So back sometime last week I posted a link to this article on my facebook page. At the time I had only taken the time to read the article but none of the comments. I later took the time to read the comments left by others and started to realize that the way in which the article was written definitely helped inflame a passion for something that has bothered me for years even though the story itself was not really relevant to the actual topic.
I want to start by saying that I do not feel that I am in anyway prejudice against any single group of people, culture, religion or any other defining characteristic.
What I do get frustrated by (and based on many comments that I read at the end of that article I am not alone in this) is the idea that it sometimes feels that although we are a democracy, it's still the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. I unfortunately think that Muslim's are getting more then their share of attention in this matter do to what many westerners feel a extremist type views on religion, plus the fact that we have had soldiers in Muslim based countries for the better part of 2 decades. The media seems to portray them as people that refuse to integrate and instead wish for Canadians to change instead.
This is certainly how I felt when the turban was allowed to be part of the RCMP uniform. To this day I think it is a shining example of 2 things.
1) A single person with a strong enough belief in something can change the "world"
2) The squeaky wheel gets taken care of in Canada.
I as a white male Canadian am now made to feel ashamed of using words like Christmas, Christmas Tree, and any other number of Christian based holiday's that we the "conqueror's" of this land celebrate. I state it that way since there was a comment from a Muslim woman stating that we were all immigrants and if we didn't like her religious views we could all go back to our native lands. Well yes it's true, we are for the most part immigrants to this land, and right or wrong we did "conquer" this lands native people. When it comes to war, the winners get to make the rules for the last 200 or so years we've been a christian based nation.
Okay well I could go on and on but I think I've described how I feel about this. What is more important to me is how do get back to a majority rule while protecting the rights of those that may need help.
I read a quote while doing some research for this... I can't seem to find it again, but to paraphrase; "Democracy is the highest form of government to have evolved so far".
I think that is a very valid statement because agree or not with my thougths above I doubt there are many people who believe democracy is without some flaws. How do we continue to evolve our form of leadership to better represent the masses? Also how do we start leveraging this new information age... the always connected world for more then just political marketing. We've had referendums... an expensive and messy process... What if all major issues were up for debate at the citizen level. What if we all had a voice... not once every 4 years or so... but daily... I'm thinking at first the squeaky wheels would continue to win as the standard Canadian pacifist mentality continues to rear it's ugly head... but I'm thinking in short order people would start to take notice...
Okay I know... even if you have a majority of people voting for something does not necessarily make it right... or smart... we all see how that plays out with common sense... but we need to do something... I don't wish to see democracy die by any means, I love the idealism of democracy, but with how I am being made feel as a homegrown Canadian I want to see change. I want to celebrate Christmas, not because of religious beliefs but because it's what my family and I do. I want to be able to go to the store and buy stuff for Christmas... not holiday stuff.. Christmas stuff... not a holiday tree... but a Christmas tree. Why can a Turban be worn in the RCMP or a sword carried in the house of commons and I can't buy a bloody Christmas tree?
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
Thanks for reading!
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