(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

Politics

It's been an unpleasant day already. I wandered into a thread on gun control in canpolitic, where the gun nuts were out in force, defending Harper's stacking of a committee on gun control with entirely pro-gun types.

Most Canadians want stricter gun control, but the prime minister, being a sociopath, couldn't even imagine living up to his responsibility to protect the public if it might cut into his support. No chance now on getting semi-automatic and automatics weapons banned in this country in the near future.

I hate the Americanized politics we have in this country, thanks to the neo-conservative movement here. Fixed election terms, right to bear arms, trying to re-open the same-sex marriage debate, militarism.

I'm disgusted that we're ending the peacekeeping tradition in favour of the slaughter of people on the opposite end of the world so that those walking puddles of testosterone -- Defence Minister O'Connor, General Rick Hillier, and propagandist Jack Granatstien -- can compensate for their micropenises.

How do we reclaim this country from the spread of anti-democratic, pro-American, homophobic, fundamentalist neo-conservatism?

Meanwhile, I'm listening to a guy who started up a Christian "Science" Museum of creation in -- guess which province -- Alberta! Same province that spawned Harper's party and most of Canada's fundamentalist groups, and is now fighting climate change legislation so it can cause ecological disaster in the tar sands.

But of course they've been helped along by Canada's increasingly neo-conservative media. It's time we cleared some media-space against these neo-colonials, so that Canadians who subscribe to our values of egalitarianism, democracy, ecology, and the public good can have a voice.

Maybe we can wake up from this nightmare.

Comments

[sun-tzu.livejournal.com]

Well, too be honest, most centrist or moderate rights find your skewing of history or the right's view to be just as nightmarish. Calling Harper a sociopath, for example, just makes you look foolish.

"Peacekeeping tradition" is a joke. It's a cultural myth and that's all. We weren't peacekeepers at Lundy's Lane, at Chateauguay, at Crysler's Farm. There were no blue berets to be see at Passchendaele, or Lillefontein, or Kapyong. Neither was there peacekeeping at Dieppe, nor Juno Beach, nor the Reichwald. I wonder if the Winnipeg Grenadiers thought they were peacekeeping during their last stand at Hong Kong, where they fought virtually to the last man.

Canada has a long and proud military tradition which includes fighting where necessary for the right causes. War is an awful state of affairs - but there are worse states. Anyhow, i'm not going to paraphrase John Locke. I'd suggest maybe you want to read Dave Grossman's book "On Killing" and get an idea of what the Profession of Arms is about. Pick up some Granatstein and Zuelke books on Canada's military history, too. Peacekeeping isn't a major factor in it at all, to call it a tradition is to buy into a notion sold to the public by politicians.

On gun control, like many Canadians you demonstrate your ignorance. I don't mean that in a pejorative sense, but you clearly do not know very much about firearms. Automatic weapons are prohibited in Canada. The only ones in this country legally are those owned by the military, law enforcement, and a handful of authorized private security firms, such as Bruce Power's security service at their nuclear plant - and a miniscule number which are owned by private citizens who would have to have owned them since 1976 when they were prohibited. When those individuals die, they cannot be transferred except to other grandfathered owners, so very few are in circulation in private hands, subject to extremely strict storage laws.

Semiautomatic firearms on the other hand are extremely common and are used for a variety of sporting purposes. Most of them (long guns) are not subject to any special restrictions.

Handguns are the contentious issue, but again, used for legitimate sport primarily, and again subject to strict storage laws. I personally think that some of the laws and rules are retarded (the ATT system in particular), but some could be tightened as well.

Harper, despite what you think, isn't trying to get rid of control or promote the idea of the right to bear arms, because Canadians won't accept that. However, he is opposed to pointless laws and rules (like some of the 12-6 prohibited rules) that don't do anything to solve crime. Having a bunch of gun experts on the panel is necessary to ensure the laws accomplish that. When the original 12-6 rules came into force, no one pointed out to Allan Rock that they inadvertently banned most Olympic-class target pistols, for example. The rules have to be written in great detail about what it and isn't allowed, so you need pros who understand the complexities of guns and the market for them. The idea is to make them as inaccessible to criminals as possible, after all.

I could go on and on, but that's a start to give you an idea of an opposite point of view.