The Con liberal Andrew Coyne called them a violent mob. The windy little teabagger Rex Murphy called their protest a self-indulgent parody.
The petty-bourgeois hack Margaret Wente did her ghastly Marie Antoinette impression.
But now Michael Den Tandt has gone one deranged step further, and called for the Quebec students to be caned.
There’s a better way: Dispersal with massive use of tear gas; then arrest, public humiliation, and some pain. In 1994, an 18-year-old American named Michael Fay, living in Singapore, was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of vandalism and mischief, after he keyed several expensive cars. He was sentenced to four months in jail, a $3,500 (Singaporean dollars) fine and six strokes of the cane, applied to his bare buttocks.
Barbaric? Not really. Arguably, caning is more merciful than incarceration for an energetic young vandal on the cusp of becoming a full-fledged career criminal. Many would probably rather be caned than locked up, given their druthers.
Caned like they are Singapore...
And I really don't know what to say? Except is he serious? Is it booze? Is it dementia? What kind of kinky stuff is this?
And of course what kind of savage country are we becoming?
You know the other day a friend of mine said the problem is the boomers invented the youth culture. But now they are old, so they hate the young with a passion. And this is the beginning of a brutal generational war.
But I prefer to think it's just another sign that Canada, corrupted by the filth of Stephen Harper and his Con thugs, has lost its way. And doesn't even recognize that the young are its future. And that they are fighting for a better world.
"When we defend the right to free public education to serve the people and their needs, we confront the bigger fishes that are obstacles along our path. And it is at this point that we must be more ingenious, more intelligent, more committed, more relevant, to avoid falling into the game and strategy of those who wish to divide us, frighten us, those who see us as hardliners, as delinquents.
A better world for ALL of us here now, and all future generations.
And I did point out to my friend that not all older Canadians are on the wrong side of history...
Didn't you just love that fighting senior telling the cops what he thought of them?
Yup. Michael Den Tandt should shove that cane where the sun don't shine.
The Con media should restrain themselves.
And the Quebec students should keep on marching...
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9 comments:
So right-wingers screech about paying more money to government (or even not paying less money), and it's good and godly.
But students protest about paying more money to government, and the right advocates violence against the students to shut them up.
Try to imagine a journalist in a national paper calling for the caning of CEOs and banksters. You can't.
Tell your friend at least one sexagenarian baby boomer does not hate the youth with a passion. (The boomer meme is just a lazy cliche, anyway. We are not all rich conservatives.) In fact, I prefer the company of young people. I fully endorse the actions of the Quebec students and agree with Boris at The Galloping Beaver in wishing that our own students in BC would show some of the same moxy and take it to the streets.
Maybe contempt of parliament should be a canning offence? Or how about lying to parliament? Or padding expenses? Or single sourcing a contract? Or giving a million dollars to a friend for his favorite cause?
Oh heck, let the Surete move in, arresting everyone in sight regardless of what they might or might not have done. Then tout a court Justice that would decimate the ranks and decree a caning or twenty of the decimated in the public square.
Make sure the corporal punishment is very public. Force people to line the square to witness it. Let people tweet it and film it to the world at large.
Because that will definitely, *definitely*, calm things down with the students of Quebec and outside la belle province. Why, back in the day when there were nuns and priests were given a free hand with the ruler and leather strap on students, deference to authority and order was assured!
Eeeyah.
hi anonymous...I can't imagine any journalist calling for any other group of Canadians to be beaten bloody. So when I first read the article I was shocked, and then I was disgusted. It's OK to criticize the students, but calling for them to be brutalized it's simply beyond the pale...
hi Jymn...well of course I knew you didn't. You're a good progressive. And of course you can't generalize about the boomers, their are good and bad ones just like there are good and bad young people. However, I have noticed that young people seem to make a lot of older people really angry. It happened during the Occupy protests, and I really have to wonder why.I don't think we're even close to a generational war, but there are some disturbing signs. And since the Harper Cons are always looking for some way to pit one group of Canadians against the other, we all need to be on our guard...
hi Steve... I think any kind of corporal punishment is absolutely barbaric. But yes, if we are going to start caning people I can think of some far better candidates than a group of young people fighting for lower tuition and dreaming of a better world...
hi Niles...Eeyah indeed. And yes I am sure that would definitely calm things down. On the other hand I believe that a judicious amount of horse tranquilizer might be just what Den Tandt needs.Because he definitely needs to be restrained before he makes a jackbooted jackass out of himself......
I'm booking this and RED-Squaring it on ALL travels. From the Paific to the Atlantic (I'm ONT) let's get (PETrudeau)-way pissed off.
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