Manufactured Controversy: Vancouver Pride Edition

It’s another day, and that means it’s time for another manufactured controversy, this time pertaining to the Conservatives opting not to join the Gay Pride parade in Vancouver. Not that it’s any different from the previous 18 years the event has been hosted, but this time the absence is even more notable because of the recent campaign to discredit the government based on a theory that they’re now pandering to their socially conservative base.

That gives Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry the perfect pulpit from which to launch into a partisan diatribe:

“They have never had any MPs in Pride for the 18 years that I’ve been there, so why should they start now?” Fry told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “If that is an indicator of how they view community events, they have obviously decided that some communities are worth their attention and some communities are not.”

This is as disingenuous a statement as can be imagined. If one is under the apprehension that the absence of a politician from an event constitutes a lack of support, or lack of approval, from that politician and the party he represents, it’s a sad indictment of our neediness. Politicians miss events all the time, owing to personal commitments, work duties, or various other reasons. Given that even the organizers from Pride Vancouver acknowledge that showing up is an opportunity to woo voters, isn’t that a rather cynical and self-serving reason to attend? And can you imagine what might happen if a Conservative politician did show up to partake in the parade? The same people deriding the Conservatives for not attending, would likely be deriding them for attending because, as we all know, they’re socially conservative rednecks. Right?

If each time a Conservative MP didn’t show up to an event, one considered that this reinforced some belief that the Conservative party had a “phobia” for that community, or that event, there would be a very long list of people with ridiculous grievances. NDP MP Libby Davies, for instance, opines:

“It would be really smart of them [the Conservatives] to show up and to show that they understand what the Pride parade is about and reach out to people. If they don’t show up, they reinforce this very strong feeling in the community that the Conservative party is homophobic, that they don’t like anything to do with Pride, and so it’s actually in their political interests to show that they are willing to reach out and meet people in the LGBT [lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender] community.”

So if they don’t show up, that means they’re homophobic. Do I have that about right? Never mind the fact that all residents of Canada are treated equally under the law, that all Canadians receive the same fair treatment from the government, and that regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, the government is obliged to treat each community with the same importance. When you apply circular logic, you’re bound to wind up with a conclusion that satisfies your theory:

1. Conservatives are homophobic.
2. Gay pride parades are held throughout Canada.
3. Conservatives have not attended pride parades.
Therefore
4. Conservatives are not inclusive to Canadians who are gay
Concluding that
5. Conservatives are homophobic.

It makes more sense if you’re a Liberal.

Applied similarly to other events, we come to the same logical conclusion:

1. Conservatives hate ice hockey.
2. Ice hockey games are held throughout Canada.
3. I haven’t seen any Conservatives at my local hockey game.
Therefore
4. Conservatives are not inclusive to hockey players
Concluding that
5. Conservatives hate ice hockey.

Unambig Selected Clips

If you’re looking for somewhere to waste some quality time, the following three videos are a good place to start. The first one is quite possibly the best one, featuring Pat Condell absolutely unloading on the liberal left. He leaves no relativist stone unturned in a rant that annihilates the feeble “islamophobia” monicker one is endowed with whenever one chooses to criticize Islam:

The next one is a little difficult to watch, but it’s not actually a parody. These are real people, who are seriously weeping, some more shrilly than others, over the cutting down of trees.

The final one is more humourous than anything else. Glenn Beck quite literally loses his mind and, temporarily it would seem, his maturation to puberty:

Bill O’Reilly gives him a hard time about it, but come on Billy, we all remember this one:

h/t list: Side Lines, Proud to be Canadian, Celestial Junk

A Soldier’s Last Letter Home

Great Britain’s Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher, all of 19 years old, died in Afghanistan June 2, 2009. As a member of the 2nd Battalion, the Rifles have lost nine soldiers on this tour. Cyrus Thatcher was killed by an explosion near Gereshk, leaving his mother, father, and two brothers to mourn the passing of his young life. His letters home are written with some humour, some with concern, but are mainly expressive of his love for his family and his yearning to return home, as well as the difficulties he faces in the mission. Although his spelling and grammar is awkward, he makes self-deprecating reference to it: “Well pass this round the family so they can all admire my extream spelling (infantry eh!)”

Some soldiers prepare letters for their families in the event they’re killed in the line of duty. This was the letter he left his family:

Hello its me, this is gonna be hard for you to read but I write this knowing every time you thinks shits got to much for you to handle (so don’t cry on it MUM!!) you can read this and hopefully it will help you all get through.

For a start SHIT I got hit!! Now Iv got that out the way I can say the things Iv hopefully made clear, or if I havent this should clear it all up for me. My hole life you’v all been there for me through thick and thin bit like a wedding through good and bad. Without you I believe I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have. I died doing what I was born to do I was happy and felt great about myself although the army was sadly the ending of me it was also the making of me so please don’t feel any hate toward it. One thing I no I never made clear to you all was I make jokes about my life starting in the Army. That’s wrong VERY wrong my life began a LONG time before that (Obviously) but you get what I mean. All the times Iv tried to neglect the family get angry when you try teach me right from wrong wot I mean to say is I only realised that you were trying to help when I joined the army and without YOUR help I would have never had the BALLS, the GRIT and the damn right determination to crack on and do it. If I could have a wish in life it would to be able to say Iv gone and done things many would never try to do. And going to Afghan has fulfilled my dream ie my goal. Yes I am young wich as a parent must brake you heart but you must all somehow find the strength that I found to do something no matter how big the challenge. As Im writing this letter I can see you all crying and mornin my death but if I could have one wish in an “after life” it would be to stop your crying and continueing your dreams (as I did) because if I were watching only that would brake my heart. So dry your tears and put on a brave face for the rest of your friends and family who need you.

I want each and everyone of you to forfill a dream and at the end of it look at what you have done (completed) and feel the accomplishment and achievement I did only then will you understand how I felt when I passed away.

For some civilians, a soldier’s death is the symbolism of failure. But for Cyrus Thatcher, it had fulfilled a dream. We all try to politicize the Afghan mission, but it means something different to each soldier there. By speaking for them, we rob them of those dreams.

You can read comments about this story at militaryphotos.net. His parents talk about him in the video below: