On Canadian Twitter the retweets flow
Between the Nora Loreto
Hot takes and shade: and Jesse Brown
Vied unsuccessfully for the crown
Scarce heard for Nora’s Lo-Ratio
They are the roasted. Short days ago
Randos with follower counts of 0
Mobbed and were mobbed, in “planned attacks”
On Canadian Twitter
More talking heads are getting dragged, though
To them from Nora the spotlight will go
The torching of Li’l Paikin, Zach
Rape joke accusations for Robyn Urback
They log off but they’ll return, you know
To Canadian Twitter
~With apologies to Lt. Col. John McRae
There’s a story behind the Great Nora Loreto Tweet Backlash that nobody is talking about. A story about the difference between how we see ourselves as Canadians, and who we really are.
By and large, we see ourselves as this thoroughly decent, post-partisan nation where facts still matter, everyone plays fair, and we all take care of one another. When a tragedy on the level of Humboldt takes place, it’s a chance for us to embody the sort of country we’d like to be. So, from coast to coast to coast, we put on hockey jerseys and left our sticks on the front porch and grieved together.
But then along came Nora’s tweet and all of that effort instantly came to naught. Grief turned to shock and rage. One person who didn’t want to participate in the national ritual of mourning supposedly ruined it for everybody. People, it seemed, were appalled that views like hers existed in Canada, and then they were appalled again when they saw the views of the people attacking her.
It’s so strange. The right constantly talks about the ghoulish identity politics-infused views of the SJW left, and Nora talks about how Canada is a deeply and systematically racist place. Both sides have convinced themselves that their views are, or should be the mainstream and are upset when it seems like they aren’t. Yet, when confronted with an instance that seems to validate their preconceptions about the other side, panic and chaos ensue.
Why are we so bad at responding to radical views? Because we spend so much time convincing ourselves that they don’t, or shouldn’t, exist in Canada. It’s why, when someone like Randy Hillier talks about how Torontonians are scared to approach a fallen branch, he gets a minor ratio of his own for ignoring the downed wire around it. It’s why Zach Paikin invokes the language of nuclear holocaust after getting accused of mansplaining. It’s why the Ontario Liberals have some vague idea that they should be comparing Doug Ford to Trump, but they don’t seem to be able to execute that very well.
Canadians don’t seem to have settled the question of whether we are a nation of hardy northerners who laugh at the cold, or a bunch of snowflakes who devolve into screeching, hate-flinging trolls because of Nora Loreto’s implication that yet another thing was racist, on top of the other 9 billion things she perceives as racist.
Anyway, let’s hope the snow melts soon and we can go back to lording it over the poor, terminally divided Americans and their cartoon President.
Raving Canuck 