Ottawa used to be a haven of peace, civilization, and intelligence. These days, however, people everywhere are allowing themselves to be bullied by religious fundamentalists. This problem has now touched Ottawa, as well:
A trip for students from two Ottawa Catholic high schools to observe the U.S. presidential election has been cancelled because of an article on an anti-abortion website, leaving students and parents confused and disappointed. . . Scott Searle, a teacher at St. Peter, organized the trip to give them a first-hand glimpse of the American presidential election campaign and voting process as the campaign heads into its final days. . .
In an interview on the CBC Radio show Ottawa Morning on Friday, St. Peter principal Norma McDonald said the Ottawa Catholic School Board’s communications team had sent her an article about the trip on the anti-abortion website LifeSiteNews.com.
It quotes an anonymous mother who said she’s incensed about the trip’s support for Obama, who is pro-choice. It also points out that Searle’s online LinkedIn profile lists him as an Obama volunteer.
McDonald said the multitude of increasingly negative and aggressive comments led her to cancel the trip.
Does this make any sense to you at all? Some “anonymous mother”, who can easily turn out to be no mother at all, posts a garbage comment on some idiotic website catering to woman-hating freakazoids, and a school trip gets cancelled as a result. Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous?
What is even more annoying is how the school’s principal explained the cancellation:
“At that point I had to reassess,” she said. “Certainly criticism and negativity is not something that you want to expose your staff and students to, and at that point I did make a decision — certainly in consultation with my teacher — that we would in fact cancel the trip.”
I have to ask where this idea that students should not be exposed to criticism and negativity comes from. Criticism and negativity are a part of a normal human experience. Is the school planning to raise tender hothouse flowers or citizens who will live in the real world and participate in the real political process? What is the message that Principal McDonald is trying to send to the students? That you should cancel your plans and stop learning if some anonymous jerk somewhere is unhappy with what you are doing? That we should all pee ourselves in terror the second some fanatic somewhere looks in our direction with disapproval?
How much longer will we allow idiots posing as “anonymous mothers” to dictate to us what we do?
The entire political process in the US has been hijacked by vociferous religious fanatics. Is this unfortunate trend now coming to Canada, too?
Enough is enough, people. Let’s stop letting these religious fanatics control our lives. Let’s oppose religious bullying.
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