Canada has a new policy to not fly the flag at half-mast when a soldier dies in the line of duty.
The media are also banned from covering the repatriation ceremony when fallen soldiers return to Canadian soil.
This is ridiculous.
Canadian soldiers are sent to war by the Canadian government to protect Canadian interests, to uphold human rights, and to help fight for the under-dog against corrupt governments and/or corrupt groups. Should a soldier die while in the line of duty by protecting Canadian interests, upholding human rights, and fighting against corrupt groups and governments thus protecting innocent citizens while under the orders of the Canadian government, their lives should be honoured and remembered by the same people that sent them there.
To ban coverage of the repatriation ceremony of fallen soldiers is to dis-allow the public to mourn the loss of a good soldier. Banning the coverage of the repatriation ceremony prevents the public from honouring and remembering the deeds of a soldier and scorns the soldier's family with an underlying message that although it saddens the Canadian government that your child/brother/sister died while protecting Canadian interests, the Canadian government does not want to sadden the public with such images. News coverage of a casket draped with a Canadian flag produces 1000 words per frame. Stephen Harper is afraid of what is conveyed within those 1000 words per frame. By banning such images, the public will only hear sound bytes, most likely a maximum of 100 words over the course of a 1 hour news show.
Stephen Harper wants to ban media coverage of such ceremonies to limit what the public sees and hears. If people see less of caskets, then we will be less critical of foreign policies, and less critical of Canada's participation in war-zones.
I don't know if I've said this before, but Stephen Harper is a media control-freak, or just a control-freak in general. His government is very secretive and tightly controlled in a very unsettling way.
Honour the soldiers, and put the flag at half mast.
1 comment:
Very George Bush of him. Well done you not so Honourable mr. harper. I couldnt agree more. You see bad P.R. is what this is about and by controlling the media he will try to keep people ignorant so that he can do whatever he wants... foreign policy or otherwise. Scarry. I sadly miss the corrupt Liberals. At least they show respect to fallen soldiers. Death to all conservative neo-cons and the lies, secrets and manipulation that they use. da trash
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