Some think political attack ads are terrible, but try placing a Liberal lawn sign on your front yard and come morning, someone has destroyed your sign and cut the brake line of your Volvo station wagon. This incident, among others, such as telephone and cable lines being cut and political graffiti carved into automobile paint and homes, were just some of the attacks taking place in a middle class neighborhood in Toronto last week.
There can be no reasonable justification for such heinous acts. It is mind-boggling to think that one can have so much hate for a red plastic sign.
This lack of respect for free speech reminds me of a trip I took to Frankfurt, Germany earlier this year. I was lucky enough to be present for a Christian Democratic Union party rally featuring the current German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. Waiting to hear the Chancellor speak, we started to see riot guards rush to the back of the audience while a cacophony of noise erupted. Hundreds of protesters had accumulated at the back of the outdoor event to obstruct and detract the gathering. Throughout the entire speech, ignorant protesters stood blowing into whistles and yelling, drowning out the speakers.
I was dumbfounded. Surely these activists were not just opposing the CDU’s policies, but also had thoughts of their own. It seems the classic debate over ideas has been lost to apathetic protesters joining hands in hatred instead of passion for a vision.
When cowards in Toronto vandalize private property or protesters try to ruin private events, you start to wonder if they have such little confidence in their own ideas the only tool left in their ideological toolbox is blocking the messages of others.
Activists who feel the need to show up to other’s events are like bullies on a playground– eventually everyone becomes immune to their childish tactics. If the other party’s statements are not true, then these protesters should put their energy to good use and try to advance debate by hosting their own rallies or creating their own political parties.
Activists using methods that serve to create disruption and sometimes put peoples lives at risk discredit the very cause they try to advance. Canadians find no value in vandalism and intolerance. This is a country built on ethnicity, diversity and understanding.
It must be stressed that the idea of opposing views is not what is being challenged, but the methods by which groups or individuals act on this opposition. Because independent thinking is so vital to the shaping of public policy, it is a shame that pockets of people using various approaches can discredit the noble causes trying to be advanced.
In the past, it has been a lack of opposition which has allowed reckless wars, discriminatory policies and other brutal events to occur. Opposition and debate should be encouraged at all times. The sad part is that often the wrong vehicles are chosen and the movement pushes away the very people it is trying to attract.
Holding up derogatory signs, vandalizing people’s homes and cars, and threatening peoples lives are some of the most ineffective and immature things to do– that is of course if the point of view is valid and cogent. If not, then Canadians should safely assume that when those tactics are pursued, it is because the activists cannot win on the merits of their arguments.
Just because one can do something doesn’t mean one should. Hopefully, in the near future, society can return to the fruitful debating of ideas and the advancing of arguments, not playground bully tactics.