Angry in the Great White North

The assassination photo controversy is very revealing:

As we all know, the Liberal Party ran a contest on their official website:

We know that there are many, many places that Harper would rather be than Copenhagen next week-and we want you to use your mad Photoshop skills to illustrate them for us!

I could link to the Liberal Party page, but really, why give them the traffic?

Needless to say, the assassination photo blew up into a major controversy.  The Liberal Party issued a non-apology:

Though we continue to screen submissions before posting, we have removed certain images that may have been offensive to some viewers. 

We apologize for any offence these images may have caused, and continue to strive to present a progressive and dynamic web experience for our site visitors.

Right.  Some viewers.

The Liberals are being brutally honest with their non-apology.  Some viewers will not be offended at all by the image of Stephen Harper, or any conservative, being shot dead.  Some viewers would not be offended at all at the news that Stephen Harper, or any conservative, had actually been shot dead.

There is a name for these people.  They call themselves progressives.  Indeed, as the non-apology pointed out, this website was all about visitors enjoying a progressive web experience.

Part of the damage control is to claim that the assassination photograph "slipped by".  Of course, it did not slip by at all.  It was viewed, considered, and ultimately approved by progressives who otherwise spend their time being hyper-vigilant in their search for all things politically incorrect.

Make a joke about women, visible minorities, gays or lesbians, or the handicapped (to name a few protected groups), and these progressives are all over you.  The howls are raised as the politically incorrect villain is run to the ground, his or her reputation shredded.

And yet these same progressives within the Liberal Party allowed this photo to be published.  From that, we can only conclude that progressives believe that it is perfectly acceptable to discuss and portray the murder of conservatives.  It is politically correct, and so no eyebrows were raised, no alarms sounded.

When the majority in the political centre joined the conservatives in denouncing the image, well then the progressives beat a hasty retreat and issued their non-apology.  But even then, they could not help but make a point that only some viewers would find such imagery problematic. 

They don't get it, but we do.

So the next time a self-declared progressive shakes your hand and smiles, be careful.  If he or she knows your political leaning, and you happen to be conservative, the thoughts behind that smile are just as likely to be grim and dark and bloody.

Don't blame them.  That's just what it means to be progressive these days.