Tamil Roadkill

Garnering sympathy for a cause can be tricky.

Often the type of protest tells Canadians more than the actual message the protesters are trying to impart. By their sheer numbers, Toronto Tamils have garnered national attention. Still, I'll bet 7 out of 10 Canadians couldn't tell you where Sri Lanka is, and fewer still could give you any details of the Tamil Tiger's cause.

By blocking one of the busiest highways in Ontario with their families and children, any sympathy they may have received from the average Canadian has evaporated. But then, they aren't appealing to those of us who aren't members of the Liberal elite, who now choose to use this opportunity to gather a voting base. It also shouldn't surprise anyone that the Tamils chose a 'soft target' like a highway on Mothers Day. They certainly wouldn't choose to block a Rock concert or Football game, knowing that a large percentage of attendees would just as soon choose to respond with their fists than stand idly by and wait for the protesters to disperse.

By the same token, that average Canadian, who over the past 30 years has abdicated all of his responsibilities in health care, child care, elder care, crime control, education, free speech etc. to the state, sat in their cars and allowed this to happen. If the protesters, whose group has been labeled a 'terrorist organization' by the Canadian Government, knew that 50% of the cars they blocked on the Gardiner Expressway contained people who would get out of their cars and fight back, they'd no doubt choose a diffent venue.

Yes, it's terrible what's happening in Sri Lanka. But this isn't Canada's fight. This war is too big, it's too far away, and although it's an increasingly small world, Canadian's aren't the world's janitors. Canada continues to lobby for peace, not just there but in dozens of countries around the world.

This country has offered to do everything for citizens who should be doing those things for themselves, and now have a passive populous who'll stand by waiting for the police to use watercannons and pepper-spray, then stand by again while the liberal social engineers wail that the Police reponse was excessive. This 'dose of reality' won't by enough to wake anyone in Ontario up, but maybe the next protest will.

Canadians need to draw the line when it comes to the actions of protest groups. I dream of the day the local Muslim Radicals with their Hezbolla flags block traffic at the Calgary Stampede on the last day of the World Finals Rodeo, rather than the 'soft target' of Glenmore Landing shopping center on a Saturday afternoon. A dose of 'Cowboy Justice' would deliver a message they'd remember for a long time.