October 11, 2001

I'm sorry to keep harping on this issue, but it seems to really affect me. It's the Thobani thing again. Now she's being investigated by the RCMP for inciting hatred or something like that. Usually a crime applied to people like Jim Keegstra, and his like. Hold up boys. What's going on here? A woman says a few words critical about the good old U.S. of A., and all of a sudden she's a criminal? This doesn't bode well at all. How many people share at least some of Thobani's views? A majority of the people I know, certainly do. Are we all to be arrested and tossed in jail? Is that how things are going to be? The suppression of democratic debate and free speech? Are we going back to McCarthyism? Back to the Inquisition? Are we in Nazi Germany? Come to think of it, I suspect that wartime Canada was like this anyways. We all have to be united in war.....or else.

I think that people underestimate the number of sympathizers with Thobani's views. I'm not talking about her more extreme views. I'm talking about her criticisms of the US. A lot of people out there agree with her. Why? Because what she said makes sense! There have been people writing and speaking about these things, not only before September 11, but after too. Both in Canada and the States. Why did she get lambasted? Because she didn't soften the edges of her speech? Because she's a female? Because she's a visible minority? Why? And now what? Are we all going to get rounded up by the cops and thrown in jail? Trust me. There aren't enough jails to go around. Maybe they'll build concentration camps. That'll be fun. =)

It's rather interesting the way things have happened. I heard that a woman in Ontario designed a new flag that you can buy and stick on your backpack or fly outside your house or whatever. It's the American flag, but instead of white stars in the top left hand corner, there are white maple leaves. That's an image that'll live on in my nightmares. Why this sudden love-in with the US? Canadians used to have a good healthy dislike of Americans. It was immature, but it was part of our identity. I think I mentioned this before, and Joni got upset with me. Well, I still think so, being not American is part of our identity. But no longer. Now, being one with America is part of our identity. So, basically, we are Americans? Yes? I think that this attack has divided the country. Those who had problems with America as an institution before -- they like America even less now. And there are more of those than people think. And those who half admired America before -- they are now full-blooded Americans.

A couple further notes. It's really nice of America to give the Afghanis a last supper before slaughtering them. Every day they come out with news of "successful air strikes". What does successful mean anyways? That they managed to get their bombs away? That they killed over a certain number of people? The more I see of this war, the more I sympathize with the Muslims. How many people were killed on September 11? 5000 or so? Surely there's been that many Afghanis killed already. Are they all collateral damage in the search for bin Laden?

Oh, another interesting thing. The US military has asked for Hollywood's help to think up possible terrorist targets, methods of attack and defenses. I literally don't know what to say about that one.