{"id":9594,"date":"2015-01-21T18:28:41","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T23:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9594"},"modified":"2015-02-04T16:34:16","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T21:34:16","slug":"politics-as-usual-fragile-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-fragile-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Fragile Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

The events of the past week have been truly devastating.
\nThe horrific attack in Paris has caused us to question not only the safety and sanctity of the fifth estate, but our own personal safety.
\nIt has forced us to re-examine what is important to us. We all say we value our rights, our democracy. But, I think we see those rights in the abstract. We take their presence as a given.
\nWe don\u2019t see the reality that there are those \u2013 a not unsubstantial number of people – who do not share our vision of the world and what it means to be a free and autonomous person.
\nWe don\u2019t see that there are
\na frightening amount of people who do not agree that a person \u2013 any person – has the right to say and to believe what they want.
\nI believe we all see that now, and it is a truly terrifying sight.
\nI write this column each week for the paper. I do so because I am interested in politics and its impacts on my community. On occasion, I have concerns that \u201csome\u201d may find what I have to say offensive and take me to task for it. But, I say it anyway because that is my right. I have a right to my opinion. I have a right to express that opinion. Regardless of what you think. Regardless of whether you are offended.
\nThere are, of course, some extraordinarily thin-skinned folks who see slights to their persons at every turn and are thus quick to turn to the courts to silence those that seek to expose; that poke the bear. That is their right too.
\nBut the threat of a lawsuit isn\u2019t the threat of death. Not to diminish the very real hardships suffered by those who have been sued for speaking their minds, but litigation, while frightening, expensive, life altering as it may be, is not death.
\nI have never been afraid for my life when giving my opinion; afraid I might get sued perhaps, but never afraid that my house will be fire-bombed.
\nI recognize now how lucky I am.
\nThink about that statement for a moment. I feel \u201clucky\u201d because I can express my opinion freely without fear of being physically attacked. Granted, I do not write about geo-political affairs. I do not write about religion. But leaving that aside for a moment, assume that I do write about religion and have a penchant for making provocative statements associated with same. In Canada, we are lucky that we can make such statements, but why should I, or anyone for that matter, feel lucky that I can?
\nWhy should I feel the need to comment at all on whether or not I have the right to form an opinion and express it publicly? Shouldn\u2019t that be a matter of course?
\nBut it isn\u2019t a matter of course.
\nIf we are honest \u2013 and by \u201cwe\u201d I mean those in the media \u2013 we all self-censor lest we offend. That is a good thing in many cases to a certain extent. It makes no sense to offend simply for the sole purpose of offending. Personally, I think some of the loud, obnoxious blowhards \u2013 the shock jocks and \u201cpugnacious pontificators\u201d – that seem to populate various media these days should just shut the heck up.
\nThey offer nothing but bile. But, that\u2019s just my opinion. It is their choice to say what they say and it is our choice to listen.
\nEvelyn Beatrice Hall said, \u201cI disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it\u201d. Indeed prescient. That is what it means to live in a free and democratic society.
\nIf I don\u2019t like what you have to say, I don\u2019t have to listen to you. I can argue with you. Loudly. Vigorously. Vehemently.
\nBut I don\u2019t have the right to shoot you just because I don\u2019t like what you have to say.
\nNous sommes Charlie.
\nUntil next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is \u2013 after all \u2013 Our Town.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas The events of the past week have been truly devastating. The horrific attack in Paris has caused us to question not only the safety and sanctity of the fifth estate, but our own personal safety. It has forced us to re-examine what is important to us. We all say we value our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2uK","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 18:09:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}