How much more blood must be spilled?

This past Wednesday afternoon, at fifteen years of age, Jordan Manners of Toronto entered martyrdom. This young man was the latest in a lengthy line of souls victimized by a culture in which brute force is believed to be the solution to our problems. This is the latest tragic event to fan the flames of the ongoing ratings war between our rival news sources. His is the latest face to be affixed to the poster for the never-ending campaign to "get tough on crime".

In the wake of this young man's untimely demise, they're already whispering the magic s-word: security. "More cameras! More metal detectors! More police officers!" they cry, all the while failing to see how their logic ignores the reality completely. Is a camera going to stop someone from shooting you dead? How about metal detectors at the entrances of your school or workplace? Do you think the assailant won't just shoot you outside? I'm sick of this ass-backwards reactionary approach to crime because it has never worked, it is not working, and it is not going to work! For every one we incarcerate, our society creates about a dozen more, and no metal detector is going to save your ass from them.

It's easy for most of us to view this event in isolation, as a child being shot to death, and point fingers because we do not see the rest of it. We do not see the immense financial gain brought forth by guns. We do not live among those unfortunate souls who have to kill to survive, to earn their daily bread. The mortician isn't the only one who says death is good for business. The bullets that claimed the lives of this young man and the rest of our brothers and sisters, in the streets and on the front lines, will be replaced by more bullets. Our politicians talk of wanting to bring an end to murder, yet send us overseas to kill and die for their causes. Our world will forever be so until we all wake the fuck up.

My heart breaks for the grieving family and friends: you did not deserve to lose your loved one, not like this. It's even more unsettling to know that the consortium responsible for creating the conditions that took Jordan from you are going to use his death to lecture us on how they're going to get us to behave while they flood the global market with more firearms. When a child is slain in the schoolyard, we call it "tragic", yet when a child is slain on the battlefield, we call it "patriotic". I, for one, am tired of watching our children slain.

Jordan, I hope, one day, you may rest in peace.

nanoseconds

Our time here lasts but a nanosecond.
We cannot take the world with us
when it is time to go.
We leave this world to our children,
so why waste our time trying to grab for ourselves?
What will be left for them?
Our gift to this world
is to leave it in a better state
than in which we found it.

Jack and Jill went up the Hill...

For those who did not grow up in front of the television in Canada, Donald S. Cherry (pictured left) has been a fixture on the Saturday evening ice hockey broadcast - and every other evening during the two-month-long spring playoff season - sharing with us his insights on all things hockey, among other matters. The exact figure escapes me, but, in short, our national television network, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a product of our tax dollars, pays this good old Canadian boy roughly $750,000 annually complaining about how soft and weak and delicate European players are, reminiscing on days of yore, when verbal and physical assault made one "tough", and throwing the odd shout-out to the troops overseas fighting for our freedom to consume and conform.

I want to draw your attention to my most recent encounter with Mr. Cherry on my television set. Monday evening, he made his usual appearance after the first period of the hockey game, during which time, he offered congratulations to our national team, captained by one Shane Doan (pictured right), on their recent victory at the world championship. He commended the team for rally around Mr. Doan, as he was the centre of recent controversy in our House of Commons, as members of the opposition questioned whether or not he was an appropriate choice for captain of Team Canada after allegedly uttering a racial slur towards a Francophone official during a match in Montréal. The argument was, if tax dollars are being used to send these men to this tournament, should they be paying for a racist to be captain?

Just about every hockey fan in the country rallied behind the ruling Anglo party to denounce this criticism. Mr. Cherry himself contributed his two cents on his segment, saying how "Jack and Jill" - his quaint reference to NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe - were giving poor Shane Doan a hard time over nothing. Do you hear that, folks? Racial slurs are "nothing"; leave the White hockey player alone. He has championships to win and millions of dollars to make.

As far as I'm concerned, Shane Doan is a racist, as are Don Cherry, Stephen Harper, and the rest of the White hockey fans who rallied behind him, but it's not exactly his fault, for, you see, he was born into an Anglo household. Much like in any Anglo household - and, for that matter, any other ethnic home - his first exposure to a member of an ethnicity other than his own was more than likely through a racial slur. It was the same for me, as it was likely the same for you: our parents, our aunts, our uncles made their "nigger" jokes and their "frog" jokes and their "wop" jokes at the dinner table and in the living room. Sure, we were able to get along with members of other ethnic groups, but the moment we set foot into our friendly confines, these people were suddenly beneath us. There are forces at work aiming to preserve this; they can be found throwing up their arms at "political correctness" for trampling on their right to be insensitive fucks who let racial slurs slip out in a fit of anger in order to send the message that "You are less than human."

Shane Doan, if the allegations are true, although I condemn what you did, I don't think ill of you as a person. I hope, if anything, this experience will open your eyes to the pitfalls of your White upbringing. Despite your being a jock - of course, I never met you, so I can't gauge your personality, but I gather it's awfully tempting to fall into the paradigm of "jock" when you're growing up a handsome young hockey player on the fast track to easy street - and my being a nerd, I do not hate you: I merely pity you.

Come to think of it, perhaps Shane Doan was the ideal choice as Canada's captain: who better to lead the team representing this Great White Imperial Nation than an alleged overt racist? My problem over this whole thing isn't with what Shane Doan might have said, but rather with the hypocrisy of the White opposition, who would not be on this land had their racist forefathers not rid it of its "savage" population.