The word “appeasement” has been used scores of times in editorials and columns that have graced these pages, but not once was it used to politically imply an underlying Nazism.
In the Twitterverse, however, all it seems to take to bring the ugliness of Nazism into play is to put a hashtag in front of the word “appeasement” and suddenly it’s hats off to Hitler.
Across this country, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories are gearing up for October-November elections, and words will no doubt become more heated as political foes get down and dirty.
But it can’t get much dirtier than it has in Ontario where a Liberal opponent accused the Tory incumbent of “equating aboriginal people with Nazi Germany” — all because he put #appeasement in a tweet.
Every province with a substantial First Nation population is not without its conflicts, but few got more national press than the standoff in Caledonia where the Mohawk literally hijacked a community and drove landowners out.
And there is little question the Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty, along with the OPP, let it happen.
Why? To “appease” the natives, that’s why, so their violence wouldn’t escalate and spread.
It’s inarguable.
So when Toby Barrett, the Caledonia-area riding’s Tory MPP since 1995, used the Twitter hashtag #appeasement, referenced the 1990s Oka crisis, and then linked the Caledonia cockup to the riots in England ... well, suddenly it was Springtime for Hitler, minus Mel Brooks.
Because the de facto voice of liberals, the Toronto Star — thankfully a rare commodity in the West — made sure it got a Nazi quote from Barrett’s Liberal opponent Greg Crone.
“It’s disrespectful to the situation in London and inflammatory to equate aboriginal people with Nazi Germany,” Crone told The Red Star, even though Barrett never once mentioned Nazi — with a hashtag or without.
For the millions of Canadians with family members who died and suffered at the hands of actual Nazis, the notion of a Liberal candidate using the Nazi slur in an attempt to score political points is beyond offensive.
But Crone is a former staffer to Dalton McGuinty.
What’s that say?