Fatwas ... Canadian Style?

Full disclosure here: I haven't gone to Wikileaks to read all the latest gossip, but I have been following the story, sort of. My take on what we've learned? The Iraqi government is corrupt, some "world leaders" are on power trips and the USA thinks Canadian TV shows demonstrate a degree of anti-Americanism. Yawn.... When do we get stuff we "don't" know already?

So it was was with a certain degree of shock that I hear of a U of C professor calling for the assassination of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The good professor is a political scientist at the U of C and was Chief of Staff for Stephen Harper several years ago. He's been called a Conservative "strategist".

Even for a political strategist, I'd say this gaffe was poor strategy. It was certainly in poor taste and seems to have outraged many Canadians who, quite rightly, seem to believe such statements are...ummm...outrageous.

To Mr Flanagan's credit, he apologized the day after, but I wonder if that's good enough? Even if he was just trying to be funny, jokes of a certain kind are poorly tolerated these days - just recall offhand remarks made by some people on FB, jokes made in airports that security folks don't find funny....there are many examples. What surprises me is that even after so many such mis-steps by so many people...there seems to be a learning opportunity that's being missed here.

But the story doesn't end there. A Toronto woman sent a note to Flanagan to chastise him and, apparently, received the following response: "Better be careful, we know where you live". I think I'd be worried, and I hike in the woods where there are bears. Maybe if he'd added a smiley face?

So there you have it. A fatwa, Canadian style. When Iranian clerics issue fatwas, we might dismiss them as part of the lunatic fringe, but when they come from seemingly respectable Canadians with a public image, it's a bit harder to square with what we think we know about our country.