I've borrowed the title from a comment by Toe to yesterday's post concerning Senator Nancy Ruth and her unfortunate advice to aid experts.
I've seen a number of bloggers defend Ruth as a woman who has always stood up for reproductive choice and for women's rights in general. That's great, and if you want to commend her for her previous accomplishments, go for it. It doesn't change the fact that in this instance, she's cast herself in the role of enforcer for a vindictive and bullying prime minister. While you're commending her, ask her if any previous gains in these areas were made by keeping quiet and letting the bullies have their way.
If opposition to Harper's policies disappears from the public discourse, you can guarantee that a whole host of politicians and pundits will be only too happy to repeat the mantra that we're becoming a more conservative society. And Conservatives will be even more emboldened to pursue their agenda, even if they do it in the short term through methods — like cutting funding here and changing regulations there — that don't require legislation. And perhaps most importantly, those politicians who might be willing to stand up and push back will feel like they have no support. If you want opposition politicians to support your positions, you have to make those politicians feel as though you'll support them in return. Or they'll shut up, too.
Unless of course, you think the battle is already lost and we may as well just stop fighting. In that case, there's a bunch of us who may as well just shut down our blogs and spend whatever free time we have watching TV.
Iggy just told us to STFU about having Sheila Fraser audit MP's/Senators expenses. Opposition will garner no respect from me, when they are handed a perfect platform that actually jives with what people want.
As for Ruth, now I'm wondering, could this have the opposite effect and was that her intention?I'm not sure. My first reaction was bang the pots, it should be for Opposition as well. We pay them to take initiatives; as in Contempt of Parliament, look how that is being shaped already, as in 'the public who have a right to know, may never know'.
Silence is often interpreted as disapproval or hostility, there is more risk in undercommunicating than in overcommunicating and yet, especially in these times of lurching from one disaster to another, the poli's still don't 'get' our priorities.
If they want to be reassured, then they need to make more of an effort to stop missing opportunities. It's all starting to feel like a set-up for Harper 4 Prez 4Ever. How far is the Opposition going to allow this breakdown of democracy & public trust to go? And why have they allowed it to go on as long as it has? No money, no platform, no ideas, no opportunities, the excuses are just endless. Ptui! to them.
Judy Rebick:
"...Nancy Ruth is working very hard to advance women's rights within the terrible restrictions of this government. I don't envy her that job but that's not the job of women's rights advocates. Our job is to fight for women's rights here and globally..."
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/judes/2010/05/feminists-have-been-told-shut-fuck-if-we-had-listened-we-would-still-be
pogge, I really have to question the tone of this comment. Yes, you've seen a number of feminists speak highly of Nancy Ruth, for good reason.
Have you seen one who agrees with her that we should shut up, which your third paragraph doesn't quite say but seems headed towards? I haven't seen a one. All the feminists I've read have said they disagree with her.
So, you agree with me but I'm in trouble anyway?
I've seen at least a couple of responses that stop short of saying Ruth's admonition should be ignored. They seemed a bit ... tepid and I thought perhaps they could use some encouragement.
lol. You're not in trouble, but I guess some snappishness that I've run into elsewhere had me thinking that I was in trouble.
I never stop being a critic; that's just the way I'm made. But no one has ever taken me for a clever political strategist either. I'm not going to shut the fuck up for fear of Harper, but I have occasionally had the experience in the past of realizing that some of my political purity would be better directed in directions other than, say, someone like Nancy Ruth. (That doesn't mean I'm letting DiNovo or E. May off the hook for different kinds of blurts.)
The genie is out of the bottle now. Maybe Rebick is right, that this would actually be good grounds (one of several) on which to fight an election. I am wondering whether that's what Ruth was warning about. People have noticed that we don't actually have a strong defence in the present Liberal caucus? Who can't pass their own motions on this turf?
It's at times like this that I like to remember the wise words of Pastor Niemoller. While there is some dispute as to the order of events he is worth heeding all the same
In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
I am not comparing Harper to Hitler,but the danger in not speaking out is still to great to ignore.
I will end with what my father used to say to me,"If you only have principles when it is convenient, then you don't acually have any principles at all."
Excellent piece.
Very sage advice for these days that must heeded.
I noticed that many are critical of the opposition, which is fine, we're supposed to be critical, but these days, I also get the feeling some have these dreams for Canada that are unrealistic and therefore, give up and as you say, watch tv and don't even show up to the polling stations on election day, and yes, even continue to lament over the state of affairs.
And yes, you're right about respecting the opposition, as for better or worse, they're all we have that's standing between us and a King Stevie regime.
We can lament til the cows come home about our opposition, but not only is that not helpful to getting Steve out of office, it even serves to help Steve get a majority in the next election.