Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Vimy

Am I the only one who finds it abhorrent that Stephen Harper compared his not liking the media to PEOPLE DYING AT VIMY RIDGE????

According to CTV, while at Vimy, Harper said:

"And the enemy carried guns, not cameras," he added, looking directly over the lip of the old trench at a small clutch of Canadian TV and still cameras.

Now, I don't mean to be melodramatic here, but my great-grandfather fought at Vimy Ridge. Over 3500 Canadians died in the battle (not to mention the tens and tens of thousands of Allied soliders who died trying to take the Ridge before that) - and these soliders were really just kids when you think about it. And for Stephen Harper to compare something so profoundly horrifying to the fact that he doesn't much like the media just turns my stomach.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stephen Harper is an idiot.

It was a stupid thing to say, and I highly doubt that he would find anything wrong with it. It's unfortuante, and a big slap in the face to anyone who fought in the war.

The first rule of comparisons is to make sure you've experienced both.

Anonymous said...

AHHHH!! I hate him!!

We lost an entire generation of Canadians in that war -- 60,000, when our population was only 8 million.

In the WWI graveyards I have visited (in Belgium) there was not a single person buried there who had passed his 25th birthday. Truth be told -- the other side were a bunch of kids, too -- and no one knew what they were fighting for.

Don't get me started on the First World War -- and don't make light of it, for fuck's sake.

Mrs. Harper's reaction (as per the picture) seems reasonable, though. I have rarely cried so uncontrollably as I did when I visited the Canadian war dead at Ypres and Paschendaele. It was HEARTBREAKING.

The Swanky Bastard said...

Is it possible for this guy to open his mouth, and say something that actually makes him likable? Every time I read something else he's said I think less and less of him. Is anyone else sick of politicians who constantly cry victim? And to do it at Vimy is beyond despicable.