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Monday Jan. 9, 2006 |
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Blame it on the
Americans, eh?
by Angelo Persichilli
THE HILL TIMES
The Canadian way of solving problems is
simple: blame it on the Americans. The source of all our troubles, economic
or social, cultural or criminal, it's always the same: it's the big bad
U.S.A.
Make no mistake, we all know
that George Bush, Senior, Junior or in between, have never led the Order of
St. Benedict Oblates, however, it would be a good way to start to solving
our own problems by first looking at home, before looking outside.
This would not only be an
effective and honest way of solving our problems, but would give us the
moral authority to criticize others and force others to face their
responsibilities.
Look at the preposterous
approach of Paul Martin's government towards the environment: the Prime
Minister criticized the Bush administration for not signing the Kyoto
Protocol when he knew full well that the Canadian record in defending the
environment, despite our signature, is worse.
Then there's the gun violence in
Toronto.
According to politicians, and of
course The Toronto Star, the problem is the United States manufacturing
guns.
Just last week they reported
that 52 per cent of the guns used for crimes in Canada are from the United
States. Take those numbers for real and assume that this is the cause of the
problem.
Let's ask ourselves some
questions.
Are those guns walking into
Canada on their own, or does someone pick them up? Once in Canada, are they,
the guns, taking the bus from the Niagara Falls customs, go to Yonge Street
and start shooting on their own? I know they're automatic weapons, still I
don't believe the Americans have reached that level of sophistication. There
has to be a hand and a finger around the guns. Do we want to talk about the
owners of those hands and fingers? Of course not: it's too complicated.
Or maybe not. Those hands belong
to young innocent Canadians who watch American violent movies and then, as
soon as the words "The End" appear on the screen, they go on the streets and
start shooting innocent people.
Yes, those "bastard American"
filmmakers are ruining Canada. They are so bad that our provincial and
federal governments are giving them fiscal incentives to produce their cheap
movies in Toronto, the so-called Hollywood North. But there is more. They,
the "bastard Americans," don't you know, have taken over our Department of
Heritage, the CRTC, the cable companies and the entire broadcasting system
to impose their movies, shows and news upon us. Then the Americans, yes,
it's always them, have planted a virus in our TV remote control that as soon
as you ask for the CBC, they hijack the signal directly to the CNN. I mean,
we authorize American stations to broadcast in Canada, our cable companies
fight to put them on the air, we Canadian viewers willingly watch their
shows at home and then we get upset with the Americans because we watch
their cheap shows and not the Oscar-winning Canadian content? I don't get
it.
Forget about Hollywood and the
White House and look at another scenario for Toronto's gun problem.
There are Canadian criminals
going south of the border, they buy guns from American criminals and pay
them with marijuana grown in Canada.
In fact, the U.S. administration
has frequently complained with Canadian authorities that our borders have
more holes than Swiss cheese. They have complained that in the U.S., more
marijuana is arriving from Canada than from Colombia. They have complained
that our laws are about growing marijuana and that punishing criminals here
is a joke.
But how dare they tell us how to
legislate? How dare they interfere into our sovereignty, eh? Never mind that
we criticize them day in and day out about their legislation on guns, asking
them to change it to suit our liking, or, that we have the right to
criticize everybody because, well, we're Canadians, we're the conscience of
the world.
Never mind that we don't respect
Kyoto, despite our signature at the end of the protocol, or, that we are not
able to control our border. We want others to do our job; never mind that we
don't know how to deal with our cultural insecurities or how to handle our
broadcasting needs.
Of course, we do not legislate
what our viewers have to watch because we are respectful of the freedom of
our citizens.
But, at the same time, we want
the American government to legislate what their filmmakers should produce in
Hollywood, West and North, and what they have to broadcast into Canada
because, according to our politicians, Canadian viewers are stupid: that's
why they watch cheap American programs.
True, most of the guns are
American, like most of what we wear, watch, eat, read and drive. But the
hands and the fingers around those guns are Canadian. They don't kill
because they have a gun; they have guns because they want to kill. In the
end, the problem will be solved when our politicians stop asking where those
guns are coming from and start asking why our youths are using them. They're
afraid of asking that question because they're afraid of the answer: they
shoot because there is something wrong in Canada; in fact, I must say in
Toronto. If we look at the numbers, most of the guns arriving in Canada are
coming from the States, but most of the killings are taking place in
Toronto: those are crimes "made in Canada" and, until we recognize that, we
keep fooling ourselves and, more seriously, we're fooling the victims. Our
young people die on the streets of Toronto because our politicians don't
have the guts to say, "We have a problem." One last question. If all of this
has to do with the 52 per cent of the guns coming from the South, what about
the other 48 per cent? Are those guns coming from the North Pole or are they
growing in our backyards on pear trees? Angelo Persichilli is political
editor of Corriere Canadese, Toronto's Italian-language daily newspaper. |
