Sometimes the Canadian in me pops up. I try to hide it as much as I can, and I’ve even gone to a therapist. But every now and then, my canuckiness penetrates out of my soul where it cannot be stopped.
This happens a lot with news stories. I’ll bring up a story that I read on some Canadian news site that I assume is just known by everybody. Then I get the blank stare. “What are you talking about?” “You know, the story that is dominating CBC! Peter Mansbridge talks about it all the time! Even Don Cherry weighed in.”
Case in point, the female ski jumping controversy. Haven’t heard about it? Well, you’re probably American. In a nutshell, women won’t be ski jumping this February in Vancouver, while men will be. Seems unfair? Agreed. But the Canadian Supreme Court didn’t agree and that’s what we’re stuck with.
Jewish story? Nope. That is until B’nai Brith Canada got involved. You see, B’nai Brith sent a letter to the Vancouver Olympic Committee comparing the whole story to 1936 Munich Olympics. I might disagree with the lack of female ski jumpers, but at no point did the S.S. pop up in my mind.
Jonathan Kay, a columnist at The National Post, which has a reputation for being pretty nice to the Jews, wrote a pretty scathing piece about B’nai Brith. It isn’t just about the Nazi comparison either. It seems like when you piss off Kay, he will hit you where it hurts. Just read his views on how B’nai Brith props up it’s “anti-Semitic incidents” number to make it seem like anti-Semitism is a bigger problem than it actually is.
It’s been said over and over again. But if you compare the Holocaust to everything, the Holocaust loses its power. Let’s reserve it for something important. Like the luge. Everybody hates the luge.
