Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, July 02, 2012

'Denounce Harper' Twitter-trending hot on Canada Day

OTTAWA — Canadians took to Twitter Sunday to praise the true north strong and free — but while some were tweeting the reasons they love this country, others were voicing their disdain for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

#DenounceHarper began trending on Twitter early in the day, and was second only to #HappyCanadaDay across the country.

Twitter users criticized Harper — who spent Canada Day on Parliament Hill with 10,000 Canadians marking the 145th anniversary of Confederation — for everything from the personal to the political.

He came under Twitter-fire for what users called "his persistent attacks on science, democracy and the environment" and over the so-called "robocalls" scandal regarding fraudulent voter-misdirection calls in the last election. One called him a wet blanket while others accused him of destroying Canada's reputation abroad.

The prime minister's supporters also came out to tweet, calling the trending-topic "divisive." @pjtaillon tweeted "very sad to see some hijack a unifying #CanadaDay for their own divisive selfish purposes, such as wearing green or #DenounceHarper."

For his part, the prime minister took the opportunity on Parliament Hill to salute the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee, our Olympic athletes, and Canadian soldiers.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Teresa Smith

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