I'm Not Your Friend

There's not many things worse, not many things more dangerous, than a zealot. Someone so infatuated with an idea that they elevate it above actual human beings. Someone who thinks they have such a firm grasp on the world's workings that they can inflict suffering and death upon millions confident that their belief system will still benefit more people than it harms.

But there's another danger. Seeing the human beings who are destructive and dangerous and losing sight of their dangerousness because they are human. Because they are not actual slavering monsters with fur and horns but somebody's son or daughter or mother or father or sister or brother, we compartmentalize their criminality (and its unseen victims) and only treat with the affable individual before us.

A case in point was the laughter I pointed out in my post about Kady O'Malley's coverage of the testimony of Marc Maynard of Elections Canada:

Here's the thing for me: People laughed because Del Mastro is a fucking clown. But this is deadly serious. Everyone in that room KNOWS that the harpercons are guilty of these "dirty tricks." But this isn't the USA. where a debased electoral process means that "tricks" are just officially "tricks." This is Canada and these "tricks"are also "crimes." And they're crimes because, while we're damned close, we aren't as debased politically by capitalism as the USA is. In the end, Del Mastro is spinning and babbling to avoid getting caught out in a "trick." But he's also a "crook." He is going to go to prison or there will be hell to pay.

Del Mastro will cry pitifully when he realizes that the gravy train is over and in such an ignominious way. The closest that that tower of lard could come to a glamorous lifestyle ended early and with him in prison. Same as all those swine. They might even think: "I never actually hurt anyone!" That just shows how unfit they are to hold power. They can't grasp how precious democracy is. They simply don't understand the significance of the holes they've torn through our democratic fabric.

I realize that they are human. I realize that they have families. I realize that they have children (some of them) who want to look up to them. But just because you haven't found them dragging the bloody knife across the innocent child's throat with blood spilling everywhere, it doesn't mean that these people aren't horrible.

The privatization of health care will destroy countless lives. All the horror stories we hear from the USA will come here. And it will have been Preston Manning and Paul Martin and this present gang of assholes who will have brought it about. All that suffering. All that pain. Thank the people responsible. All the necessary programs that will be cut to make up for the greed of our financial sector and the corruption and uselessness of our fighter-jets and our prisons will devastate people's lives. And it will be harper and Del Mastro and Baird's fault.

And on and on. You get the picture.

I recognize the humanity of my enemies but I never lose sight of what they stand for and the danger they represent. And the same goes for internet opponents. In the 3-d world I won't go out of my way to get in the face of some moronic "conservative" supporter. But when push comes to shove I will not back down. I will be genuinely angry and I will get in their faces. On the internet, as political bloggers, especially with pseudonyms or when we're genuinely anonymous, all we really are are political ideas. If some clown called "Palladium" showed up here and began mouthing off, I wouldn't think about his or her possible home life. They're just "Palladium" the obnoxious "conservative" troll and I will treat them as such.

But if, through a pseudonym, you have endorsed torture, aggressive war, racism, sexism, election fraud, constitution-shredding, and have done so with a ridiculous smirk on your face, then I have no time for you. One witless troll once said that in real life it would probably be fun to have a beer with me. I disabused him of that notion. I said that if we ever met in real life I'd be hard-pressed not to spit in his face.

This is a global village. Those innocent men being tortured into madness at Guantanamo Bay are within our sight (thanks to technology) and they could be within our power to save if there were less revolting monsters giving their support to our pseudo-democratic (but mostly criminal) leaders for these crimes. Those First Nations people freezing and suffering in unheated shacks are continuing to do so because of scum like the harpercons and their trollish supporters.

So, no. If you embrace enough disgusting delusions or you support enough hateful attacks on democracy, people, the Earth, I don't like you and I'm not your friend. I'm quite capable of keeping crimes against humanity in my head no matter how charming you might be in person. We are enemies and only a full recantation and the suitable payment of your debt to society is going to change that.