Montreal Burns

Why is it so hard for politicians and media to call out violence when initiated by certain groups? Plus a few observations on the ongoing hypocrisy of some New Zealand sportspeople.

You will have not seen any reporting here in New Zealand, but a few days ago there were significant and violent riots in Montreal, Canada.  Police were attacked, cars burned, buildings smashed, fires lit, and calls for revolution and to globalise the intifada.

As you might expect, it was the usual suspects: Pro-Palestinian groups, supporters of terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Marxist radicals, anti-capitalists, anti-NATO activists, and other revolutionaries and anarchists.

Perhaps because of who these protesters were, there was little to no coverage in mainstream media.   Whether such violence by these groups has become normalised that politicians and media ignore them is hard to know.  What is obvious is a degree of complicity to not put the spotlight on these groups.  While a grab bag of dissidents, they all share a similar aim – the destruction of the West, it’s Judeo-Christian values, and the rights and freedoms we have come to cherish.  Add to this a strong dose of antisemitism and you have quite the cocktail.  These are not simply my impressions – these are represented by the words of the protestors themselves, explicitly calling for the destruction of Canada, of the United States, and the Jews and Israel. 

Now you would think it would be good for media to shed some light on these people – some who appear to have fled their home countries but thought, for good measure, to bring the violence with them.  But again, no.  There seems to be an increasing inability for politicians and media to focus on who these people are, the beliefs behind them, or what they actually aim to achieve.

This is not only a Canadian problem.  We have the same groups here and while we have not yet seen this level of violence, the same mindsets prevail.   It is also supported by woke commentators such as Max Harris who wrote recently in The Post of Hezbollah (an indisputable terrorist group) as a legitimate parliamentary party and social service provider in Lebanon.   For various Lebanese and Iranian friends of mine, this has come as quite a surprise, as well as to anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of foreign affairs.  As these friends and others have pointed out, The Post has not accepted any rebuttal to such an egregious and biased opinion piece.

Not only do we have to contend with such unbalanced opinion pieces, but also to have events that do not support the narrative (such as violent riots in Montreal) being ignored. 

More positively, the response from Canada’s Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, has been 100% spot on.  He also rightly targets Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who, while Montreal burned, danced away at a Taylor Swift concert and again finds it near impossible to call out the ‘who’ involved.  Pierre writes:

You [Justin Trudeau] act surprised. We are reaping what you sowed.

This is what happens when a Prime Minister spends 9 years pushing toxic woke identity politics, dividing and subdividing people by race, gender, vaccine status, religion, region, age, wealth, etc.

On top of driving people apart, you systematically break what used to bring us together, saying Canada is a “post-national state” with “no core identity.”

You erased our veterans and military, the Famous Five and even Terry Fox from our passport to replace them with meaningless squirrels, snowflakes and a drawing of yourself swimming as a boy.

You opened the borders to terrorists and lawbreakers and called anyone who questioned it racist.

You send out your MPs to say one thing in a mosque and the opposite in a synagogue, one thing in a mandir and the opposite in a gurdwara.

You have made Canada a playground for foreign interference. You allowed Iran’s IRGC terrorists to legally operate here for four years after they murdered 55 of our citizens in a major unprovoked attack.

You passed laws that release rampant offenders from prison within hours of their 80th arrest. And what is the result? Assassinations on Canadian soil, firebombings of synagogues, extremist violence against mandirs and gurdwaras, over 100 churches burned or vandalized (with barely any condemnation from you), all for a total 251% more hate crime.

And, while you were dancing, Montreal was burning. We won’t let you divide us anymore. Call an election now. We will fire you and reclaim our citizenship, our values, our lives, our freedom and, most of all, our country.

MORE SPORTING HYPOCRICY

Back in March this year I wrote a Substack on the hypocritical approach to politics in sport.  At that time, it was a women’s rugby team performing a haka that referenced the government as ‘rednecks’.  In recent days we have had an All Black decide to use the team’s haka to promote his particular view of the ‘Treaty Principles Bill’.   He stated that “it's important to him.” 

Hypocrisy continues blindly

Well, Israel Folau also expressed a range of views that were important to him (as did his wife).  And just like TJ Perenara, he took an opportunity to express them.  Both mixed sport and politics.

Yet, as I noted in the previous Substack, the hypocritical response is clearly on display for all to see.  There is no consistency in approach – just what you might term a situational ethic.  That is, something is right or wrong depending on the cause.  If your views are progressive, liberal (in the worst sense of the word), entitled and so on then you are to be celebrated.  If not, then your public actions are to be decried and preferably, your career destroyed. 

The irony that Perenara was one of the loudest voices attacking Folau for his opinions shouldn’t be lost on anyone.  I don’t follow the rugby close enough to know how good, or not, Perenara is - but it is easy to see that he’s rather self-indulgent and self-entitled.