A $500 reward being offered for information about vandalized/stolen campaign signs of Ms. Nancy Mercier running for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) in Beauséjour (NB)
A Sackville man
is offering a $500 reward for information that can help lead to the
identification of the person(s) responsible for the vandalism (+ stealing) of
the electoral signs of Ms. Nancy Mercier running for the People’s Party of
Canada (PPC) in Beauséjour riding (NB).
Many thanks!
May this $500 reward help our police in finding the responsible(s).
Merci bien! Que cette récompense de $500 à celui ou celle qui aurait de l’information utile puisse mener la police vers le ou les coupables.
Regardless
of the outcome of the police’s investigation, Bambi hopes that democracy will
know how to prevail (ironically that was one of the concerns of Ms. Mercier
when Bambi interviewed her). May respect and tolerance of other people’s
different opinions prevail in our brains and hearts.
There is
some truth in all opinions. All opinions are worth being heard. No opinion should be shut down in a free
society.
Freedom of thought. Freedom of choice. Freedom of speech. These are the basic values of democracy. They are under attack in our Sweet Little Sackville… and by extension in our Canada.
Bambi is not fond of fascism for having lived through
civil war times all her childhood and teenage years.
She is neither fond nor intimidated by fascist behaviours.
However, she is allergic to seeing someone being harassed.
In our days and times, in our small town, it is Ms. Mercier
who has been harassed big time lately.
Bambi has wished to see more people denouncing those
criminal acts.
This is why, like one of the commenters on her blog
(thank you), she chose to vote for Ms. Mercier, even if she acknowledges that
all the other candidates have good ideas or may be good or have the potential
to learn more on the job.
Actually, it seems to her that all the other
candidates appear more reasonable, and even stronger, than their weaker leaders.
This being said, to illustrate how things are undemocratic in Sackville, Bambi just returned from a tour of the town. SYSTEMATICALLY, all the electoral signs of Ms. Nancy Mercier have been removed, whether they were put by others or by herself/her spouse to help Ms. Mercier after her first harassment incident in Sackville. Some signs were near the hospital, others in the industrial district, others on Bridge street, one York street, and on the Main Exit (the largest vandalized one in the ugliest manner possible).
Ms. Mercier is laying charges, as per her own tweet three
days ago. Good for her!
Those responsible must be punished, hoping they will
learn a lesson. Bambi says this and she has no clue who may have done it and
she does not care to know. She is talking in general, and even regardless of
the targeted candidate (of any party, currently running or… in the future).
This is not just illegal. This is harassment and it is
morally unacceptable.
Bambi worries about Ms. Mercier visiting Sackville again (she is on a wheelchair, for God’s sake. It would be perhaps more challenging for her to defend herself if any overzealous fascist decides to attack her). Look what happened to that old lady in Hamilton. Disgusting, to say the least.
The local New Wark Times published today an article entitled “Liberal Dominic LeBlanc unable to campaign in Beauséjour while Trudeau focusses on neighbouring NS riding”.
In this article above, we can read that “Green
candidate Laura Reinsborough has been taking her message door-to-door and
persuading voters to display her lawn signs since late June in her campaign to
defeat LeBlanc who has held Beauséjour for 19 years”.
This seems lovely on the surface but if we link the title of the New Wark Times article (Mr. Leblanc taking care of his health) with the harassment of Ms. Mercier’s signs (and silence of all our local newspapers, from the Sackville Tribune to the Wark Times), we can see that the competition in Sackville does not appear to be as romantically beautiful as it seems to be.
For one, Bambi wishes Mr. Dominic Leblanc ALL the
best. She sends him her positive vibes!
For two, she has been a long-time voter for him and
his party. Plus, she usually knows how to give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar:
He is clearly a strong (+ smart) Liberal party member, with more leadership
than our Prime Minister and Opposition Leader combined.
Ms. Laura Reinsborough seems to be a talented, motivated
candidate (especially linguistically).
Trudeau may have chosen to go to Amherst for the reasons mentioned in the article above. It could also be for a tacit alliance with the party line of the Green Party too. Who knows?
Anyhow, Ms. Reinsborough is running for a party whose colour is sexy to many around here and elsewhere, older and younger… but one must go beyond a colour in life, even if it is green and it is trendy. One must read and compare the platforms of parties, on environmental issues (+ other issues). Which ones makes the most sense? Is the proposed policy related to the environment truly the best for the Green Party because of its platform or just the perception of a sexy colour?
Bambi thinks that it would be good to have more Green
candidates in Ottawa to hold our politicians accountable and to push on the
ecological front… but not too many as this would become totally paralyzing to the
economy in the longer run.
Ms. Zann seems to be a talented person who cares for
people in her riding. Bambi met her once in the past and enjoyed the chat.
She does not know Mr. Scott Armstrong in person.
However, he seems to be an excellent candidate, just like Mr. Vincent Cormier seems
to be in our own riding. Plus, like Dr. Jean-Marc Bélanger, Mr. Armstrong seems
to have had a career caring for children and youth’s well-being. Good for them
and thank you!
As for Ms. Mercier, she has demonstrated that she is a
candidate with calibre. Bambi has been impressed with her campaign.
Regardless of the results on October 21, long life to Canada… and hopefully to democracy.
Whilst other countries or non-countries are facing
tragedies ☹ (Lebanon burning with
103 fires & the Kurds betrayed by the US and their allies), Canadians seem to
be outdoing themselves with odd decisions in the name of so-called diversity
and inclusion, and what have you… to the point of excluding the vast majority
from the society.
Bambi is referring to two pieces of news, perhaps the second
even more worrisome (the first can just make us smile ?):
1. Air Canada will no longer be greeting us with “Sir/Madam”
or “Ladies & Gentlemen” (or “Bonjour Madame, Bonjour Monsieur”):
Instead, its staff will use words like “Everybody” or “Tout
le monde” (who knows maybe “Yo” as students sometimes write in their emails ??).
Madam or Sir may offend some travellers who may not self-identify as either a male or a female or who may be transgender, etc.
In and by itself, this decision seems noble. It is
amazing to be respectful of clients. However, let’s not forget that we are talking
here about a very small minority of clients that can be perhaps offended or
triggered if not addressed properly.
Instead of calling a specific traveller in a non-gendered
manner (say after checking his or her passport and perhaps noticing “other” or
X for the gender), we choose to go the extreme by denying ALL the clients the polite
words in both French and English, even when they would be the majority.
For instance, the AC staff may clearly greet or serve
a pregnant woman and we do not want to address her with Madam in order to be
inclusive. Perhaps they will be serving an elderly man during a 7-hour-trip
overseas, wearing gloves before interacting with him every time.
Plus, during a violent turbulence or serious incident, Bambi suspects that the words that will get out of the mouth of staff will be tainted with neither political correctness nor politeness (maybe). I hope so as what would matter then would be to save lives and not to offer a safe verbal gender-neutral space to an injured person.
Anyhow, the news is more amusing than anything else.
Air Canada may not call me Madam/Sir but Bambi will keep being polite in the same manner, especially when too jet lagged to remember societal trends (I will likely be saying: “Merci Monsieur”; “Merci Madame”; as long as the flight attendant is OK with this of course). As for Bambi, she frankly does not care how you would address her as long as you offer her good food on board on longer flights ?.
2. Now the MORE worrisome news is a link in the
article above about the Ontario provincial police (OPP), no longer releasing
the gender of people charged with crimes.
With all due respect to the OPP and all the police
forces, Bambi finds this decision absurd. Indeed, it does not serve neither
common sense nor science anymore (messing up epidemiological public data).
Bambi wonders what would have Indigenous Ontario women, victims of violence, thought about this had they been still alive? Is this a good thing for the sake of justice? What do their grieving families think?
More broadly, what do the current or future so-called
victims or so-called criminals think?
Why doesn’t the OPP use the language used in Lebanon in
the media. They name the gender but not the name (just the initials). That way they
protect the privacy of the person (if this is the motivation here).
If Bambi is not mistaken, the Edmonton police may have
moved in the Lebanese direction (protection of identity by hiding names).
Basically, why is the OPP complicating matters?
Why can’t it call a spade a spade anymore?
Is it truly to protect others or to protect itself from
any liability or… to give in/dive more into the collective insanity of political
correctness?
Today it is about gender neutrality. Tomorrow about
what?
Why aren’t Sackville (NB) citizens denouncing these criminal acts?
Bambi and her spouse walked by the Main Exit. On their
way, they noticed that all the electoral signs of Ms. Nancy Mercier were
removed (but a low-profile intact one and one vandalized further).
They were both shocked to see this further vandalism by
the Main Exit toward Nova Scotia (see the picture above).
Once again, none of the other candidates’ signs were
touched.
In this election or in this riding, it is Ms. Mercier’s
electoral sign that is being vandalized. In other places or in other years, it
may be someone else’s sign. Who knows?
All Canadians should worry to see such vandalism
REGARDLESS of whose sign it is, not just because it is illegal.
Why? Because this is a killjoy for democracy. It is a
slippery slope that once we allow ourselves to move along it, the end result will
be ugly for all of us.
The biggest loser is democracy in our country. Is this
what we want?
Plus, how come the nearby Amherst (NS) knows how to be more civilized than us (and we consider ourselves like a “clever” town)?
If Bambi s not mistaken, Amherst seems to have candidates
running for all the big national parties, and even smaller parties that are
considered as outliers (or at the extreme of a normal distribution).
Bambi has never ever seen such a level of fascism, not
even in Lebanon ☹!
In Beirut, no one vandalizes even the picture of Mr.
Nasrallah (Chief of the Hezbollah) who drags Lebanon into war (against Israel),
behind the back of the Government, and who aligns the country a bit too much toward
Iran (exposing it to economic sanctions by Mr. Trump and, more alarmingly, to
risk of violent regional conflicts).
Despite this, Lebanese politicians find ways to
collaborate with this movement. Citizens live with it. Some criticize it from
time to time in the media, on social media, or in their living rooms. However,
no one would even think of vandalizing its electoral ad or any other ad. Even
the Hezbollah itself does not vandalize ads of the other candidates. Despite those
military excesses, it generally plays by the rules of the Lebanese democracy in
a rather clever way, managing to have an efficient diplomatic internal
political wing, along with its more aggressive external wing.
So, why is it that in our “Sweet Little Sackville”, in our peaceful NB and Canada, we tolerate fascism like that?
We should come together to denounce violence, regardless
of the colour of the sign being vandalized.
Political parties come and go. Countries stay… But to
stay and flourish, countries need democracy.
Bambi hopes to see democracy prevailing in Canada,
regardless of the outcome of the election of October 21st and of
future ones.
Related to this federal campaign, because of work elsewhere,
Bambi missed the debate that took place at Mount Allison University. However, before
going to vote today, she took the time to listen the recorded French debate at
the Université de Moncton.
Congratulations to the organizers of a very professional
debate (better than the national English one!). Bravo to all our candidates.
All were excellent in their respective ways. All had good ideas, including Ms.
Mercier. All were civilized and knew how to acknowledge others’ good
ideas. Bravo to our own Ms. Laura Reinsborough for her
French.
Bambi invites those who have vandalized Ms. Nancy
Mercier’s sign and who may be perhaps reading this post (who knows?) to read the
earlier interview with her and to listen to the debate (please see below).
If they do so, they would learn that she was among, if
not the first, minister in our province who celebrated gay marriages. They will
learn also that her own grandmother is Native.
However, most importantly, they will see that she has
good ideas locally, along with a clever platform of her PPC party. They may not
wish to vote for it. They are free. However, they will be more informed as
citizens if they listened.
Even the Hezbollah has candidates who speak fluent Hebrew and know their “enemy” well. Same for Israel. Please do not tell me that it is hard to be polite and chat with another Maritimer! I do not buy it.
You may not wish to vote for the PPC. However,
shutting off its candidate is not only unCanadian or uncivilized. It is
criminal.
Material that you can use to get to know Ms. Mercier’s
ideas more before jumping to vandalize her electoral sign:
U de M debate in French, broadcasted on the radio:
In the
article below (with videos) “Canada is ‘awash in systemic racism,’ says
Green Leader Elizabeth May”, the CBC journalist (Mr. David Thurston) asks Ms.
May & Mr. Singh the following questions: Are we racists, as a country? In
other terms, do we have systemic racism?
Ms. May
talked about her “white privilege” and how “Canada is awash in systemic racism”.
As for Mr. Singh,
he talked about how our Government is racist (i.e., mainly toward First Nations
due to water issues and cut in funding, etc.).
Despite the crying
issues pointed at, it is a bit ironic how both politicians replied yes to the
question.
Indeed, May,
who has American origins, is the leader of a growing national political party.
Singh, who wears
a turban, is the leader of yet another respectable national political party.
Bambi feels
like sarcastically saying: How racist Canada is. YAK ?!
Perhaps Bambi
should invite them both, at the end of their campaign, on a vacation trip to
the Middle East. Upon their return from their touring trip, we will ask them if
they still think if Canada “is awash with systemic racism”.
In Bambi’s opinion as an old immigrant who lived in three different provinces, in their over-zealous virtue signalling or genuine guilt feeling, Canadians of today tend to forget the following:
1. Immigrants
also have a responsibility/duty in their adjustment to a country, not just the host
society.
As
Canadians, we tend to over-question ourselves and our values (because we are
eager to welcome and accommodate newcomers; in and by itself, this tells us how
much Canadians are NOT racist).
Stated differently,
immigrants are supposed to play an ACTIVE role in their OWN adaptation to
society. They also should take responsibility of their actions or cognitive
processes in order to integrate into the new society. They are not babies
completely dependent on their parents. So, let’s not treat them as such.
For
instance, they must learn to let go of cultural or societal traditions that are
sometimes incompatible with our Canadian ways of living. In some cases, some new
Canadians may have to learn to be tolerant like their adoptive country, leaving
behind hate or racism toward certain groups (e.g., LGBTQ or people of other
faith, etc.). In yet more extreme cases, they have to say good-bye to shocking cultural
habits like female incisions, forced marriage, and… honour killing.
This can be done by embracing the Canadian beautiful values of freedom, tolerance, equality of men and women, equality of all under the law, etc.
2. Similarly,
despite the tragic abusive past ☹, Indigenous
Canadians also must take charge of their own lives (decisions, choices, etc.).
Not everything
is the fault of the *racist* “privileged white man”.
Plus, why
are we now so obsessed with the colour of our skins? Since when?
Bambi does
not recall having observed such an obsession in her first 20 years in Canada.
Related to
this, she does not know the colour of her own skin, mind you. In those national
surveys on diversity and inclusion or whatever they are called, she skips those
questions ?.
In research surveys, she often does not know in which box to put a tick: Caucasian? Other? Sometimes, there is a long list where she could click on Mediterranean or Middle-Eastern or whatever else.
To come back
to the First Nations, to use the words of Mr. Blanchet, “no Nation should put its
fate in the hands of another one”. First Nations and Inuit can avoid doing this
whilst being proud Canadians.
Loving our
country (= being proud of whom we are collectively) is what would unite us all.
Bambi will
also add that perhaps it can sometimes help not to put our fate too much into the
hands of some of our own leaders. Bambi sees a similarity with Lebanon where some
community/political leaders can become entitled or corrupt (while others may be
decent).
Thank goodness
Canada has been engaged in a process of mutual human discovery and healing. May
peace prevails in everyone’s hearts…
May decent
shelters, clean water, and better psychosocial and economic conditions become
the norm from now on.
May all
Canada’s children live in dignity and achieve their full potential!
May citizens
take the right decisions for themselves, find and be able to keep jobs, whether
they live on reserves or outside, in metropoles or smaller towns.
Regardless of the outcomes on October 21st, Bambi hopes that Canadians will stop this weird habit of collective self-flagellation.
Why don’t we
begin to learn to jointly reconnect with our pride as a nation for a change?
This reconnection could take place whilst working on concrete solutions to the critical issues raised by Mr. Singh. It can also co-occur with all our efforts of remembering the tragic past in order to avoid repeating it.
All this can
be part of the healing process of mutual and self-forgiveness as well as a renewed
unified Canadian pride.
This
learning process will likely be more inspiring than self-flagellation for all
of us: First Nations, older Canadians, newcomers, and all those dreaming of immigrating
to our beautiful Canada.
To conclude, here is a song tribute to Canada from the heart of Lebanon by Fairouz. It is called “my little house in Canada” (Bambi’s dad shared it with her recently).
A French debate more professional and enjoyable than its English fiasco version
How interesting. Even the Lebanese “Naharnet” focused
on our Canadian debates in an article entitled “Trudeau called compulsive
liar in last election debate” (Lebanon has a large diaspora in Canada, one
must recall):
The article above features Trudeau, Scheer, Singh, and
May.
No word about Blanchet & Bernier.
How ironic. For Bambi, Bernier and Blanchet were the real winners of these two debates.
Perhaps Blanchet expressed the most significant
sentence of the whole campaign: “No nation should put its fate in the hands
of another one”. He said this in replying to a First Nations Canadian
citizen in the audience. He added “neither the First Nations nor the (English)
Canadian Nation nor the Québec Nation”.
Clearly, the Bloc is doing a great job in this campaign. It would be nice to see Québec being well represented again in the Parliament, regardless of the party in power.
Of course, Bambi says this, recognizing that it is
much easier to be in the opposition than to govern. Plus, this party is yet to
show Quebeckers concretely how they will proceed on important issues.
Blanchet’s comment was particularly meaningful given the unacceptable, non-professional English debate. Indeed, what a shame and waste of time, especially with Trudeau-Scheer’s cacophony on top of the biased journalists’ questions (i.e. on Bill 21). Journalists seemed disrespectful toward Québec. Same for our federal politicians (although they may simply reflect the tendency in the population).
Perhaps all this was a staged drama that would make
our Prime Minister appear like the Aladdin’s Genie, that is a saviour
protecting Canadian citizens from the “racist” Quebeckers (i.e., challenging
Bill 21 in federal courts, etc.). Could it be?
Funny how we tend to walk on eggs with all minority groups
and sub-groups (ethnic this or that, Jews, Muslims, even Islamists, First
Nations, extreme ecologists blocking bridges, etc.). Ironically, and sadly, no
one cares about wearing white gloves with the 70% of one of our founding
nations who supported this Bill. The latter being simply a different historic-cultural
way of conceiving secularism (separation of religions from the State). Plus,
there was no word on the existence of such laws elsewhere in Europe (France, Switzerland,
etc.).
Bambi knows MANY Montreal citizens who support this bill,
even among Muslim and Arab communities. No one talks about this in the media. We
hardly hear about these people in articles by the CBC, mind you. Things are not
as black and white as they want us to think (even if there may be a discrepancy
between Montreal and the rest of the province on this matter).
In Bambi’s mind, disrespect is perhaps more digestible
than hypocrisy mixed with disrespect and inept leadership.
Hypocrisy is Trudeau’s strength.
Indeed, Trudeau had a contradictory message in the two
official languages.
Singh almost successfully imitated Trudeau’s hypocritical
style with a totally opposite message in French versus English (Bernier cleverly
pointed out to this).
Bernier was the clearest of all.
He succeeded in focusing on presenting his platform and he spoke directly to those who would be personally electing him (or not?). He attacked the least. He knew how to listen. He earned our interest. He also came up with several good citations.
We may agree with him or we may not. However, we cannot
accuse him of one ounce of hypocrisy. In other terms, with him, what you see seems
to be what you will get. He is congruent in his messages on all platforms and
in all languages from Coast to Coast to Coast.
Of course, he made mistakes. Of course, he will make more
in the future. However, he is a smart leader. I am sure he can learn. Plus, he has
a solid political expertise and an experience in the private sector.
Bambi liked how Mr. Maxime Bernier spoke against supply
management (she would like to see the prices of milk and eggs go down). He did
that even at his own political risk. Like him, she is also against corporate welfare.
Of course, balancing the budget in 2 years seems to be
appealing, to say the least.
At one point, when Bernier was cornering Sheer, the latter
told Bernier that “he will not be imposing anything given that he will lose
(his seat) in the Beauce”. Many of our media seem to dream of this outcome
(i.e., numerous titles and articles’ contents). Who knows? Anything is possible,
although Bambi has a good vibe.
What Bambi admires is how he put all his national party
together in less than a year.
Bambi wonders if Trudeau would be personally elected rather,
even if his party would remain in power (likely a minority government… but who
knows?).
Perhaps Ms. May is also a principled leader, like
Bernier. Bambi likes her, even if she loses her when she cites Greta’s “house
on fire”, although she admits that her “Comment osez-vous?” (= How dare you?) sounds
cuter out of her mouth.
A part of the French debate that Bambi enjoyed was
hearing Singh and May agreeing with Bernier (even joking about it). These were
nice, collegial moments.
Same for the courageous and moving question from a lady
in the audience about assisted dying. We had the impression that our politicians
have truly worked together with this legislation that seems to need refinement
now.
Of course, there were other boring moments in those
debates or moments of cacophony or of joint attacks toward single persons
(Bernier and even Trudeau and at times Scheer).
We also had good quotes, almost by all.
As well, bravo to those debating in their second language.
It is particularly challenging under the stress of time.
Talking about stress, the French debate was well
organized (3-way-debates, not six like the English one and an efficient time
management). All in all, Bambi tips her hat for the highly professional Mr.
Patrice Roy (Radio-Canada) for his excellent moderation.
He did not hesitate to cut the microphones of everyone
to force them to be disciplined. What an efficient Moderator!
Yesterday evening, Bambi and her spouse decided to help one of the candidates for the federal elections who does not live in Sackville and who happens to be physically disabled (yet highly energetic!).
Bambi will name Ms. Nancy Mercier, running for the PPC
(the new and perhaps growing national party of Mr. Maxime Bernier).
Bambi thought that Ms. Mercier would have trouble
accessing our streets. It turned out that, once again, she had more trouble
accessing our fellow citizens’ closed minds.
How sad for Sackville and Canada. Bambi naively imagined
that such acts only happen in other less developed countries…. Welcome to
Canada of 2019 ☹.
Last spring, someone threatened the Painted Pony
Restaurant that was supposed to host her Meet & Greet. Likely out of fear,
the restaurant ended up cancelling the dinner (losing business).
Bambi wanted to attend that dinner to meet this new politician out of curiosity. In disbelief, she thought to herself: Wow, even in Beirut public events take place with any political party. Restaurants and pubs welcome any business by anyone running, even by parties as heavily armed as the Hizbollah or by parties they may not particularly like (perhaps even past “enemies” during civil war). What matters the most would be to earn a living. In other terms, to be as prosperous as possible.
Anyhow, that story is old news. However, a few days
ago, someone vandalized Ms. Mercier’s ad at the Main Street exit toward Nova
Scotia. One must add that not a single nearby ad of the other candidates was
touched. How convenient.
These acts should be denounced by all candidates and
by all citizens, in Bambi’s mind.
To continue the saga of Ms. Mercier in our town yesterday
night (around 10:30 PM), Bambi and her spouse (fast-running deer, one driving
and one running!), put three additional signs in town with the name of Ms. Mercier
and the purple colour of her party.
Putting a sign does not remove any esteem or fond respect
they have for the other candidates to whom they wish good luck!
Just in the recent past and almost all her life (minus
once), Bambi voted for the party of one of our other candidates. Not this time
and it is not because of this highly competent candidate. It is rather because of
the silly and hypocritical times we live in…
Her vote will not be set in stone. For now, it has been
earned (bravo and thank you to Mr. Bernier, along with the decent Nancy Mercier),
regardless of the outcome on October 21, 2019.
This being said, Bambi would like to see all the other
parties having a significant representation in our parliament. All of them have
something good about them. Something Canadian. Diversity of opinions is a sign
of a healthy democracy. The absence of diversity of opinions should worry us
all.
Anyhow, to come back to Ms. Mercier’s sign, one of
them was put on the corner of York and Lansdowne Streets near the border of the
road, which is a municipal property (not a private property).
Removing or vandalizing a federal electora sign is considered
illegal when it is a public space (i.e. border of a street).
Would the person who took it down have the decency of returning
it (Ms. Mercier is on a tight budget) or… at least the civilized act of
recycling it?
Thank Goodness Beirut youth, population, and school ruling authorities seem to be less prone to manipulation, compared to the Western World; despite a Lebanese diaspora in Sweden, home country of Greta T. (about 27,000 in 2016)
This picture Bambi took it from the Twitter account of Greta Thunberg. This is a Friday strike in Beirut, Lebanon, that Greta (or her PR team taking care of her social media communication) are bragging about.
Recognizing that more than anywhere else in the world, respect for the environment is a TRUE crisis in Lebanon (sadly due to high pollution), Bambi can count only 30 youths in this picture (likely university students). They are walking on the street, protected by police cars and police officers walking with them. We can see the long traffic behind, as if Beirut needed another excuse for more traffic.
Recently, the Lebanese Government declared a state of emergency… But not due to climate change, rather to a deep economic crisis (Bambi would add also to corruption, although not sure which comes first). At least people try to do something about corruption by naming it and denouncing it. At least citizens know when they are being taken for a ride, whether by their own politicians or by external trendy movements.
Lebanon has so many sad issues but, at least, it seems to be resistant to pressure on the education front (schools and universities). Bambi worries that with the Pope embracing communist ideas, things may change over there due to the widespread Catholic influence (Christian schools, colleges, universities, and faith in people’s hearts; in other terms, Christian influence even in a multi-faith country with large Muslim influences).
Anyhow, instead of a movement like the Fridays for Future stemming out of Sweden, Bambi wishes that this country will stop selling weapons that contribute to *fires* here and there in the Arab world. Those fires may be imminently riskier than “the fire” in “our house” to use Greta’s own words.
Bambi came across this article (Journal de Montréal,
October 4, 2019) by Ms. Marjorie Champagne entitled “Je n’allaite pas donc je
pollue” [I do not breastfeed, therefore I pollute].
In this article, the journalist expressed her shock in
reading another article by Ms. Pauline Gravel (Le Devoir, October 3,
2019) entitled: “Allaiter son enfant pour l’amour de la planète” [Breastfeeding
one’s child out of love for the planet].
Bambi was curious. She searched for and read the original scientific article cited in the news article above.
The article basically argues that “Formula milk
contributes to environmental degradation and climate change” (a sub-title of
the article).
The author wrote that “overall, breastfeeding for
six months saves an estimated 95-153 kg CO2 equivalent per baby
compared with formula feeding”. For the UK, this would “equate to taking
between 50 000 and 77 500 cars off the road each year”.
First and foremost, Bambi is shocked to see that this
paper was authored by a scientist who has published in a very serious journal:
Yes, Dr. Schenker seems to be “a former surgeon,
scientist, and the cofounder of the Human Milk Foundation”.
Plus, the British Medical Journal (BMC for short) is”
one of the world’s oldest general medical journals. It published its first
weekly edition on 3 October 1840 as the Provincial Medical and Surgical
Journal before uniting with the London Journal of Medicine and
publishing from January 1853 as the Associated Medical Journal. Four
years later in January 1857, this merged journal became the British Medical
Journal”.
The 2018 “Impact Factor” of this journal was 27.604.
This is considered a prestigious measure of the frequency
with which the journal’s average article has been cited in a particular year. Of
course, one must not attribute to this numerical indicator more importance than
needed. However, this measure usually tells how much a journal is a serious one
in its scientific field. Some articles, namely reviews of the literature, tend
to be cited more frequently than others (empirical studies or other types of articles).
If this journal publishes that sort of papers, this can contribute to increase its
impact factor (or IF) for the year(s) following the review. Regardless, 27.604
is clearly a prestigious IF.
Second, Dr. Schenker ends her paper with the following
statement: “We need to acknowledge that “our house is on fire” and that the
next generation requires us to act quickly to reduce carbon footprints in every
sphere of life. Breastfeeding is a part of this jigsaw, and urgent investment
is needed across the sector.”
This is the first time in Bambi’s lifetime, both as a
citizen and as a researcher, that she reads a scientific (medical) paper where an
author cites a teenager (Greta!) instead of citing the body of knowledge from
earlier science (usually produced by real scientists!). How odd.
Third, exactly for the same reasons as Ms. Champagne, Bambi
is shocked: Indeed, once again, we are guilting new mothers.
New mothers do not need that extra existential guilt.
They already feel guilty in their early moments of
adjustment to motherhood (and even later in their lives).
They can feel guilty if they do not breastfeed long
enough. They can also feel guilty if they cannot breastfeed altogether.
They may also wish to or end up not wanting to breastfeed
for all sorts of reasons.
Who knows? They may be feeling a bit down due to the
common postpartum blues… or worse, they may be struggling with symptoms of postpartum
depression.
Whether clinically depressed or not, new moms may end up learning to let go, in order to rely on their support system, and include their partners or family members in the feeding activities. This by itself is an ultimate gesture of maternal love/sensitivity.
So, basically, even if we know all the benefits of
breastfeeding from evolution across species, from common sense, and from
science, Bambi will say: Enough of pressure on women (and their families) please.
The pressure can come from the external world or… worse, from the mothers’ own self-pressure to be “good” mothers. So, imagine the additional ecological pressure (the new religion of our times) on top of all this?
One must also recall that despite all the benefits of the world stemming from natural milk/breastfeeding, natural selection may have come into play at one point in our human earlier generations to allow us to develop enzymes to digest cow milk. Thank Goodness Bambi is thinking to herself, as her own mom fed her with that delicious cow milk.
Plus, we do not talk much about it but maternal stress
hormones do pass through breastfeeding to the infants. Bambi had to statistically
control for this effect in one of her studies on depression during pregnancy
and infant stress reactivity.
Oh, plus, can’t or don’t mothers who do breastfeed love
their kids AND the planet even they do not nurse them?
Without having had the honour of successfully reproducing with her loving partner, Bambi is convinced that their newborn would have meant the world to them… and, at that moment of giving birth, they would have not given a damn about our planet… in all honesty (Bambi is saying this and she usually cares about people, animals, plants, and our shared environments).
Indeed, the last thing that Bambi thought of when
losing her three pregnancies was our Planet (neither A nor B!).
That thought also was the last thing on her mind
during her fostering and hosting parental experiences.
When kids are in a survival mode (e.g., going through
adversities or in their journey transitioning into a new foster home or out of
it, they simply do not have the luxury of being as illuminated as some of us
are in their aspirations for a “greener” world… or for a sexier (more fundable?)
research.
“Capitalism is not greed: Are students confusing the two terms?” (Michael Lifshitz)
This post is a comment to an article entitled “We do not have a Planet B” by Ms. Emma Conrad published in the Argosy, Mount Allison Independent Student Newspaper (October 2nd, 2019):
“The speeches and demands were delivered
at Bill Johnstone Memorial Park. Here, anyone who wanted to discuss climate
change was invited up to the microphone to talk about what they felt was
important.
“I am here today for the same reasons that
you are all here – to ensure we have a sustainable future and a habitable
planet,” began Yao. “I speak on [Zero Hour’s] behalf because I want you to walk
away from today’s march understanding that the climate crisis is not an
independent issue.
“When we are talking about a just
transition to a sustainable way of living, we must address the real roots of
climate change,” said Yao. “We understand the mechanisms, but the human
conditions that enabled it are more complex yet just as essential. I am talking
about patriarchy, racism, colonialism, capitalism, and all the ways we have
chosen to systematically exploit the land and the people.”
End of Conrad’s quote.
Bambi has always been
intrigued by how educated, smart students like Ms. Yao seem to always repeat
the same clichés about capitalism.
Perhaps they do so without
much thought about the concept? Perhaps they missed the Economy lesson if it is
taught on Fridays when they have been busy striking ??
Anyhow, Bambi shared the thought
above with her friend Mr. Lifshitz. She asked him for his opinion, as a
financial expert. Maybe he has a more logical explanation.
Luckily, she did so because
she heard a wise answer that goes like this: “Students seem to confuse capitalism
with greed. Could it be?”
What an interesting
hypothesis, Bambi thanked her friend. It is indeed a possibility.
In Bambi’s mind,
capitalism is free market. In other terms, it is free enterprise (more room for
private ownership in this economy). Production and income distribution are
largely determined by the market.
Capitalism has clearly created
economic growth, preventing preterm birth, infant mortality, and lifting many
children, not just in Canada but also around the world, out of poverty.
Yes, obviously, more work
needs to be done. However, we are moving in the right direction, at least in terms
of better access to education and healthcare in many of the low to
medium-income countries of the world, including Bambi’s birth country.
Of course, we also need to
keep our planet clean and beautiful because, as Conrad titled her article: “We
do not have a planet B”.
In Bambi’s mind, greed
would be extreme, selfish desire for wealth or power. Thus, greed is not a
virtue. It is selfish, especially in a society that is thankfully rooted in some
socialism (where people care for each other and where our government, through
our tax money, can be supportive too).
In sum, capitalism is NOT
greed.
Ms. Yao also talked about
patriarchy, racism, colonialism.
She came across the same sentence repeated by Ms. Yao (speaking on behalf of this *global* organization):
“Through this
campaign, Zero Hour will educate communities around the country and abroad
about the systems of oppression that Zero Hour names as root causes of climate
change in our platform, including Capitalism, Racism, Sexism, Colonialism, and
how these systems intersect with the climate movement to form climate justice”.
Interesting… But what
does all this really mean?
Perhaps students confuse
capitalism with greed indeed? But what about Zero Hour? Does it confuse Canada/North
America with Saudi Arabia, Iran, or ISIS-controlled areas in Syria or Congo? For
example, how would sexism be related to climate change, Bambi wonders?
She thought global warming
would perhaps differently affect us on a geographic basis more than anything else.
Intersectionality (a term
our own Prime Minister used lately) may be a double-edged sword: At times, it
makes sense to think about how adversities can (and do) overlap. However, at other
times, these concepts would be simply totally unrelated. It would be actually illogical
to assume otherwise.
For instance, Michael Lifshitz
is from a certain ethno-linguistic background (Jewish anglophone from Montreal),
now an Ottawa citizen. He is physically disabled. He could have been trans or
gay, Native or descendant of settlers…. But, for God’s sake, how would all this
make his disability more disabling?
Of course, if there is a
flooding or a fire, Michael would be more vulnerable to the natural disaster BUT
ONLY because of his disability and perhaps a non-accessible transportation.
However, thankfully, capitalism
would most likely allow him to be creative in finding (and affording!) preventive
solutions or ideas to minimize consequences. Capitalism can also allow his
loved ones to be able to assist him as well.
If capitalism can help
Bambi’s friend in surviving natural disasters (with or without a climate crisis),
Bambi would have another reason to appreciate capitalism’s benefits.
Bambi hopes more and more
people in the world can be as prosperous as us Canadians.
She also hopes we will
know how to diversify our economy whilst respecting our environment.
For the latter, thanks to
all those who genuinely care for our planet.
Bambi hopes that no one
will fall into the trap of repeating slogans without a reality check from time
to time, especially against the specific context of our region and our country.
In our “noble” efforts to
be engaged citizens, let’s avoid enslaving ourselves in our own slogans, that
is without questioning the meaning of each word we chant, say, or repeat.
