Why the Greens are Going Nowhere Fast
For reasons that are as mysterious as the human mind itself, I found myself thinking this morning about how I almost ran for the Green Party several years ago.
When I say "almost," I mean one cup of coffee and one backyard meeting. Finito.
A lawyer, active in the Greens, asked a lawyer friend of mine to recommend a candidate.
The Green lawyer and I met over coffee. Of course, in this life one is usually flattered when asked to do almost anything. "Clean out the elephant pen? Wow! Thanks!"
A few nights later, I walked over to a house just 5 minutes from mine. On the back porch, amidst baying dogs and scrambling children, we future masters of the universe huddled. It took me several minutes to appreciate that this was an "interview" and that I was the "interviewee."
When "the committee" asked me about the Downtown East Side, I spoke, among other things, about "dope fiends."
And that was just about that.
The lawyer who had drafted me in the first place said, "I'm not comfortable with the way you speak about things." He was referring to my calling heroin addicts "dope fiends."
I said, "Well, dope fiends shoot dope. Drunks drink. Baby diddlers diddle babies. What's the problem?"
The problem is that the New Masters of the Universe, who will never get in office, are completely doctrinaire. You not only have to agree with them in general principle, but you have to look and walk and talk and smell like them as well.
In short, you have to BE one of them. If you are not, they are not "comfortable." (As soon as I hear someone say in a meeting that they are not "comfortable" with somethingorother, I get out my hatchet.)
I left the meeting soon thereafter, and walking back home I thought, "Well, these people drafted me because I am a Talk Show Host and I can talk my face off and I have the Gift of the Gab and I can sway audiences, but they don't like the way I talk and I should talk more like them. HUH?"
My lawyer friend who had recommended me in the first place was furious. "Who are these assholes?" etc...
I was too happy and relieved to be angry.
1 comment:
I heard an interesting comment the other day. It went something like this: "Isn't it odd how the extreme left have become more [small-c] conservative than anyone else in society?!"
If you meet a devout religious person, especially one on a personal crusade, you know that it'll be very unlikely (think hell freezing over) that you're going to change any of their views. They sincerely believe that they are following the Word of God and you are but one challenge put in their way by God to test them. In a sense, they MUST disagree with you to PROVE their commitment to God.
Such is the case with those Green Party folks. They may not be religious; in fact, most of them are probably devout atheists. But, they've adopted a new religion called Environmentalism and the first of many devils they must slay is called "Global Warming". Their "god" is Mother Nature, their pope is Al Gore, and their Canadian archbishop is David Suzuki.
If you dare say anything to them that deviates from the "narrative" by even a sliver, they will rebuke you or even possibly kick you out of the cult ... errr group.
As Gore & Suzuki have said, "the debate is closed". Such words are manna from heaven for environmentalists. For it provides a quick & simple way to shut down all discussions that they don't like.
If you'd like to watch an interesting, thought-full discussion about global warming then I'd strongly recommend watching this interview with Michael Crichton.
Similarly, this Sunday, Roy Green (who I admire just like I admire you, David) on CKNW [11am - 2pm] will have as a guest one Bruce Pardy, an environmental law professor from Queens University. I heard him on CBC Radio 1 and recommended that Roy have him as a a guest too. Pardy is very pro-environment but is realistic about the fact that Canadians could stop consuming all energy tomorrow, and it would barely make any difference for the world as a whole. His words will have the Greens seeing red!
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