The Freedom of Expression has taken on a whole new meaning when terrorists strap bombs to their sorry asses and blow themselves and other innocent people off the planet.
Everyday bombs are detonated around the world - and more specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan - for a ‘cause’. Nothing says you love your deity more than blowing yourself up.
If the Freedom of Expression has hit this level, then Canada’s introduction into this kind of ‘Expressionism’ can’t be that far off.
The Freedom of Speech and Expression is a picky subject to a few people around the world and in some countries it can be down-right deadly.
Here in Canada we revel in our ability to do what we want and say what we please without fear of being shot, provided you play the game right. Basic Life Skills - 101. We keep our Freedoms in check with publications, peaceful protests and open-lines of communication, with the exception of our own Prime Minister who bans anything he can.
Granted, Canada has it’s own bizarre past of ‘Expressive’ individuals who thought blowing something up or committing murder for the ‘cause’ was just fine.It also goes without saying that we humans have a long way to go to ever achieving a peaceful solution to our many conflicts. This is not said with a pessimistic viewpoint but rather a sad commentary of humankind’s leaders and their inability to remove their heads out of their collective asses.
The War in Afghanistan is Canada’s introduction into a war we never wanted nor needed. It puts all of us on the front-line of the war on terror and opens this country up to terrorists who want to ‘express’ themselves.
Funny though, don’t recall the Afghani people calling and asking us to drop by and kick the Taliban’s butt. Our position in Afghanistan is to help the Afghani’s to ‘express’ themselves with a new democratic government, which is all wonderful and good but these fine folks have been living in whatever manner they have for many centuries, long before Bush conned everyone into the whole 9/11 fiasco. A day no one will ever know, who really ‘expressed’ themselves.
If the Afghanistan people really wanted our help, wouldn’t they get pissed with the Tablian and the “insurgents”? If the Afghani, or the Iraqi people for that matter, were dying for a democratic country and all that it’s cracked up to be, wouldn’t they begin to show signs of their own “resistance”? Wouldn’t they ‘express’ themselves as well? Hell, everyone else is doin’ it! Or was the “resistance” a World War Two thing? Or have I missed something in the news lately?
Unfortunately the people living in the Middle East have been ‘expressing’ themselves like this for a very long time, and there is no obvious let up. Why? We could ask the Americans. Who really knows.
This trillion dollar question won’t be answered while the Canadian Forces are bouncing around Afghanistan, nor will it be answered while the Americans set their sites on Iran from their new home in Iraq. After all, the Americans are simply ‘expressing’ their need for oil and control over the whole shootin’ match. Now we have a new question - why? And yet most of us know the answer to that one.
Expressing oneself has always taken on many forms throughout its existence and has been used to justify crimes and escape punishments. There are however many ways to ‘express’ oneself without using dynamite, nitroglycerin or a can of gas - and still get a rush.
Get a banner and go bungee jumping.
If the first lesson that could ever be taught to the people of the world is to ‘express’ themselves with a sign instead of a suicide bomb, we might start to get somewhere. And if the need to blow yourself off the face of the earth is that overwhelming then do it somewhere else away from innocent bystanders.
The innocent death list is doing more to upset people than to prove any ridiculous point someone may have ever had in the first place - which was what and when exactly? A couple a thousand years ago? A couple of hundred? When?
The Freedom of Expression, like its mother The Freedom of Speech, comes with a variety of wise responsibilities. When those responsibilities become broken down and society takes to the streets without thought and brain, ‘expression’ is used to disrupt and not create. That form of ‘expression’ could be called terrorism.
Terrorism is not just destructive, it holds no purpose to it’s ‘expressiveness’. Its existence is fed by the terror it inflicts upon it’s members. To rely on religious faith as a means to have the strength to strap a bomb to your body, calmly walk into a crowded restaurant and push the button is indeed an ‘expression’ of your very being. It carries no honour to anyone but those in the terrorists circle. An honour created by others to help them ‘express’ themselves in the name of Allah or whoever the flavour of the day might be. Terrorists are the only ones who believe their bullshit and fortunately not the rest of the planet.
Has our participation in Afghanistan and Iraq taken us from being the cool peacekeepers of the world to hearing ‘expressive’ chants like, “Death to Canada!”, from the people we are trying to save? Canada is not exempt from this ‘expressionism’.
Recently in Montreal, an African group threw sticks at the leader of an African country who was visiting. Not exactly a warm welcome, but at least it was sticks they threw, and not bombs.
Should Canadians get ready for more of this brand of ‘expressionism’? And what will we do if everyday shopping at the local grocery store or dining at your favourite fast food place, turns into playing Russian roulette with a terrorist’s bomb, should they begin to explode across Canada?
Will our cozy, “no-one will do anything to Canada” mantra still work? Will the - “We’re Canadians, everybody love us!” song and dance be as life-saving a sentence as it used to be? Is that why people, especially Americans, blurt out our famous words - followed closely by “Please don’t shoot!” On the other hand, it won’t work anymore for them either.
While we sit here and wait for the first terrorist bomb to go off on Canadian soil, and according to CSIS they’re on the way, our current government with their Americanized way of thinking, will have succeeded in ‘expressing’ to the bad guys that we’re one in the same.
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