Standing talking to a hard core leftie at a cocktail party. His house. He has a side plate of food in his hands, and a glass of wine beside him. He annoys me.
Him: “Climate change is our World War. This is WWIII! Nothing is more important than this. We all have to do everything we can, or we will die.”
Me: “I notice you’re eating meat.” This was when the Green Scene were saying if 1/3 of people became vegan it would be the equivalent of EVERY CAR in North America being electric. I mention this to him.
Him: “I like meat. Anyway, meat eating is what made our brains grow. We need meat fat for our brains.”
Me: “Are you afraid your brain will shrink?” He is. I point out he can stop right now and it would mean he is covering the carbon for three SUVs. Since this is our WWIII, isn’t it worth it? It doesn’t have to be forever. Once AGW is solved he can go back to meat.
Him: “I am not prepared to give up meat so a soccer Mom gets to drive an SUV.”
Me: “Okay. Nothing is more important than Climate Change…EXCEPT for you eating meat. Your meat #1, Climate Change #2.” He glares at me.
I then point out he had just said he was flying to Italy this winter to spend three months there. I point out his travel is harmful to the environment. One 747 flight to Europe uses the same amount of fuel an average family uses in 30 years. He says he knows, but he has worked really hard his whole life and he wants to travel. He isn’t prepared to give this up.
He was drinking Italian wine. A nice bottle. He was a wine buff. I point out flying a bottle or two of wine a week from Europe is really hard on the environment. He can drink BC wine. He doesn’t like BC wine. He acknowledges it is a luxury he should likely give up.
Me: “Just to be clear NOTHING is more important than solving Climate Change. It is our World War. Double Ya Double Ya III. The event that will define our generation.” He TOTALLY agrees. I continue. “To be clear though, you eating meat is more important. You going to Europe is more important. And, you drinking fine European wine is more important. So, #1 Meat. #2 Travel. #3 Fine Wine. #4 Climate Change. The event of our lives.”
Unsurprisingly I am never invited back to his house for another party.
Conversation #2. Chronic pot smoking hippy from Salt Spring Island. “We need to defund the Police, man. They’ve gotta go. I mean it.” “Really? I can’t see this. What happens if a bad guy has a gun and is shooting people in Ganges?” “The people can come together and stop him. We don’t need Police.” “Do we have guns? Or, no guns?” “No guns.” “How do we stop an active shooter without a weapon of equal or more power?” “Okay. Guns.” “So, you are good with citizens carrying guns?” “No.” Now he looks a bit confused. “Okay, some people should have guns, but not all people.” Alright, we are getting somewhere. “Who have the guns?” “A group of volunteers.” “Trained, or untrained.” “Trained.” “Paid or unpaid?” Hmmm….he wants it to be volunteer. “Okay, so a trained volunteer gets a gun, but he isn’t paid?” “Yeah.” “Do you actually think an unpaid person will put his life at risk to stop an active shooter. What if he doesn’t? What if he says ‘not today’?” Okay, he acknowledges these trained and armed people have to receive some compensation. It wouldn’t make sense for a pure volunteer to put himself in harm’s way. I say “How do we tell the difference between a bad guy with a gun and one of our community paid volunteers?” He thinks some sort of marker should be worn. Like an arm band. I point out an arm band can be too easily duplicated. He agrees. He suggests some sort of hard to duplicate clothing. “Like a uniform?” Yes! He is excited. We are fleshing out his idea really well.
He now has a trained, paid group of community members, armed, wearing a uniform to be his alternative to the Police.
I say “This is good. You are on to something. What should we call these people?” He isn’t sure. He is stumped. I suggest we call them…..I hesitate for dramatic emphasis….”Police”. He says “No man. I want to get rid of the Police.”
Third Conversation. Not quite as absurd as the first two. Worse though, in very real ways.
Another Liberal enclave cocktail party. You could cut the smug with a knife. At least half the people are atheists, and most of the rest would never actually stand for their belief in any way.
We are talking about immigration. The fellow I am talking to is very very pro immigration. From Syria. This was Aleppo days. He is disdainful I don’t want to let in as many as need to leave Syria. I mention that most Muslims are pretty nice people. As are most people. My concern is maybe 10%, and maybe more, hate us with a passion, and 1% are willing to act on it. We can’t let in people without vetting them. And, we don’t really have a way of vetting people for extremism. I said “Let in half a million Syrians and likely we would be letting in at least 5,000 willing to act on killing us.”
He says, “In my Canada we are willing to take this risk.” His little puny chin pokes out towards me. I doubt this guy has ever had a fist fight in his life.
I ask him if he acknowledges if we do this, some of us will die. There will be a bomb set in a shopping mall, or at a church or a synagogue. And, some Canadians will die. He says “That is a risk I am willing to take. This is Canada.” He is defiant and thinks I am disgusting.
I say "You have a granddaughter, right? She’s four? If she is shopping with your daughter at a mall one day and a bomb blast happens and they die, will you be willing for this to be a legitimate price for Canada to accept?” He admits he is not willing to trade his daughter and granddaughter’s life for his view of Canada.
I say “So whose granddaughter are you willing to allow to die to keep your view of Canada intact. If not yours? Whose?”
He glares at me, spins on his heel, and walks away.
All of this post is to make one point….there is a reason why I don’t get invited out much.
Absolutely amazing. Even better cause you tell it to be true.
A delicious read. You are so good. Its weird I read a LOT of crap on SS, people who cant organize,read, think or write. You have all those skills effortlessly Btw, on my piece of last week, all those crazy angry people sounded like alcoholics. And it felt like a demonic attack, through the drinkers, who aren’t in control of themselves and drink because they are mired in negativity. I wrote a blast to the worst then deleted it, so tempting to get into a fight.