7) Define “the liberal elite, the liberal agenda,
and/or the left-wing liberal media,” making a
case for why your definition is whatever it is.

I generally think of the “liberal elite”
within this country as being composed of
a certain clique of upper-class pseudo-
intellectuals in eastern Canada who feel
that they alone understand everything
there is to know about politics. As the
name suggests, they generally vote solidly
for the Liberals, or in rare cases the NDP.
I think many elite institutions within
Canada, such as universities and the
media, generally operate under the
assumption that being left-wing is a sign
of sophistication and intelligence, which
in turn leads to a self-perpetuating liberal
bias. Basically, they want to promote that
their way of thinking is the “right” way,
and all other partisan perspectives are
ignorant or bigoted. It’s very harmful for
free speech when a nation’s elites share
this sort of mindset.

8) Does Gordon Campbell deserve to be re-elect-
ed? If no, who does?

I am not a huge fan of Gordon Campbell
personally, but I see no reason why his
government does not deserve to be re-
elected. British Columbia needed some
harsh reforms after a decade of socialist
mis-rule, and although Campbell’s admin-
istration has often proved to be inept and
bumbling in its policy implementation,
overall I think history will judge that he

 

Editorial Cartoon

Sorry George,
but I guess it
just came down
to making a
moral choice.

did what needed to be done.
9) What makes Canada unique in your eyes?
We’re unique from the United States
because we have Quebec, and a thor-
oughly un-democratic

government, which in turn allows

system of

Quebec to push this country farther to
the left than the majority of Canadians
want. We’re unique in the world in that
we're probably the only country left on
the planet that actually believes in our
own self-aggrandizing rhetoric about

Opposing Same-Sex Marriage is not Anti-Gay

Michael Veenema, Interrobang (Fanshawe College)

 

March 9/2005

LONDON, Ont. (CUP)—It is very com-
mon, even expected, that anyone making
a public comment about homosexual
marriage is going to speak in favour. If
that is what you are expecting in this arti-
cle, I am sorry to say that you will be
disappointed.

One of the myths many people have
bought into is that those who don’t favour
same-sex marriages and other public affir-
mations of homosexuality are simply
against gays and lesbians. People who
believe this are irrational. There is no dis-
cussing things with them. They hold,
against reason, to an anti-gay agenda.

Thus, many Protestant Christians,
Roman Catholics, and other “social con-
branded as
“fundamentalist,” or worse, “homopho-

servatives” are
bic,’ a term some people use to paint
anyone who expresses reservations about
same-sex marriages, gay-pride events, and

 

being a “moral superpower.”

10) Does Douglas College need a mascot? If so,
why and what should it be?

Uhh....how the Douglas
College... Dumplings? I got nothin’,

about

so forth. Calling people names is never a
good idea. I don’t think that deploying
these stereotypical and virtually useless
labels is helpful. They are used, I believe,
consciously or not, as instruments of
power, of intimidation. Disagree with me,
and I will call you a name in the city or
national newspaper.

There are many issues surrounding the
area of how people respond to the gay-
marriage question. I want to highlight just
one for now. That is that the vast majori-
ty of those who don’t support same-sex
marriage ate not so much against some-
thing as they are for something. And what
they are for is a view of marriage and
family that should receive serious consid-
eration—much more serious than, say,
that given by many celebrities and journal-
ists who act as if there could be nothing
more obvious than the rightness of gay
coupling, marriage, and parenting.

Continued on page 10

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