The Hate-America-First Mentality of Vancouverites

This afternoon on CKNW I heard some rather disturbing things heard from callers about Canada's presence in Afghanistan. You can listen to it here (33:18). I got so upset that I wrote the host, Sean Leslie, this e-mail:

Free speech is a good thing but I must admit that hearing open-line callers on 'NW frequently saddens me. "Gary" and the junior members of his choir seem oblivious to the fact that their hatred toward America (and often toward Israel) completely obscures any sense of a reasoned thought process about foreign policy. On every single broadcast day it seems we hear such people calling up to 'NW and blathering on & on about how America & Israel are the Great Satans of the world and are to blame for every problem that now exists in the world.

How terribly short these peoples' memories are. It was just 2 decades ago when Ronald Reagan freed hundreds of millions of people trapped behind the Iron Curtain of the U.S.S.R. Without his determined actions the citizens of these nations would not be enjoying the freedom and democracies they have today. The ending of the Cold War thankfully did not require a shot to be fired but sometimes force is necessary. Have Canadians become so privileged and pampered that now even one death has them running? I often wonder if these critics have any idea of how many Canadians often died in any one battle of World Wars 1 & 2? In their minds, I guess, Canadians "have always been peacekeepers" so therefore never participated in these previous wars.

I absolutely reject the notion that Freedom and Democracy are only "American Neo-Con" concepts. Is the true meaning of "Canadian values" in the New Millennium actually an absence of all values entirely? We cannot help out every country in the world but I will never understand why seemingly so many CKNW listeners don't even want to help out one!!

P.S. I strongly encourage all your listeners to Google "Michael Yon" (the last name is spelled Y-O-N) to learn more about what is really going on in Afghanistan and Iraq.