18 January 2013

Stereotypes are bad... right?

Apparently it depends whose finger is on the trigger.

Witness the commercials the compassionate, intellectual McGuinty government has foisted upon (and no doubt paid for by) the citizens of Ontario, advertising the availability of "free" money for education.

There are two variants of this commercial... one starts off with a frail, geeky caucasian male dreaming of achieving personal glory and a full ride scholarship by way of being a football playin' stud. This propaganda piece then cuts to a studious, worldly-wise (let's make sure I use the politically acceptable term here) "Asian" student shaking his head at such obvious nonsense. This is followed by the news that there is money for the taking for qualified applicants... the implication being that dumb, delusional white boys will be at the bottom of the list.

In case there is any doubt about the message, the Liberals have also crafted another version of the commercial, this time featuring a (wait for it) geeky white girl, who comes upon a blackboard in a hallway and proceeds to solve some complicated mathematical puzzle by filling the board with equations. This is also revealed to be a silly fantasy when the tv cuts to a studious black (or is it Afro-Canadian?) girl smiling & shaking her head at the unlikely chain of events. Again, we are informed there is (for qualified applicants) money for the asking.

For those of you who might think I'm over-reacting here... try to imagine the uproar if there was a similar commercial that made fun of a black (or is it Afro-Canadian?) boy, er... youth... and his NBA dreams... cutting to a studious white male scoffing at the pretension of his non-caucasian counterpart.

Remember... all this "free" money comes out of your (you, the taxpayer) pockets. It's not only offensive... it's expensive.

When are we gonna get around to treating everyone in Canadian society equally? No special rights... one people, one law. And no exceptions for shit that happened a century ago.