The Anger Is Understandable. Acting On It With Ugly Vitriol, Vandalism & Threats Of Violence is Inexcusable

A  Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper, followed by a Disturbing News Segment Recently Aired on CBC’s News Program, The National

Posted December 10^th, 2024 on Niagara At Large

I recently wrote and posted a commentary on Niagara At Large  headlined; “Why Are People Angry? It’s The Economy Stupid?’

The main objective of that commentary was to encourage  more of our political representatives at all levels of government –  many of whom have become the targets of a growing amount of public anger –  that they ought to do a better job of connecting with their constituents and addressing the root causes of that anger.

In that same commentary, I also sent out a message to any  to my fellow citizens who read news outlets like this that acting on that anger with ugly language, including threats of violence, or with vandalism or worse, is not the answer in a civil, democratic society we should all strive to protect and preserve in a country like Canada.

Just a few days after I wrote that commentary, I turned on CBC TV’s nightly news program The National  to the airing of asegment on the ugly ways too many Canadians are acting out their anger on our political representatives now. What I observed bore a disturbing   resemblance to so much of the shocking behaviour that has been playing out south of the Canada/U.S. border in Trumpland.

If you have not yet scene this CBC news segment, I urge you to watch it by clicking on the screen immediately below before I sum up with a few more thoughts of my own –

 

I ask any and all of you who took a few minutes to watched this news segment a simple question. Is this the kind of country we want to live in?

There are certainly reasons for all of us to feel frustrated and angry about a whole host of issues impacting on our lives from – just to mention a few – the ever widening  income gap between the rich and super rich and the rest of us, and the soaring cost of renting or owning a home to the continued hikes in the cost of paying post-secondary education, in health care fees, in home heating, in groceries and in  municipal property taxes , even at a time when we are being told that the overall rate of inflation is going down.

But there are more peaceful, civil ways of expressing our opposition and anger that are far more effective in winning the changes we need in the long run.

We can start by taking to heart something that was said more than two centuries ago by one of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, that (and I paraphrase) “a healthy democracy can only work if you have an informed citizenry.”

In that spirit, we should all work a little harder to inform ourselves on what our political representatives, at all levels of government are doing and if we don’t like what we learn, we should contact them and make our feelings known, with a clear reminder that we can and will vote them out of office if necessary. 

At the municipal level, we can join our fellow citizens by showing up at council meetings to let them know that we are watching them and we can use our right to apply to speak as a delegatoin at  council meetings if we feel comfortable doing so.

We can also become support or become members of some of the citizen groups that are out there in  in Niagara and other regions of the country, lobbying  our political representatives to put the interests and concerns of everyday people in the community first in their decision making.

Last but not least, we can work together to restore or build the resources local newspapers and news outlets  like the one you are now visiting  need to serve as community watchdogs.

These are among the ways we can make our lives and the lives of others y better without taking something equivalent to a club or pick axe to our elected representatives and the public institutions that we need to ensure that Canada lives up to its promise as one of the fairest, safest, most affordable and prosperous  countries in the world for all of us  to live in.

• Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

• For a related commentary posted on Niagara At Large, click on – Why Are People So Angry? It’s The Price Of Groceries Stupid! | Niagara At Large

NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.

 

“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders