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Thursday, December 23, 2010
Ignorance Leads to Apathy
Yes, ma'am they are indifferent:
Even with a posh royal wedding in the works, most Canadians aren't mad about the monarchy.
An exclusive Leger Marketing poll for QMI Agency reveals more than half of Canadians couldn't care less about the royals - including 26% who would like a divorce from the British monarchy. The survey finds females more likely than males to swoon over the royals, with just 19% of women calling for cut ties compared to 30% of men.
Leger VP Dave Scholz said the numbers reflect a waning sense of relevancy among a deeply divided public when it comes to the monarchy.
It's not so much that the monarchy is irrelevant, it's that Canadians know nothing about it. Canadian students are taught the wonders of multiculturalism, bilingualism and the obscure customs of very obscure tribes, but practically nothing about their head of state.
The Jacobins who have been running Canada since the 1960s reasoned, correctly it seems, that trying to directly challenging traditional Canadian institutions (like the monarchy) would backfire. Australian Republicans tried for decades to hold a referendum on the monarchy, only to lose it. Their Canadian counterparts are far more subtle.
Stop teaching children about the monarchy, the common law and the principles that under grid our parliamentary system, and as adults they will never think to consider these institutions "relevant." It's a slow motion cultural coup that has gone, mostly, unnoticed for two generations.
Posted by Richard Anderson on December 23, 2010 | Permalink
Comments
You hit the nail on the head. It has everything to do with just about total ignorance of our British heritage and traditions. I find a lot of immigrants from ex-British colonies much more knowledgeable and certainly more attached to these traditions than the majority of Canadians born since the 1960s. Also for the record it should be noted that these immigrants are not of British racial stock, which means they well understand that it is not about race, colour or genetics.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-12-23 6:29:56 PM
Alain,
Absolutely. One of the great cons that has been played on Canadians since the 1960s is that our British traditions are just a "racial" thing. Speak to people from Barbados or Trinidad, they very much admire British values. They can see Haiti and Cuba.
It's about good ideas not the accidents of birth. By making British traditions just a racial or ethnic thing, it made it easier for the Left to delegitimize those values. After all, it was just a cultural preference, like drinking tea. Not universal values that can appeal to all people.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and everyone else at the Shotgun.
Posted by: Publius | 2010-12-23 6:35:00 PM
Canada's heritage and traditions, along with Canada's ties to the British empire have long been deliberately ignored, distorted, and denied, ever since that half-wit Lester Pearson and Pierre (the turd) Trudeau decided that history and tradition were the enemy of their agendas. Pearson and fancy pants Pierre understood that to manipulate the future, the citizenry must be ignorant of the country's past. Great post. Merry Christmas.
Posted by: Banned | 2010-12-23 9:55:06 PM
Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and everyone else at the Shotgun.
Posted by: Publius | 2010-12-23 6:35:00 PM
Thank you Publius and the same to all. Not happy holidays but MERRY Christmas.
In these enlightened times it is politically correct to bring in immigrants from anywhere except Britain and Europe in general. Dont want that educated rabble when you can bring in docile, gratefull , "vote for the one that brung you" type. It's like adopting a puppy. Feels so good and keeps dozens of government agencies so very busy. The fact that we have little in common and that many will never speak english or give a damn about Canadian/British/French history/heritage is a small sacrifice on the altar of political correctness. At the present breeding rate whites will be a minority in less than 40 years. Then we will get a real look at what todays decisions have cost.
Posted by: peterj | 2010-12-23 9:55:59 PM
Banned is correct in that the creation of the myth of Canada began with Pearson, for those of us old enough remember it well. It avalanched under Trudeau and the Liberals to the present situation of total ignorance of our true history and heritage, which, of course, was the goal. So now we have the Liberal myth of Canadian identity being anti-American, bilingual, multicultural, socialised health care, anti-guns and statist.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-12-24 2:14:04 PM
Trudeau may have succeeded had he not 1) violated every human right in the book with the Invasion of Quebec in 1970, and 2) tried to redistribute wealth via the NEP. He was a cruel, twisted man.
Posted by: Killer Kane | 2010-12-24 2:28:32 PM
What a joke! Proof where none is needed that Canada is still not a true country but only a self-governing crown colony of the "Lilliputia' spoofed in the Recent Jack Black "Gulliver's Travels" movie. Only it isn't funny as monarchy
is the anti-thesis of democracy and symbolizes not only the superstitious tyranny of the dark ages but also the unholy horrors of the "Age of Imperialism". No wonder the world smirks at Canadians smug attempts to lecture about democracy and nationhood!
Posted by: Paul Zerzan | 2010-12-27 8:00:57 PM
Oh dear, poor Paul Zerzan is one angry Marxist, who seems to be missing out on the festivities of the season.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-12-28 1:02:52 PM
Alain, take your meds. Marxists and Monarchists are "cut from the same cloth". How did you read anger into the statement? If my statement raises anger it is within you not me. I come from the land of the free and the home of the brave
Posted by: Paul Zerzan | 2010-12-28 1:17:20 PM
Actually it was your choice of words that gave you away; the hyperbole of "imperialism" and "tyranny" not to mention the childish insults. As for the "land of the free and the home of the brave" that used to refer to the United States a long time ago, but then that is all past history. The sad thing is that we would all appreciate and benefit from such a place if it existed anywhere in the world to-day.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-12-28 2:49:18 PM
Alain- Have you spent any time in the US recently? What we see on the news is not an accurate representation. The spirit of America is still alive and well in most of the country. Unfortunately, all we hear about are the problems in places like New York, and California. I find Americans I meet haven't changed much over the last 40 years.
I'm not sure about monarchists being the same as marxists, but I suppose there are similarities. To me, the closest comparison for the monarchy is organized crime. The British royal family is nothing more than a crime syndicate. The queen's recent jubilee parade had a very large contingent of hells angels, on their bikes, wearing full colours. There must have been over 100 of them. I was taken aback by the display, but after consideration, I decided it was perfectly proper for one crime family to pay its respect to another.
Posted by: dp | 2010-12-28 3:18:07 PM
dp, actually yes I am very familiar with the situation in the US not only from personal experience but also due to one of my children living and working there. In my comments I was referring to the American system of government, laws and justice and not the people in general. They are far from being free or living in the "land of the free and the brave". Even private property rights have become meaningless thanks to court rulings. Their days of being the number one world power are over, but it will take a bit more time for that to sink in. Does this make me rejoice? Absolutely not, but the facts are there for those with eyes to see.
Clearly you and I do not share the same view concerning the monarchy, so I shall not waste your time and mine trying to impose my view. Furthermore whatever one thinks of the present royal family does not distract from the value of our British heritage beginning with the Magna Carta and English Common Law. We have no need to envy the Americans. Were I to opt for a different form of government, I would prefer the Swiss one.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-12-28 6:18:25 PM
"A nation that forgets it's history will have no future"... Winston Churchill.
Posted by: Banned | 2010-12-30 12:37:14 AM
Alain- I'm of the opinion that the end of US domination will signal the end of civilization, as we know it. Canada will not survive without a strong US as a trading partner. Our increased trade with asian countries will throw open the door for mass immigration, and a total re-design of our social, and political system. That will accelerate the death of our heritage faster than anything else. Ironic, no? America was the most devastating defeat ever suffered by the monarchy, yet they are the best allies in their fight for survival.
Posted by: dp | 2010-12-30 2:16:20 PM
dp, like I said I do not rejoice from this either, and indeed they will not be the only ones affected.
Banned, Winston Churchill was spot on. The situation is no better, probably even worse, in the UK. I recall reading some years ago the results of a British survey of young adults. The majority believed that Winston Churchill never existed and was only a fictional creation. It speaks long and clearly of what the British education system has become since WW II along with all their multicultural politics. In light of this I suppose it should not be surprising to find a high level of ignorance of our history and traditions among our own.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-12-30 3:29:16 PM
Alain- I think much of our ignorance is the result of being misled. My partner was born in Canton Province in 1959, and moved to Canada in 1980. She surprises me with some of her beliefs, sometimes. Her family was devastated by the Great Leap Forward, and she despises Mao's legacy, yet she still believes many of the lies she was told growing up under Commie rule.
She was taught the great famine in the early 1960s was the fault of the Soviet Union, not the insane policies of the Chinese dictators. School children were told the Soviets put too much pressure on China to repay loans, and this led to food shortages. I've debated this with her on many occasions, but brainwashing at an early age seems hard to erase.
Other than word of mouth, by family members, there's little hope of keeping our history alive. When kids never hear about important factors in our development, in school, how can we expect them to be anything but ignorant? A good friend of mine, who grew up on a BC reserve, was lucky enough to learn Native history from his grandparents. He's now retired, and he's back on the reserve, teaching history to some of the young Natives. Too bad seniors are so often ignored. They may be the last defenders of the real history of our society.
Posted by: dp | 2010-12-30 4:07:48 PM
dp, I totally agree. I admire your friend and what he did, also I wouldn't be too hard on your partner, since she is another victim of revisionist history. Mao caused more Chinese deaths than all foreign invaders put together, but this is difficult for most Chinese to accept even though they may have no love for Mao. With time I feel certain this will change. It seems to me that the Russians have been more willing to face the truth than the Chinese, but then the communists are no longer running the show in Russia.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-12-30 6:42:20 PM
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