Reader Mail

I quoted one of our readers, Dr. Michael Pilon, Major (retired), in an update of this post on a Remembrance Day program. I received a follow-up email from him that I’d like to share:

I have been watching the sad events unfold for a few days and I do not believe what has happened. I have known Mr. Michaud since the late 1970′s when we met at  Base Gagetown in New Brunswick. He is a very sincere and dedicated teacher. My receptionist has two children who have, and had him as a teacher and they both speak highly  and enthusiastically of his dedication, interest and sense of history.

I think “Hearsay” about kids pointing guns at passing cars and publishing this is slanderous. As a former trained military person Mr. Michaud would first instill a sense of responsibility in his students. In my basic training this was perhaps the most important aspect of our induction into the military. To tell people that the kids were acting like a game pointing them at cars is very irresponsible. No police reports were filed about this. But, I did hear neighbours were allegedly “complaining” about the event. And as to tanks…no such event occurred. Now if one imagines tanks one can only guess what one can imagine about guns. Time to look at fact.

Mr. Michaud has had a 20 year dream crushed through political correctness. The lesson has not been lost on his students.

 

The Scourge of Political Correctness

So I received a little pushback on my post about incorporating guns in the Remembrance Day activities of an Ottawa high school. I wasn’t surprised; just as when Charles writes about his white poppy, being semi-critical of any aspect of a Remembrance Day ceremony is going to elicit some emotional responses. That’s just part of the deal.

The post brought up the topic of political correctness, and I’m confident in suggesting that a sizable chunk of our readership here at The Politic will claim an antipathy towards political correctness. Much of conservatism has prided itself in being politically incorrect, as have I, at times – which is why I wrote such a politically incorrect post. [Read more]

Am I supposed to be upset by this? [Updated]

Writing in today’s National Post, Sarah Boesveld notes the end of a Remembrance Day tradition at Ottawa’s Notre Dame High School. For the past 19 years, the high school has hosted a remembrance event that brought veterans, historians and military paraphanelia from wars past to the students.

For the past 19 years, students at an Ottawa high school have hoisted 10-pound military rifles to feel what it may be like to lug one around in the muddy trenches. They’ve met veterans and heard their stories, learning how their families were affected and what it was like to fight so far from home.

But this year — the year that was supposed to mark the 20th Remembrance Day Symposium at Notre Dame High School — they will get no such chance.

The traditional school event, scheduled for Nov. 10, has been cancelled because of a school committee decision to ensure there were “no tanks or guns” at the event, its co-ordinator told participants in an email last Friday.

This may seem like political correctness run amok, but there are some other layers to the story. [Read more]

“You should be shot.” because I wear my white poppy

The old lady at the check-out counter told me that I was the first person she ever saw wearing a white poppy. She asked me why I wear it and she said that I you should be shot. I told her that I have been wearing a white poppy proudly for a while now after I learned more about the history of war and how it seems to repeat itself.

I took the liberty of calmly telling her what I thought.

I told her that thousands of young men were sent off a hundred years ago to die in support of a lie. I told her that generations and generations of Canadians were taught that Canadians were under threat and that was a lie. I told her that Canadians were not under any threat in the First World War. I told her that I was tired of military history repeating itself. I told her that thousands of young women and families suffered grievously solely for financial gain of a select elite group of money grubbing liars. I told her that I have a lot of compassion for the military veterans and the ones who died in support of lies.

I told her that we continue those lies. I told her that we do not need as much oil as we pretend to need. I told her I will continue to wear my white poppy proudly. Then, she asked me if I wanted to pay 0.05$ extra for a plastic bag and I declined. I carried my loaf of bread out of the store in my hands instead of wasting a bloody recyclable petroleum product.

UPDATE (Wednesday, November 10th):
Last night, at the beer store, the kid at the counter asked me what the white poppy represents. I told him it means different things to different people and to me, it means that we have been taught a pack of lies concerning the First World War and that thousands of young men died for greed. His reply: “Yeah, well, we had to fight Hitler.” and shook his head. Yeah, well, I guess I missed that class in high school.

Poppies! Poppies! Poppies!

I see fewer people wearing poppies these days. Just an observation.

I still wear mine: