HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-06-06, Page 2Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley
*AKIO° '$12
gBrussels Post
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 1973
-serving Brussels and the surrounding community
published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn. Kennedy - Editor Torn Haley - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.'
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others
$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each.
Second class mail Registration. No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
BRUSSELS
ONTARIO
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Hanging ban
( A guest editorial)
The recent House of Commons vote
to extend the ban on capital punish-
ment for another five years is a
reassuring commentary on the level
of civilization in this country.
With our increased understanding of
human behavior, our knowledge that
murderers are usually mentally sick
with no control over or understand-
ing of their actions and are usually
the products of deprived and unlov-
ing environments, there is no excuse
for perpetuating a vengeful eye
for an eye mentality.
Revenge does not restore a mur-
derer's victim t,o life; it only de-
grades the society that sanctions
it. Ultimately respect for all human '
life is lessened when murderers are
considered less than human --- and
put to.death by a kind of "state
murder".
Those for and against capital
punishment can marshall statistics
to show that it is or is not a de-
terrent to future murders. However,
it is doubtful that the threat of
hanging or the electric chair would
deter any half-crazed individual who
was bent on violent crime.
At the same time it must be re-
''tOgnized that convicted murderers
and other psychopaths are a danger
to society and should not be paroled
routinely. Indeed they should not
be released at all until their anti
social impulses are eliminated to
the satisfaction of police, peniten-
tiary officials and psychiatrists.
The only real deterrent to murder
is an elimination of the poverty and
degrading social conditions which
breed hostile individuals.
That elimination, along with a
humane judicial and penitentiary
system which rehabilitates indivi-
duals and instills in them a feeling
of responsibility to society will do
more to prevent murder than the
most stringent enforcement of capital
punishment.
"This ,place mess. I With we could find a good
cleaning .maxi:"
As I write, the Watergate hearingt are
. in progress and that word is entering the
language. as a synonym for scandal and
skullduggery.
Canadians are having a whale of a time
doing what they like very Much; - looking
down their spotless noses at the Yanks.
I guess we've forgotten our great home-
grown scandals involving Canadian
governments, both provincial and federal.
Some of the fantastic rip-offs-made by such
outfits as our railways and the Hudson
Bay. Company make the Watergate look
like peanuts.
And then there was the Beauharnois
affair, a piece of piracy that made many
a Canadian politician feel like looking
for a hole to crawl into.
And let's not forget the Dupletsit era
in. Quebec, where votes were bought and
sold like potatoes, ballot boxet stuffed,
and strong-arm tactics used at election
time.
Nope. We can't afford to loot' down
our noses at anybody. All we can or
shOuld do is shake our he?.dg and
remember, "There, but fOr the' grace of
Grid . . . " .
Of course.-
'
Watergate is . somewhat
different in that it's involved the use of
police state tactics in pUrpuit of un-
bridled political power. That distinguishes
it from traditional political corruption
which has usually been niOtiyated by a love
Of ,,bOOze, broads and biiCkg”.
Perhapg the saddest a -pest of the
Watergate affair is that no ody is spilling
f
the beans because Of con cience or lofty
principles. .
They are telling all peCaUSe they are
On the hot seat. Its eVerynnanfOr. himself
as those involved try to save their own
necks. A bunch of 'Mkt scrambling for
safety.
At the same time, one must adinite
the U.S. process of pr Bing for the truth,
regardlett of who. get hurt. 7 I Wouldn't
Want to be up in frOnt. Of those tough
senators for anything more serious than
spitting .On the sidewalk: .,
How would Canada handle such a Sitit&i
tiori? Well, first the government would
appoint a tioyat Commission, which would
investigate in near-secrecy. The Cbtfi ,
mission would require three years to
complete its job, by which time nobody
would be interested, it would thenpubilth
its report; which would be airs Ott unread,
able. ., .. „ ...... „ A few .dreary editorials WoUld be
'written, a few' professors who could wade
through the Commission iteport would
make speeches and the Whole thing WoUld,
then be buried.
As a good many observers have pointed
out, the Watergate airing of soiled linen
may be the best thing that has happened
to the U.S. democratic system , in generat-
ions.
When you are constipated, you take a
purge. When you've swallowed poison and
want to throw, up, you take an emetic.
Perhaps the watergate Will serve as both. .
Regardless of how many heads' will
get the chop, and to whom those heads
belong, it is comforting, to know that
our great neighbour will heal itself, spew
out the poison or cut out the cancer, and
get back to work.
And it will. It has survived Senator
!Joe McCarthy's witch-hunts, the lying
about spying on Russia, the Bay of Pigs
fiasco, and many another, not to mention
a disgusting and disastrous war in Asia.
It is also' comforting to know that
there are still countries in the world
where powerful public figures can be
brought to account. It couldn't happen in
Russia or China. And it wouldn't happen
in many a so-called democracy.
On the other hand, the average Joe in
the States must be' becoming a little
sceptical, to say the least. He has been
lied to and lied to. He must be wondering
whether he can believe anybody any more.
I know I would be. -
There'Snothing new in powerful
leaders lying to the people they are
leading. Hitler lied to the Germans',
MUssolini to the Itallana, Stalin to the
l'it'st.Inf iaonriunately, their lies were not dis-
c overed by their peoples until the damage
had been done and the World WAS stag-
gering badk trOtti the holocaust they tin,
leaChed.
This time the truth is coming °tit,
haltingly, so that the damage to a
nation and a nation's pride. -May be halted
before it becomes irreparable, Let's 4pe
And iet,s hope the Americans come
out of the sordid little mess, smelling
of violets and ready to get back to the
real prOblettit they rinitt SOlVet
ion; pollution; integration. They're great
solvers of problem's, and they hate great
problems to solve,
In the meantime, it behooVet us in
danada not to Sneer and point the
finger,
Letos pretend our neighbours are
having a doinestic quarrel Which is none
Of our cultivate Our own
garden, It needs it.