Whether we think highly of Ms. Kamala Harris or not (Bambi doesn’t, but she would have written the same post, even if she did), why do we seem to be behaving like in the Middle East? A place where populations under dictatorship make their leaders holy, even framing them in large pictures in public places There, a political leader is deliberately being presented to the people of a country “as a great person who should be admired and loved” (as per the definition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary)?
You may wonder why Bambi is saying so, thinking she is interfering in the US politics. Well, no, make no mistake please. The story is 100 percent made in Canada. Now, we have a cartoonist from Winnipeg, called Mr. Kaj Hasselriis, who created a comic book series called “Politikids“, which tells childhood stories about some of Canada’s leaders. Well, guess what? His latest product is entitled “Kamala in Canada“. It recounts Ms. Harris’ (new VP of the USA) time living in Montreal when she was younger.
Mind you, in her own autobiographical book, it seems that she talks about Montreal without any passion and in a very brief way. For her, it was a cold place (winter) she did not want to move to, as a teenager, and where she had trouble with the French language.
To come back to the book in question, well the news was all over the Canadian media. Here are just two of the numerous examples:
In English (CTV News):
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg-cartoonist-gaining-fame-for-comic-on-kamala-harris-1.5280828
In French (La Presse):
We even learned later that this book is now “in the US Embassy inauguration swag bag“:
Why are we getting into the cult of personality like that, like the Middle East? And if we are starting with this now, what will we do down the road in 2/3 or 4 years and especially around the next US Presidential elections?
Is the USA a foreign country, after all? Unless Canadians (especially English-Canadians) see themselves as an extension of their neighbour. This is starting to remind Bambi of powerful Syria and smaller Lebanon…
You may be wondering why the title of this post is about Canadian naivety? Perhaps you already know that. Perhaps not. This description is a common stereotype that comes from the mouth of immigrants… and, like other stereotypes, they are partly grounded in truth. This is why, new immigrants, regardless of their birth country (often in trouble), appreciate the goodness of Canadians, but they see it as a double-edged sword: One one hand, it is beautiful. On the other hand, it could put people at an increased risk manipulation at a population level (especially in those who may lack critical thinking. Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with the educational level. On the contrary actually… ). Yes, Canadians are highly educated in general… but to what extent are schools, college/university campuses, and mainstream media opinions still a rich intellectual place to learn critical thinking?
Bambi is thinking mainly about English-Canada, but sadly this phenomenon is now becoming increasingly common in Québec as well, which is perhaps a clear sign that the situation has reached worrisome levels across our beautiful country.
Even and especially if Bambi had been a admirer of Ms. Harris, she would have found this cult of personality both odd and of concern. Who knows? Perhaps because Bambi has always resisted such practices when growing up during civil war. She has never gone to visit or applaud to the current President in her younger years, even if he opened his Presidential palace and called it “the House of the people“. Bambi did not despise him. She just refused to make a public figure holy. Period. She was a teenager and yet she resisted peer pressure. Mind you, she did not like the other powerful alternative neither. Indeed, as she shared once on this blog the following story: when she was the delegate of her class, “she stoop up to militiamen who came to take school kids to applaud to a certain politician in another school (this was during civil war). Bambi told those guys: “We are not sheep and we are not going with you”. Well, the youth of all the schools had to attend in the end. This was not negotiable. Bambi did the following then: She went to hide in the washroom in order not to be forced to go with the crowd, against her will.”
So, to conclude this post, Bambi wishes the new administration Biden-Harris all the best. She wishes them and their beautiful country well. However, she refuses to make anyone holy, neither them nor our own Mr. Justin Trudeau, former/newer Governor General, or any other public figure (whether “BIPOC” as they call them or not… remember she is supposed to fit in this rather funny acronym)!
