South
of the border, almost a century ago, the vice president of the American
anti-Imperialist League, the towering heroic figure of Mark Twain, spoke of
the “silent colossal National Lie” that we need to throw (metaphorical)
bricks and sermons at.
To
update that metaphor a bit, this slide show is an attempt to throw a few
shoes at the myth that Canada is the global force for peace.
Briefly, what is a myth? It is cultural lenses though which we perceive
reality. As such, myths are
themselves difficult to perceive.
They’re
hard to think about because we use them to think.
They’re
hard to see because we use them to see.
They
are veils for perception, and for deception. They enable us to see, but they
colour everything that we see.
In our
case they are the proverbial rose-coloured glasses.
