Harper Redefining Canadian Political Culture

The militarization of Canadian culture reflects the spread of “deep integration” — the Bay Street initiative whose aim is to see Canada effectively assimilated into its behemoth neighbour. Harper and others on the right know that in order for Canada to adopt policies similar to those of the United States, we have to make the cultural changes that will provide the ideological base for those policies. When we first sent some 2,000 troops to Afghanistan, it was a major assignment — not strictly peace-keeping, but not war-fighting either — and yet it rarely made the news. But ever since we took on the war-fighting role in Southern Afghanistan, our mission has become a major part of our daily cultural consumption. And our approach in the country apes the Americans' — witness our government's cavalier attitude toward the routine torture of Taliban prisoners seized by Canada and turned over to the Afghan government. Which brings us to a crucial point — this deliberate attempt to shift our cultural landscape could not be happening without the complicity of the media, who have become willing partners in this remaking of Canada. http://www.rabble.ca:80/politics.shtml?x=58447

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