A quick reaction to the following CBC article:
Today, Mr. Trudeau warned us about the high numbers of coronavirus cases. He even wisely psychologically prepared us a while ago for the necessity to cancel our large Chritsmas gatherings.
Why don’t we listen to him and to Dr. Tam? And to our local Premiers and their experts? Why don’t we listen to the increasing statistics here and there… and everywhere?
First of all, it would be wise not to resort to demonstrations and to sit-ins, especially in hot spots, regardless of the noble cause of the time.
Second, in this particular story unfolding in Ottawa, the demonstration in question is against the so-called “systemic” racism.
Without knowing all the details of this story, and again regardless of the good intentions of our youth wanting a better just world, Bambi feels like commenting on two particular points:
ONE: The following sentence by the demonstrators: ” The Crown’s cowardly decision not to appeal officially sanctions police violence and white supremacy against Black, Indigenous and People of Colour and people with disabilities in Ottawa.”
Isn’t this sentence perhaps a stereotype of its own? Please take the time to read it twice, as Bambi did. In all honesty, does it make sense to you?
Why are we once again emptying words from their sense and amalgamating all these beautiful folks together? Is this sentence a sort of a victimhood contest? Or jointly, the victimhood status is even holier… or the police is nastier? Bambi is asking, even if she is supposed to be included in the sentence, as a “deer of colour” .
SECOND: Bambi is concerned by the demands of the demonstrators because, in the longer term, it could result in an outcome comparable to one of Lebanon’s serious security problems: The existence of pockets of “no-law” zones where the Lebanese police and army are afraid to enter. When they do so, blood is shed.
Is this what these demonstrators want for their capital/country?
Specifically, in Bambi’s non-expert citizen opinion, demand # 1 combined to demand # 2 are not only unrealistic. Taken together, they are a formula for a national disaster.
No citizen with common sense likes to see the police slipping up or abusing it power. We all benefit from a well-reformed police service. We all win when there is harmony between the police and the public.
This being said, let’s not fool ourselves, our society is safer when it has police services.
This is why Bambi prefers our legitimate, far from perfect, police services to any other alternative(s) because its mission is to keep us safe. She is saying so based on a 17-year second life in tiny Lebanon out of which 15 years of her childhood and teenage years where spent in an ugly civil war.
In Bambi personal, non-expert citizen’s opinion, our PM did not set the wisest example to young Ottawa (and Canadian) citizens when he took the knee with the crowd. Ironically, in his picture that toured the world, one could see that he was being protected by police officers :)). Yet, despite the faux-pas, Bambi hopes to see Mr. Trudeau using both wisdom and compassion (i.e., as a father and former teacher) to help the demonstrators come to their senses?
To conclude this post, yes it is possible to demand improved police forces, but without throwing the baby with the bathwater!
