The Fleecing of the Sheep

Good greetings to you, the reader of the virtual kind. I hope this missive finds you well. If by some chance you are unwell, then I hope you can find solace in any way, shape or form. May I suggest cannabis in the same fashion.

A couple of months back I started writing a piece entitled, That Company You Keep and for whatever reason, it never came to post. I wrote something under that title but it wasn't, at all, what I wanted or was trying to say so it didn't make the grade. I mention this only because that's just the way shit pans out sometimes and that this piece is probably, in some way, a medium, distant relation. But seeing as how this piece isn't finished yet I reserve the write to change my mind.

If you are Canadian or a hockey fan or both, there is probably no way you haven't heard about the Don Cherry debacle. But, I want to put your mind at ease, this piece isn't all about sour Grapes but it did form from his mashing. Horrible, I know.

There is a great discussion, for lack of better wording, about the comments by the old dinosaur and whether he should have been fired for the things he said. I don't particularly have a dog in this fight other than I didn't agree with the things he said. Do I think he should have been fired? I don't know and I don't care. That decision didn't fall to me but the corporation that he worked for did make that decision and Cherry made the decision to say what he said. So, Bob is indeed your uncle. In the grand scheme of things, we could cut Cherry some slack and say, well he's old and loud and abrasive in his delivery. That statement is true but doesn't let him off the proverbial hook. Simply because he's said some questionable shit over his long run with Hockey Night in Canada and it's not all been about hockey.

So the downside with being eighty-five is that you may not remember the racist, off-colour shit that you've said. Now, the downside to being eighty-five and being on one of Canada's televised institutions, weekly, for the last four hundred years? Is that there are video and audio records of the off-colour, racist, nasty shit you have said. Then it becomes impossible to say, I'm not a racist or I believe that European hockey players are good for the NHL.

Also, you are eighty- five.

Pay attention here Virtual Readers because this is where this stops being about Don Cherry.

What we do, is not who we are. Read it again. I'll wait.

The idea that because a person has a certain profession or holds a certain position and that said profession or position automatically makes them a good human is ludicrous. But this is what we have been led to believe. This is a great lie. This is the fleecing of the sheeple. This belief has been fed to us, first, through radio then television and now the greatest muddling mind-fuck ever, the internet.

I mean, Jesus Christ, the pope has a twitter account. I think. I don't really know if he does and I don't care enough to find out but you get my point, right?

And yet no matter how many times this has been shown to us, no matter how many times the sheep's clothing has been ripped away and the wolf has been uncovered, we always react the same. No, it couldn't be, because he is my favourite actor or musician or politician. Okay, that last one was for laughs.

The facts have been shown to us, repeatedly, that wolves put themselves in positions where they can hunt as sheep. I'm not a religious person but I'm damned sure Jesus didn't preach for the buggering of children. By the disciples of his padre. Who, by the way, doesn't and never did live in the sky.

Was anyone really surprised that Johnny Depp was shown to be an abusive asshole? I wasn't. And why should we be surprised? Because he was in Alice in Wonderland? Twelve times.

Or how about the whole disaster going on down south? Trump? Epstein?

And all the rest of them. They should be the best people, right? Because they are rich and well to do. And they hold such prestigious positions.

Kanye West.

What about the pro athletes? Surely they couldn't be people with despicable flaws and traits? Could they? Well? There was that fella in the NFL that went to prison for running a dogfighting underground. That's fairly despicable. Oh, then there was that coach in minor hockey that was in full agreement with the catholic priest ASSociation. And he carried on for years leaving a trail of victims in his wake. If I cared to, I could go on for quite some time. Luckily I care very little to do that.

Harvey Weinstein. Louis CK. Ted Bundy. Richard Nixon. Stephen Harper. Donald Trump and the whole Trump family. OJ Simpson Adolf Hitler Genghis Kahn

It should be noted that my list is far from fair, in regards to their behaviour and that it is in no particular order. It should also be noted that they are all/were men in positions of power. Big surprise. The ladies have their examples too, but that is not my point nor in the direction of this shoddily written weblog.

My point is that as human beings we all have the propensity for being, shitty human beings. Or despicable human beings, or monstrous human beings and sometimes it is a choice. And sometimes it is trauma so great that it molds a human being into something that they never wanted to be. Sometimes the wiring was all wrong in the making process and what you end up with is a monster in sheep's clothes. Unfortunately, the why doesn't come into play.

It should also be noted that the ability to be a disastrous human being is found in all colours, shapes and sizes. Through all walks of life and in every corner of the world.

So, once again, in the grand scheme what Don Cherry said or has said, isn't really all that horrible and if it was said by Frank, at the water cooler, we'd all just agree Frank is an asshole. But that is the point. If you have a platform that can easily reach the masses of the modern world, then you have a responsibility, even greater than Frank, not to be or say despicable shit. And it is your ego that makes you believe you are untouchable.

The reality is if you are no longer relatable or your liability is greater than the money you make for whatever hamster wheel you spin, then you become expendable.

Times have changed and the landscape has reformed and continues to do so at an alarming rate. The Honeymooners was once a popular show, as was Archie Bunker. Black Face used to be a thing, although this is still a thing, now they call it acting. See Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger.

So we will say goodbye to Don Cherry and Coach's Corner but lest we forget that your favourite celebrity/personality, or whoever you respect greatly, is, at the end of every day, simply human. Whether they are deserving of your respect is up to you.

AW

“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” Margaret Atwood