I’m stunned and yet not hugely surprised. I don’t doubt the exact same thing would play out among most city councillors in Edmonton under a similar situation. Majority are pretty deep NDP in their beliefs and so it makes sense that they’d act this way. I’m glad to see this bad behavior called out.
New campaign slogan - Jyoti - mayor for only those people whose opinions and beliefs she agrees with. Bet she didn’t think through how poorly that would poll.
Terry, I agree with you but I also offer that the two editors, G & G, are both such skilled writers / commentators (and pretty fair editors, too) that they produce a wonderful quantity of material, pretty much all of which is individually worth the price of subscription. And, then, the other material is worthwhile too.
Oh, by the way, they have not suborned this commentary; I am truly a fan.
Thanks for this. I really struggled with my choice for the Mayor vote this past time, and didn't understand why Gondek was getting so much support. People really wanted her to be the next Nenshi, but for all his faults, Nenshi has an incredible sense of how his actions are perceived, and is really good at taking a position and not alienating the other side. Gondek from Day 1 has been campaigning for her next job at the expense of her constituents, but really seems to lack the understanding that she's really pissing off the people who she would need to vote her into her next job.
Dec 8, 2023·edited Dec 8, 2023Liked by Line Editor
How sweet it is! I hope this stinging indictment becomes a template for those who DRIVE politics into a discussion where politics is unneeded nor asked for.
When politicians drift from their lane into areas that don't fall within the scope of their office, it's a good sign that they're not competently executing their actual duties. I noticed this as a kid when the vogue was for cities to declare they were nuclear weapons free zones. Weeks would be spent grandstanding, including hours of council meetings. All of that for declaration that would have absolutely zero impact on the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and have zero impact if the federal government decided to allow nuclear weapons to be transported through or based in those cities. Voters who base their votes on these issues also contribute to the dysfunction of their own cities.
This remindes me of 'bike shedding' or Parkinson's Law of Triviality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality. The idea is people tend to avoid important but complex and high risk decisions in favour of more trivial but lower risk decisions. The example was a hypothetical meeting about building a nuclear power plan, where most of the time is spent on debating the construction of a shed to store employee bikes.
It's risk aversion combined with a bias towards activity, where 'doing something' feels productive even when it isn't!
I think a lot of these politicians are also politically engaged mediocrities who've been unsuccessful in reaching the level they're really interested in.
She literally "veered off course" on her very first day as Mayor, and really hasn't done anything but go downhill from there. VERY likely to be a one-term Mayor.
Dec 8, 2023·edited Dec 8, 2023Liked by Line Editor
The problem is that a huge number of canadians truly believe that Israel is *literally* commiting a genocide on par with the holocaust. A lot of the stupidity we are seeing is entirely rational if that is the premise - they view the Chanukah ceremony to be the same as a ceremony that said "support Germany" while Auschwitz was still operational. I'm not sure how that can be fixed, it's hard enough to reason with people face-to-face that you know personally, let alone at scale........
Adam, I understand your point but I offer a further comment that applies to many of the people you describe; You can't fix stupid.
Stupid isn't necessarily a permanent condition for most folks. Really, the cure for stupid is usually simply to start thinking and to ask intelligent questions. Even semi-intelligent questions, to start.
Unfortunately, for some folks, stupid is permanent as they don't seem to ask ANY questions and we can only hope that they become winners of the Darwin Award.
KS, I agree that it is the way of the world but I also submit that it is a fundamental flaw in democracy, similar to candidates or the government, as the case may be, buying our votes with our own money and/or appealing solely to our most base instincts. Yes, democracy has very distinct problems but, as Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the rest."
I would also add that having access to education and, indeed, graduating is very distinctly different than being educated or applying the education that you received. That requires thinking.
This is all very true. Ben Franklin early in the US Republic pointed out that the citizens are the source of the fall of democracy.
My hypothesis is that this whole issue of support is about social justice as perceived by those who believe wealth and opportunities are zero sum. They believe that the "young, poor and brown" need to take from the "older, richer and white" to get something in this world. God forbid these folks work to add value to the world, as defined by the market, not themselves.
I have often thought that the concept of the zero sum organization of the economy was the source of so much angst (to be excessively polite). I confess that I thought that way in my much, much, much younger days and then I hit my late teens and realized that a functioning economy can create much greater wealth, which wealth can be shared among all people.
I would also add that these folks who are blinded by the zero sum argument simply haven't taken the time to consider that the society in which they live is so incredibly wealthier than even twenty five years ago, let alone a comparison to one hundred years ago. And a comparison to two hundred years ago!! The society today certainly has flaws but many fewer flaws than twenty five or one hundred years ago; much of that improvement has occurred because society has become wealthier and has been working on fixing flaws. The argument that we are wealthier because we have taken from other societies is foolish as the rest of the world is (mostly) also wealthier.
So, yes, it does come down to fundamentals. And one of those fundamentals is that some folks simply do not take any time at all to think. Ever.
There are different types of intelligence and one of them is understanding the world around you and how it works. These folks just aren't that bright in this area. I don't know how else to describe it.
Israel has killed and displaced more Palestinians in the last two months than Serbia did during the two years of the Kosovo War. We responded then by bombing the Serbian military. I don't remember any op eds justifying the slaughter in terms of Serbia's right to defend itself against Kosovar Albanian terrorism, but I could be wrong.
Thorne Sutherland makes a good point but there is another one that might be made.
Israel is only - repeat, only - bombing and destroying the Hamas military bases. But, you offer, they are bombing cities and destroying hospitals .... But, that is where Hamas put their military bases.
I respectfully suggest that you look at a map of Gaza. You will absolutely find very congested urban aggregations but you will also find a significant amount of vacant land - "rural" if you will. Why did Hamas not put military bases in that vacant, "rural" land?
How could you possibly know exactly what Israel is and is not bombing? The IDF lies constantly. Their propaganda is no more trustworthy than Hamas'.
There is widespread agreement among all parties involved that a huge swath of Gaza has been bombed into oblivion, five figures of people are dead, and over a million people have been displaced. You're free to think that's totally cool. A whole lot of people don't think it's cool, which is why we see more and more politicians not reflexively supporting Israel anymore.
Totally cool? Did he say it was totally cool? Did anybody? I'm just guessing here. Guessing that you don't know the first thing about Israel - including the Balfour declaration, the fact that the Arabs never had any interest in partition (read 2 state solution), the six-day war, you know the one where the Arabs tried to force every Israeli into the Med, or Hamas not giving a toss how many Palestinian civilians get killed. Just a guess on my part.
So it’s not cool? What’s the path forward for Canada? Are we supposed to cheer ethnic cleansing? We sure didn’t cheer it when Serbia was doing it in the 90’s.
Israel is a country that defends it's people as per it's mandate. It will root out Hamas any way it can, and yes Israeli children are more important to them than Gazans. Deal with it.
Terrorist organizations want their local civilians to die. Period. So rural land is not going to suit those goals. Because, generally speaking, that body count helps turn the tide of public and political forces in their favour or at the very least make it very hard for their enemies to take them down. We see this over and over. Hamas wants a very large Palestinan body count . That may be dark and dreadful but terrorists are dark and dreadful creatures.
Dave, I agree with you fully. Now, if only the idiots who support Hamas and decry the deaths in Gaza would understand that the body counts are actually desired by Hamas and that they (Hamas, that is) have very, very likely grossly overstated the deaths and the deaths of vulnerable children and others.
Any deaths are awful but Hamas is making it so that the number of deaths are much greater than "necessary" - what a word! - in the circumstances. Quite simply they are using the civilian population as shields. We are horror struck by this inhumanity but we cannot recognize it for other than what it is. Israel must eliminate this death cult known as Hamas but the only way to do so - because Hamas has made it so - is to go through civilians. Awful. But that is the truth.
There are differences. The biggest is that Israel issued warnings they were coming for weeks in advance of them entering Gaza. And they are still telling civilians to get the hell out of the way. The second is that I doubt the combatants in that the Serbians used the civilians as human shields or built tunnels under schools, hospitals or subdivisions. That’s the reason why Palestinians are dying today, because of the Hamas.
There's a 100 year history of why Palestinians are dying today. History did not start on Oct 7. Israeli propaganda is no more believable than Hamas propaganda. Nobody has clean hands. None of that is relevant to the future of the region or to Canada.
If it is not relevant then why are the progressive so keen on pushing it? As for the history of the region, I am well aware of the history. I am also aware that the Palestinians in Gaza suffered when Egypt was in control when the state of Israel was established. By UN proclamation no less. Also forgotten is that the Arab neighbours attempted to wipe Israel out before the ink was dry on the proclamation. They tried again and again. Things settled down until 1967 when Israel took preemptive action and kicked their asses. Since then, Palestinians were welcomed in Israel, even taking seats in their Knesset. Not really something that a genocidal nation would do, right?
Are you saying that Israel warming civilians to leave is propaganda? That the tunnels under the civilian population is propaganda? Palestinians are dying because of the Hamas. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but Hamas kept poking the bear. They want their own citizens to die, because it’s great propaganda.
I’m not going to quibble with your perception of history because it’s not important. There are two paths out of this cycle of violence: either there’s a real two state solution or Israel ethnically cleanses the Palestinians. Which path should Canada support? Which path is best for the future security of Israelis?
The lesson from history is that forgiveness and fairness works out better than revenge and retribution.
As a contrast, the NDP Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow, did her job and attended lighting the Menora.
And nothing else happened.
I’m stunned and yet not hugely surprised. I don’t doubt the exact same thing would play out among most city councillors in Edmonton under a similar situation. Majority are pretty deep NDP in their beliefs and so it makes sense that they’d act this way. I’m glad to see this bad behavior called out.
New campaign slogan - Jyoti - mayor for only those people whose opinions and beliefs she agrees with. Bet she didn’t think through how poorly that would poll.
Well written as usual, Jen. Keep up the great work!
As a fellow Calgarian, I appreciate your words so much, Jen. Keep up the good work.
This article alone was worth the subscription price for the line.
Terry, I agree with you but I also offer that the two editors, G & G, are both such skilled writers / commentators (and pretty fair editors, too) that they produce a wonderful quantity of material, pretty much all of which is individually worth the price of subscription. And, then, the other material is worthwhile too.
Oh, by the way, they have not suborned this commentary; I am truly a fan.
Thanks for this. I really struggled with my choice for the Mayor vote this past time, and didn't understand why Gondek was getting so much support. People really wanted her to be the next Nenshi, but for all his faults, Nenshi has an incredible sense of how his actions are perceived, and is really good at taking a position and not alienating the other side. Gondek from Day 1 has been campaigning for her next job at the expense of her constituents, but really seems to lack the understanding that she's really pissing off the people who she would need to vote her into her next job.
She seems to have all the makings of a good Liberal MP.
How sweet it is! I hope this stinging indictment becomes a template for those who DRIVE politics into a discussion where politics is unneeded nor asked for.
Bang on, Jen!
Jen Gerson, your Kick-A-Dunce columns make my subscription worth every single penny. This thwacking of Gondek The Fool is an absolute delight.
As my late wife said of Jyoti, "does she think she's in charge of the world?"
Gary, I respectfully offer that your late wife could have asked much more simply, "Does she think?"
When politicians drift from their lane into areas that don't fall within the scope of their office, it's a good sign that they're not competently executing their actual duties. I noticed this as a kid when the vogue was for cities to declare they were nuclear weapons free zones. Weeks would be spent grandstanding, including hours of council meetings. All of that for declaration that would have absolutely zero impact on the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and have zero impact if the federal government decided to allow nuclear weapons to be transported through or based in those cities. Voters who base their votes on these issues also contribute to the dysfunction of their own cities.
This remindes me of 'bike shedding' or Parkinson's Law of Triviality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality. The idea is people tend to avoid important but complex and high risk decisions in favour of more trivial but lower risk decisions. The example was a hypothetical meeting about building a nuclear power plan, where most of the time is spent on debating the construction of a shed to store employee bikes.
It's risk aversion combined with a bias towards activity, where 'doing something' feels productive even when it isn't!
I think a lot of these politicians are also politically engaged mediocrities who've been unsuccessful in reaching the level they're really interested in.
"Jesus is coming. Look busy."
She literally "veered off course" on her very first day as Mayor, and really hasn't done anything but go downhill from there. VERY likely to be a one-term Mayor.
How good was that?!?!?!
F@#$%^& awesome!!!!
Amazing!! Very well written, and thank you for showing up to the Menorah Lighting!
Its obvious the mayor firmly believed there would be "pro invade Gaza" messages, secreted away in the short bread cookies.
Angry Jen at your best. You get blood boiling. You are so right...and always. Thank you.
The problem is that a huge number of canadians truly believe that Israel is *literally* commiting a genocide on par with the holocaust. A lot of the stupidity we are seeing is entirely rational if that is the premise - they view the Chanukah ceremony to be the same as a ceremony that said "support Germany" while Auschwitz was still operational. I'm not sure how that can be fixed, it's hard enough to reason with people face-to-face that you know personally, let alone at scale........
Adam, I understand your point but I offer a further comment that applies to many of the people you describe; You can't fix stupid.
Stupid isn't necessarily a permanent condition for most folks. Really, the cure for stupid is usually simply to start thinking and to ask intelligent questions. Even semi-intelligent questions, to start.
Unfortunately, for some folks, stupid is permanent as they don't seem to ask ANY questions and we can only hope that they become winners of the Darwin Award.
Many do not choose ignorance but a critical mass of stupid people have access to education and still choose ignorance. It is the way of the world.
KS, I agree that it is the way of the world but I also submit that it is a fundamental flaw in democracy, similar to candidates or the government, as the case may be, buying our votes with our own money and/or appealing solely to our most base instincts. Yes, democracy has very distinct problems but, as Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the rest."
I would also add that having access to education and, indeed, graduating is very distinctly different than being educated or applying the education that you received. That requires thinking.
This is all very true. Ben Franklin early in the US Republic pointed out that the citizens are the source of the fall of democracy.
My hypothesis is that this whole issue of support is about social justice as perceived by those who believe wealth and opportunities are zero sum. They believe that the "young, poor and brown" need to take from the "older, richer and white" to get something in this world. God forbid these folks work to add value to the world, as defined by the market, not themselves.
It really does come down to fundamentals.
Yes, I absolutely agree!
I have often thought that the concept of the zero sum organization of the economy was the source of so much angst (to be excessively polite). I confess that I thought that way in my much, much, much younger days and then I hit my late teens and realized that a functioning economy can create much greater wealth, which wealth can be shared among all people.
I would also add that these folks who are blinded by the zero sum argument simply haven't taken the time to consider that the society in which they live is so incredibly wealthier than even twenty five years ago, let alone a comparison to one hundred years ago. And a comparison to two hundred years ago!! The society today certainly has flaws but many fewer flaws than twenty five or one hundred years ago; much of that improvement has occurred because society has become wealthier and has been working on fixing flaws. The argument that we are wealthier because we have taken from other societies is foolish as the rest of the world is (mostly) also wealthier.
So, yes, it does come down to fundamentals. And one of those fundamentals is that some folks simply do not take any time at all to think. Ever.
There are different types of intelligence and one of them is understanding the world around you and how it works. These folks just aren't that bright in this area. I don't know how else to describe it.
Israel has killed and displaced more Palestinians in the last two months than Serbia did during the two years of the Kosovo War. We responded then by bombing the Serbian military. I don't remember any op eds justifying the slaughter in terms of Serbia's right to defend itself against Kosovar Albanian terrorism, but I could be wrong.
Thorne Sutherland makes a good point but there is another one that might be made.
Israel is only - repeat, only - bombing and destroying the Hamas military bases. But, you offer, they are bombing cities and destroying hospitals .... But, that is where Hamas put their military bases.
I respectfully suggest that you look at a map of Gaza. You will absolutely find very congested urban aggregations but you will also find a significant amount of vacant land - "rural" if you will. Why did Hamas not put military bases in that vacant, "rural" land?
How could you possibly know exactly what Israel is and is not bombing? The IDF lies constantly. Their propaganda is no more trustworthy than Hamas'.
There is widespread agreement among all parties involved that a huge swath of Gaza has been bombed into oblivion, five figures of people are dead, and over a million people have been displaced. You're free to think that's totally cool. A whole lot of people don't think it's cool, which is why we see more and more politicians not reflexively supporting Israel anymore.
Totally cool? Did he say it was totally cool? Did anybody? I'm just guessing here. Guessing that you don't know the first thing about Israel - including the Balfour declaration, the fact that the Arabs never had any interest in partition (read 2 state solution), the six-day war, you know the one where the Arabs tried to force every Israeli into the Med, or Hamas not giving a toss how many Palestinian civilians get killed. Just a guess on my part.
So it’s not cool? What’s the path forward for Canada? Are we supposed to cheer ethnic cleansing? We sure didn’t cheer it when Serbia was doing it in the 90’s.
Israel is a country that defends it's people as per it's mandate. It will root out Hamas any way it can, and yes Israeli children are more important to them than Gazans. Deal with it.
Terrorist organizations want their local civilians to die. Period. So rural land is not going to suit those goals. Because, generally speaking, that body count helps turn the tide of public and political forces in their favour or at the very least make it very hard for their enemies to take them down. We see this over and over. Hamas wants a very large Palestinan body count . That may be dark and dreadful but terrorists are dark and dreadful creatures.
Dave, I agree with you fully. Now, if only the idiots who support Hamas and decry the deaths in Gaza would understand that the body counts are actually desired by Hamas and that they (Hamas, that is) have very, very likely grossly overstated the deaths and the deaths of vulnerable children and others.
Any deaths are awful but Hamas is making it so that the number of deaths are much greater than "necessary" - what a word! - in the circumstances. Quite simply they are using the civilian population as shields. We are horror struck by this inhumanity but we cannot recognize it for other than what it is. Israel must eliminate this death cult known as Hamas but the only way to do so - because Hamas has made it so - is to go through civilians. Awful. But that is the truth.
There are differences. The biggest is that Israel issued warnings they were coming for weeks in advance of them entering Gaza. And they are still telling civilians to get the hell out of the way. The second is that I doubt the combatants in that the Serbians used the civilians as human shields or built tunnels under schools, hospitals or subdivisions. That’s the reason why Palestinians are dying today, because of the Hamas.
There's a 100 year history of why Palestinians are dying today. History did not start on Oct 7. Israeli propaganda is no more believable than Hamas propaganda. Nobody has clean hands. None of that is relevant to the future of the region or to Canada.
If it is not relevant then why are the progressive so keen on pushing it? As for the history of the region, I am well aware of the history. I am also aware that the Palestinians in Gaza suffered when Egypt was in control when the state of Israel was established. By UN proclamation no less. Also forgotten is that the Arab neighbours attempted to wipe Israel out before the ink was dry on the proclamation. They tried again and again. Things settled down until 1967 when Israel took preemptive action and kicked their asses. Since then, Palestinians were welcomed in Israel, even taking seats in their Knesset. Not really something that a genocidal nation would do, right?
Are you saying that Israel warming civilians to leave is propaganda? That the tunnels under the civilian population is propaganda? Palestinians are dying because of the Hamas. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but Hamas kept poking the bear. They want their own citizens to die, because it’s great propaganda.
I’m not going to quibble with your perception of history because it’s not important. There are two paths out of this cycle of violence: either there’s a real two state solution or Israel ethnically cleanses the Palestinians. Which path should Canada support? Which path is best for the future security of Israelis?
The lesson from history is that forgiveness and fairness works out better than revenge and retribution.
Seems simple, we're going to destroy your homes, leave. Those with the means leave. Those with no where to go or the means by which to leave are dead.
Fact: 1200 dead Isrealis, 16000 dead Palestinians.
Isreal is destroying Gaza, period.
I'm offended. Calgary is at least a Large medium-sized city, thanks very much
eh