I have not been around this week -- I am disgusted by the context of a discussion about Canadian democracy in a thread comparing our situation to Greece -- a country that has been turned into a colony where the democratic expression of its people is now irrelevant to the process. They are on the edge of civil breakdown.
Canadians may be lazy voters but the blame for what happens in our elections is ours. Others influence us and big money is powerful but if voters wanted to elect a government that would take us in a different direction, we can still do so. Our elections are not completely fair in all respects but they are at least relevant to the decision-making process.
Comparisons to Greece like this thread minimize the situation and suffering there and the worry many here feel for those over there. This thread was created as I heard friends in Greece worry that their country could deteriorate into civil war, lose all hope of independence, or no longer hope to be a developed nation. Greece is not really sovereign now and it is in crisis. You can be sure if someone did this comparison on a right wing site we would be all over them.
I wrote the moderators about this thread. I complained right in the thread. Someone else proposed a thread title change that would resolve the problem—something like "what Canada could learn from Greece" rather than asking if we were the same. I said that would be fine.
I am part Greek but was told by a poster in that thread that because she had "Greek feet" she could speak for whether this was insulting to Greek people there or in Canada, including people who are part Greek who may be here on this site.
All this has been considered not even worthy of reply from the moderators as they ignored the complaint in the thread and declined to answer my message. I certainly left them long enough before coming back here to post a protest – a full week after I sent the DM. I stayed away from Rabble as well because I feel uncomfortable with a community whose moderators do not even think it is important enough to respond to such a concern.
This was also the first time I have written to the moderators in a long time. It was not much to expect a reply when I appealed both in the thread and by direct message. I don’t expect much from the moderators, but as this place pretends to be progressive, I thought they might have a little tiny bit of respect for a whole country in crisis and for the many Greek people in Canada who might just happen to see how a progressive site approaches their suffering.
I will also point out that when there is a problem we are told by the moderators that should approach them rather than stand up for ourselves. This illustrates why some of us choose to deal directly in a thread when there is a problem. Evenhandedness is unexpected -- so are manners. The message I sent deserved a reply even if it were to tell me to fuck myself.
What kind of a community is this where if you feel a whole group of people have been insulted or their experienced minimized, and you cannot get a response to your concern? How politically correct are we when only some people get to demand a community standard for manners when it comes to minimizing the suffering of others? Is it progressive to minimize through comparison the suffering of others?
So how about we open some new threads.
How about comparing the detaining of refugees coming to Canada with the Holocaust?
Why not compare homelessness in Ottawa to what is happening in Nepal?
Some people have drowned this summer in the river here in Ontario. Why don't we open a thread comparing the loss to the Asian Tsunami?
Or are these people we care about insulting but Greeks are okay?
Maybe I will try my own comparisons just to test the double standard here.
Let’s at least say that this thread can be the reason, when moderators tell you to contact them directly if there is a problem, why some might not take that seriously.