[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[crazy canuck]

If she wants to critique climate change sceptics, good.  But why of why does she want to insult anyone who believe that God created life?

Because disputing evolution is idiotic. Trying to parlay the defence of that idiotic position to political capital is not a good move, imo.

Scheer and his crew - and that includes you - looking for office to start a fight to defend fundamentalist anti-science is not a good look.

The word "evolution" does not appear in Julie Payette's speech.  What she said was:

And we are still debating and still questioning whether life was a divine intervention

Oh good.  Now to make your argument you parse the context down even more and completely remove the references to evolution.

[crazy canuck]

I was also thinking about Scheer's claim that the GG offended all religions.  But I think he is taking a particularly Protestant Evangelical view that has developed here in North America.

Catholics have accepted the science of evolution for decades now.   Doing some quick google research, in 1996 Pope John Paul II sanctioned the acceptance of evolution and drew the distinction between evolution and spiritual questions like the nature of the soul and its relationship to God which are beyond the realm of science.

That seems a very reasonable distinction to draw.  One is the realm of science and the scientific method.  The other is the realm of faith and is not testable by the scientific method.

[dps]

If she wants to critique climate change sceptics, good.  But why of why does she want to insult anyone who believe that God created life?

Because disputing evolution is idiotic. Trying to parlay the defence of that idiotic position to political capital is not a good move, imo.

Scheer and his crew - and that includes you - looking for office to start a fight to defend fundamentalist anti-science is not a good look.

Go back and re-read what Camerus stated in post #10658 in this thread. 

Personally, I'd read her statement as referring to the origin of life, not its subsequent evolution.  I agree that it could be given a different interpretation, but frankly I can't see how you can be so certain that your interpretation was what was intended.

Yes, Camerus said that her statement could be interpreted in two ways.  I then gave the context in which the speech was made which makes her meaning clear. But BB says we should ignore that context.  Really, that is the only way this becomes an issue.

I have to disagree.  But then, I'm not Canadian, so maybe I'm missing something, and in any event as a US citizen what your Governor General says isn't really any of my business.

[Grey Fox]

You may read that statement as referring specifically to evolution, but it is far from clear that that was what she meant. It could just as easily be talking about the origin of life - and in fact the phrase "life was a divine intervention", while making no reference to evolution, supports that interpretation.

So if she was speaking solely of evolution, it was not clearly worded.

I think the important thing to remember is that she was speaking to a room of scientists and academics. She was praising their work and the importance of science

In the course of that speech she had a section criticizing those who reject the findings of science. Those include climate change deniers people who believe in astrology and people who believe in creationism rather than evolution. In that context her meaning is clear.

You can't play "context" as a political figure.  If Andrew Scheer made some pro-life comments when speaking to a pro-life group you wouldn't be explaining it away as "context" - you're a national figure who should expect your words to get national publicity.

The tone of her comments were that she mocked those that believe that God created life.  I can't believe you guys don't see why that is objectionable.  It's not the end of the world - if she would have said "my comments were poorly worded and I understand many have different beliefs" it would be over in a moment.  But no - the Liberals doubled down on the GG's speech.

Why do you think its objectionable?

[Grey Fox]

Montreal just elected it's first women mayor, 45th mayor in history.

My suburb reelected it's dumbass mayor.

[Oexmelin]

Qui? (Pas Valérie Plante, mais ton maire de ville/arrondissement)

[Grey Fox]

Marc "Je construis un Arena de 10 000 places sans stationnement" Demers, maire de Laval.

[Oexmelin]

Lol. Laval.

[Grey Fox]

I miss Vaillancourt (previous mayor for ~25 years, mafiosi).

[crazy canuck]

I wish I could speak French - the only one in the CC household who can't 

[HVC]

You'd think the mafia mayor would be the one building useless arenas.

[Josephus]

I wish I could speak French - the only one in the CC household who can't 

I can't either and it is embarassing I can't speak the nation's second language. I put it down to our education system, they should really make it compulsory all the way to Grade 12

[Grey Fox]

Eh, we suck at teaching english too.

The Anglo schools boards in Quebec do a really good job of teaching French but it is politically unworkable to emulate them on the Franco side.

[Oexmelin]

No, they don't. They *still* produce a lot of unilingual anglos too.

[HVC]

I wish I could speak French - the only one in the CC household who can’t 

I can't either and it is embarassing I can't speak the nation's second language. I put it down to our education system, they should really make it compulsory all the way to Grade 12

Grade 10 is the last year, right? or it was when I was in school. Even if they did 12 a couple of hours a week isn't going to stick for most once you're out of school