DO YOU WANT TO JOIN MY PROTEST AGAINST PROTESTS?

DO YOU WANT TO  JOIN MY PROTEST AGAINST PROTESTS?

I am getting sick of protests and consultations. Recently, the CBC radio network decided not to play the Christmas song, “Baby, its Cold Outside” because it conjured up, in some demented minds, predatory sexual behaviour. A week later, after much protesting by those in the non-demented population, the CBC decided to reverse its ban and start playing the song again. Public protest and confrontation saved the day. But when one protest is over, another quickly surfaces to fill the void.

Minor hockey in Canada offers many different levels of competition based upon the ages of the players. The levels range from Mite or Tyke, Novice, Atom or Squirt, Peewee, Bantam, Midget, Juvenile, Junior and finally Senior. Well, wouldn’t you know it! The Alberta Little Person Association wants the term “midget” to be removed from under-18 hockey. “We want to raise awareness to say that this word is not appropriate anymore,” a spokesman for the group protested recently. They didn’t elaborate on whether the Midget level should be replaced by the Little Person’s level to avoid hard feelings or not!

But the ball of protest has started to roll and you can fully expect more hockey objections to follow. Given that a mite is often defined as an eight legged arachnid that may be parasitic or defined as a small child regarded as an object of sympathy, that designation has got to go. Both the terms squirt and peewee can be used as synonyms associated with a bodily function and are certainly not appropriate as the names of children’s hockey leagues. The Alberta Rooster Association will claim exclusive rights to the term “bantam” and the Delinquent Union will also object to the use of “juvenile” in a sporting, rather than a behavioural sense. Once the floodgates are open, there is no stopping the nonsense.

On the consultation front, I have a bone to pick with our indigenous people. A major pipeline is not being built because there was not enough consultation with First Nations people beforehand. I just wonder why tribes that are hundreds and hundreds of miles removed from the pipeline route are now being consulted. The Bank of Canada does not consult me when they wish to raise the bank interest rates!

The provincial government is proposing the possible construction of a new oil refinery in the province. The premier indicated that, “Of course, the First Nations will be consulted prior to the building.” Why doesn’t the government select a site for the project that is not on First Nations land?” And as a word of caution, they should make sure that the site will not endanger some Sacred Ground or a native burial ground (of which, there seem to be an inordinate number, so often under the routes of proposed new roads and other major projects). This latter scenario always raises the chicken or the egg dilemma for me. Did the burial ground predate the roadway location or did the roadway site, spawn a previously unknown burial ground? I find the probability of these two factors correlating so highly, a tad suspicious! Perhaps it is just the skeptic in me!

And the beat just goes on and on. I am surprised that there is not a protest to have small children sit on a stool when they get their photo taken with Santa, rather than on his lap. You can’t be too careful these days! The sexual predator lobby that informed us of the dangerous Christmas song, certainly missed the boat by not sounding the alarm on this issue!