British Columbia Green Party candidate John Shavluk was pulled from the running late last week after a blog post surfaced in which he had written anti-Semitic jargon. The 2006 post, which appears to be a directionless rant about the Iraq War, drug laws, and 9/11 conspiracy theories, alluded to U.S. government involvement in “the attack on [their] shoddily built Jewish world bank headquarters.” In case there is any confusion as to which towers Mr. Shavluk was referring to, the entry elaborates: “you know ‘the two towers’ (who has the ring I wonder) better invade there too eh, oh no oil?…”
This incident has prompted something of a backlash in the blogosphere, particularly among Mr. Shavluk’s associates, who insist the remark was taken out of context. Of course, Shavluk is the first to insist that he’s no anti-Semite, claiming that his remarks were meant to echo statements made by a documentary film and that people reading his blog entry would have understood the reference. If this is true, then is John Shavluk simply another victim of our reactionary, overly-P.C. media machine? Did he deserve to lose his candidacy over a single instance of loose lips—or, in this case, idle typing hands?
The answer to both questions is yes.
John Shavluk made an irresponsible remark—actually, an irresponsible series of them. Referring to the fallen twin towers as the headquarters of Jewish bankers not only plays upon outdated racial stereotypes, but it encompasses a whole series of claims made in bad taste. Addressing outlandish arguments made by a documentary film is one thing; addressing outlandish arguments with rhetoric so poor that no casual reader could decipher the film’s ranting from Shavluk’s own—well, that’s just sad.
Our society has grown intolerant of intolerance—arguably, to the point of hypersensitivity—but that’s the way things are and we’re better off because of it. Yet I don’t think anti-Semitism is really the whole cause of Shavluk’s predicament. The real issue is that John Shavluk is an ass.
It’s hard to read the infamous post, which was originally published at enMasse.ca, without feeling embarrassment. After all, what respectable political hopeful would devote the time and energy to creating a blog post without even bothering to run a simple spelling and grammar check? Candidates should know better than put out such incomprehensible drivel for public consumption. Shavluk’s true intentions in writing that post determine whether or not he has integrity as a human being. But, as we all know, integrity is never really the bottom line in politics. The bottom line is presentation, and no presentable politician would ever write anything like that.
It’s not just the stupid things you say, it’s the stupid way you say it,
