The Tamil cause is evil. ⇒
11 May 2009, evening time
The fight for self-determination is evil. Just like Cobra Commander and Skeletor.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
Self-determination is not evil, but using terrorism to achieve that goal is. How can we be sure most Sri Lankan Tamils want independence? We don’t know what most Tamils want, because the LTTE suppressed dissent in the areas it controlled.
You can be as sarcastic as you want, but chanting “Tamil Tigers Freedom Fighters” and “Our Glorious Leader Prabhakaran” is an implicit endorsement of terrorism. And yes Ram, that is evil.
Ask yourself this. How many TAMILS have died at the hands of the LTTE? How many Tamils have been killed by weapons bought with money raised in Canada by local Tamils?
by Michael Monastyrskyj on May 11 2009, 10:09 pm #
Those are all valid questions, Michael, but when you title a post “The Tamil cause is evil”, you kind of invite sarcasm. The tamil cause is not the same thing as the LTTE. I’m not saying that these particular protesters aren’t supporting a group that have done horrific things in the name of the tamil cause, but that’s not the same thing as the tamil cause itself.
You can take issue with those protesters, but they aren’t the embodiment of the cause itself.
by Dinu on May 12 2009, 12:00 am #
I think you need a better title for your post. Also, pretty much every question you ask is a strawman. I know the LTTE are bad. You shouldn’t make assumptions about my opinions on these protests. For example, I don’t attend for the same reasons you don’t like them. The difference is that I appreciate where these people are coming from, or try to anyways. Throwing around the word terrorist is lazy. It’s a more or less meaningless label for groups people aren’t comfortable with. It’s the modern day version of calling a group communist.
by ramanan on May 12 2009, 12:01 am #
A better take on this by Michael. I still think using words like evil this and that simplify a complex situation.
by ramanan on May 14 2009, 10:20 pm #
Now it’s the morning I can comment properly. (As if I can link to something Michael wrote and not find something to complain about. Hah!)
“The protesters ask Canadians to take on faith that their concerns are humanitarian.”
I’ve already linked to the epic and awesome smackdown of the Blatchford article, but why not do it again: Response to Blatchford. Why Michael thought linking to her ill informed article was a good idea is beyond me. Clearly she does appeal to a certain demographic. Also, if the protesters are holding a crypto-rally for the LTTE by highlighting a horrible civilian calamity taking place right now in Sri Lanka, i’m not sure that’s the worse thing in the world. No one else seems interested in pointing out that there are lots of people dying in Sri Lanka right now. People are more concerned with flags than with the losses of lives.
“You are spitting in the eye of the country that granted you (or your parents) refuge.”
My born and raised in Canada cousins have children now, so Michael needs to amend this slightly. Of course, Michael probably would have made the same sort of statement if it was Japanese immigrants protesting — eg. “… you (or your parents or your parents parents or your parents parents parents or …) refuge.” (I’m guessing when the predominantly White Critical Mass stormed the Gardiner, that was cool since White people get a pass when it comes to stuff like this.)
That silly point aside, my uncle moved here in the 60s. There wasn’t any fighting to flee then, he just had a better chance to do real engineering work here. I suppose that’s some sort of refuge? When he moved here Canada was more or less begging skilled immigrants to come. Canada needed foreigners to support its job market.
Maybe Canada is giving my uncle some economic shelter? I can grant Michael that point, sure. The thing is, my uncle didn’t have to move here. He was already living in London. My dad was in a similar situation. He lived in London for 17 years before moving here. And we lived in Australia for half a year before deciding to give Canada a shot. (Every day I thank Canada for giving me refuge from the poorly insulated homes and crappy indoor plumbing of London. I don’t think that’s what Michael had in mind though.) A lot of people in the Tamil community chose to move to Canada. A lot of immigrants period choose to live in Canada. For the most part, Canada is a welcoming country for immigrants, which is why Canada has so few problems with immigrants compared to places in Europe.
There is a failure of imagination on Michael’s part to look at the Tamil community and realize that they aren’t all stereotypes from the pages of Immigration Watch. Blatchford makes this same mistake.
Actually, forget all that. Refugees can fucking protest if they want to. Where the hell do we live? This is Canada. We don’t live in some two-tiered society.
by ramanan on May 15 2009, 9:21 am #
And to be clear, I don’t disagree with the bulk of Michael’s post. I think it’s stupid to protest a this war while waving flags and cheering on the LTTE. There is some serious cognitive dissonance here. I do disagree with the smug tone at the end of Michael’s post.
by ramanan on May 15 2009, 1:45 pm #
All this time the tamils in London were howling to stop the war claiming it inconvenienced tamils caught up in the cross fire in Sri Lanka. Now that the shooting is over and the tamil tigers are done in, there’s hardly any movement from these buggers.
Clearly proves the point the Sri Lankans were trying to make; they (London tamils) were trying to save the tamil tigers.
Currently there are thousands of tamil civillians undergoing severe hardship in refugee camps run by the government. Neither Millibrand (aka ‘Millibrain’ in Sri Lanka)nor the London tamil are interested in helping them. One wonders why?
Also, the Sri Lankans have solved their terrorism problem. But the terrorists are now living in our cities. How long will it take before the tamil tiger terror becomes OUR problem?
by Mac's World on June 1 2009, 8:08 pm #
In Toronto there are Tamils still out, protesting infront of the US consulate and Queens Park. One of the biggest protests was a vigil after the fighting had ended. Certainly there is a group of Tamils within the diaspora whose only concern is organizing LTTE rallies. To pretend that they are the whole of the diaspora is foolish. There are lots of Tamils who attend these protests who are sincerely interested in helping the civilians on the ground. I met some when I was in London recently. (And, there are non-Tamils who attend the rallies for much the same reason.) Judging by the press coming out of London since the war ended, it’s also pretty clear that the diaspora isn’t sitting on their asses.
Sri Lanka has solved its current terrorism problem. (And all it took is a massive loss of life, curbing all sorts of civil liberties, killing a bunch of journalists, and spending a shit load of money.) Unless they work to resolve long standing issues within the country, it’s only a matter of time before LTTE 2.0 springs up. The LTTE didn’t come out of a vacuum.
Finally, this is a fucking stupid thing to say:
“… claiming it inconvenienced tamils caught up in the cross fire in Sri Lanka …”
People are dead. Normally i’d have just erased your ignorant comment and moved on with my life. Today you get a real reply.
by ramanan on June 1 2009, 9:49 pm #
I have an idea. When you come to Canada, why not adopt our values and ways of living, and leave your BS ethnic conflicts at home instead of bringing them here.
We have enough trouble here for native Canadians, and for those of use who’s ancestors and families have been here since the 1600’s (as mine have)
I am sick and tired of hearing about ethnic conflicts that have NOTHING to do with Canada as a whole, and for most of us, couldn’t care less about.
If you want to address the issues of your native land, then go back there and do it. Don’t import them here.
Keep in mind you are not Canadian, and you never will be, you are a guest, so act like one, or get the hell out
by thebadseed on June 18 2009, 2:10 pm #
Fighting for universal human rights isn’t a Canadian value? Exercising your rights to free assembly and to protest aren’t Canadian values? Clearly sitting on your ass writing angry comments on the Internet is a Canadian value, but i’m pretty sure Tamil people get up that too.
Also, i’m pretty sure i’m a Canadian citizen. Let me check my passport … yep, there it is: “Nationality: Canadian.”
Being shat out of your mom’s apparently old-school Canadian va-jay-jay doesn’t make you anymore a Canadian then those people protesting, or immigrants like myself. I know that must be frustrating for you, since you’re probably some angry-ass racist piece of shit, but that’s how it goes. The government certainly doesn’t give a damn that you and your brethren have apparently been here for 400 years. You don’t get prizes for that. Sucks, I know.
I see you showed up from The Hogtown Front. I sometimes feel sorry for Michael. You’re exactly why the cause of immigration reform isn’t going to go anywhere.
by ramanan on June 18 2009, 2:33 pm #