Letter: Jake Stewart "seig heil" support disappointing

Do it in public if it's no big deal

A letter to any surviving editor out there,

I have grown tired of Canada’s wearisome habit of pointing to issues south of the border and pretending they are not a problem here at home. The chorus of “at least we’re not THAT bad” when referring to anything in the US is a most dangerous form of political discourse. It is as nuanced and obnoxious as the “EXPLETIVE Trudeau” flags, but with far more serious repercussions for our freedoms and our nation. It ignores the elephant in the corner—the fact that fascism is once again on the rise in our society. The need of some people to suppress others, to make spaces less safe for folks to live, and to make bold (and largely false) claims to stir up fear and deflect from the real issues in our world is more common now than it has been at any time in my life.

My fellow Miramichiers need look no further than their elected federal official, Jake Stewart, for a problematic issue. Stewart has recently taken to social media to defend the billionaire, now oligarch, Elon Musk, and his “seig heiling my heart to you” gesture made during the Trump inauguration. On the very week that the world observed the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust memorial, and possibly in the comments section of a post commemorating that very event, Stewart decided it was an appropriate time to state that “everyone knew” Musk was merely expressing his thanks for the support of the electorate (support he bought to the tune of 250 million dollars, but that’s a rant for another day).

To be clear, this is the same Elon Musk who was born in South Africa at the height of Apartheid, a system whose main objective was to maintain white supremacy in the nation by segregating and oppressing its indigenous population. To the cries of “not all white South Africans were racist,” I’ll say "sure" (and argue that this does not forgive their complicity). But let’s not pretend Musk doesn’t have a past littered with racist, sexist, and exploitative behavior. From his comfort with using racial epithets to a laundry list of sexist behavior to his stated pride in creating sweatshop-like conditions in his workplaces, Musk has proven time and again to be comfortable in spaces that Canadians once pretended to find repugnant. Add to that this week’s dystopian, Big Brother-style speech delivered to a German far-right political gathering where he encouraged the nation to forget about the Holocaust, and I think it becomes fairly clear to those with eyes and a heart that his gesture on January 20th was indeed intentional and directed.

If Jake truly feels that Musk’s action was simply a gesture of appreciation, I encourage him and all those who feel the same way to adopt it in public. The next time he’s having tea with the Catholic Women’s League, he should make sure to beat his breast and throw out his heart to those ladies. When addressing a gathering of children at a playground or science fair, he should slap out a little “you mean so much to me, young ones” with his snappy new salute. When he’s about to deliver grace at a Legion supper, he should stand proudly behind the podium, square his shoulders, look to the ceiling, and thank our retired soldiers for their sacrifice with a harmless, straight-armed “All heil [sic] your service.”

Jake’s the sort of fellow that shouts you down in an argument and reckons that means he’s bested you. He deletes any and all negative comments from his social media and even goes so far as to challenge every “1 star” Google rating that gets made for him as an elected official. In the words of a friend, “his textbook anti-democratic behavior proves that the only people that get a voice are those that agree with him.” Indeed, he is a bastion of a balanced and effective public service, except by balanced and effective I mean “dangerous to our democratic institutions.”

So, the defense of a festering plutocrat like Musk is the very behavior I’ve come to expect from the honorable member for Miramichi-Grand Lake, but the deafening silence with which it was met by my fellow Miramichiers is shocking. And the voices raised defending him are absolutely heart-rending. How can a people who pride themselves on their kindness, strong sense of right, and humanity not stand in opposition to a man like Jake Stewart? I do thank him, though, for answering the age-old question, “how did the Germans let the Nazis rise to power?” Jake and his supporters show us every day by their example.

Frankie McKibbon,
Red Bank, NB to Sydney, NS and many points in between.

**********

Images from social media about the issue, added by Editor