Canadian Native Leader Repudiates Liberal Welfare Mentality

Roy Green just had a glorious interview with Calvin Helin, an inspirational Native Leader in British Columbia. To hear it yourself just click here and tune to 34:30.

Helin spoke about self-reliance, not just for First Nations citizens across Canada but for East Germans and Cubans and everyone else for that matter! Though he was not political in any way, his views & experience absolutely refute the entire liberal welfare mindset pushed by assorted political parties throughout the world.

Here, in part, is what I said in an e-mail, which was read on-air:

I loved hearing the logically sound words of your guest! It sounds like he is wholly rejecting the liberal welfare-state mentality that has been so prevalent in our country for so long. May I scream "BRAVO!" from the rooftops?! It's loooooong overdue that we stopped treating all people in Canada as victims, for it does them NO good in the long run!

Why is it so difficult for anyone to understand that if you take away a person's self-reliance that you destroy their incentive - to work hard, to better themselves, to aspire to be the best that they can be. No one is saying that there should be no compassion for the less fortunate, but when such empathy turns into pity then a very unhealthy tipping point is crossed. On a larger scale, such pity is exemplified by the permanent victim status (PVS) given to many through the institutionalized welfare state.

I've long wondered how anyone could possibly support the enabling of such PVS policies. From a cynical point of view, politicians have an incentive to do so because it garners them votes from whomever they can get to adopt this mindset. But is that the only thing at play?

Dennis Prager was the first one I ever heard provide a non-cynical explanation of why middle-class and upper-class individuals might very well support maintaining and even growing the welfare state. His thesis can be summed up in one sentence:

The most important value of people on the Left is . . . Equality.

Not equality of opportunity but equality of results. The Left's ultimate nirvana is a society where everyone earns the same amount of money, has the same comforts of life, has the same privileges, etc. It matters not how much a person works, how intelligent they are, how creative they are, how personable they are, or what risk they're prepared to take. Everybody deserves the same.

This sounds like a wonderful goal but it fails to take into account one important factor: reality. In the real world, some people choose to work more, others less or not at all. In the real world some people are smarter and more creative, others much less so. In the real world, some people can easily get along with others, whilst others don't get along with anyone. In the real world, some people are willing to make risky investments that may pay off big time or be lost completely, while others have very little tolerance for risk.

So while a society should indeed strive to provide reasonably equivalent opportunities for all of its citizens, when that goal is turned on its head and equal results are guaranteed no matter what, then individual incentive is diminished if not destroyed. In the extreme case, when risk of failure is removed as a possibility, then incentive - for an individual, a company, or a nation - quickly disappears.

Why these simple facts of human nature aren't immediately obvious to everyone, I will never understand. But a day of reckoning will come. It always does. For the State of California, I suspect that this time is not too far away. And for America as a whole, borrowing trillions and removing more & more people from the responsibility of paying income tax, the end result is as certain as the sun will rise in the East tomorrow morning. The only question is whether political parties in either place have the guts to truly follow the wisdom of people like Calvin Helin!

A Little Insight About Criminals

Dennis Prager said something today that I thought was rather profound:

"The commonalities I've seen amongst people involved in evil is that they always possess a combination of self-pity and arrogance."

If you know anyone who is involved in crime then I believe you'll find this to be very true.

Incidentally, he was discussing this this recent tragedy.

Heather Mallick: Now the Permanent Victim

The CBC's Heather Mallick is out with the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of her vicious, hateful attacks on Sarah Palin. This time though, she's feeling verrrrrrry sorry for herself.

Here's what Jonathan Kay had to say about it.

And here's the comment I left on the CBC site:

I am a Canadian living in Vancouver, Ms. Mallick. I also have a university degree. Being an educated urban Canadian, does that mean I have the right to comment on your writing without receiving ad hominem attacks from you?

You, madam, are a vulgar twit with the arrogance the height of an oak tree but the wisdom the size of an acorn. You've clearly spent most of your life with the "Yes" crowd or else were in complete denial about those chastising you ... probably most often for your own good. But you chose to listen to no one.

Now my tax dollars have gone to paying you to write a sob-ridden "I'm The Victim" missive. About the only positive thing this latest piece accomplished was to justify bringing back the violin section of the CBC orchestra. That's what most readers will be hearing in their heads, reading your truly pathetic pity piece.

The Strange Marriage of the NDP with Islamic Radicals

This article by Barbara Kay should be a must read for all Canadian voters. One of the key paragraphs is this one:

It soon became apparent that the particular political focus of all three of the speakers is the NDP, which has shamelessly courted and integrated into its inner circles Islamist Muslims with views that are antithetical and even dangerous to the continued health of Canadian values. Fatah has watched in frustration as Islamists in the NDP pursue a relentless campaign to instill a sense of victimhood in Muslim youth.

Preaching victimhood has ALWAYS been my major problem with the NDP and other like-minded socialist parties. The danger here is that they are actually helping to push a visible minority in Canada further to the fringes. Cynics say this is to achieve more power via the voting booth. I tend to think it's just blind ignorance on the part of those in the NDP.

Permanent Victim Syndrome

Amy Alkon had an interesting column about how she got in an argument with a fellow about personal responsibility. Here's a little snippet:

Yesterday, I debated a guy I started talking to in Starbucks about the big problem in the black community. He said it was poverty and unequal schools. I said it was daddylessness. I also think there's a huge problem with victimhood. Read the rest here . . .

---

Here's the comment I left:

Picking up on something "Toubrouk" said, look at the similarities between the Mainstream Black (MSB) views and the Mainstream Feminist (MSF) views.

Both are steeped in a never-ending mentality of victimhood. Look what Phyllis Schlafly said about the MSF movement here:

Feminists never boast about [so-called conservative feminists like Sarah Palin] because feminism's basic doctrine is victimology. Feminism preaches that women can never succeed because they are the sorry victims of an oppressive patriarchy. No matter how smart or accomplished a woman may be, she's told that success and happiness are beyond her grasp because institutional sexism and discrimination hold her down.

Doesn't that sound strikingly familiar to what we continuously hear from the leaders of the MSB movement?

Whenever the topic of racism in America comes up, I often tell my American friends to come up to Canada to see how the same "Permanent Victim Syndrome" canards are preached to the electorate by at least 2 of the political parties here and echoed by hundreds of like-minded organizations, almost all of whom are funded by taxpayer dollars. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how they ensure that gov't $ keep on flowing in.

But up here, there is no particular racial component so it washes away the illusions perpetrated by the MSB talking heads.

Teach a man or a woman how to fish and they will never be hungry. Give them a fish and they will be back tomorrow. Keep on giving them fish and they will depend upon you for a lifetime. Get the government to fund your fishing program and you will be employed for a lifetime. Follow the money, folks, follow the money.

The Closed Minds of Those Against Free Speech

Last week has passed but this issue is far from over. This past weekend, the serial liar, Khurrum Awan, met with Barbara Hall and others to dwell in their collective victimhood. Clearly they have not learned a thing. History tells us that they never will.

I'm currently reading Tony Judt's excellent book, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. In it, he cites poll after poll taken of the German people after they were defeated in World War 2. Consistently, most were non-apologetic and many denied that the Holocaust ever occurred. In the American sector, any German who wanted food rations had to sit through "re-education" films. But it became clear that in the darkened theatres most would turn their backs and cover their ears.

I am NOT making any kind of direct comparison between the Awans and Halls of modern day Canada and the German people of the 1940's & 50's. I'm simply providing a historical precedent as evidence that once a person is locked in a particular mindset, it's difficult, if not impossible to open their minds to any other point of view. Victimhood is a powerful emotion to cling onto and difficult to break free of.

Letter to Kimberley Strassel

I found this article about Barack Obama to be most interesting. Never one to shy away from expressing my thoughts - :-) - I sent the columnist this letter:

Dear Ms. Strassel,

I confess to never having read your work before. But every week I read Peggy Noonan's editorial and happened upon your latest.

Just so you know, I live in Vancouver, BC, on Canada's Left Coast. While I'm a proud Canadian, it's very clear that my views don't mesh well with the majority opinion here. C'est la vie. I've never been one to want to be part of the general flock anyway! I read and listen to news & opinion from around the world, most especially the US and the UK. Because of this, perhaps I have a somewhat different, perhaps "bigger picture" perspective than some. One of my modern day heroes is Mark Steyn, a Canadian living in New Hampshire. His writings often hit strong chords with me.

Living where I do, and given the relative unimportance of Canada on the world stage, much of my attention is focused on watching the culture in both the US and the UK. While most every American city has some periodic problems with racial tension, I would strongly suggest to you that the problem is much worse in Britain. Over there, it seems very clear that the official multicultural policies have directly resulted in promoting minorities to think of their own racial and cultural heritage first & foremost and being "British" a distant third in importance. This has resulted in many minorities viewing themselves as victims who can only seek redress from the benevolent government. While this works wonders in the short term for the Labour government in power, it can only lead to troubled times in the future.

The US has long been known for its melting pot approach to cultural diversity. One may indeed be racially Asian or African or Indian but first & foremost you are an American; and if not you, then your children. Some have condemned this method of integration but I'm convinced it's the only way to ensure a nation's cohesion. For with it there's no longer "us and them" but just "us", albeit in a beautiful number of different skin shades and facial features. In your nation, different is good, different is beautiful, but all living proudly under one American flag is glorious!

Which brings us to Barack Obama. In your article I agreed with everything you wrote but there's one "elephant in the room" issue that you did not line up precisely in the crosshairs. Up until about mid-February he was soaring in the polls and generally making Americans (of all colors) feel great that in 2008 a black man had just as much chance of becoming president as anyone else. He was proud, he was strong, and he was confident - clearly all the signs of a winner. Americans like winners, especially those who have come from humble roots. To the average person, one thing Obama was not was an "us and them" kind of leader like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. This, I believe, was the key to his popularity.

But then something happened. We started hearing some rather odd remarks from his wife, Michelle, and from his pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright. They were both preaching from the song book of victimhood. Victims do not exude confidence. Victimhood does not correlate well with winners. For the past 2 months a shake-out of sorts occurred, where people tried to juxtapose the image they previously had of Barack Obama with this new image of Permanent Victim Syndrome laden folks all around him.

The elitist gaffs are a new twist but not necessarily death blows to his campaign. For even in America, leaders always have at least a tinge of elitism. Much worse are his recent complaints that certain questions posed to him are "unfair". That only reinforces the victim issues that are now planted in the back of the minds of voters. While he may beat Hillary Clinton because of the mathematical advantage he enjoys, if that victim "seed" continues to grow, he will get absolutely wiped out by John McCain in November. The majority of Americans will not vote for a victim. Nor should they.

Great Article About Bobby Jindal

Here's a superb article about Bobby Jindal, the new governor of Louisiana. He is quickly taking great steps to reform this corrupt and dysfunctional State. Of course, his detractors will say that he's not a "real minority", just like they've said that Condoleezza Rice is not a real African-American. Why? Because they're Republicans and don't play into the Permanent Victim Syndrome (PVS) mentality of "we're not white so heap your pity upon us".

Renewed Clarity on Canadian Values

For years, Canadians have been trying to explain precisely what "Canadian values" are. Most explanations have ended up with 4 words: "We are not American." Succinct but not very useful.

More recently, great clarity on this term has come from an unexpected source: The Laibar Singh fiasco. The latest chapter from this media circus is that Harsha Walia and her little group of anarchists have been lying about Singh's medical situation. For some time, they had been saying that he had a brain aneurysm. We've now learned that he has a spinal infection, a very different ailment.

All of this has helped to provide great clarity on what some Canadian values are:

1. Not lying to the press and to the public.
2. Not taking the law into one's hands through mob rule.
3. Not crying "Racism" just because someone else demands that you respect the law.
   

I see some scary parallels between what's happening here and what has happened on a larger scale recently in Pakistan and Kenya. Harsha Walia is a thug, a gang leader. The law is reluctant to touch her because of her skin colour and gender but inside her beats the heart of a very vile person and clearly someone who is the antithesis of anyone with Canadian values.

My Hopes for Canada in 2008

Here's a brief list of what I'm hoping for from Canadians in 2008:

1. Political Correctness - More than anything else, I'm convinced that political correctness has corrupted our society and any real discussions that we hope to have. When real debate cannot occur for fear of offending someone then no progress can be made on any issue.
   
   
2. Permanent Victims - I look around the world these days and see some pretty terrible things happening. The dawn of the New Year is the perfect time for Canadians to take a moment to consider how incredibly good we have it. Certainly nothing's perfect and there's always room for improvement. But it's long overdue that the overly pampered cry-babies amongst us are called out for the Permanent Victims that they are.
   
   
3. Human Rights Violations - This is a corollary to #2. When one sees people elsewhere in the world being incarcerated or even murdered for voting or running for office or not covering up "appropriately", I find it incredibly appalling how loosely and frequently some Canadians toss around the term "human rights" when they don't get their way. Have they no shame? Don't they realize that their abuse of this word has desensitized its meaning?
   
   
4. Playing the Race Card - I've noticed an increasing number of people playing the race card whenever they come up against the establishment. This is a special case of #2 that takes advantage of #1. For no organization, be they public or private, wants to be labeled a racist. But in Canada in 2007 I very much doubt that racism is the cause. It's just another technique to get your way or cast unwarranted blame at someone else.
   
   
5. A Return to Responsibility - From the very top of our society to its very depths, isn't it long overdue for people to take responsibility when they mess up? It seems to happen so rarely these days - think of the YVR Taser fiasco - and has set such a poor example for our children.
   
   
6. Generosity Instead of Selfishness - This one seems obvious but in order for it to occur, people need to ensure that they're not violating #1 - #5, especially #2 & #5. In fact, I strongly believe one of the factors contributing to increased selfishness - especially in cities - are too many people not taking responsibility for themselves and their actions.
   
   
7. Cel Phone Dysfunctional User Disorder (CP-Dud) - If a man was walking down the street, talking at high volume or even shouting, would you consider him a bit odd? If a woman at the table next to you in a restaurant was giving everyone in earshot the details of her recent yeast infection, would you consider her a bit odd? Why then, do many people consider it perfectly normally to duplicate this behaviour while on a cel phone? In 2008 I plan to use the Amy Alkon method to combat these annoying twits.
   

With that said, I sincerely wish you and your family the Very Best in 2008, most especially: Liberty, Good Health, and Prosperity!

'Tis The Season ... To Take Offence

December has arrived and the vast snowfall in Vancouver has provided a vivid reminder to us all that Christmas isn't too far away. In Australia, where they're several time zones ahead and thus much closer to that special day, the annual season of ... people taking offence to most everything you can possibly imagine has begun.

As this article outlines, an HR staffing firm Down Under has told its Santa trainees not to use the traditional "Ho, Ho, Ho" because it might offend women. Why? They fear that some women may associate the term with the American gangsta' rap meaning of the word "Ho".

In Britain, some feel that Santa is setting a bad example for obesity and slimmer Santas are being requested by some shopping malls.

Elsewhere, some environmental groups are informing us that Santa's sleigh, pulled by 9 reindeer, will emit the equivalent of 40,600 tonnes of greenhouse gases, thus making Santa an affront to Mother Earth.

Have you ever wondered what propels such people to take offence to everything? Long ago I coined the phrase "Permanent Victim Syndrome" (PVS). I'd now like to release a new one into the Zeitgeist.

The new millennium has seen our society dramatically shaped by globalization, computerization, and an endless number of conveniences. The end result? Most people have very little to truly worry about in their daily lives. As such, they have much more free time on their hands. While some spend their time thinking about the deeper issues of our existence, others have instead turned in the opposite direction and instead focus on, and often invent, issues that heretofore were never that important to anyone.

With a wide spectrum of individuals, you'll always have a wide spectrum of views. Some of these are just wacky. But in our 24/7 news culture such voices get a much wider audience than ever before. Combine this with the propensity of many 1st world liberals to not want to offend and it has become clear that we've entered a new period that I will now forever call the PCS Era, short for "Post Common Sense".

Walter Schultz was the first I've read to take note of the fact that PCS disciples have joined together to Protest Everything, Be Against Everything, and Say No To Everything. While his focus has been on local issues, such folks exist everywhere.

I've come to realize that such folks don't really base their protests on a cohesive set of principles, so much as a reason to be against something. Take the ongoing environmental debate as an example. The same sort of groups are against: getting energy from oil, from coal, from nuclear power, and even from new hydroelectric projects. They instead say that we should get all of our energy from solar and wind power projects. But rest assured that if the necessary installations were actually ever implemented, they'd be against them too. Here's one of many examples.

Understanding the deeper psychological motivations of these protesters, it's not too much of a stretch to realize that if these same people were in Sudan, they would be joining the mob to call for the death of British teacher, Gillian Gibbons. If you think that this assertion is outrageous or an exaggeration then you clearly do not understand the PCS mindset and the "emotions, not facts" mindset that so deeply grips its advocates.

All Women Are Helpless Victims

That's not me saying that. But it's precisely what 3 Socialist Kool-Aid drinkers (2 women and 1 man) had to say on Sean Leslie's show on CKNW this afternoon. Here's the e-mail I sent to Sean:

Thank you for letting the 3 pseudo-intellectuals on your program to talk about the NDP's new quota system. For it lets a broader audience learn just how sexist such social engineers like these people truly are.

I am COMPLETELY against any quota systems. They are absolutely undemocratic and simply wrong.

In the past few weeks I have discussed this subject with many people, including a large number of women and minorities. Every single one of them was vehemently against this. In fact, most of the women were extremely insulted by this initiative.

Isn't it ironic that the day after the buzz in the city has been all about Carole Taylor likely becoming the next mayor of Vancouver if she chose to run as an independent candidate, that we're talking about female political victims?!