Loading...
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 Woman's Liberation HEADQUARTERS tWe .......-Moi ................. -...."..........4..............0,4•,.:•,..-Lak.:or ...i.I.P, ...........• ....-.0. " 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.