However bad our leaders are in this country, my colleague Darren Atwater cannot truly laugh as he is Canadian. And the Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau is a truly pathetic figure. His attempts to dance Indian style made Theresa May’s dancing Queen seem kind of cool. Perhaps more importantly he has helped to train wreck the economy, is mired in corruption scandals and is the crown prince of “high woke”. Seriously, Titantia McGrath could not compete with a chap who wore Happy Eid socks to the LGBT parade. Oddly, and for reasons I cannot quite put my finger on, Justin did not wear LGBT socks to the Eid celebrations. There are allegations of sexual harassment against Justin but none of this matters to the liberal media because he is just so incredibly woke. Justin can get away with anything.
Then last week photos emerged showing Justin wearing brown make up to an Arabian nights themed party 20 years ago. Not black face but brown face. Back in the day such behaviour was not deemed racist, having been a main stay of the theatrical world since about 1850, but in today’s Orwellian world we are all expected to have known that what lots of folks were doing in the distant past would not be acceptable in 2019 and so not do it. As such Trudeau did interview after interview saying it was a one off, an aberration, and he was sorry for the hurt it caused ( at the party that would have been none at all) and he apologised profusely, begging those to whom he had caused pain and offence (that, respectively, would be no-one and the sort of woke poltroons who normally worship him) to forgive him.
But then a photo emerged of a second black face incident. Cue Trudeau doing more interviews saying this was a one off, an aberration, and he was sorry for the hurt it caused ( at the party that would have been none at all) and he apologised profusely, begging those to whom he had caused pain and offence (that, respectively, would be no-one and the sort of woke poltroons who normally worship him) to forgive him.
By the time a photo of a third incident emerged Trudeau was forced to change his line. Since he had not remembered any of the three incidents because, I assume he went to lots of parties as a young man and blacking up did not raise an eyebrow then, there might have been more. It is possible that Trudeau has in fact blacked up almost as many times as Al Jolson. But it was a long time ago and he was sorry for the hurt it caused ( at the party that would have been none at all) and he apologised profusely, begging those to whom he had caused pain and offence (that, respectively, would be no-one and the sort of woke poltroons who normally worship him) to forgive him.
So how does the world react? Many of us take the view that demanding the head of a man for doing what was deemed acceptable and widespread twenty years ago, but which is not deemed acceptable now is a tad harsh. Much though we may, rightly, despise, him for so many things, Trudeau is clearly no racist and so whilst we may delight in him having to grovel to his own cheerleaders on the liberal left, that is about it.
For those on the liberal left it is a bit tougher. Were this not Trudeau but someone on the right who had not racked up zillions of woke points then this would be clear cut, the man (or woman) would be for the high jump. Imagine, if you can, a photo emerging of Boris Johnson or Brett Kavanaugh at such a party many years ago – how quickly would David Lammy or Al Sharpton, the British and American witch-hunter generals of the racism industry, be touring the studios baying for blood? How quickly would twitter be on fire with similar calls?
On the basis that it one assumes that anyone who does not read the Guardian or whatever the Canadian equivalent is, MUST be a racist, sexist, homophobe, etc etc etc the blackface just proves that point. But when it is one of your own it is a different kettle of fish.
Some on the left have been, to their credit, consistent in their zealous silliness and demanded that Trudeau quit. But most have gone along with the line of my hero Peter Tatchell that Trudeau’s crimes are appalling but that he has spent a life wallowing in political correctness so he gets a pass on this one. Put another way: if you are on the left you cannot be a bigot of any sort even if you are in the Al Jolson league of blacking up, if you are on the right you almost certainly are a bigot whatever you do and say. Whatever… this is 2019.