Tale of Two Rivers
The top image is the Grand River at Caledonia, Ontario, Canada.
The lower image is of a major river in south Lebanon.
Half a planet apart, and yet eerily similar.
If we want to understand the middle-east situation, we should focus on trying to understand the middle-Ontario situation: Caledonia.
Same thing, smaller scale: ancient territory wars, blind hate on both sides, rampant fear and racism, present generations unaware of the past which led to the present, complicated beyond unbiased comprehension, average person doesn't have a clue what the hell is going on (and most don't give a damn), authorities impotent (i.e., United Nations /Province of Ontario, OPP, judges, Government of Canada), no end in sight & worst likely to come, culture wars, cultural purists, unspeakably useless pride.
posted by cheezwhiz at 8:03 PM
3 Comments:
beautiful pics!!!
i beg to differ on the complications....the clan mothers are following the two row wampum which has united six nations. as you know, the two row wampum is the world's truest form of democracy.
the legal work is all there, done, the documents, proclamations, agreements.....there is no denying caledonia and other areas of protest is six nation's territory. the government of canada is not impotent, all it has to do is sanction recognition to proceed in court and follow rule of law. neo-con judge clarence thomas has ruled in the states that rule of law says sovereignty for natives may proceed......why is canada lagging?
instead canada is a nation bent on continuuing genocide, so it is up to the governor general to advise the queen. this is the protocol with canada's failure to deal with the problem.
the 'blind hate on both sides' is only what's making mainstream news. behind the scenes, non-native caledonians have helped immensely http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/2246
this demonstrates six nation willingness to work with non-natives and that yes, indeed, both 'sides' have many who are not bigots.
I don't disagree on most of your points and think we're saying the same thing, except I wasn't thorough enough.
Impotence of "authorities" may be willful or institutional, but it is there in both cases. Perhaps 'frigidity' better describes the Canadian feds. 'Authorities' in the middle-east are also unwilling, while the UN may truly be impotent at this point "fields of the middle east are littered with broken promises..." a la Condoleeza, etc. Lots of agreements and legal work there, too.
I think there is blind hate on both sides, as well as the rational thinking you referred to in terms of natives and non-natives in Caledonia. While not a popular thing to say, perhaps (just as criticizing Israel is not politically correct in some circles and taken - often inaccurately -as anti-semetic), I've seen writings from the native side too (and as you know, I am Metis) that exhibit blind hate and inflammatory rhetoric. Of course, this is not even close to the non-native hate rhetoric in terms of volume or pervasiveness.
YEs, there are those on both sides who are rational - just as there are in the middle east. I listed the reasons behind, and the spin-offs of, the disputes, however, not the "in-spite-ofs". Thankfully, as you point out, there are the "in-spite-ofs".
Good points, to be sure. Thanks, Scout.
no prob cheez.....we have the tendancy to focus on the negative, i can be guilty of that too. and yes, of course there are racist natives, racist jews and arabs , black, whites, and everything.
in fact, i'm a dog racist myself. yup. freely admit that large dogs rule and those little yappers are second class.
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