De-Klein Reason
Naomi Klein, author of 'Fences and Windows' (technically a 'book', but more accurately described as a "cash grab made of shallow articles, thrown together to fund her 'Bolivarian Revolution' in South America") and 'No Logo'. No Logo, you may recall was very flashy book that attempted to call out the marketing establishment. The marketing scheme and colours of No Logo, have basically become her, uh, 'trademark', we'll call it.

The problem was this: No Logo criticized companies doing manufacturing in poor countries, and by extension, the working conditions of the employees in these plants. Naomi never even bothers to address the problem of 'choice': the workers are faced with a choice of working in her fantasy world of 'subsistence living', that she envisions is some medieval utopia that existed before the white male capitalist (WMC, for the peeps in the know) or choosing to work in the manufacturing plants. She never addresses one simple fact: the workers in the plants are not slaves-they choose to work in manufacturing. They make choices in their own self-interest, and not in the interest of a 'White Female Capitalists' dreamworld.

Continuing with this fantasy theme, Klein attempts in a recent article to offer a valid policy alternative to the Canadian government: allow draft dodgers to come into Canada,, via 'refugee' provisions. In Klein's fantasy revolution world (it's just around the corner, honest!), this will mean that a flood of refugee/war resistors will flood Canada, and with the US' army stretched thin, this will mean the end of the war! In Naomi's world, consequences of such a faulty train of thought do not exist. Either she is too naive to see the results of her fantasy world, or does not have the interests of her own country, neighbour or world at heart. The latter would not surprise me, since she has been a part of more than a few ventures in 'international socialism', meaning that the 'individual country' matters less than the delusional fantasyworld of the socialist 'whole'.

What would happen in Iraq when the US is forced to pull out and the insurgency gains control of the country? What happens when another breeding ground of terrorism is created on the Tigris? What happens to the Iraqis who are fighting their own war of liberation from religious extremists? What happens to Canada's already deteriorating relationship with the US?

Of course, in the case of our relationship with the US, Naomi could not care less. While the left consistently says they 'fear' the US more than any other country, they are not demanding a guarded border while insisting on top notch security for airports...(for what? Buddhist extremists? Politically repressed American terrorists?). They rail on about the US' policies in Iraq, but stay silent on the Congo, the Ivory Coast, and Darfur. When Israel is attacked, it is because they are a hegemonic monster, but when Israel responds, it's a travesty of justice. For a time after 9/11, even Ms. Klein asked the left to 'cool it' on the anti semitism, but jumped right back in bed with Jaggi Singh and friends afterwards-only to see them attempt an all out attack on Jews at Concordia. It appears that the left's self loathing extends not only to their country, colour and 'socio-economic class' but also to their various religions and ancestries. "Shame! Shame!" they cry at protests-But are they referring to their own?

Ms. Klein has lost her ability to reason, her ability to persuade and her credibility. I can't believe I respected her enough at one point to actually consider her arguments, read her books and admire her activism. Her only motivation in her writing is blatant nihilism and violent revolution coupled with a complete lack of empathy for anyone outside the 'Window' of her shiny, happy soviet republic, a world that is "only one well placed Weatherman-style attack" way.