Sometimes in life, we meet people we don't know. In the absence of high-level security clearance background checks, most of us try to be polite to them..Politicians are in the business of making a good impression on a large number of people. As a rule, therefore, they don't demand a colonoscopy from every potential voter they meet. They shake their hand, they smile, exchange a quick sentence, and move on. .Such an old-fashioned, 2021 view of things. .Global News reporter Rachel Gilmore thought she had a hot take when she reported the shocking news that Conservative leadership frontrunner Pierre Poilievre shook hands with some guy at a campaign stop in Dartmouth, NS. .The man in the scandalous photo is Jeremy MacKenzie. It's been claimed he's the founder of 'Diagolon' — supposedly a group that posts anti-government memes, and has its own online country. He also faces criminal harassment charges arising from a protest outside the home of Nova Scotia's chief medical officer. More nasty things have been attributed to his Diagolon group, but when information comes from woke fanatics, it's difficult to separate fact from fantasy. .I can't speak to the man himself, but for just one moment, let's give the legacy media the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume this MacKenzie character is everything they say he is, and is a really, really, bad guy. .Poilievre's crime is that he shook the man's hand at a campaign event. .The media know very well Poilievre's campaign events have been massive, free-ranging affairs. .At one such campaign event the Western Standard covered in Calgary, Poilievre attracted roughly 6,000 attendees. He spoke and then stayed to shake every last hand, of every last attendee, who wished to have their palm pressed. By my rough estimate, it was probably 3,000 to 4,000 hands that evening alone. .Hidden in that queue could have been Mother Theresa and Benito Mussolini. Alas, at the campaign stop in Nova Scotia was an online activist — a man much less famous than the aforementioned characters. .Immediately after the photo became public, the media and leftist politicians pounced. They had proof-positive that Pierre Poilievre was in fact, a very bad racist. .Far-left propaganda website Press Progress led the charge. .'Pierre Poilievre Ignores Calls to Disavow Far-Right Extremist Identified as a National Security Threat,' ran the screaming headline. .Few beyond Marxists and certain elements of the legacy media take Press Progress seriously, but they often take the cues from it. .Global's Rachel Gilmore followed up with more hot takes. .'Diagolon: What to know about the group whose founder shook Pierre Poilievre’s hand.' .The far-left National Observer's Max Fawcett sees a Nazi hiding under every bed. .'Pierre Poilievre’s dangerous dance with a Diagolon extremist,' read his flailing headline. .You see, Poilievre shook the hand of an unknown man who holds controversial views. Now, he must issue an official declaration denouncing the bad man or else by default, endorse everything he seemingly stands for. .For a long time now, whenever someone calls conservative politicians and public figures racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or Islamophobic, it has been commonplace for them to cower, grovel and swear as loudly as they can they are no such thing. .It's always a pathetic display that plays into the hands of bad-faith actors in the Church of Woke. No display of repentance is good enough for them..To his credit, Poilievre refused to play their game. When the media began demanding he cleanse himself of sin, he hit back without a groveling plea for forgiveness. .“As I always have, I denounce racism and anyone who spreads it. I didn’t and don’t know or recognize this particular individual. Likewise, I can’t be responsible for Justin Trudeau’s many racist outbursts just because I’ve met him or shaken his hand.”.Some of the media decided to omit the second line of Poilievre's response. You can make your own guesses as to why. .Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh certainly thinks Poilievre needs to self-flagellate. ."Maybe Mr. Poilievre didn’t know who he was shaking hands with — but he does now. Will he denounce Jeremy Mackenzie and Diagolon — designated as violent extremists by Canada’s Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre? Or will he continue to wink at white supremacy?".Which is kind of funny. In 2015, Singh shook some hands at a Khalistani Sikh independence rally all the way down in San Fransisco. It featured men brandishing swords and the stage featured a large poster of terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. .In an interview with the CBC, Singh also refused to denounce terrorists and extremists within Canada's Sikh community who have praised Talwinder Singh Parmar. (Parmar was the mastermind behind the 1985 Air India bombing that left 329 people dead, most of them Canadians.).And Singh didn't just shake hands at the San Fransisco event glorifying known terrorists. He was a speaker on the stage. .The hypocrisy of the likes of Singh seems lost on many. .The Liberals had lots to say about Handshake Gate. They should, however, pay more attention to their own ministers: Federal Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen appointed a well-known, virulent anti-Jewish hate-monger to their anti-racism panel. .And chuckling the whole way is Diagolon's Jeremy MacKenzie, who said he did the whole thing intentionally to send the left and media into a flailing frenzy. ."The very best part, my favourite of the whole situation is this: I did it on purpose because I knew what would happen.".Whatever else one may think of MacKenzie, he was right about that. When it comes to the wild over-sensitivity of woke media and politicians, you don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
