A quick review of Tories’ new Tool(e)

Hi,, I’m Erin O’Toole. I’m smiling and I don’t know why.

Erin O’Toole is the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Global News recently posted a brief introduction to O’Toole. I’d like to quickly review some highlights, as presented by Global. Quotes below are taken from the Global article.

O’Toole won on the 3rd ballot against perennial schmuck Peter MacKay and two other generic candidates. Not exactly a landslide victory. Still somehow he equates this to being given a “clear mission” by the Party. Clear as mud, I’d say.

This mission, according to O’Toole, includes “champion[ing] our conservative principles”. I’m really sure what those are. I mean, going by recent Tory leaders (the flaccid pastyman Andrew Scheer and the malignant fascist Stephen Harper), conservative principles include selling out to Big Business, re-instituting obsolete and regressive social norms, propagandizing everything, silencing scientists, dissolving the separation of Church and State, and generally fucking everything up. Not sure that how I’d go if I was in his shoes.

O’Toole started in politics in 2012. So he’s now running a federal political party with only 8 years experience. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, considering how messed up so many politicians with longer careers are, but he likely lacks the personal network and front-line experience to make his own decisions. I expect his many back room advisors will end up having much more power than they used to have. Note that these advisors are not really accountable to anyone….

He has a military background, having joined the RCAF when he was 18. The military – even the Canadian military – is by design a system to indoctrinate soldiers to a worldview where might ultimately makes right. The human brain’s higher functions – including abstract and ethical reasoning – matures around the age of 20. Assuming O’Toole’s cognitive development proceeded in an average way, the military had 2 years to literally shape his mind to their liking. That is not a good thing.

After the military, he became a lawyer. A lawyer, FFS! Lawyers are basically trained liars who advocate for their clients regardless of the ethics of that advocacy. According to Global News, he specialized “in areas like corporate law and energy regulation”. I’m not sure what “in areas like” means in this case. It could mean he specialized in corporate law, energy regulation, and related areas; or it could mean he specialized in areas that are similar to, but different from, corporate law and energy regulation. The only inference I can draw from this imprecise prose by Global News is that he likely worked for Big Business. This inference is supported by the claim that he “provide[d] counsel to companies like Procter & Gamble and Gillette”.

O’Toole is therefore probably not very aware of the plight and needs of the average worker, but extremely knowledgeable about “increasing shareholder value” (i.e., making the 1% even richer).

O’Toole was der Führer Harper’s Minister for Veterans’ Affairs – which makes sense given his military background. He “was able place a class action lawsuit on hold in order to start settlement negotiations with a group of Afghanistan veterans.” Settlement negotiations are confidential; class action lawsuits… less so. If the Harper regime had been truly interested in openness and transparency, it would have welcomed the class action suit. I think of all such cases that are resolved with “negotiated settlements” as just ways to preserve government secrecy without oversight.

He tried to become Tory leader back in 2017, and was defeated by the flaccid pastyman himself. Make of that what you will.

O’Toole’s platform, as reported by Global News, is virtually content-free. And where specifics are given, they’re not good: “reverse the Liberal government’s small business tax hike”, “taking a hardline approach on foreign relations”, ending Bill C-69, and “criminaliz[ing] the blockading of railways or ports.”

So it seems that, overall, the Canadian Conservatives will now be led by just another white, middle-aged, Euro-cis-male who was a jarhead, a corporate lawyer, and an employee of a regressive megalomaniac. In other words, just another Tory Tool.

When Anonymous goes too far

On December 9th, one of the agents of Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) tweeted the following.

Anonymous (@YourAnonNews)
12/9/11 9:29 PM
Hating on American Muslims? Don’t you have anything better to do? @Lowes Expect us!

The original tweet is available here.

The matter involved a recent decision by the hardware box store chain, Lowe’s, to cancel advertising scheduled to air during one of TLC’s “reality” shows, called All-American Muslim.  Apparently, this move was the result of pressure exerted in part by groups like the Florida Family Association.

Let’s set aside the absurd premise of the TLC show.  Let’s also set aside the clearly paranoid delusions of the Florida Family nuthouse.

I’m a little troubled by the tone of Anonymous’s tweet, which clearly associates Lowe’s actions with “hate” against Muslims.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think Anonymous is serving a vital social function by providing people with an alternate perspective free of virtually all the shackles with which society has hindered itself.  I think any rational person will be made to think more carefully of their role in society – and, perhaps more importantly, the role of certain institutions – by reflecting on what Anonymous is about.  They tend to “attack” defence contractors, tend to support other organizations dedicated to openness (like Wikileaks), and have worked to shut down child porn sites.  Anonymous isn’t a terrorist group; they’re clearly directed in their work, and, generally, they attempt to undermine organizations that have been seen as corrupt in one way or another.

Now, they’re picking on Lowe’s for pulling advertising?  What about the other companies that have pulled their ads?  (20-ish or 60-ish other companies – depending on who you read – have also pulled their ads from that show.)  What’s Lowe’s done that merits such special attention?

And is it really “hate” to pull the advertising?  Clearly, groups like the Florida Family freaks are islamophobic shit-disturbers of the first order.  It is not at all clear that Lowe’s isn’t just capitulating to that pressure rather than espousing the position.

Why isn’t Anonymous going after the Florida Family Association?  Clearly, the latter is a bunch of right-wing nut jobs that really deserve whatever Anonymous can dish out.

While I can understand the approach taken by Anonymous generally, I’m seriously concerned that without a little more direction, they may end up doing something entirely unacceptable – which would undermine entirely the power that the organization currently holds in the public psyche, and would likely give ultimate victory to the very organizations that Anonymous seems intent on disturbing.