Would the real insensitive jackass please stand up?

In my last posing I made light of some of the “scandals” of this election. Though I believe real scandals should be taken seriously, the media have a way of making everything a big deal. We need to always remember that the media are not neutral parties in politics, or anything for that matter. They make their living selling papers, magazines and air-time. Can you remember the last time you saw the headline “Don’t worry, everything’s just fine”?

I do think there’s a serious side to all this scandal nonsense, however, and the core of the problem is found in the parties. Negative advertising has it’s place in a campaign; sometimes you need to tell people why they shouldn’t vote for the other guy. But it’s hard to resist just digging up anything, fair or unfair, relevant or irrelevant, that will make your opponent look bad. In the end, a lot of people get hurt, and eventually the impression‘s created that all parties and politicians are sleazy, dishonest, foolish and unreliable. I think this is a major cause of the low voter turnouts we’re seeing lately. Many of the people who stay away from the polls are not apathetic; they’re just voting “none of the above”.

A good example of the sort of thing I’m talking about is this story about Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz making jokes about the listeriosis crisis. Apparently, during a conference call with others who were working with him on this devastating problem, he said that the situation, for the government, was like "death by a thousand cold cuts." And, in another situation, when he was told of a listeriosis death in Prince Edward Island, he quipped, “O please tell me it’s Wayne Easter”, the Liberal agriculture critic from that province, who’s been making his life very difficult in recent weeks.

The important thing to note about these comments is their context. These were not things Ritz said publicly, or to people who had lost loved ones to listeriosis. They were quips made within the circle of those who were working long hours, presumably because they took the situation very seriously. The really interesting question isn’t, why would he say this sort of thing? but, why do we all say this sort of thing?

Just the other day a woman shared with me several joking comments made by the man who was fitting her with a prosthetic eye. She did not feel he was being uncaring or inappropriate. Quite the opposite. She felt he was negotiating a very sensitive matter in a spirit of joy and hope. But if these same comments were taken and shared with some of his other patients his reputation might be seriously damaged. Human communication is very complex, and context is everything.

Of course, when Ritz’ comments are taken out of context this way, he can do nothing but apologize and accept the blame for causing pain to those who have lost loved ones. But we should note that there is some unidentified person behind the scenes, who made these private comments public for some perceived political advantage. That person is the one who had something to gain by causing the pain. And they didn’t care how much suffering they caused. Someone out there owes us all an apology.