Rhetoric - one love
I and a whole lot of other people got this flyer in the mail yesterday from our MP:
"The former Liberal government implemented a toothless Youth Criminal Justice Act which sent a terrible message to young people who were at risk of falling into the trap of violence and crime. Lenient laws meant these young punks got a slap on the wrist for their crimes. It is little wonder that so many young hoodlums learned to easily dodge our justice system.
It's time thugs and hoodlums learned that Canada is a peaceful, secure country that will not tolerate lawlessness. Thanks to real leadership from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Government, lawbreaking punks will have to take real responsibility for their actions, just like every other hardworking Canadian."
I am... appalled. Not necessarily at the (unspecified) reforms in question, and don't even get me started on the actual argument, such as it is, presented here - but at this offensive language which, given the statistics that these people surely had on their desk when conceiving this blather, is functionally ageist, classist, and racist too. Functionally hell, that little "young people who were at risk" bit makes it acknowledgedly so.
In another sadly frequent instance of my coming to terms with the "real world" I am saddened that this was - could be - said in Canada, and much more so that it is clearly expected to touch a chord with a large number of people.
"The former Liberal government implemented a toothless Youth Criminal Justice Act which sent a terrible message to young people who were at risk of falling into the trap of violence and crime. Lenient laws meant these young punks got a slap on the wrist for their crimes. It is little wonder that so many young hoodlums learned to easily dodge our justice system.
It's time thugs and hoodlums learned that Canada is a peaceful, secure country that will not tolerate lawlessness. Thanks to real leadership from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Government, lawbreaking punks will have to take real responsibility for their actions, just like every other hardworking Canadian."
I am... appalled. Not necessarily at the (unspecified) reforms in question, and don't even get me started on the actual argument, such as it is, presented here - but at this offensive language which, given the statistics that these people surely had on their desk when conceiving this blather, is functionally ageist, classist, and racist too. Functionally hell, that little "young people who were at risk" bit makes it acknowledgedly so.
In another sadly frequent instance of my coming to terms with the "real world" I am saddened that this was - could be - said in Canada, and much more so that it is clearly expected to touch a chord with a large number of people.