Happy flag-waving day!

[sabotabby]

As you wave your flags, change your FB icons, set off your fireworks, and proclaim your love for this strong and free country of ours*, please remember that tens of thousands of First Nations children died in residential schools and the vast majority of people here truly don't give a shit.





* General "you," not specific "you my readers who know better." Sheesh.

Comments

[resonant.livejournal.com]

I have been agressively educating my co-workers since the report came out (most immigrated within the past two decades, so they have an excuse for not knowing). Hopefully they will support government policy that will change things. Although they all still support Rob Ford.

[sabotabby]

I do understand why recent immigrants support Rob Ford. I don't agree with them, obviously, but given that he's the only municipal politician who makes an effort to appeal to them, it makes sense. But that's an indictment of the left, not a compliment to the right.

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

Yes - it's something I find really frustrating.

It seems like most people on the left, including a fair proportion of my friends, have it so ingrained in their heads that suburbs (of any sort) = rich white evil right-wing whatevers, that any attempt to point out to them that, while varied, Toronto's suburbs for the most part skew poor and non-white, and that maybe leftist politicians ought to take some notice of that and do some outreach, just gets met with a lot of bluster about oh-well-you-know-immigrants-are-all-right-wing-anyway and woe-is-us-why-can't-we-undo-the-amalgamation.

The irony that the supposedly progressive side, despite being quick to defend PoC and the working class in theory, can't be bothered to have much contact with them in reality, seems to be lost on them.

[sabotabby]

The left's problem in a nutshell, basically. With notable exceptions, pretty much since always.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that the Harper government publishes articles in all the language specific papers in Toronto that cater to new immigrants, claiming that they are doing certain things to help them. The claims are all bullshit, but the people reading them don't necessarily know that, so they vote for the party that makes them second-class citizens.

[sabotabby]

Yep. They've specifically targeted media with fewer experts and lower budgets—the tiny papers get exclusive interviews with the PM and don't have the expertise or language proficiency to hardball him.