To the editor:
Godwin’s Rule showed up early and showed up strong thanks to Dave Jones. [Rational Reaction Needed to Military Deaths, Nov. 5 Capital News.]
[Mike Godwin, an American attorney and author, formulated “Godwin’s Law” in 1990 when he asserted: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler (becomes inevitable).”]
There’s such a profound and delicious irony in using Roosevelt’s “Nothing to fear but fear itself” quote after spending a few paragraphs talking about Hitler and then linking that to a perceived “paranoid response” on the part of Canada’s federal government. Whatever one thinks of the governing Conservative Party and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, casting such insinuations about so freely is grossly inappropriate and unbecoming of civilized discourse in this great country of ours.
What happened in Ottawa and Montreal was a national tragedy, but the strength of Canadian spirit has given us all inspiration. The celebration of the lives of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, and the heroism of Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, are emblematic of how the citizens of this country are responding to those terrible events.
If we truly wish to discuss rational reactions to those shocks to our parliamentary system, leave the Nazi references behind and focus on ways to maintain our system of openness, civil liberties and staying “true north, strong and free.”
Richard McAdam,
Kelowna
