Giede, be gone
I think it is time, Mr. Editor, to give Nathan Giede a rest from the pressures of trying to mine his quite obviously limited knowledge and insight to crank out, in his words, a weekly missive. My preference would be a permanent rest for, although it is admirable, indeed dutiful, for The Citizen to provide space for decidedly conservative perspectives, this better come from an articulate well-informed right winger who doesn’t descend into hallucinations of bloodshed.
Several months ago, I had to reassure Nathan that contrary to his mean-minded and unfounded claim that his opponents would like to see him dead, we of a more progressive bent wish him no personal ill. His was a classic case of psychological projection whereby he transferred his own subconscious belligerence onto those he disagrees with.
But it’s longer subconscious, alas!
In his most recent column he has belched up his own craven fantasies of doing harm to those who oppose the Kinder Morgan pipeline and – his assumption – at the same time, is happy to see religious groups denied grants for summer jobs (referring to Trudeau’s indefensible insistence that grantees swear allegiance to abortion, gay marriage etc.).
Like all closet bullies who lack the stomach and guts to actually shed blood, he denies that he is personally advocating violence but then conjures up a seething mob of the less restrained likeminded, itching to take up arms against such colourfully-named but unclearly identified hated groups as “overlords,” “unwashed Jacobins,” and “godless commies.” He daydreams that the good folk who think like him would already be getting out their torches and pitchforks were they not too busy “with the lives and families they support through their jobs.” But come the (counter-) revolution, they will be – here’s a really unhinged image – torn to bits like an eco-warrior who steps between a mother grizzly and her cubs! Easy, Nathan boy, easy.
As I say, it’s time for a very long respite for Nathan before his weekly screed becomes illegible from blood stains, gunpowder, tears and mouth foam.
We really do need smart conservative journalists as part of the plural society we all should cherish. A columnist who thinks that dropping a few parenthetical Latin phrases will make his weak-kneed God-spouting hate mongering good enough for your readers, falls way short of this need.
it’s time for a very long respite for Nathan before his weekly screed becomes illegible from blood stains, gunpowder, tears and mouth foam.
Norman Dale Prince George Editor’s note: Nathan Giede’s column did not appear this week, but is expected to return next week in its usual spot.