Dear Editor:
Our physical and mental well-being are not the only things that have suffered deterioration at the hands of COVID – so too have our language and our political discourse, as manifested weekly in your letters pages.
First, I would ask someone from the other side of the barricade to explain how a prime minister who heads a minority government in a still-functioning democracy can achieve the status of dictator. Every week at least a few letter writers dismiss, condemn, curse Justin Trudeau as just such a creature.
While I am not a particular fan of the prime minister (or of any other political leader or party, for that matter), I have to tip my hat to him if he has managed to wrest totalitarian control of our federal government by using the simple methods of democracy. Until I hear from the other side of the barricade, I will continue to assume that this is just one more example of the sloppy, lazy—even pernicious—use of language by someone who cannot be bothered to address ideas squarely and fairly.
According to Wayne Baker, our prime minister “declared war on his own people.” Now perhaps I’m being a bit too sensitive in view of what is happening at the moment in Ukraine, but I find such emotional, irrational, simply exaggerated language to be downright wrong and hurtful. Our government declared war on COVID – not literally but certainly figuratively – and it certainly declared war on Germany and Japan in WWII.
But, really, Mr. Baker, do you equate emergency measures to end the occupation of a city-centre and international crossing-points with an actual act of aggression by the federal government against you or against me or against any other Canadian? Get real, please, before you escalate your rhetoric to even more absurd levels.
Our country is facing a dire crisis, as is every other country in which COVID still rages. As I write these words a new Omicron variant has appeared, which may be even more contagious. And also people are dying at the hands of invading armies. It seems obvious that this is a time for measured, thoughtful responses to what is happening in our world.
All of us need to step back, take a deep breath, and silently commit ourselves to pulling together to get ourselves out of these messes, regardless of where we tend to place the blame for creating these messes in the first place.
I’m not a religious person, so I won’t end my letter by invoking God to curse or bless any individual, group or nation (even though we obviously need all the help we can get!), but I will ask all those within my sphere of influence to be a bit more sensitive to the meaning of every word we express because, simply, every word matters.
Richard Giles,
Mapleton