Stop this planet, I want to get off!
Before I begin, I would like to apologize to my American readers. Teh and Q, I love you both! This rant is not directed at all Americans. Just the few who wrote to the CBC this past weekend to express outrage at the fact that not everyone agrees with them...

Have we all gone mad?!?!

Since does expressing a different opinion warrant such a backlash as this??? So there are many Canadians who are opposed to military action against Iraq! So some of us are planning to do something different to draw attention to the anti-war cause?!?!

"My wife and I were planning a trip to the Atlantic coast provinces of Canada for late spring 2003," writes David Samuel of Baltimore, Maryland. "In light of the Canadian citizens who plan to use themselves as 'human shields' against Saddam we have decided to vacation elsewhere. Our preference will be a country free of such morons."

Does that mean, David Samuel, that you should change your travel plans because you disagree with some of us? Or, better yet, does that give you the right to call us morons because you disagree with us? What gives you the right to express an opinion and demand that we agree? You'd be as pissed off as I am now if I called YOU a moron for disagreeing with my views as a pacifist, now wouldn't you?

"The Canadian morons who have gone to Iraq as human fodder deserve to be blown up. Your nation is not under attack. We Americans will defend our people and will destroy any terrorist nation be it Iraq or whomever. Wake up Canada before your ass is blown up. Grow up and face this religious war."

Thanks, Frank Tricario. Your eloquence has made me feel secure in American hands. Yeah, right. Try a little harder next time and maybe you can sway this moron's support! Oh, and this is a religious war now, is it? What happened to the separation of Church and State?!

"It's too bad that so many misguided Canadians feel the need to physically involve themselves in opposition to our war against terrorism. Where were these folks when 3,000 people were murdered in New York? Saddam Hussein is a despot the world can, and should, do without. In the opinion of our leaders he is the head of the worldwide terror network...."

Well, Roy Patrick, it's too bad that so many of your misguided leaders feel the need to withhold that concrete evidence they have that shows Saddam is the head of "the worldwide terror network." War against terrorism? Until I see the proof, I remain firm in my opinion that this is all part of a war of governmental imperialism!

"I am an American who had great respect for Canadians, having grown up in a border city and spent many, many hours in your country as a family member of hockey players and figure skaters. I hope Canada understands that Americans are FED UP with militarily defending your socialistic freedom, while you stab us in the back...."

I'm sorry, Norine Holland, but how the hell is having a different opinion stabbing the U.S. in the back??? Last time I checked, the country I live in affords me the right to free speech. If you are offended because what I say differs from what you believe, the problem lies with you, not I. And Canada is, much to my dismay, FAR from Socialism! We live in a democracy modelled after the British parliamentary system. Not a theocracy, not an autocracy--a democracy! And what gives you the right to condemn us because we put social programming, like national health care, ahead of military spending? Because you feel that you defend us??? Well, if "defending" us includes bombing the very troops we send to help you, all I have to say is "No, thanks! Our pitiful Sea Kings will defend my sorry ass just fine!"

"Each new day sees more and more Americans come to the realization that Canada is our enemy."

Well, isn't that lovely! You'd think that we were the ones trying to undermine your country's autonomy! Jeff Zeller, you've left me speechless.

And while I'm speechless, why doesn't everyone check out this link. Talk about trying to undermine Canadian autonomy! Just when you think they've scrapped the idea of trying to fingerprint every Canadian who crosses the border... Big Brother still wants to watch a little too closely for comfort. Stay strong, John Manley!

UPDATE:
Alright. I've calmed down a bit now. And I've realized I failed to make a couple things clear. The first is that although I am a pacifist and staunchly anti-war, I do not endorse the idea of "human shields." I believe this step, though it draws much needed attention to the anti-war cause, is good for little other than publicity. If we anti-war supporters want to change the world, we must work within the existing bureaucratic structures to change them, rather than set ourselves directly in opposition to them. When you do set yourself so far apart from the existing structures it becomes far too easy for people to brand you as a radical and completely discount your ideas and, ultimately, the validity of your cause. The bottomline here is that though I disagree with the course of action these human shields have taken, I respect their right to choose that action (it's the equivalent of respecting their opinion).

The second fact I would like to draw everyone's attention to is that, according to the CBC article I've linked to above, the two Canadian women leaving for Iraq will be among several British human shields and twenty to forty American human shields! In fact, it is a U.S.-based anti-war group, Voices in the Wilderness, that is the big sponsor of this activity! So why are we Canadians being verbally assaulted because two Canadian women have joined them???