Thursday, May 17, 2007

Stockwell Day Mangles A Few Metaphors

From his Penticton Western column, in which Stockwell waxes eloquent over the fate of criminal turned professor Tom Allen (NOT the guy from the Santa Clause movies):

Every person has a God-given spark deep inside which, if it receives the oxygen of hope and encouragement, will become the candle, and for some a flame, that will light their way through the sometimes dark moments of life.

Just as it doesn’t take much to fan that spark, it doesn’t take much to extinguish it.

For Tom, at 18, it seemed like the light of hope had gone out.

Wait a minute. First Hope was the Oxygen feeding the flame. Now its the flame itself... and its apparently almost gone out. So I'm confused, because that Stockwell seems to be saying that if the God given spark (which is, please note, a Flame, albeit a small Flame) receives Hope, which is a Flame, it may become a Flame. But that's a logical tautology because the spark is already a Flame, and by receiving more Flame, it is just becomes a bigger Flame. It does not change its essential character.

So what is Stockwell trying to convey here: that More Fire is Good? I wouldn't argue, but is this really a healthy sentiment to be emanating from Canada's Minister of Public Safety.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. You nailed him good. Hope you didn't stay up too late working on it.

And are you saying fire isn't a good thing? That more fire is a bad thing

Jeff said...

he must have been hopped up on purple jesus' when he scribbled that.

bigcitylib said...

Anon,

We all like FIRE. But is it appropriate for a gov. minister to go around announcing the fact?

Anonymous said...

Is Doris Day on something? Watch him in QP when he answers questions (well doesn't really answer) - he always looks like he's going to fall asleep standing up.

What's he on?

Anonymous said...

bcl, what you said was

'is More Fire is Good really a healthy sentiment to be emanating from Canada's Minister of Public Safety.'

What the hell is a healthy sentiment, and tell us why MFIG is not a healthy sentiment?

Ti-Guy said...

What's he on?

A lot of fundies are on anti-depressants; maybe Stocky should ask his doctor about getting one that isn't so sedating, or maybe he should start taking them before bed.

Seriously, the man's just so very, very dumb. It's either a testament to Harper's belief that Canada is a very safe nation to put Day in charge of Public Safety, or Harper is inviting karmic retribution.

Let's watch and see how it goes...