There are terms we use to describe false or illogical arguments..You’ve heard them: red herring or straw man. Scoundrels use these arguments when their position won’t stand up to reasonable scrutiny. Such claims are employed when they’re convinced of the rightness of their side, but lack any neutral facts or evidence to support it. So, they throw the kitchen sink at everything to avoid sensible debate..We’re witnessing this on a national level during the truckers’ protest with an outpouring of sophomoric and embarrassing statements made by our leaders. One wonders whether they think the rest of us buy their very thin and specious reasoning..Take a look.. SinghTweet .It is hard to believe the leader of a national political party could make such a far-fetched and ridiculous argument not worthy of bratty kids in a playground. Is racial superiority and anti-Islamic hatred a cardinal objective of these truckers? Does Mr. Singh really believe that? How can someone who aspires to be a national leader use this type of obviously broken thinking? If one person in the entire protest of say 100,000 people is an anti-Semite or whatever, can we reasonably brand the entire group that way? Mr. Singh and his party should be embarrassed by his straw man statement. Furthermore, they need to apologize to Canada’s Muslims for attempting to use their tragedy as a device for making cheap political points. For shame!.I remind Mr. Singh this type of protest doesn’t just mysteriously materialize. Of all leaders, he should be studied enough to conclude that just like the 1980 rise of Solidarity in Gdansk or the Winnipeg 1919 General Strike (which was a precursor to the CCF and NDP), something greater has precipitated this. People didn’t just forsake their homes and livelihoods in the coldest weeks of Canada’s winter and drive cross country for amusement..But not to be outdone by Mr. Singh, our prime minister made this statement on Twitter:. TrudeauTweet .The binary reasoning is this: If you disagree with me on this one issue and how I’m prosecuting it, then you’re obviously against everything good in the world and you favour everything dark and evil — we don’t use the e-word anymore, we’ve replaced it with “racist.” .I’ve seen a lot of protest footage, listened to a lot of protester interviews, but I haven’t seen genuine evidence of what the prime minister lists here. In fact, a real leader and conciliator would not stoop to name-calling and faulty straw man arguments. A real leader would invite the protesters to meet and even to agree to disagree. A real leader would say: “I hear you. I know you are weary. Here is how we will restore our way of life.” Not this guy..The prime minister has gone one step further and is vilifying the protesters and is lying about them. What type of strategy is this for victory or reconciliation given the end of the pandemic may be within sight?.Two years ago when the so-called opponents of the energy pipeline were burning and occupying the nation’s railroad tracks and shutting down major highways, this prime minister was mostly absent — as were our mainstream media. What he’s doing now lacks honesty and smacks of political opportunism..In fact, the Liberals dispatched consigliere and purported leader-in-waiting Mark Carney to write an inflammatory Globe and Mail piece that uses the “I” word (insurrection) and accuses the protesters of sedition. This is not sedition. The prime minister lacks the ability to negotiate or hear out the truckers who represent what appears to be a growing segment of the population. Every time he accuses them of being a small fringe minority and having only the support of a small following, I am reminded of the fact that his government has the support of only 32.6% of Canadians who voted in the September 2021 pandemic election — only about 15% of all Canadians..There’s blame due to Erin O’Toole as well. I know the matter of the erosion of civil liberties was openly avoided by his campaign team during the last federal election. O’Toole’s campaign people were afraid to raise it even though it started showing up in conversations on doorsteps. They fell silent, too..Meanwhile, the Ottawa Police are seizing the protesters’ jerry cans full of fuel. Maybe they’re passing them to our federal leadership to use as accelerants for the fires they’re starting..Straw burns fast..Richard Landau is a Western Standard contributor
