A couple of days ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke at a ceremony to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, that symbol of communist tyranny.
And that makes me wonder why tomorrow, Conservative MPs will be at another ceremony commemorating a man who fought for communist tyranny? --- Norman Bethune.
Because he's a pandering photo op junkie…
ReplyDeleteTangoJuliette sez:
ReplyDeleteIf one can't spot the difference between Commie States and a Canadian Medico working in a country that had Commie Rule - when Sovs and Red Army were still Allies - then we've got some major problems.
We're starting to look like libranos, picking pepper out of Puffin droppings.
tj
t.e. & o.e.
Because it's more important to hang with the "in crowd" than to actually think about what the hell you're doing.
ReplyDeleteJust like the clowns who wear tee shirts with that murdering Marxist cowards image on it.
They know not what they do.
What are you going on about tj??
ReplyDeleteCall him a “Canadian Medico” if you like, but he WAS a committed member of the Communist Party of Canada and a supporter of Murdering Mao.
How could those facts be misconstrued as picking pepper out of Puffin droppings?
I’ve an idea of who’s starting to look like a librano, and it ain’t me.
I'm with you on this one, Gerry. We don't need to glorify a Canadian Marxist.
ReplyDeleteSo Canadians should only be recognised if they are of the right political persuasion?
ReplyDeleteAnd Donald Sutherland played him in the movie. What a surprise.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, would you say the same if Bethune was a committed Nazi, and was just helping out?
ReplyDeleteI think not.
TangoJuliette sez:
ReplyDeleteMy neighbourhood in Montreal East was home to the CPR Angus Yards. During WWII thousands of tanks were built here. Almost 2,000 of the Valentine tanks were shipped along the Murmansk Run for use by the Soviet Army Allies on Hitler's Eastern Front.
Trust me, my Eastern European roots don't allow for any tolerance of Nazis and Commies, of whatever nuanced gradations we try to fob off today.
Communists in Canada during the 20's and 30's were of quite a different stripe compared to the butchers which eventually came to light with the Gouzenko defections, The Book of the Black Deeds of the Kremlin and the KGB and so on.
I'm not even vaguely attempting to defend his Communist inclinations. I do know that the work he did in Montreal, with the poor and with those in horrific straits proved irritating to many, of tremendous benefit to countless others.
Over one hundred and fifty of my relatives in Eastern Europe died at the hands of the Nazis, The Bolsheviks and the Soviets of many nationalities.
Bethune of Gravenhurst was, in fact, a Canadian and a medical Doctor = "Canadian Medico."
Context is everything - I think that many of us are somehow missing the appropriate context.
Gotta go, back later.
tj
t.e.& o.e.
Nicholls, sometimes you really strike out.
ReplyDeleteNorman Bethune was a member of my profession who developed battlefield techniques to save lives. He also developed several surgical instruments, some still in use. He was very interested in advancing the human condition and it appears he treated all patients equally, including the enemy.
Yes he supported communism. Yes it is flawed thinking which the benefit of hindsight has demonstrated to be catastrophic. Still before everyone turns it into a black and white issue, like kursk just did by equating with Nazi physicians, there are numberous pioneers of science who held atrocious social beliefs yet advanced the field of human endevor and benefited mankind.
It is acceptable to respect Bethune for his contributions to humanity in the realm of medicine without equating it to the flaws of communism just as we can respect Friz Haber for his impressive contribution to chemistry and cheap fertilizers that feed us even though he was a strong advocate of chemical weapons. Or the scientists of Haber, the employers of Nazi regime enslaved Jews, who designed sulfonamides, saving countless lives including that of Winston Churchill - arguably the bastion against the Nazi regime itself.
Nicholls, you sound like you're jealous and spited sometimes and it does more harm than credit to you.
Bethune has been made into a Canadian folk hero by the Hollywood set.
ReplyDeleteYou have to chuckle at WHO played him in the movie,Sutherland, who else?
I'm glad the MP's attended the Bethune memorial, and that Stephen Harper didn't order them not to. I want to see my MP's as they really are, not some carefully orchestrated version of them or the Party they belong to.
Conservatives in their ridings should be asking what they were doing at the event, and if they don't get the answers they like, vote them out as candidates next time around.
langmann, Richard Strauss was a great composer but even today there are musicians who will not play his music because of his association with the Nazis.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Bethune was as naive as you are attempting to portay him...I think he knew what he was doing. Afterall, communism had been in power for a few decades all ready and what Stalin was doing was no secret.
You are who you associate with and Bethune opted to consort with the communists. That is going to taint who he is in the annals of history and some of us will not heap praise on an educated individual who knowingly adopted a heinous political philosphy.
I never said Bethune was naive. I am simply saying his accomplishments in the area of medicine deserve respect.
ReplyDeleteI we went back into history and looked at all the contributors to the good of mankind, we would find dark stuff for almost all of them. You want to scrap every person who did anything good for that reason go ahead, but you won't be left with many people still standing.
In fact this is a good lesson to those who try and idolize famous people, and half the problem with hollywood today. You have folks who are good actors, some excellent, who are consequently being given respect for their ludicrous opinions (ie global warming, socialist etc).
So the old Soviet order topples in Europe and a new one rises in Brussels.
ReplyDeleteThe EU sovietization of Europe is the new commie light - decadent monopolist communism - the type Stalin and the soviet oligarchs after him wished they had.
Seems the soviets never needed all those tanks to invade western Europe, kleptocratic socialism in France, Germany and the UK opened the door for a sovietized super state in Europe.