Monday, June 06, 2011

Easy

A lot of anger and tsk tsk type condemnation of Brigette DePape. Oh my, this girl betrayed Parliamentary decorum with a spontaneous expression of personal opinion. How dare a young Canadian engage in such offense, within an institution that betrays all these holier than thou arguments EVERY SINGLE DAY. I agree, perhaps the venue was inappropriate, but how people are analyzing tradition and decorum, I'm wondering if they're commenting on Ottawa, or some fantasy land that only exists in theory.

DePape's action was a "stunt", it was planned, pre-mediated, devised to garner personal attention. Depape's protest was also somewhat original, or maybe more a novelty, by Canadian standards, which explains the disporportionate attention. However, Parliament routinely sees stunts, props, inappropriate behaviour, swearing, gestures, personal attacks, you name it, it's happened, so excuse me if I don't share the purist inspired, almost nonsensical read of how things should operate. I would say the actions of one young employee are minor in the grand scheme, the fact she rightfully got CANNED, well that's the price, anything beyond is just self righteous indignation.

The argument isn't about the past election, who won, it's about a girl who is passionate, who took an opportunity to express herself. Agree or disagree, but it's just one young Canadian who didn't want to remain silent. I don't plan on keeping quiet for the next four years, particularly because democracy isn't absolute or fixed in time, it's fluid and continually challenges.

I see a young woman who cares about her country and wanted to do something about issues she feels needed to be addressed. I think Brigette DePape should have been fired immediately, her expression can't be tolerated in Parliament and she was dealt with properly. As for the attention, well activists for every cause, right and left, are always looking for novel ways to get some- mission accomplished Brigette! I'm leaving the picture on my sidebar, because beyond all the STUFFY analysis, I see the antipathy of apathy. I see someone who wants their voice heard, no harm done, it's democracy, MESSY and sometimes yes, oh my GOOOOOODDDDD, rebellious in nature.

21 comments:

sassy said...

the antipathy of apathy

Thank goodness!!

Dame said...

i am SOOOOOO delighted with her and her act is something of pivotal in this dreadful times.. she shook and woke up us who went "back To sleep" since there is nothing we can do now...
she simply stated the fact ... this" majority " is a lie

and Harper is NOT representing the MAJORITY..
her action is the ONLY WAY to show the TRUTH.

Steve V said...

Even if it was a clear majority or "Harper just won an election", that doesn't mean anything when it comes to expression. Irrelevant.

Jennifer Smith said...

[slow clap] Thank you, Steve.

rockfish said...

Completely agree. For the contempt they've shown for parliament and Canadians who want to know what's going on, the CONs wedged out a majority.
Talk about life giving out lemons...

Tof KW said...

Did Brigette DePape show disrespect for Parliament with her act?

Yes.

However she was promptly lead out of the building and fired for it.

By proroguing to avoid non-confidence votes and inquiries, and being found in contempt of Parliament; the Harper Government® has been disrespecting the institution to far, far greater and dangerous degrees.

Yet they win a majority.

This country is truly fucked, and Ms DePape shows us exactly why. I don't agree with her methods, but then again, how has being nice & following the rules worked for the Liberal Party lately?

A suggestion for the new LPC...
RatPack V2.0!

WesternGrit said...

Edginess is key. No protest in history has begun "within" the bounds of appropriate and acceptable societal behavior. Like the 60's students who ran "lock-ins" at college campuses, or the civil rights marchers, she did something which was deemed wrong by the rules of the day, and by the official sentiment of the day.

As one Liberal I know said, "Acts of rebellion are the seeds of revolution". This was certainly a rebellious act.

Joe said...

Dame this majority is not a lie. Let me explain it to you. Our vote was not for or against Harper. Rather our vote was one choice on a menu of choices. We as a Canadian family got together and decided what item off the menu we wanted. The item on the menu the most wanted was the item we would all get.

Choice one: Get a divorce. (Bloc)
Choice two: Get a 'full body massage' NDP
Choice three: Go traveling to far way places. Liberal
Choice four: Go hug a polar bear Green
Choice five: Stay home and play chess: Conservative

Notice the options are separate and we decided over a century ago that we couldn't get a full body massage from a polar bear in Brazil by using our Queen to file for divorce.

Now some would say that not choosing is a choice and so it is it is a choice to go along with what ever everyone else decides.

Now while most Canadians opted for the I'll just go along with everyone else's choice more Canadians chose chess than chose massage than chose travel than chose divorce than chose hugging polar bears. Therefore legitimately we will be playing chess for the next four years. Now if you still want to travel or hug polar bears or get a massage or a divorce then please keep advocating for your choice and perhaps next time we have a family meeting your choice will prevail. In the mean time you belittle everyone who chose differently than you and thus you show your democratic immaturity.

Steve V said...

What a brutal analogy "Joe" :)

Tof KW said...

Joe, the choices offered to Canadians on May 2nd were:

1 – Azur traitors (valid only in Quebec)
2 - Green tree-huggers
3 – Orange commies
4 – Red former-crooks
5 – Blue current-crooks

The above list of options explains why ~40% didn’t bother to vote that day.

As for you supporting the Blue current-crooks… well goodie for you. But don’t complain about Ms DePape’s act of disobedience, because the dipshits you voted for have made a mockery of Parliament for 5 years now, and counting.

I think I would actually donate and vote for the Reform Party now if they came back, just for the MP recalls and greater roll for non-whipped private member’s bills.

Omar said...

4 – Red former-crooks
5 – Blue current-crooks


To differentiate them from the Red former-crooks, I'd add 'Ideologically creepy bordering on ideologically crazy' to that "Blue current-crooks" analogy

Joe said...

"But don’t complain about Ms DePape’s act of disobedience"

Didn't say a word about her in my post.

"because the dipshits you voted for have made a mockery of Parliament for 5 years now, and counting."

And more Canadians voted to return them to power than voted to give the Liberals the reigns or the NDP or the Bloc or the Greens or any of the other parties on the ballot. As I said when Chretien won his majority, "Now is the time for us to unite as a country and move forward toward a brighter tomorrow, not continue last night's argument".

Steve V said...

Yes Joe, and I'm sure you rallied behind Chretien, in the spirit of the new era and respect for the election results. Gag.

Dame said...

Joe you don't understand anything with nuances ?/
I said Harper Does not represent the Majority of Canadians ... therefore it is false to call it as a majority government period..
legally allowed to govern but not backed by most people...

You go and travel far- far .away it would be good for Canada

Dame said...

You must be Joe with six pack...lolol

urquhart said...

Please take the time to learn about how the Ontario court and both the Federal and Provincial Governments are allowing employers to abuse Canadian disabled employees. Watch these two videos, and read the Executive Summary of my Research Report on the subject.

http://ismymoneysafe.org/video/CTVMontrealOnYourSideJune1,2011.wmv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fvDjc7JmLQ


Systemic Failure of Employer Sponsored Disability Insurance June 2011

http://ismymoneysafe.org/pdf/SystemicFailureofEmployerSponsoredDisabilityInsurance.pdf

Diane A. Urquhart
Independent Financial Analyst
Mississauga, Ontario
Tel: (905) 822-7618
Cell: (647) 980-7618
E-mail: urquhart@rogers.com

Tof KW said...

People like Joe here remind me of this line...

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average
voter."
- Winston Churchill

Jacques Parizeau's whooper about being elected by idiots comes to mind too.

weeble said...

I admire her courage and conviction. It took guts to do what she did, knowing the consequences but unsure of the punishment.
It, to me, demonstrates that the youth feel that their voice is not heard. We need our youth to be engaged, they are our future.
She speaks for many...not just herself.

Jerry Prager said...

Of course she was in contempt of parliament, as Harper has been every day since he first became PM, the big difference is that the page wasn't in contempt of the majority of Canadians like SH has and will continue to be every day he is in power.

Sherwin Arnott said...

Have you seen what Senator David Tkachuk has said about this?

"I don't have to tell you what would have happened if she had something else inside her jacket instead of a poster."

The irony is that DePape never made a mention of violence. Now the Senator is talking about "safety" and weapons? WTF

WesternGrit said...

This is like 9-11 paranoia. Yes... let's ensure that every Parliamentary Page is pre-screened for pen and paper. THAT will make their jobs a lot easier.

Come ON. This is starting to get very childish over on the reactionary side of the political spectrum. No wonder they are called "reactionaries".

Her act of rebellion in protest was as unacceptable to the group she protested as any other act of protest in history... including the burning of draft cards in the USA. Actually LESS unacceptable than the burning of draft cards - since that was actually illegal.

The Senator's a partisan and speaking out of his ass.