Justin Trudeau – Man of the people, or just another schmuck?
Among the many things that trouble me most about Canadian politics these days, one of them is Justin Trudeau. I’m not sure if that’s because he’s too pretty, or because of my dislike of dynasties. I really don’t know too much about his policies yet- it’s something I keep planning to look into. But, my intuition has been telling me he’s not the second coming of Jesus- nor Kennedy…
I’ll start discussing the problem of Justin being too pretty/handsome/whateva. He reminds me of Clinton that way- many people were swooned into voting for him because he was approachable and attractive. I met him when I was working in Russia- even I was impressed by his charisma.
You can see how that’s a problem, right? Voting based on a politician’s good looks is about as shallow of an experience as a one-night stand. I’m guilty of doing it before, I wasn’t so well informed about UK politics during the 1997 election so I pretty much voted for Tony Blair because he wasn’t as hideous as John Major. In retrospect, I wish I’d thrown my vote to Paddy Ashdown– then, at least, I wouldn’t be culpable for what Blair did.
Dynastic leaders are a big problem for me- particularly in elected government. First, we already have a royal family and don’t need another. In Justin’s case he’s clearly been bred for this position over the past 40 years- he feels kind of plastic to me, kind of like the fake rocks at Disney World. That said, I don’t really know as much about him as I should, so perhaps I’ve misread.
I saw a video today that has helped shift my perception about Justin. It was a brilliant work by Dan Dicks of Press For Truth. Dicks is one of the most professional members of Canada’s alternative media, he and his team have been out on the streets creating high-quality films. They’ve covered issues including the G20, Occupy, and the prorogation of Parliament. Dicks often exposes angles of his stories that the mainstream media missed.
The video was of a meet & greet with Justin Trudeau back on October 10th. It starts with a clip of Trudeau posted on YouTube where he announced his candidacy. The PR person who concocted this stunt was brilliant. It feels like a private one-to-one video call where Justin is telling you a big secret. The dramatics are fantastic- it’s like the best job Hollywood could do trying to make something look amateur.
But, is it real, and is Trudeau the real thing? Dicks’s video indicates that he isn’t the man of the people we’ve all been hoping for. If he was, he wouldn’t have reacted to Dicks like he did- quite the opposite.
One of the issues that people in the alternative media have a big interest in is fluoridation of our water supplies. Due to misinformation, many people have written off anti-fluoridation campaigns as being ‘tin foil hat’. The problem is that those people were very wrong- according to a recent study from Harvard, fluoride in our drinking water can have health impacts on the neurological development of our children. This is pretty serious stuff.
Dicks was filming Trudeau when he was asked if he had an opinion on fluoridation. Trudeau responded in an annoyed, manner- saying:
“Ahhm, you know what? I haven’t seen convincing science despite the conspiracy theorists that there’s something wrong with the fluoridation of water”
Well, it’s obvious that Justin’s got his “I haven’t seen convincing science” response well-rehearsed, he said it like a pro! That said, he’s not up-to-date on science- is he? The reality is that the fluoride issue has been beyond the realm of the tin foil hat for a while now. Even Maude Barlow (at the anarchist enabling Council of Canadians) knows that fluoride is an issue important enough to campaign for.
Dicks then goes on to try and ask Trudeau about his opinion on the Bilderberg Group– an annual meeting between the corporate elite and government leaders. Many people are uncomfortable with Bilderberg because it’s a closed meeting- they believe that our government leaders should act with more transparency. I agree with that- we won’t have a government that we can trust unless it’s transparent.
Trudeau didn’t want to answer that question- he put a lot of effort into deflecting it. I found this troubling on a couple of levels. First, I was hoping that Justin would stand-up for the cause of transparency- a man of the people would do that. The other problem is that a true man of the people would have embraced Dan Dicks rather than brushing him off.
I know, some of you are saying that it was the wrong place and the wrong time- but, when is? Do you think that Dicks would have survived the ‘media scrum’ that Justin recommended he would join? And, if he got into it, who’s questions would Justin decide to answer- Dicks, or some reporter from the CBC who they already know?
Get real Justin!
Justin has put out a lot of hoopla about how he want’s his campaign to politically awaken younger people in this country- right? Well, he’s not going to accomplish that by brushing off an enterprising young guy like Dicks? People like Dicks are exactly what we need if we’re going to fix our political system. He gives us an alternative to the regimented monotony of the mainstream media, he asks questions that younger Canadians want answers to, he observes neutrally.
Canada’s youth don’t trust the mainstream media now. They’ve have seen the lies, understatements, overstatements, and blatant marketing in the place of real news. Many of them are getting news through people like Dan Dicks now. It probably won’t be too long from now until the alternative media becomes the mainstream.
Justin just failed the test- he’s not one of the hip kids, he’s not one of ‘us’. Not only is he horribly behind the times on the fluoride issue but, despite his YouTube videos, he’s obviously behind the times when it comes to dealing with the alternative media.
Oh, and Canada’s youth sees right through lines like “I haven’t seen convincing science”…
Had he handled that situation better he could have gained a lot of support. Instead, he came out looking like a schmuck- either he’s got something to hide, or he’s lost in the old-world mainstream media (meaning, his YouTube video was more Hollywood than grassroots). Is there a third option? If there is, I’d love to hear from him about it- but, I’m not guessing he’s confident enough to talk to the rogue alternative media.
So, how about it Justin? Can we challenge you to a boxing match?
Here’s Dicks’ video:
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