He’s No Pericles… But Neither Are Any Of the Rest of Them…

Over the past few days, the whole world watched as the Canadian Parliament gave a standing ovation to a known Nazi soldier. Or… at least they should have known that he was a Nazi. You know… and actual real-life Nazi. Not one of their political opponents that was labeled as a Nazi because they want to be insulting and yet seem suave and politically bourgeoisie. Nope…. an actual Nazi. And an actual standing ovation. Now, look, we could spend a lot of time detailing how insulting this was to those of us of the Jewish faith, or… we could spend a lot of time discussing the ridiculous way that the Parliament and the Prime Minister have reacted, or technically attempted to react by blaming literally everybody – including Hitler – except themselves for the fiasco. In the end though, the reason that we study history is to inculcate societal values and traditions that are useful to a culture. Ideas and lessons that help to prevent that society from making a giant ass of itself on worldwide television. The kind of lessons that we find so rarely in history, and somehow manage to forget or ignore them anyway. Which is why I can say without any hesitation or concern that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is certainly no Pericles. Then again, neither is anybody else who thinks that they are a “leader” in today’s world…