Over the Edge - January 4

The Last 300 Days
in So Many Words

A Look Back at One Hell of a Year

CLIFFORD T. HOFFERD
CONTRIBUTOR

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his year is hard to describe as we saw moments of
great change, moments of great celebration, and
moments of great pain and anguish (&@#! the

Boston Bruins!). To understand my feelings and thoughts
on this year let’s run through some of the highlights first.

1. In January the Arab Spring swept through the Middle
Eastern world resulting in the removal of dictatorships in
Tunisia and Egypt. Other uprisings are still occurring in
Syria, Libya and many other Islamic nations, which have
unfortunately been bloodier and violent. For many people
this can be seen as a positive movement to help better the
lives of people’s in other parts of the world.

2. In March the Prince George Cougars qualified for the
WHL post season while dramatically improving their rec-
ord in the process. While the Kelowna Rockets eliminated
them in the first round, there is only room to improve after
this season.

3. In April the Vancouver Canucks FINALLY (and I mean
FINALLY) beat the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round
ending what was torture for many fans. Yay!

4. The Canucks continued this trend by beating Nashville
and San Jose to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the
first time in 17 years. During the playoff run Downtown
Vancouver became party central for thousands of people
who wanted to watch the games outside and enjoy the Cup
run for what it was. Fun.

5. The NHL finally got some common sense and put an-
other NHL team back in Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Jets, as
they later became known as, have enjoyed a lot of success
before they even played their first regular season game.
The Tickets sold out fast, everyone is snatching up the
team gear, and the team jerseys are highly sought after
(just ask the people who were busted for having thousands
of dollars worth of counterfeit Jets Jerseys at the border).

6. In the latest Federal Election the NDP made history by
being elected the official opposition of Canada. The NDP

elected 101 members to parliament and the Bloc de Que-
becois has fewer seats than a Ford Aerostar Van (sorry,
couldn’t resist). And Jack Layton (RIP) won the keys to
Stornaway, the official residence of the official opposition.

Now unfortunately we have come to the point where
we examine the low points of this year. Get ready because
this will hurt.

1. In a manufactured crisis (which the Americans largely
created themselves) a debt ceiling stalemate led to the
worst partisanship I have ever seen since | started observ-
ing politics. Rather than thinking of others the congress
and senate only thought about themselves and not of the
people they were supposed to represent. Both sides are to
blame for this mess and both sides should be ashamed of
themselves.

2. The Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks...In
game seven...On home ice (yeah...that hurt).

3. Jack Layton passed away of Cancer just after winning
the largest victory in the history of his party. His last words
were “Love is better than anger, Hope is better than Fear.”
Rest in Peace Jack. You will be missed

4. A Stanley Cup riot erupted after Vancouver lost the
game seven finals. Millions of dollars in damage and ram-
pant theft turned what was such a memorable run into an
eyesore for many. After all was said and done Vancouver
police are still sifting through hours of video to find those
responsible. The only bright spots I can think of are the
many volunteers that came down the morning after to
clean up and the messages of hope scribbled on plywood
that covered the broken glass.

5. Finally, Occupy Wall Street is certainly an important
movement within our society. I’m not sure how to feel
about it just yet, so I’m going to have to wait and see how
it all plays out.

Those are my thoughts, hope you enjoyed them!

Righteous

ld

Indignation

by Paul Strickland

ighteous indignation is famous in history. Who can forget the image of
R« fiery-eyed abolitionist John Brown from just before the American

civil war? Or Mario Savio speaking to a crowd of students during free
speech protests at the University of California-Berkely in the fall of 1964?

My experiences with expression of righteous indignation have been less
impressive or glorious. I often put up with verbal abuse from, say, a family
member or an office superior for months, even years, and just try my best to
endure or be a peacemaker.

Then there is the plane journey for Thanksgiving or Christmas with family
that is delayed endlessly, and then one is meeting with relatives after only four
hours of poor-quality sleep. Or one has been working till 11:30 PM and one is
back at the office again at 8 or 9 AM with not enough sleep (a person does need
to wind down a little after work and have a snack before going to bed, and also
have breakfast before starting a new shift).

Then a sharply critical remark from a sibling at a family dinner — a sib-
ling whose criticisms have gone unopposed for many years -- leads to a loud
undiplomatic rebuttal that destroys in two minutes a ten-year reputation for
being the peacemaker in the family. The one unpleasant incident is what is
remembered, not years of silent patience. Or, in the workplace, after too many
contradictory orders that couldn’t possibly have been fulfilled completely and
after then being loudly told off in front of co-workers for failing to comply with
them, one responds with a Joycean expletive that gets one called in and threat-
ened with suspension or termination. Word goes around that one is unbalanced
and likely to go postal. Only the intervention of a higher regional union official
saves one’s job. Little mention is made of the taunts that originally led to the
expletive being used in response. But righteous indignation, however justified,
creates a mountain of trouble — having to spend hours on detailed journal en-
tries or statements from witnesses about the incident in case they are needed at
a grievance hearing, preparation of documents for a joint standing committee
meeting, etc.

On a less serious level, the pattern is to put up with a difficult situation for
about six months — because any complaint or request is considered evidence
of a negative attitude -- and then respond sharply to a fairly minor provoca-
tion that is only tangential to what has been at issue during that period of time.
One then feels stupid and is apologetic for a couple of months. One swallows
down more unfair comments for weeks after that and is apologetic for having
created an incident. Then six months later, on a bad day, one again speaks one’s
mind, is again in the doghouse and then is silent or apologetic for a long time
afterwards.

On a broader, historical level, righteous indignation plays a big role in elec-
toral politics. Many times it is needed, in such cases as evidence of electoral
fraud or plans by a province or municipality to tear down historic structures or
cut down a venerable old tree when alternative courses of action are available.

However, a phenomenon of selective indignation can harm political dis-
course. Around 1960 left liberals protested the execution of a convicted mur-
dered in a state prison in the United States but were completely silent about the
thousands of people executed by Fidel Castro in Cuba, not all of whom could
have been counter-revolutionaries. Left liberals around that period also con-
demned Apartheid in South Africa, as they were quite right in doing, but then
they were silent about the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Tibet from execu-
tions and famines after that hapless country was occupied by Red China in the
1950s. Rightists oppose affirmative action and employment equity programs,
sometimes with good justification, but then make discriminatory remarks or say
the poor and unemployed have only themselves to blame for their economic
circumstances. People are correct in opposing and calling for intervention to
bring an end to massacres in Libya and Syria, but then there is little mention
of horrible conditions for political prisoners in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
However, Zimbabwe is backed up by China, and we can’t criticize an important
trading partner, can we?

Selective indignation, often accompanied by name-calling with terms like
“paranoid” or “extremist,” brings the level of political discussion down to a
very low level indeed in some countries. Any nuanced centrist position is called
“socialist” by the right and “lunatic” by the left. A minor criticism of a group
engaged in identity politics is condemned by the left as “idiotic” or “hyster-
ical”. Meanwhile, taking a middle position on an issue of orientation in gender
studies can lead to people on the right assuming one is perverse and a danger
to society. It can also bring about the loss of friendships that had endured for
decades.

A proper definition of terms and better directed objective research are re-
quired to improve the quality of political debate, news magazine articles and
opinion pieces and commentary by radio talk show hosts. Righteous indigna-
tion can serve a purpose in politics and social change, but, like fire, when it gets
out of hand, it can lead to unforeseen destructive consequences.