Contributed by: evilscientist
The Tories have been making it so easy to write about politics these days. Here's a another doozie, this time from the mouth of the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary, Jason Kenney.I refer to Goodwin's Law in the title, which refers to the fact that the longer any on-line discussion takes, the more likely someone's going to start comparing things to the Nazi's or to Hitler. In his statement, Kenney compares Hezbullah to the Nazis, since both had political wings and both wanted to kill Jews, Kenny has shown that the discussion of the Middle East has run face first into Goodwin's Law. It would appear that the Conservative government has run out of logical arguments to blindly support Israel in it's "measured response" and has turned to a reductio ad Hitlerum type arguments to demonetize who they see as an enemy.
This isn't to say that Hezbullah is all sweetness and light, the political wing needing to reject the violence wing in order to gain credence in the international community, however Kenney's remarks just don't help the discussion. In fact, Kenney's remarks show a complete lack of understanding of the situation in the Middle East. Politics in the Mid-East are full of nuances that can't be simplified in the manner that Mr. Kenney is trying to do. For there to be peace in the Mid-East, one has to engage all parties politically, Hezbullah included, or else the bombs and rockets will continue to explode.
This is just another example of how Conservatives, especially those from Calgary, just don't get the subtleties of politics. This is because, back home here in Cowtown, they've never had to be subtle. To get elected in this Berg, all you have to do is declare yourself a Tory and win a nomination. The nomination meeting is where the politics happen, if any for these people. Even then, it really comes down to who's signed up the most members, and if you're the incumbent, the party stacks the deck in your favour by giving your opponents about a week to do all that. This all tends to teach the Calgary School Tories that they don't have to be subtle to succeed. The problem is, this lack of subtlety doesn't work well outside of Alberta. It definitely doesn't work in the international community.
So here lies our problem as a nation. Our current political leaders who have no clue about how to subtly run anything are trying to manage a situation that requires the utmost subtlety. The only saving grace is that Canada isn't a major player in the region and the Tories aren't likely to do much damage in this areas, unlike the Bush Administration.
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Evilness
http://www.evilscientist.ca/article.php?story=20060822115006230