Written by: Michael Kravshik
How many of you out there live in a first world democratic country, yet keep hearing about how you actually live in a “Police State,” “Military State,” or my personal favorite, “Fascist State”? Living in Toronto, I hear about it all the time, especially loudly from the slew of protests this city has experienced in the past few years. I’ve seen the slogan on Facebook display pictures, internet meme’s, and cardboard signs being held on the street. It’s strange that so many of us can go about our daily lives without even realizing the extent of suppression we experience on a daily basis.
Toronto G20 Protests – June 26, 2010
But alas, perhaps we really do live in a police state. I remember this one time I posted on Facebook arguing against a government policy and was taken in for questioning. Unfortunately, habeas corpus didn’t apply and I was stuck in jail for a few months until my family could accumulate the necessary bribe money. I also remember that time Quebec wanted sovereignty. Of course, that was only until government troops massacred 10,000 people in Trois-Rivières.
Oh wait… none of that happened. Do you know why? Because Canada is not a police state.
Is anyone saying yes?
Quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of hearing whiney self-entitled first world kids saying so. I myself am a whiney self-entitled first world kid. The difference is that I know it, and I certainly know the amazing rights and protections my country affords me. So maybe I’m entitled, but I’m also appreciative of, or at least under no false impressions about, the rights I have. I think the same is true for most of us, but I just can’t understand the fools who actually believe this. I tend to think that a lot of them don’t even believe what their saying. It’s just a catchy, but empty, sound bite for them and it looks nice on a cardboard sign. Either way, from personal experience I do know that some people actually believe it, and I can really only think of two ways this could happen:
1) They are completely ignorant of what goes on in other countries. I thought about making a list, but it’d be easier just to list the countries that aren’t on it (like Canada).
2) They are so delusional about their own wants, that they honestly think that whenever they don’t get exactly what they want, the state is suppressing them.
Perhaps there are more, but given this set of possibilities I’m almost hoping that its usually #2. I mean, are people really ignorant enough for #1 to be true? That would be quite a startling revelation. The internet is supposed to globalize society, but can people really be so caught up in Kim Kardashian’s life to ignore the easily viewable horrors of living under a despotic ruler? Maybe I don’t want the answer to that question.
The ones who actually believe it may even be better than the ones who don’t and still say it. At least they are actually ignorant or delusional and not rubbing the reputation of our great country through the mud for trivial political interests. You would think those holding the signs labeling Canada a police state would realize fairly quickly that they aren’t actually in a police state by the simple fact that they are still standing and holding that sign. You can’t call it a police state in a real police state, because you end up in jail. It’s really as simple as that.
Are our cops perfect? By no means, but they deserve a little more respect than to be compared with their North Korean counterparts. Next time you hear someone saying it, correct them, and ask them if they would prefer to relocate their protest to Pyongyang (the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, i.e. North Korea). Follow that up with asking if they wouldn’t prefer protesting an actual police state. Of course, if they are too selfish for that endeavor they can always just protest the problems we actually do have, there is no shortage.
A North Korean Protest.
(They don’t exist)
This is my opinion. What’s yours?
Krax in Logic 
The idea is to destabalize society. The ‘whiners’ you and I can’t stand protesting imaginary evils, are no more than the foot soldiers of a nefarious agenda spearheaded by the UN to abrogate capitalism and liberal democracy in the western world:
“In 5, it is only one side of the will which is described, namely, this absolute possibility of abstraction from every determination in which I may find myself or which I may have set up in myself, my flight from every content as from a restriction. When the wills self-determination consists in this alone, or when representational thinking regards this side by itself as freedom and clings to it, then we have negative freedom, or freedom as the understanding conceives it. – This is freedom of the void which rises to a passion and takes shape in the world; while remaining theoretical, it takes shape in religion as the Hindu fanaticism of pure contemplation, but when it turns to actual practice, it takes shape in religion and politics alike as the fanaticism of destruction (of the whole subsisting social order), as the elimination of individuals who are objects of suspicion to a given social order, and as the annihilation of any organization which tries to rise anew from the ruins. Only in destroying something does this negative will possess the feeling of itself as existent. Of course it imagines that it is willing some positive state of affairs, such as universal equality or universal religious life, but in fact it does not will that this shall be positively actualized, and for this reason: such actuality leads at once to some sort of order, to a particularization of organizations and individuals alike, while it is precisely out of annihilation of particularity and objective determination that the self consciousness of this negative freedom proceeds. Consequently, whatever negative freedom means to will can never be anything in itself but an abstract idea, and giving effect to this idea can only be the fury of destruction”. – G.W.F Hegel, Outlines of the Philosophy of Right, pg. 29, Oxford World Classics
What’s the end goal?? The elimination of the particular – which means, the particular in all it’s manifestations, in the moral order as virtue and vice, in the social-economic order as capitalism and republicanism, and in geopolitical terms as nation states.
“They” – whoever they are (it’s not appropriate to name names, but their actions, beliefs and policies reveal them) want a New World Order without all the “Jewishness” of particularities.
The ignoramuses who decry everything about the west – Capitalism, America, Western Culture, and most immediately, the Judeo-Christian ethical tradition, and their most sumptuous prey of all – attacking Israel as the party responsible for all these evil (which is gaining in popularity, despite it’s inanity) know almost nothing about what they say and little can be said to enlighten them about how wrong they are. It is unbelievably frustrating.
In any case, it’s imperative that we fight to defend what makes this land – and this country, and more generally, what makes western society great: defense of liberty, equality, and decency.
Michael: Love the rant Mike! Can’t say I disagree, other than I am trying to be optimistic that eventually reason and reality can and will eventually set in if you tell people enough times and in the right way. I welcome your help on the matter.
What makes it frustrating is that as much as we try, there are others on the side trying just as hard.
But, it’s true, if we have no choice in the matter, we have no better choice but to try to change the public discourse.
Michael: Exactly and I welcome any help in the matter.