When I took this blog out from under wraps a few short months ago, I wrote a fairly long piece accusing Harper of being a form of fascist. I still stand by that position - nothing the man has done since changes my perspective on that front.
One of the interesting features of fascism is the manipulation of the symbols of the state. In recent weeks we have learned about Harper rebranding Canada's military with "Royal" - returning to WWII era nomenclature and ranking. There was no good reason to make this move, except possibly as a propaganda move of some kind. Harper knows that most Canadians like the Royal Family, and frankly probably hold the Queen in far higher regard than they do Harper.
He has already made it clear that his "branding" of Canada includes a great deal of faux admiration of all things military. The recent overplayed anniversary of the 1812 war being an excellent example of the way that Harper has been trying to play up all things military in his propaganda campaigns.
Most recently, the CPC Party Mouthpiece (Sun Media Papers) published a piece about a Calgary condominium owner who was not being permitted to fly a Canadian flag outside his home. While there does appear to be some questionable acts on the part of the condominium's board of directors, I am somewhat suspicious of the article for several reasons:
1) The journalist who wrote it does not appear to have taken the time to contact the Condominium's board of directors for their side of the story.
2) Most of the story is toned along the lines of "isn't it awful that this patriot can't fly a flag on his own home?".
3) It seems to me that the person who is making the complaint has been seeking confrontation. His side of the story seems to be missing some details of the overall interactions that took place with the condominium association.
If you buy a condominium, you sign up to living with the rules of the condominium association - no matter how ridiculous they may seem. If you don't like them, get involved with the board and work to change them. That's the way it works.
However, given that the piece comes from the Sun, AND the Sun has been madly trying to make us all believe that Harper is the best thing that's ever happened to Canadians for quite some time now, I am inclined to suspect that this is more of a propaganda piece than a real story. The CPC has in the past complained that Canadians don't fly the flag as overtly as our cousins to the south.
At a time of year when politics goes silent, and most stories published are local interest or human interest stories, we find the Sun publishing a puff piece about a "patriot" who is being "oppressed" the the "evil condo board".
To me, this sounds like it is more of an emotional manipulation piece, intended to stir up feelings about the trappings of patriotism in the same way that other fascist regimes in the past have worked to create a sense of ultra nationalism.
One of the interesting features of fascism is the manipulation of the symbols of the state. In recent weeks we have learned about Harper rebranding Canada's military with "Royal" - returning to WWII era nomenclature and ranking. There was no good reason to make this move, except possibly as a propaganda move of some kind. Harper knows that most Canadians like the Royal Family, and frankly probably hold the Queen in far higher regard than they do Harper.
He has already made it clear that his "branding" of Canada includes a great deal of faux admiration of all things military. The recent overplayed anniversary of the 1812 war being an excellent example of the way that Harper has been trying to play up all things military in his propaganda campaigns.
Most recently, the CPC Party Mouthpiece (Sun Media Papers) published a piece about a Calgary condominium owner who was not being permitted to fly a Canadian flag outside his home. While there does appear to be some questionable acts on the part of the condominium's board of directors, I am somewhat suspicious of the article for several reasons:
1) The journalist who wrote it does not appear to have taken the time to contact the Condominium's board of directors for their side of the story.
2) Most of the story is toned along the lines of "isn't it awful that this patriot can't fly a flag on his own home?".
3) It seems to me that the person who is making the complaint has been seeking confrontation. His side of the story seems to be missing some details of the overall interactions that took place with the condominium association.
If you buy a condominium, you sign up to living with the rules of the condominium association - no matter how ridiculous they may seem. If you don't like them, get involved with the board and work to change them. That's the way it works.
However, given that the piece comes from the Sun, AND the Sun has been madly trying to make us all believe that Harper is the best thing that's ever happened to Canadians for quite some time now, I am inclined to suspect that this is more of a propaganda piece than a real story. The CPC has in the past complained that Canadians don't fly the flag as overtly as our cousins to the south.
At a time of year when politics goes silent, and most stories published are local interest or human interest stories, we find the Sun publishing a puff piece about a "patriot" who is being "oppressed" the the "evil condo board".
To me, this sounds like it is more of an emotional manipulation piece, intended to stir up feelings about the trappings of patriotism in the same way that other fascist regimes in the past have worked to create a sense of ultra nationalism.
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