Wildlife documentaries in the political world
The Fifith Estate, on CBC, is presenting a documentary about the dichotomy between what we see in wildlife documentaries and what actually takes place when the camera isn’t rolling. No big surprises here; the public wants to see what is shown, and we accept that animals are imperfect actors. Much like politicians.
Canada is facing a crisis in political terms that hasn’t been seen in years (according to the press). There have been rumblings out of Ottawa for the last couple of days, over how the “new government” has overstepped the rules of righteous order, and how the others in the House might just get their ducks in a row and wrestle power from the hands of the man from the right. As is their right; the whole idea of a ruling party in a parliamentary democracy is rather abstract, given that each member has been elected to represent, not a logo and a sporting team, but a district.
Now for the parallels with wildlife documentaries. Politicians don’t agree on anything that isn’t already decided, and it would appear that there is a whole “behind the scenes” machine, wherein leaders of opposing factions have conference calls that serve as a trampoline for things like power grabs. And there are people that listen in to those calls, and then report them with partisan colour commentary to the press. And then everybody takes offence and cries that virtuous behaviour is only found on their side of the bed.
We’re in for an interesting week, federally, as the dance of the bears begins. Will there be a wrestling match, or will one group of bears decide that hibernation is a better way to face the winter? At this point, keep tuned to your favourite political news channel, and remember that what we see isn’t always shown whole and without judicious edits.
