Quote:
Originally Posted by northcrunk
I would say this is true considering many LPC MPs and cabinet ministers were calling for him to be fired but were ok with Trudeau wearing blackface in the 2000s.
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Ok, I'm only going to chime in on this once, despite my best reservations, because the comparisons to Trudeau's situation really bothers me.
No one, except racists and ignoramuses, are OK with Trudeau having worn blackface. No data to support this, but I can say with confidence the overwhelming majority of Canadians that voted Liberal in October are severely disappointed with their leader.
Here's the difference: Trudeau did this 20 years ago in an environment of entitlement and ignorance. That does not make it OK. Since then he has grown and evolved to understand just how offensive and dumb it was, seemingly understands all of this and how it affects people, and has acknowledge, owned, and apologized for his insensitivity. He has also campaigned on improving the lives of visible minorities and Indigenous Canadians (his efficacy on the latter is debatable, at best). It's not my place to accept his apology, but either way I expect him to be better and, if this can be taken as an example, I'm confident he will.
Don Cherry has held mildly xenophobic views for years, has espoused them on his platform, and is entirely unapologetic for thinking this way. Evidently, he refuses to acknowledge how these comments and beliefs affect people. He's been on the decline for years, his employers have seemingly been trying to push him out for some time, and he finally crossed the line with what can only be described as openly discriminatory comments towards a specific segment of the population. He's not interested in changing, he's not interested in apologizing.
Trudeau has demonstrated, to at least my satisfaction, that he has evolved and grown, empathizing the diverse standpoints of many different Canadians. Don Cherry of 2019 is the Don Cherry of 1982, and unfortunately a lot has changed in 37 years. This is as close to literal case of the straw breaking the camel's back. This has been a long time coming, but finally he has said something so incompatible with society he needs to atone for it...for all of it, really. And I say this as a guy that kind of likes Don Cherry and certainly appreciates what he has done for the game of hockey and our service people.
Comparing this to Trudeau and calling Canadians hypocrites in reference to this comparison is disingenuous and flat out wrong.