When Islam spread into backward places long ago, it prohibited the consumption of pork on religious and health grounds. Unable to carry on without eating pork in some places, the locals gave the pig another name and continued to eat its meat. We see here that when people come under compulsion, even the primitives among them find a way to get around the difficulty and make their problem go away as if by magic.
In this case, by the simple trick of renaming the pig, the people turned the animal into something they could put back on the menu. As for the animal that existed before the name change, well that one became a mythical creature that no longer exists. And because it is not here anymore, it cannot stand between the need of the people to eat a nutritious meal and the need to comply with their religious obligations. To quote Shakespeare, all is well that ends well.
Morphing something to change reality is an art form that is not lost on modern societies. In fact, it may be said that the form has become the currency for interaction between people of all backgrounds. And the difference between the ancient practices and the modern ones is that the modern expression of the art has been given a vast array for disguises.
For example, we use different words or expressions to describe the same thing depending on who the thing is attributed to. A notorious example in this category is that of the word retaliate which we use when we do the deed ourselves or when our friends do it. But when someone we dislike does the same deed, we say they are taking revenge.
Not only do we use different words to mean the same thing, we use different mindsets to speak of the same thing. A good example to give in this category is that of Stephen Harper, Canada’s Prime Minister who turned upside down Canada’s tradition of being a peacekeeper to the World, a tradition that started before he was born and was adhered to until he took office.
The Prime Minister agreed to change Canada’s role in Afghanistan from being a mission of peacekeeping to one of combat. This may or may not turn out to be a good idea in the long run; only time will tell. But this is not the bewildering part concerning Mr. Harper’s doing; this part will come in a minute and will seem like something right out of the Twilight Zone.
Harper lauded the combat role that Canada has taken in Afghanistan, describing it in terms of the courage, honor and duty which are words usually engendered by militaristic speeches. The trouble is that Harper did this at the same time as he decreed that the soldiers who served with courage and died with honor fulfilling their duty must not be shown to the public when they come home on their final journey to their resting place.
But this is not the bewildering part in Mr. Harper’s thinking either because here too, it may still be possible for someone to strain credulity and make an argument that would explain the contradictions in the Harper mindset. But where the rope breaks and the argument shatters is when we look at the following aspect of the Harper mindset.
This one came to light when United Nation peacekeepers that included Canadian soldiers in Southern Lebanon were deliberately murdered by Israel. Harper’s reaction was to scold the dead soldiers by asking derisively: “What were they doing there anyway, didn’t they know there was a war going on?” This is so unreal it is out of the Twilight Zone.
It seems that Harper has at least two views of the Canadian soldiers. One view paints them as valiant young men and women who fight the bad guys out there to save us good guys down here. And the other view is that the soldiers are disposable things who sometimes go astray and do bad things. And what would be the bad things? They would be the fulfillment of the duties to which the soldiers were assigned by Canada such as keeping the peace where Israel does not want to see peace. Therefore, according to the Harper mindset, Israel can murder Canadian soldiers and count on his blessings, his cheers and his encouragement.
Under ordinary circumstances such a deficiency in personal, political or professional morality would be viewed as a case of split personality or a mental affliction. However, there are times when there is more to the story than this as there may be a long history behind the apparent deficiency and/or affliction.
In fact, Stephen Harper does not seem to have been born deficient or afflicted with any known illness. It is more likely he was damaged by the circumstances through which he was forced to live on his way to getting where he is now. Someday it may be shown that Harper was a victim of such circumstances as much as the souls he is victimizing on account of his intellectual and moral cowardice in addition to his feeble connection with reality.
Stephen Harper now heads the Conservative Party of Canada but things did not start out this way. They started when he was just another member of a regional party that was known for its racist and “anti-Semitic” stand. When the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada lost badly to the Liberals in one election, all conservative movements in Canada joined forces and merged to stand in opposition to the Liberals. For the move to succeed and for the merged party to win a national standing, Harper’s regional group had to change its racist philosophy.
During the numerous steps of that metamorphosis, Harper had risen in the ranks until he eventually became head of the Conservative Party of Canada and was elected Prime Minister. But awful things must have happened during that rise which made Harper lose his humanity if not the control over his mental faculties. Exactly what those awful things were will be difficult to assess at this stage as they are the sort of moments and events that only history can shed light on. Thus, we must wait decades before the real story will be told.
But we can get an idea as to what may have happened to Harper when we study another historical event. This one involves the Canadian province of Quebec where a priest and educator called Lionel Groulx lived and died in the year 1967 at the ripe old age of 89. Anyone that knows something about this man or has read some of the things he wrote concedes that he was a chauvinist who disliked several races and religions, including the Jewish.
Despite his shortcomings, Lionel Groulx did good things for Quebec, and his people honor his memory all the time. But of all the groups that were offended by his writings, only the Jewish organizations milked the situation for all its worth. It is not that the organizations were offended by the man’s writings; they are never offended by such things. In fact, they call the discovery of this sort of writings a treasure trove and they celebrate every time they find one because it means that money, power and control will start to flow in their direction. These writings are like manna from the sky to the Jewish organizations who never abstain from milking them.
The thing, however, is that the French people in Quebec acknowledged the shortcomings of Lionel Groulx, gave in a little to the demands of the Jewish organizations then said enough is enough. But standing firm after you pay your dues is something that never happens in the English speaking world. And this is what enabled the Jewish organizations to get around the French character and exploit the Lionel Groulx saga. They got this opportunity when an Anglophone was appointed Minister of Education in Quebec at which time they did their shtick and got themselves a whale of a deal.
I wrote about this incident in the book whose publication was blocked by those infamous Jewish organizations, and the following two paragraphs are a reprint of the pertinent passages:
“But the Jewish leaders had something up their sleeve for Quebec too. At a time when the Provincial Government was cutting on education and the student loan programs, the Jewish leaders worked secretly with the English speaking Minister of Education and managed to get cheques totaling millions of dollars for their religious schools despite the existence of a law that forbids it. And all this happened even as the Jewish leaders preached the principle of separating church and state which they wanted to see enforced on all religions except theirs. When this reality came to light, the students in Quebec rose up and threatened to shut down the Province. The money to Jews was cut off, grants and loans to students were increased and the Minister of Education was fired.”
“Still, a phony explanation was given for what happened but it made matters worse which is what the leaders were aiming for to begin with. They said the money was given to promote understanding between the two communities. We already understand, replied the students, we understand that you will push the envelop further still until something drastic happens then bellyache your songs of anti-Semitism and ask for new money to combat it. And the Jewish leaders wrung their hands with glee, congratulating themselves and each other for a job well done. Anti-Semitism was given new oxygen to breathe and to revive in Quebec. All that is needed now is an incident or two and they will be back in the money again.”
The bet is that in the same way the Jewish organizations made use of a historical situation in Quebec to milk the Province of all they could, they are now making use of the “anti-Semitism” that existed in the regional party to which Stephen Harper belonged in order to milk Canada of all that they can.
In the case of the Quebec Minister of Education all was not well and nothing ended well for him. As for what Harper is doing to Canada, history will have reason to express disgust because if you can rename the pig and make a problem go away as if by magic, you cannot explain a pigheaded mindset and make it look like a reasonable stand.