Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Deep in the Weeds (Or Was That Weed?) with Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau, son of P. E. Trudeau, the father of multiculturalism in Canada, is now a Liberal member of Parliament for a Montreal riding. As one com box wag had it: he got his mother's brains and his father's looks - a double whammy.

Anyway, he got into trouble the other day. The Globe and Mail explains all:

Justin Trudeau has apologized for saying he was “uncomfortable” with the Harper government’s description of so-called honour killings as “barbaric.”

“Perhaps I got tangled in semantic weeds in my comments, particularly in view of the Conservatives' cynicism on these issues,” Mr. Trudeau wrote in an email to The Globe. “I want to make clear that I think the acts described are heinous, barbaric acts that are totally unacceptable in our society.”

OK, a Liberal MP issues a statement to clarify that he thinks that honor killings are "A Very Bad Thing." I know what you are thinking: was this in question? Well, actually it was . . . sort of. Let's let Barbara Kay of the National Post sort this one out:
An updated government information pamphlet for newcomers to Canada, “Discover Canada,” warns against such “barbaric” practices as honour killings, forced marriages and other immoral or criminal practices. Federal Liberal Immigration critic Justin Trudeau yesterday made it known that he is “uncomfortable” with the word “barbaric.” “You could say it’s absolutely unacceptable as a phrase,” says Trudeau, adding that the word could have the effect of making newcomers “defensive.”
Now, I know what you are thinking: "No way! He did not really say that." Well, he says he did but now he says he didn't mean it. I suppose that makes some sort of difference - somehow. As one might imagine, the reaction was, well, shall we say, vigorous. Barbara Kay again:
Reaction from the blogosphere, as well as from Conservatives, to Trudeau’s reflexive political correctness was swift and uncompromising. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney responded that the language in Discover Canada is deliberate and accurate. “There’s nothing more brutal than killing a woman because of some perceived slight to family honour,” Mr. Kenney observed.
Now, you are likely thinking. Why did Mr. Trudeau criticize the Conservative government's pamphlet for potential immigrants in the first place? Was it simply a scuzzy way to curry votes with Muslim voters in his riding? Was it a calculated attempt to appear broad-minded as opposed to those knuckle-dragging Conservatives who believe in absolute right and wrong? Or was it that he thinks killing women is a minor issue compared to horror and trauma inflicted on a potential immigrant father or brother who has already killed a sister or daughter for somehow staining the family honor by using the hurtful term "barbaric" to describe what they did?

I don't think it was any of these. I think was a case of self-contradictory ideology making you say stupid things. Liberals hold simultaneously to two ideological positions: (1) the equality of women and the raging violence being done to them by the white, Western patriarchy, and (2) cultural relativism as expressed in the ideology of multiculturalism. So when they come up against a cultural expression of institutionalized violence against women perpetrated by non-white, non-Western cultures, they either just sit there and blink like a cat staring vacantly into space or they open their mouths and say something really, really stupid.

Of course, we know which thing happened here.

Multiculturalism is a dead idea. It was invented by relativists, implemented by secularists, praised by leftists and buried by terrorists. It is over. But those who still push cultural Marxist-inspired political correctness still parrot it as if it were still 1968. No matter what the calendar says, the 60s will never end for some people. But those people belong in museums, not Parliament.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well said. I teach in college and pose the question to classes all the time about the lack of protest against mistreatment of women in Muslim cultures while raging against patriarchy in the West. The place to which the students run is their desire to respect Islamic cultures. It's absolutely mind-boggling. I ask them if they believe that Muslim women want their enslavement to be perceived as the way of their culture and have lost the ability to perceive of themselves as deserving of a worthier treatment. The students cannot carry this conversation very far.