Oh, Canada...Really?

     Think about all the great questions that mankind is dealing with these days, and I'm thinking about the big ones like the origins of the universe, and whether or not God exists, and if he does why is he afraid to show his face, or the excruciating moral dilemmas imposed by modernity; or why is this moron torturing us with his blog again (we'll get back to that later). Right up there at the top has to be, "Why are Canadiens burning books?" 

    Seriously, these are Canadians! Canadians are, well, nice...aren't they? Down to earth people who don't really bother anybody; nice as can be, and polite beyond imagination. I mean, I'm Canadian!  Well, my mother was born in Canada, so that makes me, well, close to Canadian. But believe it or not there are other humans even more famous than me who are Canadian. People like Michael J. Fox and Anne Murray and the band RUSH (Man About Town Chip Magee made me type that last one); Justin Bieber, Keanu Reeves and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson! All Canadians and harmless...well, like me, Reeves and Johnson were not born in Canada but they lived there. So according to the Canadian website that I'm looking at, Canada has adopted them. Hey, at least my mom was born there. 

    Anyway, my point is that everything we ever learned about Canada is that the people up there are awesome. But (and there's always a "BUT"), now it seems that they have joined the club headed by our old pals the Nazis, and have lowered themselves to book burning. Yes boys and girls, our Canadian friends have become book burners. Let's dive in.

    According to various news outlets, a group called Conseil scolaire catholique Providence, a French-language school board for southwestern Ontario, launched an "educational program a couple of years ago called Giving Back to Mother Earth". They wanted to replace books that they said had "outdated content and carried negative stereotypes about First Nations, Metis and Inuit people." Under this program more than 4,700 children's books across the province were targeted. Encyclopedias, biographies of French explorers and even French and Belgian comics. These targeted books were destroyed in flames that no doubt brought tears of joy to these Canadian progressives. Assholes. They even made a video for students, no doubt for indoctrination purposes. "We bury the ashes of racism, discrimination and stereotypes in the hope that we will grow up in an inclusive country where all can live in prosperity and security." Well now.

    Here's a thought for these nitwits north of our border. Because people are human and many of them suck, you're never going to bury racism, discrimination and stereotypes. Books and the art of reading are one of the leading and singular ways to combat these lesser angels of our nature. Part of the art of reading is to enjoy and maybe find wisdom in the words of great authors. Another consequence of proper reading is to understand (by an expansion of the mind) what went wrong in a nation's past and what is wrong now. In that way, these students can hopefully not fall into these traps and maybe, just maybe, grow up with greater wisdom and understanding. But you don't BURN BOOKS!! Nazis burn books; Communists burn books.  Hmmm...something simpler, more basic, "Burning books bad, reading books good."  Idiots.

    Let's be clear; this is not a Canadian thing. My first title for this piece was "Dear Canada. You Suck." But Man About Town Chip Magee reminded that these people were no doubt a minority in that fair country. And let's be honest - they probably took their cue from those same forces here in the US. These forces are all around us. My fear is that not enough people are taking a stand against it. Here in America real book burning seems to be a little passe. That said, Canada's progressive cousins to their south have perfected the art of electronic book burning where authors are being cancelled by Amazon or whoever because their subjects and points of view run counter to their orthodoxy (meanwhile, Hitler's Mean Kampf is still an Amazon bestseller...think about that). 

    As books are being burned, by fire and by the progressive electronic gatekeepers, and people are being cancelled on a weekly basis by those same troglodytes and neanderthals here and in Canada (and everywhere else for that matter), I proudly join those who are taking a stand. Who knows, maybe I'll get cancelled. I'll be in good company. In the words of the great British philosopher Phil Collins, "I Don't Care Anymore."

Hey, it's good be back!