Andrew Coyne: Soft On (Conservative) Crime

Andrew lamenting Native lawlessness:

And while all of this is going on, native protesters are blocking railways, barricading roads, seizing provincial parks, and occupying towns, in most cases with absolute impunity, to back up land claims that can add up to 100% or more of a province’s territory.

Andrew lamenting Conrad Black's sentence:

But I had far rather live in a country with a Conrad Black than without him, and now that he has been found guilty -- pending appeal -- I confess I will be one of those hoping for a light sentence.

Typical Conservative. Kiss up, kick down.

And just a note on Mr. Black's "four dollar words" and "1000-page biographies", which Andrew seems so much to admire. Imagine being stuck behind Mr. Black at a McDonalds while he fishes around for a nine syllable term meaning cheesebugga. Imagine actually reading one of his books, rather than flipping through to the last chapter to see how it ends. (And imagine the "revision" of Mr. Black's literary reputation that will likely take place now that a bad review no longer attracts lawsuits!)

I'm afraid Mr. Black's English was the literary equivalent of a lumbering brontosaur, requiring ten minutes and a half mile to turn completely around. There is nothing to admire in it. The character of modern Canada, of indeed the modern world, is all Strunk and White; the cool, crisp lines of a Bunyan or a Swift. Mr. Black's prose was an attempt to reverse the clock to an era when ostentatious displays of linguistic bling could frighten those less rich with pointless verbiage into compliance. It was the stylistic reflection of his Ideology. That Mr. Black will be supping at Club Fed for the next decade or so is just one indication that the time for such language has long faded into the depths of history.

PS. And, no, Andrew, people do not regard the National Post with something "approaching affection". It is, on the contrary, universally and sincerely reviled. You can't even use it to wrap dead fish in. The dead fish complain too much.