Ridiculous Canadian Politics

[Big Papa Goat]

Now I don't know if anyone here keeps up with Canadian politics, but this story is so ridiculous that you might want to hear about it:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/04/03/lukiwski-video.html

Basically they found this video from 1991 of a guy who is now (but not then) a member of parliment at some party, I think it might have been an election party, but basically it was a bunch of drunk people being more or less drunk and ridiculous. Anyway, on this video Tom Lukiwiski, they guy who's now an MP makes some crude joke about faggots. Now that this has come out, the opposition is calling for him to resign. For making a joke at a party seventeen years ago, before he even had the position he is no being called on to quit.
Can anyone believe that? Am I the only one that thinks that's ridiculous? Oh ya, another thing that makes this ridiculous is the fact that Lukiwski got into parliment by replacing a guy, Larry Spenser who was kicked out of his party for saying to a reporter that he would support a law banning homosexuality. People are literally saying that since a guy like that (a lawmaker that publically says that he wants to make homosexuality illegal) should be kicked out of parliment, a guy like Lukiwski (who said faggot once, in a joke, at a party, when he wasn't even a politician) should also be kicked out of parliment. I hear people saying that since Lukiwski was about 40 at the time that means that what he said reflects his core beliefs or something. Forget about how fucking old he was, it was just some stupid joke, not a statement of his core beliefs about homosexuality or anything else for that matter. Or am I wrong? I mean, if a story like this came out about a U.S. Senator or Representative came out, do you think anyone would demand he or she resign?

[executioneer]

they might, but it'd still be ridiculous

[Colonel Flagg]

It reminds me of the instance when Mike Wallace (of 60 minutes fame) was caught making a joke about African Americans eating Fried Chicken and Watermelon (Remember Fuzzy Zoeller? Well, he wasn't the first). Wallace was in-between takes, unaware the cameras were rolling, and before you know it the joke is out of his mouth and on tape. Now, being an investigative journalist, you'd have THOUGHT he would know better; he didn't and the deed was done. Admittedly this was in the age before YouTube, and it didn't get the airplay something like this "Faggot" joke will probably get, but still there was a hue and a cry for public humiliation and retribution, not short of firing his kiester from the show. The humiliation and the apology was immediate; the firing was not (obviously).

The point? Most people will accept a moment of weakness as just that - a moment of weakness. If he apologizes quickly and sincerely, maybe has lunch with a GLBT group and discuss their concerns about this kind of behavior and what can be done, this will all be water under the bridge.

[Girl Drink Drunk]

I'm sure those American politicians never pull any wacky shit like that :rolleyes

[Big Papa Goat]

The point? Most people will accept a moment of weakness as just that - a moment of weakness. If he apologizes quickly and sincerely, maybe has lunch with a GLBT group and discuss their concerns about this kind of behavior and what can be done, this will all be water under the bridge.

You'd think so, and he has apologized pretty profusely. He even went so far as to say in his apology speech in the house of commons that 'things like that shouldn't be allowed to be said' or something to that effect. Maybe Canada will toughen up its hate crime laws and make jokes about faggots illegal now. But ya, despite apologies that have actually been generally considered sincere the opposition is still insisting that he should resign. And apparently, although I have to think the media is distorting this, the 'public' is highly outraged and thinks the guy should resign. I keep seeing interviews of people on the street acting like this is a huge deal, it's bizzarre.

A little while earlier there was this native chief in Canada who decided not to try to get back in to some native organization on account of some comments he made a few years ago about jews, for which he was actually charged with hate crimes, and there are some people comparing these two situations too. Now, Ahenakew, this chief said that the Jews were a disease and that Hitler did a good job 'frying' six million of them. And he said that to a reporter at a conference of some kind too (although he was still probably drunk at the time anyway :racism) but people are trying to compare these cases now too. I dunno, Lukiwski's joke was about how homosexual faggots spread diseases, but it's not like he was saying faggotism is a disease or anything.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2003/06/11/ahenakew_charge030611.html

[Tadao]

Let's say a politician makes a rude joke in his past. In the present he is saying that people need to be just and lawful and if they aren't, then they should be punished. Fuck this guy. He fucked up and should be punished. I'm tired of all these dumb fucking laws that tell me I'm a bad person and are made by politicians who act holier than thou. Yeah he made a mistake in his past, do you really think he is going to let you off the hook when you fuck up? Hell know, he can't. And neither can we.

[Big Papa Goat]

Hey Tadao, this is a serious political homo thread for serious political homos to discuss their serious political homo problems.

[Sethomas]

I just opened this thread to note:

Earlier today (yesterday technically) I was explaining a step-by-step process that led to the fact that you can find online a map of the United States that indicates in convenient color coding which states of the union officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

There's a very well-documented historical event, and there's a word that unequivocally defines it. Roughly 95 years after the fact, local governments on another continent are left to decide whether or not this match made in heaven of these two words, "Armenian" and "genocide", should ever be acknowledged as "The Armenian Genocide".

When you factor in the ludicrously plausible argument that this will have ramifications in how the Iraq War is undertaken and could thus be translated into tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in tax dollars from the American citizenry, the phrase "Ridiculous Canadian politics" loses any meaning it ever had.

[Big Papa Goat]

Well, it's ridiculous for Canadian politics, how about that?