I am writing in response to your editorial of April 19, "Canada's Quislings."
In it, parallels are drawn between those questioning the government and military about certain events occurring in Afghanistan and the great traitors of history, including Nazi collaborators.
The editorial implies (or rather, outright concludes) that all those who seek to criticize or question the methods of those in power should be viewed as traitors.
I can't believe I actually have to make such an elementary point to a respected newspaper, but isn't the ability to criticize and question those in power the exact point of democracy? And isn't that exactly what our military is meant to defend and uphold?
What if the B.C. Civil Liberties Union had been around during World War II, The Citizen asks. Well, what if it had. Better yet, what if it had been around on the German side, and actually had power. What if the German citizenry had the power to find out exactly what their government and military were doing, and then had the power and tenacity to question it, and maybe open some inquiries.
No, wait, that would make them turncoats and parasites, at least in The Citizen's eyes. Better that we blindly follow our leaders, then. Lord knows that never has negative consequences.
I'm not implying that Canada's governing parties are akin to Hitler's upper echelons, nor am I seeking to draw parallels between the Canadian military and the Nazis.
But I would ask the mysterious writer of Citizen editorials that the next time they decide to start shouting out "traitor" and "parasite" to anyone who seeks to take advantage of the freedoms afforded to us by this country (and defended by our military), that they take a moment and think about the sorts of people who have used these tactics in the past.
Andrew Kurjata
Prince George
