The T-word

Geoff Meeker chides Danny Williams and his supporters for using the word "traitor" against Fabian Manning:

Manning is a Newfoundlander. He is one of us. Yet, some people have taken to calling him a “traitor”, “Judas” and “quisling” (a traitor who collaborates with an occupying force).

Politics in Newfoundland and Labrador are heated and vitriolic, but this is something different. Something despicable. It turns my stomach.

One group, comfortably ensconced within the majority, has taken to condemning those they oppose as ‘traitors’, a crime that was punishable by death up until 1961. It’s pretty much the nastiest thing you can say about someone.

How far are we from smashing the windows of these traitors, burning crosses on their lawns and cutting them down with machetes?

Yes, I am exaggerating to make a point. But consider this: most atrocities begin with one segment of society singling out another as conniving, treasonous or inferior. I just wish we’d tone it back a little, and stop saying hateful things in the name of scoring cheap political points.

I wish more people - not just in Newfoundland and Labrador, but in the rest of Canada and in the United States - felt the same way about using such rhetoric.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at October 9, 2008 08:20 PM