Bambi hesitated before writing this post. She wondered if it is worth spending time and energy on this topic, as sadly she believes we will see more and more of it.
In her mind, one cannot argue with a member of a certain cult. You may lose him/her, if you try to do so. One must wait for the right window of time to try to intervene. The chat or offer of assistance can perhaps one day succeed only when the ideological cult member is in a moment of self-doubt, questioning the non-sense of the excess (of brainwashing).
However, after much thought, Bambi decided to go ahead and indulge in sharing her opinion about an article published today in NB Media Coop, an online newspaper she regularly reads and enjoys. She particularly appreciates when media, like this one, address critical issues in a thoughtful way. They can challenge us into learning something new or seeing things from a different angle. They can help us in building an opinion about a topic.
Today, the article she read is far from being thoughtful, at least not for her. With all due respect, this text is a turn off. For her, it is beyond propaganda to the point of delusion. Yes, the latter word may seem very extreme, but she has a reason for choosing it, as you can see below.
To be fair, perhaps the merit of this article is to clearly provide an excellent example of the devastating effects of fundamentalism (fanatic, black-and-white, thinking) on one’s brain… all this in the name of justice or anti-fascism or anti “colonialism”, etc. (yes, this is an intellectual tragedy…):
Although Bambi has never heard of this author before, she suspects he is sadly the product of our own educational system. If that is the case, is there any hope for members of such cultic ideological thinking to see the light or the beauty of free (balanced/critical/independent) thinking one day?
In Bambi’s mind, when educators push activism in students from a young age to exponential levels, over many years, at the expense of deep thinking or critical analysis, this is what we may get: Youth may lose their memory of their past, they may perhaps obsess with a single event or episode, condemning it, using the criteria or knowledge of today. They do so whilst forgetting that their present occurs in a different era or historico-sociocultural context.
Whether consciously or not, they begin to generalize, amalgamate, and to see the world and others in white and black… and, of course, their own view would be the virtuous one. In other terms, it would be “supremacist” or “alt-righteous” AND anything else is “alt-right (whatever that means, it is yak!) or “white supremacist”.
Indeed, the author of this article, called Mr. Luke Beirne, seems to insinuate that all our contemporary New Brunswickers’ politicians are members of the Ku Klux Klan (because our province may have had some members of the KKK in 1920 or 1930). He even extrapolates and generalizes, stating that “New Brunswick has a long and sustained history of white supremacy”. Should we laugh or cry to this statement that is far from both (comprehensive) history and common sense?
Following this, he continues as follows: “It’s the basis of the settler colonial state. The existence and dominance of the settler colonial state is the manifestation of white nationalism”. For him, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act seem to be evil, as they are genocidal; yes, in this very moment of 2021. He does not even seem to temper his ideas by talking about residual pockets from this so-called genocidal past, that was truly filled with wars, combats, and… more than one genocide (even if we forget about the other one, which was against Acadians). On the contrary, the idea of amalgamating all so-called “whites” together hurts the French (hi)story, whether in Québec or here in NB.
Furthermore, the author does not stop there. He continues by informing us that “alt right” is all about “white supremacy”. He seems to think that we are all following him still when he seems to put everyone to the right of his leftism, from the centre and more to the right side of a normal populational curve in the same basket.
Sorry, but even a so-called deer of colour like Bambi does not buy his logic (even when he talks about his so-called group of “racialized New Bruswickers”.
How would the author feel if anyone tells him that those from the left centre (where Bambi has historically found herself) through the more extreme left where he seems to be stuck at are Pol Pot in person? Will he accept that? Would it be fair to him? Or to his friends or fellow citizens or editors, etc. Of course NOT!
So, why does he seem to be considering half, if not more, of his fellow citizens as “alt-right”? And his beautiful province and country as contemporary genocidal entities? Needless to say that Bambi is saying this despite ALL what needs to be improved to fairly treat our Dear fellow Indigenous citizens and their children. Imagine that they still live in such bad conditions in some reserves, to the point of being comparable to what we observe in Gaza or places like that, and in Canada!
He even concludes his article with the following: “White supremacy and the alt-right cannot be treated as a fringe movement or a new emergence. Its roots are well established and widely cast. It stems from the same foundation as New Brunswick and Canada. Until this is reckoned with, it will persist indefinitely”.
Can this author tell us if it would be fair to say that Islamism (or political Islam and its unfair treatment of women, gay people, etc.) represents all Muslims, whether observant or not?
Would it be fair to amalgamate the tiny yet harmful terrorism of Islamism (ISIS or Hezbollah, etc.) with the beautiful and peaceful religion of Islam?
Do the crusades of the past represent the love and forgiveness inherent in the Christian religion?
According to him, are the millions of the electorate of Mr. Trump in this last campaign represented by the small group of freaks who criminally stormed the Capitol?
Does the radical left movement (of wokeism or racial socialism) within the American Democratic party represent the whole party (that gave us inspiring peace lovers like Mr. Jimmy Carter. Thanks to him for all the values he stood up for!)?
Are the Germans of today (and even yesterday) guilty of all the crimes of the Nazis?
Are Canadians of Jewish culture or faith responsible for the Israeli military operations during any of the wars in Lebanon?
All the above were just a few examples of the slippery slope of amalgamation.
Do the average Indigenous, older/recent immigrants to New Brunswick, other French- or English-speaking citizens of our beautiful province see themselves or their country in his radical blahblahblah?
No… thank God. There is still a silent majority, even if it may be afraid to resist to the non-sense out of fear of being silenced. Indeed, they may be paralyzed by fear or by the guilt-fostering narrative. To continue to live in peace, they may pretend to agree… or to repeat the non-sense or the excess, like a mantra, without even believing it. Is this progress or progressivism in life?
To conclude this post, if we keep pushing such ideologies further and further, Canada will end up looking like the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) where silly ideologies used to flourish, and no one took them seriously in the end. If you do not believe Bambi, just have a chat with Canadians of such origins. You may notice that most of them have zero tolerance for that. Who knows? They may have stories for you… if they will not be too afraid to share them.
