To the Editor:
Well, another Christmas has come and gone. Christmas is always a time of many messages of good thoughts, of love and goodwill, and peace on Earth. But I am sad to say that I heard very little of these good messages from the mainstream media; the emphases were on war and slaughter, the glorification of the military and saber rattling rather than thoughts of diplomacy and peaceful resolutions.
During the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War, Herman Goering, Hitler’s second in command, said in his cell to the prison psychologist, “Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor, for that matter, in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” (Nuremberg Diary by G.M. Gilbert, page 278)
Before the advent of Harperism, Canada had a sterling reputation as a peacekeeping nation for years, but in the few short years under Stephen Harper’s reign, Canadians are not now safe at home or any where else in the world. When my daughter graduated, she and a friend backpacked throughout Europe and felt safe because they had maple leaf labels on their backpacks and gave out maple leaf pins. American backpackers begged for these labels and pins. Some may say that times have changed, but in Canada’s case it was Harper that changed things, and sadly we “sheeplike” citizens have allowed these changes.
In a recent Passionate Eye documentary on CBC the topic was the rise of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). In dialogue, an American general casually mentioned that the U.S.A. had “special interests” in 150 countries. That, in a nutshell is the reason for the rise of ISIS.
How many countries, if any, has Canada got “special interests” in? Stephen Harper has aspirations, so it seems, to create a “Canadian empire” by riding in on the coattails of the American Military Monster.
This is not the Canada we want. Let us remember this come election time.
Creston
