause and they were opposing a state that felt it could legitimately use mortal force to keep the piece.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, you can feel free to contrast the quebec student protesters angry at how tuition increases will cut into their budget for "clubbing" with the protests of the Trekkers who were trying to raise awareness of the conditions in the labour camps in which they were required to live.
The point is not to trump some true fan of seeger in terms of knowledge of the man. The point is to appreciate the sincerity and strength of conviction of Pete Seeger even if you do not agree with his politics. I admire Seeger like I admire Ali taking a stand on Viet Nam. These guys have been persecuted by the state for their beliefs (I believe Seeger has even been shot at).
If you want to put to Bazinet in their camp, then that is up to you.
So criminals being harrassed by the police are heroes, whereas non-offenders you dislike for some vague reason or another are fair game for illegal interference. Got it.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that you, and only you, have made Brazinet out to be some sort of cause celebre. I merely pointed to a possible infraction of the law committed by the police.
Some times it can be important to stay grounded in the mundane facts rather than be carried aloft in some byzantine rant about honour, duty, and slimy protesters.
People in power, especially the police, must be held to a higher standard. As soon as we allow them to hassle some of us, they will hassle all of us. You're enough of a student of history to know that.
Personally, I'm just glad the LPD has found someone else to harrass, other than the peeler joints.
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