Behind a black backdrop, an image of Osama Bin Laden appears and a threatening quote about killing Americans fades in then out. As another quote pops up, all that can be heard is a ticking of a bomb coming to a crescendo, and violent clips of terrorism training scroll in the background. Suddenly a pulsating heartbeat invades the soundtrack and the words "What is yet to come will be even greater. These are the stakes. Vote." appear behind a fiery background.
Such sensationalism is characteristic of the latest surge of 9/11 conspiracy theory films, but such rash and thoughtless displays were the subject of the latest GOP campaign ad for the upcoming election. The ad, which bears a striking resemblance to totalitarian propaganda, grossly abuses America's fear of terrorism and can only be seen as an unethical attempt to scare voters into casting their ballot for republicans.
The same offensive approach was taken by President Johnson's 1960s campaign in which his television ad shows an innocent girl counting petals on a daisy, followed by a nuclear explosion. The fear of nuclear fallout in the 1960s is equivalent of our present-day fear of terrorism, and both of these messages unjustly try to capitalize on this horror. More startling is the fact that both ads sported the same motto of "These are the stakes, vote" before your way of life is shattered.
The worst aspect of this advertisement is the all-encompassing party effort. This is not just a radical act of an overzealous governor, or a hothead going for shock value - it is a national statement from the GOP. It would not be a November election without slanderous remarks and a few anti-opponent ads, but to use fear as a party launching point is not only an exasperating act of desperation, it is a mistake which is offensive to democratic candidates and insulting to the American people.
It is simply ridiculous that such an ad would ever be produced, and the fear-mongering strategy of abusing terror only for political gain crosses into a realm of grotesque lunacy.
Canada: The new Australia
Local sex offender will be exiled rather than punished
Malcolm Watson, an area teacher, has accepted a sentence that will exile him to Canada in order to avoid jail time for having sex with a 15-year-old student in April. It's a sentence that has raised more than a few eyebrows in the judicial community, but despite that a deal has been struck - a ruling wrongly advantageous to a confessed sex offender.
The most glaring discrepancy in this ruling is the disregard of what exile truly means in a present-day context; in essence it means almost nothing. The punishment of exile was once a sentence that stripped an offender of their life. It was a sentence that isolated an individual from their home, family and all that they cared about, but for this present-day exile, this is just simply not the case.
Watson is indeed a U.S. Citizen, but he lives in Fort Erie, Ontario. He has a wife, three children and a sales job waiting for him across the border, so how can this truly be seen as a punishment? All that he is leaving behind by going to Canada is a career that his lewd actions have destroyed, and a Level One sex offender alert that will tag him in the states for at least 20 years of his life.
The man has confessed to a misdemeanor of grave consequences, but he is now walking virtually scot-free to his home in Canada. The fact is the government cannot substitute punishment with exile, and it's appalling for both governments that Canada has been dubbed a bona fide modern penal colony.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
