VOCAL MINORITIES, SILENT MAJORITIES

 

I watched a Documentary on television last evening regarding Adam Goodes, the Australian footballer with an aboriginal background. His treatment at one point in time by some white Australian fans was truly rotten. It consisted of booing him each and every time he touched the football (rugby) apparently expressing some racist dislike/hatred. Now eventually the majority of fans who had cheered him on throughout much of his career responded by stepping up and publicly supporting him. While that was good to see nevertheless Mr. Goodes finished that season and retired prematurely. He expressed that he no longer felt like appearing in public matches and giving racists an outlet to spew their hatred towards a successful footballer of aboriginal ancestry.

Likely at least some of the animosity over the decades towards Mike Ramsay may be due to his skin colour (non-white). At the same time if Mr. Ramsay's behaviour was more to the liking of the educational establishment that too would have made for smoother sailing for him. Mr. Ramsay challenges the status quo sometimes and in the wee minds of some there is nothing worse than an opinionated person of colour. Maybe it's particularly galling when his minority opinion has considerable merit. 

Speaking from personal experience in the fields of education, environment and labour I can assure readers that a white name, white skin and being a multi generational Canadian means nothing to  those in positions of power and authority. They are haters generally of everyone who does not support the status quo which is designed to maintain those who have long held the reins of power and authority in Canada. 

Sometimes as described above a vocal minority can be a bad thing. Sometimes however it is only the vocal minority who stand up for what is right and helpful such as environmental activists generally. Silent majorities are usually an unfortunate thing as both the rulers (politicians/wealthy) and the rest of us need to know what the public are thinking. Often the public are on the right track, sometimes less so. My opinion right now is that the majority of Canadians are not inherently racist but do have legitimate concerns with the size of annual immigration to Canada as it is apparent that Canadian leaders and politicians are lagging way behind in upgrading roads, hospitals, housing etc. Similarly I believe that the majority of Canadians are not inherently hostile towards the LGBQT2S etc. community but again have legitimate concerns that some politicians have jumped onto a bandwagon and for self-serving reasons are pushing an educational revolution too far, too fast and without open minds to listen to legitimate concerns of some parents.