February 2004
by Barry Stagg
The cultured Canadian response to military deaths such as that of Corporal Jamie Murphy in Afghanistan seems to be one of understandable regret coupled with an unfortunate spasm of contempt for the militarism that requires us to fight for important matters. It is one thing to prefer neutral pacifism. It is quite another to deplore the very idea of fighting for anything.
The virtual voyeurism of the CBC, parking a reporter and camera in the Conception Harbour, Newfoundland living room of the grieving and shattered Murphy family, was excruciatingly painful while, at the same time, vulgar in its pitiless scrutiny. Coupled with the fussy sense of accusatory pacifism adopted by the CBC newscasters, this intrusion on the family’s bereavement gave new and grim meaning to the term objectification.
How have we turned out? The generation of children born to the folks who fought World War II seems to take an official stance of paralytic inaction married ignominiously but piously to contempt for military action of any sort. It is less than far-fetched to conceive of official Canada entering a state of profound mourning every time a soldier dies in the line of fire. This delicate state of affairs seems borne out by Prime Minister Martin’s incoherent response to the death of Corporal Murphy. The Prime Minister seemed to wish to attribute responsibility to foreign sources for placing the soldier in harm’s way but stopped just short of a pacifistic paroxysm.
What then to make of our curious stance toward military service and those who make the ultimate sacrifice? When the oglers of grief at CBC were able to get their predictable cry of anguish from the fallen soldier’s family, they withdrew, content then to play the sought after soundbite denouncing the powers-that-be for sending this Newfoundlander to his death on foreign soil.
The new Prime Minister seems ill-equipped to lead on the subject of loyal and stoic service to our country. His rambling reaction to the death of Corporal Murphy was played in its entirety by CBC, providing a counterpoint to the broadcaster’s focused probing of the matter. Unfortunately, CBC seemed to be on one of its predictable searches for cosmic blame and needed the incoherency of Martin’s response to illustrate how official Canada remains saturated with the politics of bystander righteousness. The Prime Minister’s words should be contrasted to his much more conventional tribute to Corporal Murphy later in the week for the words shine a light on a very real problem for Canadians. Our leaders are squeamish about our military and the tragedies that inevitably flow from service.
Our chattering classes and our scolding cohort of peacemongers continue to mumble their mantra of peace at any cost, no matter the very real erosion to dignity and honour that entails. Contrast this high-browed attitude of equivocation and ambiguity, in the oleaginous tradition of Mackenzie King, but take care to compare it to the honest dignity and strength of Candace McCauley, Corporal Murphy’s fiance. As the Globe and Mail reported on January 30: “Ms. McCauley did not speak to reporters and issued a statement saying she would not do so in the future.” Instead, this grieving young woman displayed the solemn honesty that so eludes many Canadian public figures as she issued a written statement containing these fine words: “Jamie was a proud Canadian soldier who was honoured to wear his uniform,”
The Globe, in keeping with its commitment to high ground unction, had Jeffrey Simpson’s January 31 column to contrast to Ms McCauley’s clear words. Simpson seems more of an official Canadian spokesman these days, not unlike that of a Pravda correspondent from the Brezhnev era. The party line flows clearly in these comments on the Afghan service of Canadian soldiers: “Corporal Jamie Brendan Murphy died in that "bad country" this week, killed by a Taliban suicide bomber…. But Corp. Murphy's death might later be shown to be in vain if, as now seems possible, Afghanistan descends into a narco-state”…. “But the Bush administration had Iraq in its sights, cooked up reasons for invading that country, and is now spending vastly more money there than where terrorism really did take root, and is taking root again: Afghanistan.”
Simpson speaks professionally for, and to, the official classes of federal Canada and Paul Martin is the essence of official Canada. This week they said the same tired, distressing things: The Americans made us put Corporal Murphy in harm’s way.
What a way to run a country and what a way to lead Canada in its contribution to combating the amoral barbarism exemplified by the September 11, 2001 mass murders on American soil. Thank goodness this country has many more citizens with the honest and virtuous fibre shown by one fallen soldier and his brave fiance. These are our true role models, not these fussy equivocators swanning around Ottawa.
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