Friday, January 21, 2011

The Problem With Only Looking Back Is That It Ill-Prepares You For What Lies Ahead

Canada has come a long way since the days when the St. Louis, a ship loaded with European Jews trying to escape the fate Hitler had in store for them, was turned away from our shores. (Many decades later, the event has been commemorated with great fanfare and a fancy Daniel Libeskind-designed "Wheel of Conscience.")

Today, of course, we're so multi-flipping-cultural that we rarely turn anyone away, and "Muhammad" and "Fatima" are now the most popular names for new babies in Brampton and Scarborough.

Not that that's likely to be, as they say, good for the Jews. But, hey, that's a real shiny wheel they put up in Halifax, isn't it? And if you focus on it and on the past--and if you've bought into the false promises of the Trudeaupian social doctrine yourself--maybe you won't worry too much about the impact all those little Muhammads and Fatimas are likely to have on Jews in Canada today and in the future.

Update: A preview of coming attractions?

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