In this case, however, I must disagree
with the outrage. I find it hard to imagine the type of amnesia it
must take to forget about literally hundreds of years of lampooning
political figures in print, political cartoons, mass media and hand
made public signage. Trust me, if there had been a Mike Harris sign
of the same sort as that Rachel Notley sign on a course where I
was playing in Ontario, I would have spent half my round shooting at it.
Yes,
some incredibly offensive,
threatening and even violent comments were dredged up from Ernest
Bothi's social media accounts but that's not relevant for this
particular issue. The man is an asshat and we can leave that where it
is. What is relevant is the outrage over this sign which is, in my
opinion,
misplaced and excessive. On the left side of the political divide we
have tweets so outraged at what is claimed to be an obvious misogynist
assault on a woman, that you would think society at large is on the
verge of collapse. On the right we have the defenders of this sign using
the unearned arrogance of the ignorant, childish sneering
conservative/wild rose
sycophant attacking and attempting to insult and belittle anyone who
disagrees
with them, such is their normal mode. No new news from either side.
As
I said, there have been events such
as this, partisan signage, taking place for centuries and, in this
case, I can understand why the Big Country Oilmen’s Association of
Brooks, Alta, Ernest Bothi and other men like him are upset at Rachel
Notley's government. They had, for decades, close ties with the
Conservative government in Alberta. They had unprecedented access, seats
on commissions
and other decision making boards as well, they were a big deal then.
They no longer have that access to the halls of power, and they're angry
about that, and I don't blame them one bit.
Here they are, stuck with the moniker -
Big Country Oilmen’s Association of Brooks, Alta. This is a name
that suggests a view from atop of a horse, a big brimmed white cowboy
hat, and a pack of Marlboro's in the front pocket of a bedazzled
shirt. Those were the days when men were men and women spoke only
when spoken too, and who also rode cute little pinto ponies like Dale Evans. It's a fantasy world that never actually existed
since work on a cattle ranch is bloody hard and there was little
time for misogynistic politics. And in-the-end, much more learned men such
as Andrew Coyne could point out that words don't really matter anyway
so, in this case, neither does a name.
Personally I find the sign funny, given the tournament involved, not
hilarious but funny. As I said, the members of
this association have every right to be angry. Their access
to government and its coffers have been curtailed by what they see as
an anti-business communist government. Their business plan was
developed during the cold war so anything even remotely
non-supportive is, to them, a communist invasion. They have little
understanding of what differentiates one political system from
another and that rattles them too.
The archaic nature of their
business model is that the days of fossil fuels' supremacy
in Canada is coming to an inglorious end, one can then understand their
frustrations. For well over 100 years, associations and organizations
such as the Big Country Oilmen’s Association of Brooks, Alta ran
the show. Government owed them their largese since they were the
biggest financial supporters of the most business friendly party,
usually the Conservatives. The average citizen was told, over and
over, that without unfettered free oil markets the province would
collapse, Pierre Trudeau would come and take all their guns away, and
they would have to kowtow to Quebec if they wanted equalization (see:
welfare) payments from Ottawa, they would be like the...Atlantic Provinces.
In-the-end, even though I'm a little
left of center, I have to agree with the ever offensive Ernest Bothi,
president of the Big Country Oilmen’s Association of Brooks, Alta
– and lighten up a bit. Extremists on all sides have one thing in
common, they are humourless drones stuck deeply in their own
ideologies and cannot understand the other side's sense of humour.
Just because the Premiere of Alberta is a woman does not exclude her
from being a 'target' on a golf course as it would not have excused
Mike Harris from being a target during his day at
the helm in Ontario. Her opponents have every right to lampoon her and her
office. It's a rare event when the right side of the body politic is having
fun while the left is whining, grey and humourless. So, my message to the
thin skinned lefties, lighten up a bit or be painted with the same
brush you painted Harper with for nearly a decade.
