Thursday, September 18, 2008

An Open Letter to Heather Mallick

Prior to reading my response. Please read Heather Mallick's original column on cbc.ca:

A Mighty Wind blows through Republican convention

Dear Ms. Mallick;

Your intellectual conceit knows no boundaries does it? For that matter neither does your laziness. After all it's much easier and takes far less effort to pigeonhole people into groups and use pre-conceived stereotypes to describe them than it does to actually get to know people on a one-on-one level and learn who they are as individuals.

Now, I could easily say that all Canadians are conceited elitist snobs IF I were to base my opinion of all Canadians based on your column. However, having grown up on the US/Canada border, having been exposed to CBC and CTV and numerous Canadian radio stations from a young age, and having made the acquaintance and developed both business relationships and friendships with numerous Canadians I know that while some Canadians may share your opinion, you certainly are not a representative sample.

As for Sarah Palin, she represents a different kind of woman than you. Her accomplishments in this admittedly patriarchal system of government are no less impressive than that of any woman whose views run opposite of hers. Nor are her views any less valid merely because her politics and viewpoints may differ from yours or from mine.

If you believe that McCain chose her to woo disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters, you're sadly mistaken. McCain chose Palin, to energize the conservative base. The shift of women to the McCain camp largely comes from women who would not otherwise have voted at all as neither McCain nor Obama was speaking to them or for them and while some disgruntled Hillary supporters have jumped on the Palin bandwagon they certainly are not in the majority when it comes to Palin supporters.

I know that a majority of the population of Canada lives within 100 miles of the US/Canada border. And a majority of the US population lives on either the East or West coast. But those of us Americans who live "in the middle" and those Canadians who live far North of the population centres that line the border have a voice too. We want people in our respective governments who will speak for and represent us and our views which are just as valid as those of the limousine liberals (like yourself) of the metropolitan areas of our respective countries.

I DON'T want CBC to take down your column as it's a brilliant example of the liberal intellectual conceit that exists in both your nation and in mine. And as much as I may loathe your conceit you have as much right to express your views as I do mine.

Regards,
Perplexio

3 comments:

awareness said...

BRAVO!!

The smugness on this side of the border knows no bounds....

Mallick is a disgrace. As I recall, she was dumped unceremoniously from writing for our national newspaper because of her mean diatribes. She writes such tripe from her own inner sanctum of hell. I have always assumed that she is one angry pot boiling human being who instead of dealing with her own personal shit, she flings it out at the world.

how does that type of journalism help the process at all?????

Snooze said...

That was a poorly written column by Mallick. She can write better and I don't know why she descended to such sexist descriptions and petty insults. That said, the type of view and woman that Palin represents is abhorrent to me. Her evangelical views represent everything that is wrong with the Republican (and up here Conservative) party today. There are solid strong Republican women (Elizabeth Dole for one, and Palin is the complete opposite of Thatcher who was a strong, right-wing CAPABLE woman) and Palin's appt appeals only to the ideologically narrow-minded extreme neo-con wing of the party. People like my parents who were always Republican/Conservative are disgusted by her appt, but based on her views not the sort of school yard insults that Mallick details.

dantallion said...

Damn - the article was no longer available. But as always, your points are well taken, Perplexio. (And she does bring new meaning to arrogance, that one)

Too bad there are idiots posing as journalism in such abundance on BOTH sides of the border. Does none of us any good.