Hero: Traditionally the word was conceived as meaning one who performs heroic deeds, such as risking one's life to help or save another. Today it has become so debased in meaning as to refer to anyone who survives an ordeal. For example, a child, who fell down an open pit and was rescued by firefighters, was described as a "hero". Not the men who risked their lives in a possible cave-in, but the kid for not dying during the rescue. "Hero" can now be applied to a cancer victim, who struggles to stay alive, or a teacher who does not commit hari kari in front of a difficult class.
Affirmative action: Just who is being affirmed here is the key. Daddy giving his child a good position in his firm; even though the offspring is an unqualified lunkhead is called nepotism. Boo! This is a bad thing. However, if some race or gender is given a position in a firm or institution that the person is unqualified for, then this is affirmative action. Yeh! A good thing.
First Nations: Living as we do in a country where things of value are ranked from first to worst, we have to see where we are on the totem pole. If the Indians are the First Nation then they deserve to live the life of idleness that the $70,000 per family government allotment provides. The French, who got to Canada next, thus will be designated The Second Nation. Therefore, they obviously deserve more than their demographically determined share of government positions, subsides, grants / forgivable loans, and the like. The English tagging along behind in colonization must be The Third Nation. They along with the immigrants--Fourth to tenth Nations--get to be the hewers of wood and bearers of water for their betters. Thus it is written in stone in the equality kingdom of Canada.
ACTION NEWS!!! Well action turns out to be a rather subjective term on television. Generally, it is some reporter standing in front of a house/ car/ street/ park/ open field (Cop cars with revolving lights optional, but preferred). If you are lucky, you get to see a corpse wheeled out in a body bag. Amidst a gaggle of on-lookers, who have no more information than you, the reporter tries to pump some adrenalin into this story. About as close as they get (excluding their hyper-ventilating voices) is to ask a friend/relative of the victim: "How do you feel about this tragedy?" If they are lucky, said interviewee will break down in tears. "Over to you, Peter."
The Boob Tube's sense of decorum: You have to understand that NFL commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, is sorrily p***ed off about Janet Jackson's tit making a touchdown on the half-time show of the Superbowl. No siree! This is not what the Superbowl is all about. It is about presenting wholesome images. Such as, to quote Cam Cole of The National Post: "Except for breast-enhanced cheerleaders, steroid-bloated players knocking snot-bubbles out of each other for fun, and 2.25 million half minute television commercials featuring flatulent horses, crotch-biting dogs, and enough different kinds of pills to convince the viewer that if all America's erectile problems we laid end to end...no, never mind."
Linguistic equality: Pardon me, if I take a didactic route to this term. If, in a debate among four people, three people choose one solution, then the other dissenting view loses out. Some social dinosaurs still refer to this as democracy. However, when only a quarter of Canada's population speaks French (albeit, half them bilingual) there must be a civil service that is half, or more, at the top levels, filled with francophones. Even in some exclusively anglophone national park in Alberta, there has to be francophone ranger to cater to to the odd Quebecois tourist. "Linguistic equality" is a defunct term when it comes to Quebec of course.
The Palestinians should welcome the security fence being built -- because, if the mindless slaughter of civilians through suicide bombings continues, then, Shin Beth might turn a blind eye to similar retaliation. About a year ago, they averted what would have been a devastating massacre by Israelis of young and old Palestianians. Hours before the detonation of a huge truck filled with explosives blew away a girl's school and an old age home in the West Bank, Shin Beth stepped in and defused it. I am sure that the victims of the Palestinian atrocities had planned more such attacks. The difference between the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities is that one has a moral conscience and the other hasn't. Yes, civilian Palestinians have died, but that is usually because killers hide amongst innocent people. In the effort to eradicate these terrorists, there is collateral damage. They are not purposely targeted, unlike the targeting by Hamas and Al Asqa.
[Ordinarily Bud does not concern himself with hockey news. He much prefers golf, where the only violence is inflicted on inanimate objects like putters. However . . . he has this to say. NJC]
Ever since hockey began to resemble gladiator battles, rather than a game of speed and skill, I have tuned out. Come to think of it, many of the games are played in coleseums. Still, the hoopla over Don Cherry's xenophobic comment piqued my interest. The comment was irrational to say the least; however if the loudmouth was ever taken off Coach's Corner, the CBC would lose one of their few audience draws. Whatever the decisions taken by CBC, such as a seven second delay, it should not concern the politicians and the language commissioner. If they want a real issue, let them criticize the on-going persecution of the anglophones and their language rights in Quebec.
