Insensitive Pig

Kristina De Guzman:

Stelmach’s speech bored me for the most part, but the man came off as humble—at least, more so than Ralph Klein ever did during his tenure. Still, I was struck by his remark about how he’s glad that his grandparents’ boat arrived in Canada because the other destination would have been Argentina. He quickly added that his Spanish wasn’t all that great either, which made the audience chuckle. What’s even sadder is that the people at CTV News were praising Stelmach’s good sense of humour.

Sadder?

A few people I know took the remark at face value and felt that Stelmach was simply expressing happiness about living in Alberta. But if this were the case, shouldn’t it be enough to say just that and nothing more? There’s no need to bring up the other, supposedly lesser choice.

Supposedly?

If Stelmach had actually meant to make a joke, that makes him more of a jackass than if he were simply stating facts. Unfortunately, culturally insensitive remarks like these are so subtle these days that few people seem to pick up on them. Stelmach didn’t say it outright, but by stating that Argentina would have been the other choice, he’s suggesting that it isn’t the best place to live in—which is true, if you’re part of the poor majority—but that’s completely dismissing all the reasons why that is.

It. Was. A. Joke. And a good one at that.

By the way, I'm glad my parents sent me to Canada after high school, instead of that Islamic hellhole called Pakistan. Plus, my Punjabi has always been rusty.

Link via Colby Cosh via Daimnation.

Comments

[Alex]

lol. What a dumb tit. Her entire complaint seems to be that he was "insensitive". Surely there must be someone in our nanny-state whose job it is to punish insensitive people. I know! Call up the HRC! They'll fix him good!