Angry in the Great White North

In trying to understand just how Stephane Dion and his people could ignore the fact that Douglas Jung was the first Chinese Canadian member of parliament, I've leaned towards some sort of fact-checking error.

A very embarrassing fact-checking error, but otherwise something innocent.

But a comment from a Liberal blogger, BigCityLib, makes me wonder if there is something else to this:

Since he was speaking to Libs, and Lee was the first Chinese Liberal MP, I don't see how this is in error.

Now recall Stephane Dion's words to the Chinese Canadian Liberal Association:

Do you know who is Arthur Lee? Arthur Lee. He has been the first MP of Chinese origin. He was under Trudeau in 1974. It took time, eh? Only in 1974, the first one.

Nothing in there about Liberal MPs.

The first one? Douglas Jung, a Chinese Canadian who fought for Canada in World War II, training for the dangerous behind-the-lines work in the Pacific theatre in Operation Oblivion and then parachuted into Borneo, who represented Canada at the United Nations, who won an amnesty for Chinese immigrants who had fled to Canada under false names, he doesn't count?

Why?

Because Douglas Jung was a Conservative under John Diefenbaker? Because Douglas Jung would never consider running for the Liberals whom he said discriminated against his people?

Is it OK to ignore Douglas Jung, to erase him from a discussion of Canadian history, because he wasn't a Liberal? Because he didn't like Liberals?

How do you justify that sort of thing?

For BigCityLib, it's OK because Stephane Dion was talking to a roomful of Liberals, and for Liberals, the only MPs who count are Liberal MPs. For Liberals, the only historical milestones that count are those that are achieved by Liberals. For Liberals, rewriting history to assign those non-Liberal achievements to Liberals is fine, as long as you are talking to a roomful of Liberals.

Now M J Murphy (I wonder who revealed his identity, eh?) is not in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition or a member of Stephane Dion's staff or working in the Liberal Party research group. Like me, he's just a blogger. But it's an interesting sampling of Liberal Party thinking. It's OK to lie about history, as long as the lie props up the Liberal Party's image as the party of visible minorities, and as long you are lying to a bunch of Liberals.

And it's OK to lie to Liberals, because all Liberals are participating in the lie and are fine with it.

That is so twisted.

Thanks to BigCityLib, I wonder if that "mistake" was a deliberate decision to ignore historical truth, and indeed rewrite history, in order to maintain some sort of fiction that exists in the Liberal mind.

Of course, the Liberals will say that this was a mistake, or that it was misinterpreted, or whatever, assuming they say anything at all. They might not, given that Liberals like BigCityLib don't believe that they anyone an apology for ignoring Douglas Jung.

It was a case of a Liberal lying to other Liberals in order to make the Liberal Party look good, so what's the problem?

But then lying is a harsh thing to accuse someone of. Here's another explanation. Arthur Lee might have been the first Liberal of Chinese descent to be elected as a member of parliament, a full 17 years after the Progressive Conservatives under John Diefenbaker marked that achievement with the election of Douglas Jung. But since the Liberals assume that they are first at everything, especially when it comes to visible minorities, and that nothing good happens in Canada unless the Liberals are behind it, someone just assumed that the first Liberal MP of Chinese descent was the first MP of Chinese descent for any party. Is arrogant stupidity a better explanation?

Of course, these generous explanations have to ignore the fact that Stephane Dion was in the House of Commons on June 11 when Bloc Quebecois MP Meili Faille spoke to the 50th anniversary of the election of Douglas Jung as Canada's first MP of Chinese descent.

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