Mmm, Bambi just came across this article published on February 1st, 2019 and entitled “Twitter suspends anti-Kamala Harris accounts suspected of being trolls“:
So, those American Big Techs truly favoured a presidential candidate whilst later banning another one. Not anyone, one must say… their own current President. They had the nerve and arrogance to ban him. They did so to some of Bambi’s good friends, mind you. This started a few months ago.
Now, who is or who will soon be running the show in the USA: Ms. Harris, Mr. Biden (obviously lacking stamina and sometimes words, even if he is an experienced politician)… or those Silicon Valley IT guys?
From what it seems from far away, many powerful interest groups, domestic and perhaps external ones, came together to try to get rid of Mr. Trump.
Some will say, good riddance. Maybe? But is this truly how democracy works in life? Or is our neighbouring country in a state of undeclared war?
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.
Second, here is what comes to Bambi’s
mind whilst reading it ?:
“Ending the pandemic” = please
Mr. Trudeau, work harder and faster, to secure more vaccines, like the other smaller
yet more efficient countries and like the USA.Thank you!
“Fighting climate change” = You probably meant taxing Canadians more (your increasing carbon-tax and, by the way, did you remember to advocate for the pipeline that Mr. Biden seems to be in a rush to kill? Thanks if you did so, as Canadians’ jobs are at stake, even if some Canadians are happy about this decision, as expressed by Ms. Annamie Paul (Green party) and Mr. Blanchet (BQ).
Note that Mr. Blanchet’s message sounds more moderate or wiser, as it includes “compassionate” words for Canadians from Alberta and Saskatchewan and the “energetic transition”, to use his own words:
“Growing the middle class” = Mmm, the public debt pre-, during, and surely
post-pandemic that you have been dramatically
increasing will eventually kill the middle class in your country, Mr. Trudeau.
“Creating good jobs for people on both sides of the border” = what does that mean Mr. Trudeau? And why should we destroy people’s current (bad?) jobs in order to create “good” ones for them? Plus, what do you mean by “good” jobs? Bambi thought that all jobs are good and necessary in life. Not having a job is the worst outcome for people.
Finally, here is the CTV News article
about the pandemic:
The interview is excellent (physician, journalist), but the start of the text is ridiculous, to say the least. Indeed, the first sentence reads as follows:
“After analysis of mobile
phone data revealed more than a million Canadians – the majority of whom
were white and wealthy – travelled overnight during the holiday season,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said anyone with a trip still planned should
“cancel it.”
Mmm, how can mobile phone data
tell us if someone’s skin colour is white ?? And how does this analysis tell
us how much money they earn or have in their bank account?
In all honesty, do you also see
the mediocrity of our times of collective insanity?
Bambi misses our high-calibre journalists. Luckily, we still have a few independent thinkers left (whether we agree with them or not), but they are getting as rare as our available doses of vaccines so far.
Mind you, she also misses reading about or hearing from high-calibre world leaders. Where are they? Do they still exist in life?
Many politicians acted in a
hypocritical way during the Christmas holidays. Some even lost their jobs upon
their return home.
When you do not believe in the efficacy of severe lockdowns like the unelected Mr. Maxime Bernier (PPC) and you travel in early December for a week off, there is no scandal there (contrary to what some reported or repeated online). This politician, whether you agree with his libertarian economic ideas or not, lives according to his principles, even in pandemic times. Good for him. Bambi hopes that he and his spouse had a relaxing time. Mind you, this politician’s new party, along with Mr. Yves-François Blanchet’s party in the opposition (BQ), did not take a penny from the government during the pandemic (contrary to all the other parties). Interesting, isn’t it?
In contrast, the problem in life (and public life) is when you behave in a hypocritical way like our own PM, saying one thing to his population and doing another behind its (= our!) back… with our own tax money (private jets)?
Bambi would not be surprised, if this information is confirmed (the Rebel News journalists are looking into it). If it is not accurate, those journalists would owe Mr. Trudeau an apology.
Bambi trusts more those journalists because of the past behaviour of Mr. Trudeau. For instance, during his last electoral campaign, he would give one message in French and its opposite in English. Unilingual Canadians (the majority) will not be examining the congruence of these messages, as Bambi did for fun and to educate herself.
Despite all his recurrent conflicts of interests, despite his poor performance and mistakes, Mr. Trudeau got re-elected a second time (losing Bambi’s vote though when she opened her eyes ?). Bambi would not be surprised if he does get re-elected again the next time despite all this, mind you.
The tragedy is that even when citizens do notice the double-standards of our politicians (one rule of law for them and another for the rest of us), they will have a ready justification for our Prince Trudeau, unlike other politicians. Remember, double-standard is the key term here and it goes both ways.
Mind you, here is the CTV telling us that “Mr. Trudeau is disappointed by politicians travelling abroad against advice“:
This being said, if they truly did travel abroad, Bambi hopes that Mr. Trudeau (+ his family) also had a good time like Mr. Bernier and all those politicians who travelled abroad. Everyone deserves a vacation after a stressful year, this is not the issue.
The problem is political hypocrisy and the tragedy is how our mainstream journalists do not seem to be interested in holding our powerful politicians, namely Mr. Trudeau, accountable by asking him questions on behalf of the population (at least those of us who care about the truth). Not just with this issue that may seem trivial to some, but with others even more serious.
This being said, to conclude this post, Bambi hopes that all those who travelled abroad, politicians or not, respected their quarantine upon their return.
Bambi would like to tell her American friends who are reading this post and who may be thrilled today (some others may not be overjoyed, mind you) that she is happy for their happiness. As usual, she wishes their beautiful country all the best!
Just to bring some sarcastic perspective here, she will share a video with them, hoping that they still have their evolutionary sense of humour :).
The day her friends (and herself) will lose their sense of humour Bambi would be seriously worried about not just America or Canada, but also about our whole world, including Lebanon!
Now, this being said, some of these American friends are actually of Lebanese origins, like Dr. Saad in the video below and herself. Thus, perhaps they can all say “Mabrouk” (or Congratulations!) to one of Mr. Trump’s daughters. It seems that she got engaged to her Lebanese-African boyfriend (i.e., a Lebanese expatriate from Lagos and they have been dating since 2018), according to Indian Media:
This is funny because when Bambi was in Beirut at Christmas 2019, a rumour circulated there that this engagement was about to take place. Some even invented a fake invitation to the wedding. People’s joke then was: “Wow! We have a “wasta” (connection or nepotism, in English; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasta) with Mr. Trump now. Maybe he will try harder to save Lebanon“.
The question now is: Do Mr./Dr. Biden have any Lebanese connection to compete with Mr. Trump at that level? That was a joke, in case you did not get it :).
Seriously, Mr. Trump’s adult children are married to people of all sort of background (Jewish-American, Lebanese-African, etc.). Himself he is a child of immigration, just like Ms. Kamala Harris (the new Vice-President). No media has ever put emphasis on this reality. Is it because it did not serve the acceptable narrative?
The reality is the following: Regardless of the President, and whether we admit it or not, the United States of America is one of the most welcoming countries in the world (like us in Canada)!
As Mr. Biden himself wisely said today, his country remains the land of “opportunities“. Think of it, you have children of immigration becoming Presidents, like Mr. Trump, and Vice-Presidents, like Mr. Harris. In how many countries of the world do you see that? Just for your information, Bambi’s own sisters (or herself) could never become Presidents of their own birth country because they are not of the right sectarian (or religious) group for this position.
It is Bambi’s hope that the increasing “racial socialism” we are dangerously observing in our world will never ever take us down the road of silly/unfair quotas like the above. According to Bambi, and based on her second life in the war-torn Lebanon, this would be moving backward in life, not forward (contrary to what we may think out of our excitement for what may look like social justice).
To come back to Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump. both politicians come from different worlds when it comes to their political visions for their country. Isn’t this amazing in and by itself?
This being said, Bambi hopes that our neighbours will truly integrate their opposing views, even if the are going from one political direction to the other. What matters is to keep moving forward as a civilization (regardless of the political choices). Bambi is saying this not just for them, but also for us here in Canada and in the free world (that Lebanon has always looked up to. Mind you, throughout their history, Lebanese people have aspired to be/remain free spirits!).
Perhaps a secret ingredient against civilizational suicide has been mentioned by Mr. Trump himself yesterday in his farewell speech. He used the term “to keep having faith in ourselves“. On that one, even if we are allergic to him, Mr. Trump was right: When a civilization stops believing in itself, you can eventually say good-bye to it. It does not take a genius to say so…
To conclude this post, perhaps this is precisely what keeps Lebanon alive, despite the chaos of the sinking boat and the despair of its people. Indeed, Lebanese citizens think highly of their country and of its myths (e.g., the cedars, the resilient phoenix bird, the east meeting the west, love of freedom, etc.). Above all, and in their own ways, the people of Lebanon love their country (like the Americans, they are patriotic). It is this love (and this pride) that no one can take away from you, despite any sexy ideologies that can lead to civil unrest, if people are not lucid enough (to avoid their own fanaticism, first and foremost, before criticizing the fanaticism of others).
Humour is always refreshing, regardless of the politician(s) or country in question (USA, Canada, or Lebanon… or other).
Humour is also a form of healthy communication in our Orwellian times of black and white thinking… as well in times of civil wars.
If we lose our sense of humour, we are doomed.
Reality is never all white or all black. There are shades. There are also nuances.
Lebanon has been torn like the USA between opposing views for many years, called March 14 and March 8, if Bambi recalls well. Perhaps these two visions do not exist or are diluted in the multiple crises of this tiny bankrupt but eternal country.
Well, Bambi vividly recalls how a good friend asked her when she was in Toronto if she is with this or that view. She replied, in all honesty, I think there is merit here and there. I may have more sympathy for one view versus the other, but it does not mean the other side is not important to part of the Lebanese population or does not have any merit.
The friend said something like you cannot say that. You have to clearly take a position (for this friend, the so-called March 8 was the good vision for Lebanon and the other view was the “evil” one, to use a word said by Ms. Saad). Well, she replied that she does not agree, even if she has her own preference maybe (which was not shared by her friend). She added something like the challenge of Lebanon is maybe to know how to integrate both visions in order to unite and move forward. She explained that, for her, not taking a side is actually a position in itself. The friend seemed to have trouble accepting this whereas she refused to see evil in those supporting the other view.
They ended up joking about all this and changed the topic (despite the seriousness of the tragedies there from the assassination of the Former Prime Minister Hariri, along with innocent citizens, and all the killing of those from the March 14 side).
To conclude this post and come back to the American context, thanks for the joke Dr. Saad and for your spouse for participating in this video.
Today, the Chief of the Conservative party, Mr. O’Toole, expelled one of its members (called Mr. Derek Sloan) because he received a donation from a so-called Nazi or a so-called white supremacist (at least according to the mainstream media… so not too sure, if this is in the true sense).
Mmm, it turned out that the headquarters of the
Conservative party itself also received a donation from the same source ? ?.
What does this tell us?
How can you tell the sympathy of each donor? Is this realistically possible? Some funders may be extremists on this side and others extremists on another side.
Will Mr. O’Toole fire himself from his party now? Or cancel it altogether? ?.
The game of political correctness or identity politics or wokeness is a dangerous game. It is like playing with fire. One day, the fire can burn the person playing with it. So, why is Mr. O’Toole playing the same game as his opponent, Mr. Trudeau, and many others like Mr. Singh and politicians abroad too.
As far as Bambi is concerned, she is sick and tired of all politicians, even if some are decent, thankfully. Without being unfair to the latter, perhaps she is fed up specifically of those two big parties fighting each other for power by pretending to be like each other (perhaps they are the two sides of the same coin of silliness in reality?). Some other politicians are not hesitating one second in showing their authoritarian or hypocritical side in the pandemic. However, the latter would be topic of another post.
Bambi has more respect for Mr. Yves-François Blanchet (even if she does not agree with him on one or two points or visions. She appreciates that the Bloc is playing the role of an authentic and clever opposition), Mr. Maxime Bernier who is not in Ottawa now (she agrees with him on several issues especially the vision of the unity of Canada and the economics, namely a smaller and more efficient government… BUT not all issues at all times), and for the Green party (not her favourite party to vote for, as she is more to the centre of socialism or environmentalism, but she highly respects its REAL green concerns and thanks them!). Of course, Bambi has the utmost respect for Ms. Jody Wilson-Raybould, an independent MP. What these politicians have in common is their clear positions for what they stand up for. It is up to us the voters to decide whose platform makes the most sense at a particular time in history.
Talking about history or the past that won’t come back, needless to say that Bambi has respect for the former NDP leaders (Mr. Layton who left us too early and Mr. Thomas Mulcair, a man of integrity and deep thinking).
Sadly, in Bambi’s opinion, what we are increasingly witnessing is men and women pretending to be whom they are not and… accusing others of being racist, as a political weapon or if they do not agree with them. The racist card is thus used lightly and in bad faith to symbolically kill/cancel the competition. Sometimes they use the card of sexual harassment in such a politically nasty way. Bambi knows politicians who did that, here and abroad. When she sees that, this upsets her because the REAL victims of abuse/rape no one cares for them :(.
To conclude this post, where are the political convictions in life? Where are the authentic debates of ideas? Where are the values and vision for our country? Why does everything seem to be about winning votes only? Is all this only for the sake of power and its benefits, etc.?
