The story is being spun badly

Watching the news tonight and both CBC and CTV are talking about “Anger in the West” with lots of video of conservative talk show hosts in Calgary and folks in diners in Lethbridge mad as hell and not willing to take it any more.

So let me just say something, as a Westerner.   The West is not a seething homogenous conservative backwater.   It is not united on this issue and it not any more angry than it usually is.   Callers to Dave Rutherford’s show in Calgary are always angry, because Dave Rutherford is always angry.   People in diners are always cranky when you stick a camera in their face and interview them while their eggs get cold.   The only time diner interviews are good news is when a local team has won a championship.

And with healthy Alberta First folks willing to shoot off their mouths at the drop of a hat, it’s fun to provoke the hypocrisy of Western seperatists who complain about Quebec seperatists, and are themselves quick to talk about taking their oil and leaving Canada in pieces.

So whatever.   Are we served well by this kind of bluster and outrage?   Not really.

Bottom line, is that there is anger everywhere if you look for it, but there is very little benefit gained in the midst of a Constitutional crisis by declaring the entire country west of Kenora “angry” and characteriszing us all as a bunch of reactionary rednecks.   So lay off the stereotypes and let’s focus on the people on all sides that are trying to put a government together.