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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-07-20, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 1988. A very Canadian institution For years now the Canadian Football League has been saying the annual Grey Cup Game is a unique Canadian institution: the one professional sport that brings East and West together for a championshipgame.InitsownwaytheCFLseemstobea Canadian symbol itself: an example of how often we have something good but don’t know what to do with it. The leaders of the CFL showed some of the schizophrenia of Canadian business last week when they said they might expand to the United States even if it might change the unique character of the Canadian game to do it. CFL leaders, aware of thebigbucksintheU.S., seeing the huge dollarjust the television contract alone gives to National Football League teams, have cast envious eyes south of the border for decades now. The problem is that Americans wouldn’t be likely to recognize any game as professional football that didn’t have familiar American rules. Thus the larger Canadian field, the three downs instead of four and all those other quaint Canadian rules would have to go. If they do then the thing that makes the Canadian game more exciting than the American game would disappear. Even the most devoted CFL fan will admit that probably the talent level in the NFL is stronger than in Canada but the different rules of the Canadian game call for a different kind of athletic ability than the Americans game does. If, however, the CFL abandoned the Canadian rules, the league really would be left with only its second-ranked talent. There wouldn’t be much Canadian left in the Canadian Football League either. There’s noway American teams would live with the current rule that sets so many positions aside for Canadian pl ay ers for the Canadian tearrjs could hardly be expected to go along with it either. Since Canadian players usually take longer todevelop because they don’t have the high school and college training American players have, there soon wouldn’t be any Canadian players in the game. The Grey Cup wouldn’t mean much if it was played between Baltimore and Portland anymore than the great Stanley Cup confrontations such as those between Montreal and Toronto aren’t the same now that it may be Philadelphia and Hartford playing. There would be a momentary jump in fan interest. Since major league baseball came to Montreal and Toronto Canadian sports fans have been paranoid of having the tag “big league’’ tied to any sports team they might support. Playing against teams in famous American cities like New York would make fans feel better for a while. Yes the CFL is a real Canadian tradition: we can only define ourselves except in our relationship with the U.S. and we never knew when to leave well enough alone and simply do the best job we can with the wonderful resources we’ve been lucky enough to stumble on. Instead we chase after American dollars like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. The pot of gold, of course, is always an illusion. That's commitment To the average Canadian Carmen Quintana must seem mad. Who of us, having escaped from a country where she had been scarred for life, would voluntarily return to fight for what we believe is right? But Carmen Quintana is leaving the peace and security of Canada to return to Chile to fight for democracy. The 20 year-old woman had come to Canada for operations to try to repair the damage done when she had been turned intoa human torch during a demonstration against the Pinochet military dictatorship. Sympathetic Canadians made it possible for her to come to Canada where she underwent 13 operations to repair the damage. Improved, but still scarred, she has now announced she is returning to her homeland to fight for democracy. Canadians, who often give up their right to vote if it means going out in the snow or it’s too hot, who either curse of ridicule their politicians, who only get interested in their government when there is a crisis, can only sit back and shake their heads in wonder at this example of personal commitment. How can she give up the shopping and the restaurants and the nightlife of downtown Montreal for a principle? How can she risk her life going back when she can be in material comfort here? Canadians of other generations could understand the sacrifice this brave woman is willing to make. They risked their lives to come to Canada in the first place, they risked their lives in two world wars. They knew, like she does, that sometimes there are things more important than personal comfort and safety. Harvest nears Letter from the editor When doing good is doing bad BY KEITH ROULSTON So many foolish and terrible things have been done in the name of good causes over the centuries that it would be easy to be cynical and not support any good causes at all. The latest example is the stupid fuss that took place in Toronto recently when some parents want­ ed Toronto schools to ban the book “Lord of the Flies’’ from use because at one point one of the boys calls others “painted niggers”. It is ironic that a book about lack of tolerance should be the accused of perpetuating tolerance. Lord of the Flies is a shocking book. It deals with a group of English school boys who through an accident are left all alone on an island. Their civilized upbringing soon breaks down as they quarrel over who should be leaders and fighting breaks out between the factions, with murderous results. It can become a very sickening book to read before you ’ re done but it’s worth it because it reminds you what a thin layer of civilization we have. The book is important in the schools because it can teach young people about the way people, like themselves, can act. Anyone who has grown up in a school yard can relate to what happens in the book. It can make kids stop and think about how they can easily become like wild animals. But because of one phrase, people who want people to be open minded when it comes to racial understanding, wantto get into censorship. They want tolerance on one hand yet want to dictate what books should and shouldn’t be read in schools on another. Even where there is open racism, such as in the writings of Ernst Zundel or Malcolm Ross both of whom claim there is a Jewish conspiracy, it is dangerous to interfere with the free exchange of ideas. When people start wanting tobanbooks because of a single phrase, then the people who want to find solutions are becoming part of the problem. These racially-tolerant people who are worried about the hidden effects of words in works of literature are teaching their own hidden lessons to students with these protests: if you don’t like what people say, prevent them from saying it. The Nazis did the same thing with book burnings. It might have been nice if William Golding could have used another phrase other than his “painted niggers” phrase in Lord of the Flies but he didn’t. The worth of his book should never be lost for students because of two words some well-intentioned but misdirected reformers would like to ban. P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM '(HO Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17 OO/yr (538 00 Foreign) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited t Advertising Deadlines Monday, 2pm - Brussels, Monday, 4pm - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968