Spreading Lies About Canada in the US

It's an easy thing to do. If you have an agenda to push and a platform that reaches the public, you can get away with saying almost anything about Canada without being challenged in the United States. Or, if you are confronted, everyone's already taken in what you've said and moved on. It's like the newspaper corrections that appear on page B4 that nobody ever reads.

Here's an example from Friday's Baltimore Examiner in an editorial titled 'Broad State of Delusion' which, ironically, describes the article itself.

When representatives of Canada's security services held their press conference last weekend announcing the arrests of 17 alleged terrorism suspects, the RCMP's assistant commissioner stated, "They represent the broad strata of our society," Mr. McDonell said. "Some are students, some are employed, some are unemployed."

The editors at the Baltimore Examiner grabbed on to the first part of the statement and wrote this:

WASHINGTON - Here’s something to think about while standing in line at the airport. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police official described the 17 recently arrested members of an alleged terrorist cell as representing “the broad strata of our community.” The more we learn about these individuals, their recent activities and their alleged plans, the more the RCMP’s description looks like evidence of a dangerously common delusion among many Westerners, especially those in positions of authority where the demands of political correctness too often make it impossible to speak honestly about reality.

We're pretty liberal up here in Canada and with that often comes attacks of being politically correct to a fault. What the Baltimore Examiner's editors fail to understand, however, is that the RCMP commissioner's statement was incredibly specific as to employment status only.

That wasn't good enough for the BE's editors. They then went on to bash Canada and further distort the facts.

Canadian demographics clearly identify our northern neighbor’s population roots in Britain, France, Ireland and Germany. Canadians identifying themselves as immigrants from Middle Eastern and other nations with majority Muslim populations make up barely incidental percentages of the total. Canada is also a mostly secular nation, with Christianity being the dominant choice among those who identify with a religious faith. William, Jack (or Jacques) and Mary are typical and familiar names heard on the street.

Let's put aside the fact that this editorial has already moved way beyond the bounds of the 'strata' expressed by the RCMP and follow the bouncing ball. Statistics Canada shows that almost 40% of Canadians self-identify simply as 'Canadian'.

And, what of this 'mostly secular nation' (which is commonly used to show just how godless liberalism is. See: Coulter, Ann)? Stats Can shows that only 16.2% of Canadians identify themselves as having 'no religion'. It should be noted, however, that even that number does not accurately reflect people who consider themselves as atheistic since many people actually believe in a religion's tenets but consider themselves to be 'spiritual' rather than 'religious' and do not attend organized religion services.

On to the next distortion...

The accused conspirators come mostly from places like the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Somalia. All have names common in Riyadh or Damascus like Saad, Abdul, Fahid and Mohammed. All are practicing Muslims. Most have been in Canada for only a few years. All sported traditional Muslim beards and requested Qurans when arrested. All but two are teens or in their early 20s.

Well, isn't that interesting? Obviously the editors of this piece missed the whole 'homegrown terrorism' aspect of this story that's been splashed all over TV screens and newspapers since the arrests happened. Homegrown. Almost all suspects born in Canada. What possible excuse can an editor have for missing those facts?

Clearly, these men would never be mistaken for aspiring Stanley Cup winners, because their profiles simply don’t square with the Canada displayed by its demographics and dominant culture. Their profiles, however, closely match those of the Sept. 11 hijackers and the 1993 World Trade Center bombers, among others. So why not call them what they in fact are, which is Muslim immigrants accused of being jihadist terrorists?

How about because they're not immigrants?

Because in the PC world — where no culture is any “better” or “worse” than any other — nobody is allowed to speak in any way that might ever be conceived as an ethnic or nationalistic slight. That is why the “they are just like us” meme is such a familiar part of the official and mainstream media descriptions of those accused of terrorist planning and crimes.

And, this editorial is why people like me say: get your damn facts straight, you wankers. Is that un-politically correct enough for you?