Friday, August 05, 2005

On high opinions of one's self

There's little doubt that politics are playing a role in Marc Emery's arrest.

But can we also all agree that this is going a bit too far?
"If I thought my death or my lifetime imprisonment even at great suffering would bring about the liberation of hundreds, thousands and millions of people around the world who are oppressed, I am looking forward to that," Marc Emery said in an interview...

He said the people he admires most - Gandhi, father of India's independence, anti-apartheid leader Mandela and King, the revered U.S. civil rights leader - spent time in prison for their beliefs.

Frank Roncarelli, I'll grant as an analogue. But there's a difference between fighting for equal rights for a group discriminated against from birth for no reason, as Gandhi, Mandela and King all did, and fighting for all people to be able to do something of their choice, as is the case for both Roncarelli and Emery.

Which isn't to say that Emery's cause lacks justice...just that he might be able to win support from a greater proportion of Canadians if (like Gandhi, Mandela and King) his humility matched his devotion to his cause.

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