Angry in the Great White North
If you have to ask...
Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 08:50 AM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
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An odious comment from Canada's far left on the death of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, posted on the message board of Canada's premier leftie website, rabble.ca:

Well I got news for you--4 dead and 2200 to go--

and I hope 'they die and die like flies' as Nina Simone might say...

Not a unique comment -- there are several people on this thread hoping for the deaths of Canadian soldiers, either as a way of ending the mission in Afghanistan, or to punish them for being part of the imperial war machine, or for Iraq, or Vietnam, or something.

Well, hoping for Canadian soldiers to die has earned these people the sternest response possible from a fellow leftie and board moderator:

What appeared to start off as a link to a news article has turned into a stupid and offensive slugfest. Neither Wilfred Owen, nor Horace from whom he borrowed would be impressed.

This has come up before, and I am NOT comfortable with the suggestion that harm coming to soldiers from Canada or anyone else would be a desireable thing.

As an interem [sic] moderator, I'm reluctant to start suspending people, so I'm closing this thread as it's going nowhere good, and will consult with my colleague on policy regarding wishing for soldiers to come to harm.

You can tell the moderator is angry because he capitalized "NOT" when describing his discomfort at people wishing for Canadian deaths. That indicates a great deal of discomfort. Like being forced to sit on a really lumpy couch, I suppose. You know, really uncomfortable.

But now the hammer comes down. Maybe. Once he discusses the issue with a colleague. To check on policy. I mean, there must be a policy to justify suspending people who hope Canadian soldiers die. It's not like common sense applies. Maybe they'll have to sit down and study the policy manuals very carefully to see if there is a rule against Canadian leftists hoping for Canadian deaths, even if those deaths promote a neo-Marxist transnational progressive position.

Let's hope he's not forced to sit on a lumpy couch while having this debate. He's uncomfortable enough as it is.

By the way, if you're curious about the "interem [sic] moderator" thing, it is because the long-time moderator, Audra Williams, was canned by the rabble management committee because of a delinquent timesheet. Needless to say, Williams is not happy, nor are many babblers. Senior rabble contributers like Scott Piatkowski are pulling away from their association with rabble.ca. Some people are so upset with Judy Rebick's heavy-handedness that they started a new babble-like leftist forum as a strike action, which is draining traffic away from rabble. One fan went as far as to create this virtual shrine to Williams. As far as I know, no virtual shrines have gone up for Rebick.

Judy Rebick is working for "a radically egalitarian society". Sounds nice, but you had better not forget your timesheet! No timesheet?! No radically egalitarian society for you! Next!

It's all very amusing.

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