The Love That Kills: On The Couch With Raskalnikov
Not a lot of collaberative effort blogs work- certainly not as seemlessly as Dust My Broom, the Canadian blog that includes writers that hail from Canada's indigenous populations.
Raskalnikov, the subject of todays On the Couch interview is a very private person- and after reading one or two responses to our queries, it isn't hard to understand why. He is everything the aboriginal community loves and hates, at the same time. He is well read and a cogent thinker. He is also brutally honest and abhors the deceit necessary to maintain victimhood- or power bases, of any kind.
To be clear, he isn't the poster boy 'whitey' might hope for in their efforts to show 'progress' within the native community. His disdain for deceit, political and otherwise, extends deep into those who would use his community for selfish purposes. He calls it as he sees it and his colleagues are culled from those with like mindedness. It is interesting to note that in truth, Raskalnikov and co author Darcey (See our OTC here), are probably the least bigoted people you might find anywhere- no small achievement from people that have seen the underside of a bigots boot- literally and figuratively- up close and personal on more than one occasion.
It is easy, as many have done, to infer that they are 'self hating' aboriginals, but that is both untrue and a shallow charge that comes from people unable to deal with the truths and realities as presented. They are on a mission. Their community is being eaten from within by a cancer that has sapped them of their strength, dignity and self reliance. They see the need for surgery to rid the spreading cancer as being of far greater importance than the obssesion with the inevitable scar. They are addressing that cancer and don't care about the flowers well wishers send.
Raskalnikov's message is layered. On the one hand, he addresses his own community and the community at large, is clear. 'We know you love us. Stop loving us. Your love is killing us.' That same message is also addressed to Canadians of all stripes, as he speaks of the Liberal Party stranglehold on Canadian politics.
The message is powerful, clear and unforgettable.
At times, you seem almost obsessed with stupidity of the political arena. Why such strong reactions?
Mainly because I expect more. I am, by nature, a very cynical and skeptical person, however as I got older I realized, of course, most of that was just my own crap to deal with, and life, and people, really aren't that bad.....then I read something or hear something that just verifies my cynical outlook and I get enraged. Wow. People really are that stupid. Life really is meaningless and nasty, solitary, brutish and short. All that Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and Camus I read isn't just adolescent navel-gazing. People really are dogshit on the sole of the universe. And I guess nowhere is this more blatant than in politics and current events.
Is western Canadian separatism a real ideology? Could it ever come to pass?
Probably not, at least not as vehement as Quebec separatism. I truly believe that Ottawa would send in the Army to stop Alberta from leaving. Too much at stake, too much oil. There you go, it's all about the oil, right under our noses.
I can't see it happening. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are too dysfunctional. Manitoba has the energy resources to be it's own frickin' continent let alone country. But we have no one with the balls to properly harness it and use it as a bargaining tool. Between hydro and oil, Alberta and Manitoba could rule this country. Alberta sees that, but Manitoba is still clueless.
I guess a part of me expects this from "everyday" people, so when I see our 'leaders" doing it, it infuriates me because I expect better. At least ape the behavior of someone evolved. I always thought part of the political dance was pretending to be Plato sitting on a rock waxing deeply. I obviously couldn't be more wrong. I laugh sometimes because for someone so jaded and bitter, I can be surprisingly naive. Too many romantic, idealistic books in university. And to my surprise they still have a hold on me.
What is a bigger problem for the aboriginal communities- the federal government or local leadership? Why?
Both. It may have began centuries ago with the colonial crimes we all hear about, but today we Indians have taken over control of the yoke that's around our neck. The cult of victimhood, the incessant demand for monetary compensation from people who supposedly need nothing more than a return to a 'traditional', more humble way of life to regain our selves and our pride, the knee-jerk whines of racism when something doesn't go our way. How worse is that than residential schools and infected blankets? It's certainly less dignified. Being beaten by a stronger force is one thing, and can carry a certain nobility if you went down as a man and not a bitch; beating the shit out of yourself and then blaming everyone else for your woes is just
disgraceful.
Many people think I'm a bootlicker to whitey and that he can do no wrong. I know the historical record of my people and I get angry just as much as any Indian radical when I see injustice. Unfairness and bullying, that pisses me off more than any bad words or stereotypes. That is a true crime, being unfair to someone and not allowing them to be themselves, to even find themselves. I realize the government did that for a long time, however those days are over. Unfortunately, the bleeding heart governments in this country have made the same mistake every bleeding-heart government has ever done in history -- they overcompensated.
The white liberal guilt in this country has gone into overkill. It's like a dysfunctional family that buys new appliances when one son comes out of the closet, or the youngest daughter gets pregnant. Throw money at it, spend it away, ignore it under a pile of material compensation. Granted some if it does go to honorable ideas such as education, culture and health. These are vital aspects of life and the opportunities in them for us are now endless. The playing field may not be completely level, but it's much better than it was 50 years ago. Shit, 20 years ago. Any Indian not handcuffed by mental illness or addiction can be anything he or she wants to be. A doctor, a cop, whatever. It's sad most of them choose to keep on perpetuating the victimhood cult. In a society where we place such small value on thinking, is it any surprise the victimhood pimps use emotional fervor to brainwash future generations into whining and bitching? Mix this with the revolting, degenerate hip-hop destroying the minds of our youth and it sure beats having to take responsibility for yourself. And the welfare being handed to us by the Government only serves to put more value on the role of victim; not only does it appeal to baser human instincts, but you can get paid for it too.
As for our own Leadership, as much as I despise most Chiefs and Councils in this country, they are only human. How many of us could be handed endless streams of money, then find out all you need to do is cry racism when anyone asks what you did with it, and not be corrupted? This certainly doesn't pardon them, but I can sympathize with their fallibility. That being said, they are reprobate thieves and sawdust dictators for the most part. There should come a point when you recognize the errors you have made. We Indians are supposed to be so wise, especially our 'leaders". Yet we keep on making the same mistakes over and over, first and foremost keeping our lips tightly sealed on that big sweaty bleeding-heart progressive tit.
In the US, the perception is that Canadians are very antagonistic towards America and Americans. Is that an eastern Canada phenomena only?
God no. I see it everyday here in Winnipeg. I can't speak for Saskatchewan and Alberta, and I can only assume that B.C., being such a granola-belt, would be very anti-American. It may seem an 'Eastern phenomena' only because the media is so Torontocentric. But it certainly isn't very hard to find locally.
As I've tried to show repeatedly, The Winnipeg Free Press is a classic example of that. The Universities in this city are another case study. America is anathema to the The U of Winnipeg. Sure, there may be a few closeted right-wingers there, but for the most part it's basically a radical hothouse, almost a parody of those rad-left, prog schools you read about on FrontPage mag and other places devoted to sniffing out these turds. And it's not even about classroom discussion or syllabus material. It's embedded in the very administration of the school, as seen in Axworthy's frequent hissyfits against the US.
This is a man paid a few hundred thousand a year for a position that should ideally entail a nonpartisan approach to current events. Christ, as I said above, even to ape the illusion of fairness would be a treat. Yet he can go and write editorials that are pathologically bias and crude, and no one raises a fuss. It's just taken for granted that the President of an institution of "higher learning" is against the United States and is free to write uncontested op-eds that overstop every possible boundary of impartial, professional behavior. It's breathtaking. The Uof Manitoba is only a bit better. The non-radical student body certainly is higher, but the main instruments of communication and political power are all in the hands of the radicals -- the Manitoban, the radio station, the student council. Try going on UMFM and discussing the positive reasons for the Iraq war, or how feminism has become bankrupt. Let's see if you get a second show.
What was it about Carolyn Parrish that so incited so many Canadians?
For the anti-US crowd it was hateporn. It may have been 'tongue-in-cheek" and so on, but like any spectacle that features underlying aggression, there was a certain titillation factor that Parrish's fans lapped up. I'm sure the catharsis was amazing for polite Toronto ESL teachers or frustrated Vancouver poets. The big leather boot, the Amazonian Parrish stomping. There's actually a whole fetish community that revolves around crushing and foot fetishes and leather boots. I have absolutely no doubt many radicals of that bent got all hot and bothered by Parrish's stomp-play. I'm being sarcastic, but not completely.
As for the Parrish-haters, it was another example of the infantile behavior of our 'leaders". The progs and lefties that deify Parrish are the same ones that take others to task for being impolite or writing harsh comments in their blogs. Meanwhile they apparently have no problem with Parrish's language or behavior. They got called on it, plain and simple. And if there's anything a prog hates, it's being called on his or her hypocrisy.
Was that oft quoted poll about 40% of Canadian teenagers believing Americans to be 'evil', for real?
Who knows? I despise polls. I studied research techniques in university enough to know what a farce they are. If it is 'true', I guess that goes to show how influential the America-haters are. Teenagers will believe almost anything if you say it properly. If they believe this, the radicals are doing their job well.
What will it take to repair the relationship between Canada and the US
I think it's beyond repair. I think the chickens will definitely come home when the dirty bomb goes off in Toronto or Ottawa and we are left holding our dicks while the Keystone Cop armed forces dust of their canoes and potato guns. Canada right now is the smug teenager rebelling against his parents. Just wait. Wait until reality hits home and Junior finds himself in trouble. Guess who that one phone call will be to? And I have absolutely no doubt that when America comes to save us, we will be ungrateful, rude whiners. And as soon as we get back to 'normal" the absurd bitterness will rise again. Look at Germany and France. They'd be physical and social wastelands right now if it wasn't for the Americans. And for their troubles, the Americans get backtalk and sass from ungrateful little pricks who easily forget who put the roof over their head and the food in their stomach, maybe not literally, but certainly historically.
Realistically, what should Canada's role be on the world stage?
Polite doormat? Our moment in the sun as a world power to be reckoned with is long over. I'd like to believe that we could be that way again, but not even I am that naive. Canada deserves what it gets. And right now it's a doormat. That's what you get when a country is based on negative first principles, on being anything except like it's bigger brother to the South. That's one thing I love about people who say Canada needs to be it's own person and have it's own values etc. They love to rant about how unlike America we are, but can't forward any real concrete definition of who we are, not even component parts let alone a whole. They use either abstract ideas like 'tolerance', which they then contradict by being Anti-American or anti-Conservative, usually in the same breath, or else they fall back on sterile, impersonal Soviet-style, government-based identity -- we are 'Universal Health Care" and "Unemployment Insurance". Sorry, but my national identity, if I had one, wouldn't be based on various government services that have encroached on my life. Christ, only a country as insecure and soulless as this one could define themselves using government service departments as metaphors.
How did the Liberal Party come to have such a grip on power in Canada? What will change that?
Lies. Fear. Promises of Utopia. Just like any other dictatorship. Cover up their corruption and project it onto others, make you fear others as alien bodies in the organic world they created for you, and keep that organic world afloat with excessive promises and endless miles of swampland. The only difference between Liberal Canada and the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy or Cuba is that we have freedom of speech to complain about it, and money has actually been spent, albeit mostly without success, on those Utopian ideals, which has turned out to be almost as bad as not having spent the money at all.
Is Quebec a part of Canada, or is that illusory? Why?
Technically yes. Any other way, no. They have set up a distinct society that has little or nothing to do with the rest of the country. Saskatchewan might as well be Tanzania for the average Francophone. Nice place to visit for a week but I can't wait to get back to my own hemisphere. As much as I despise the hardcore Frogs for their disloyalty and hypocritical behavior on almost everything, I have to admire the ability to maintain their own little world. The terrorists and radicals, as well as immigrants in general who see Canada as the doormat I mentioned above, could take a few pointers from Quebec on how to setup your own mini-universe as a base to tear the rest of the country apart.
What will Canada look like in 100 years? Why?
The exact same. Quebec spinning its wheels and shaking its fist; Alberta tax-free with gold-paved sidewalks grumbling about moving out on its own but not wanting to raise a fuss; Legions of Indian doctors, lawyers and millionaires enjoying their success while the victimhood cult, now a national political party, keeps up the bitching about now-600-year-old crimes. Maybe a burnt-out building or a memorial crater where part of Toronto or Ottawa used to be before the one tile in that wonderful, polite, charming cultural mosaic set off a nuke or dirty bomb. Otherwise the same -- no identity, no balls, no presence in the world.
Raskalnikov, the subject of todays On the Couch interview is a very private person- and after reading one or two responses to our queries, it isn't hard to understand why. He is everything the aboriginal community loves and hates, at the same time. He is well read and a cogent thinker. He is also brutally honest and abhors the deceit necessary to maintain victimhood- or power bases, of any kind.
To be clear, he isn't the poster boy 'whitey' might hope for in their efforts to show 'progress' within the native community. His disdain for deceit, political and otherwise, extends deep into those who would use his community for selfish purposes. He calls it as he sees it and his colleagues are culled from those with like mindedness. It is interesting to note that in truth, Raskalnikov and co author Darcey (See our OTC here), are probably the least bigoted people you might find anywhere- no small achievement from people that have seen the underside of a bigots boot- literally and figuratively- up close and personal on more than one occasion.
It is easy, as many have done, to infer that they are 'self hating' aboriginals, but that is both untrue and a shallow charge that comes from people unable to deal with the truths and realities as presented. They are on a mission. Their community is being eaten from within by a cancer that has sapped them of their strength, dignity and self reliance. They see the need for surgery to rid the spreading cancer as being of far greater importance than the obssesion with the inevitable scar. They are addressing that cancer and don't care about the flowers well wishers send.
Raskalnikov's message is layered. On the one hand, he addresses his own community and the community at large, is clear. 'We know you love us. Stop loving us. Your love is killing us.' That same message is also addressed to Canadians of all stripes, as he speaks of the Liberal Party stranglehold on Canadian politics.
The message is powerful, clear and unforgettable.
At times, you seem almost obsessed with stupidity of the political arena. Why such strong reactions?
Mainly because I expect more. I am, by nature, a very cynical and skeptical person, however as I got older I realized, of course, most of that was just my own crap to deal with, and life, and people, really aren't that bad.....then I read something or hear something that just verifies my cynical outlook and I get enraged. Wow. People really are that stupid. Life really is meaningless and nasty, solitary, brutish and short. All that Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and Camus I read isn't just adolescent navel-gazing. People really are dogshit on the sole of the universe. And I guess nowhere is this more blatant than in politics and current events.
Is western Canadian separatism a real ideology? Could it ever come to pass?
Probably not, at least not as vehement as Quebec separatism. I truly believe that Ottawa would send in the Army to stop Alberta from leaving. Too much at stake, too much oil. There you go, it's all about the oil, right under our noses.
I can't see it happening. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are too dysfunctional. Manitoba has the energy resources to be it's own frickin' continent let alone country. But we have no one with the balls to properly harness it and use it as a bargaining tool. Between hydro and oil, Alberta and Manitoba could rule this country. Alberta sees that, but Manitoba is still clueless.
I guess a part of me expects this from "everyday" people, so when I see our 'leaders" doing it, it infuriates me because I expect better. At least ape the behavior of someone evolved. I always thought part of the political dance was pretending to be Plato sitting on a rock waxing deeply. I obviously couldn't be more wrong. I laugh sometimes because for someone so jaded and bitter, I can be surprisingly naive. Too many romantic, idealistic books in university. And to my surprise they still have a hold on me.
What is a bigger problem for the aboriginal communities- the federal government or local leadership? Why?
Both. It may have began centuries ago with the colonial crimes we all hear about, but today we Indians have taken over control of the yoke that's around our neck. The cult of victimhood, the incessant demand for monetary compensation from people who supposedly need nothing more than a return to a 'traditional', more humble way of life to regain our selves and our pride, the knee-jerk whines of racism when something doesn't go our way. How worse is that than residential schools and infected blankets? It's certainly less dignified. Being beaten by a stronger force is one thing, and can carry a certain nobility if you went down as a man and not a bitch; beating the shit out of yourself and then blaming everyone else for your woes is just
disgraceful.
Many people think I'm a bootlicker to whitey and that he can do no wrong. I know the historical record of my people and I get angry just as much as any Indian radical when I see injustice. Unfairness and bullying, that pisses me off more than any bad words or stereotypes. That is a true crime, being unfair to someone and not allowing them to be themselves, to even find themselves. I realize the government did that for a long time, however those days are over. Unfortunately, the bleeding heart governments in this country have made the same mistake every bleeding-heart government has ever done in history -- they overcompensated.
The white liberal guilt in this country has gone into overkill. It's like a dysfunctional family that buys new appliances when one son comes out of the closet, or the youngest daughter gets pregnant. Throw money at it, spend it away, ignore it under a pile of material compensation. Granted some if it does go to honorable ideas such as education, culture and health. These are vital aspects of life and the opportunities in them for us are now endless. The playing field may not be completely level, but it's much better than it was 50 years ago. Shit, 20 years ago. Any Indian not handcuffed by mental illness or addiction can be anything he or she wants to be. A doctor, a cop, whatever. It's sad most of them choose to keep on perpetuating the victimhood cult. In a society where we place such small value on thinking, is it any surprise the victimhood pimps use emotional fervor to brainwash future generations into whining and bitching? Mix this with the revolting, degenerate hip-hop destroying the minds of our youth and it sure beats having to take responsibility for yourself. And the welfare being handed to us by the Government only serves to put more value on the role of victim; not only does it appeal to baser human instincts, but you can get paid for it too.
As for our own Leadership, as much as I despise most Chiefs and Councils in this country, they are only human. How many of us could be handed endless streams of money, then find out all you need to do is cry racism when anyone asks what you did with it, and not be corrupted? This certainly doesn't pardon them, but I can sympathize with their fallibility. That being said, they are reprobate thieves and sawdust dictators for the most part. There should come a point when you recognize the errors you have made. We Indians are supposed to be so wise, especially our 'leaders". Yet we keep on making the same mistakes over and over, first and foremost keeping our lips tightly sealed on that big sweaty bleeding-heart progressive tit.
In the US, the perception is that Canadians are very antagonistic towards America and Americans. Is that an eastern Canada phenomena only?
God no. I see it everyday here in Winnipeg. I can't speak for Saskatchewan and Alberta, and I can only assume that B.C., being such a granola-belt, would be very anti-American. It may seem an 'Eastern phenomena' only because the media is so Torontocentric. But it certainly isn't very hard to find locally.
As I've tried to show repeatedly, The Winnipeg Free Press is a classic example of that. The Universities in this city are another case study. America is anathema to the The U of Winnipeg. Sure, there may be a few closeted right-wingers there, but for the most part it's basically a radical hothouse, almost a parody of those rad-left, prog schools you read about on FrontPage mag and other places devoted to sniffing out these turds. And it's not even about classroom discussion or syllabus material. It's embedded in the very administration of the school, as seen in Axworthy's frequent hissyfits against the US.
This is a man paid a few hundred thousand a year for a position that should ideally entail a nonpartisan approach to current events. Christ, as I said above, even to ape the illusion of fairness would be a treat. Yet he can go and write editorials that are pathologically bias and crude, and no one raises a fuss. It's just taken for granted that the President of an institution of "higher learning" is against the United States and is free to write uncontested op-eds that overstop every possible boundary of impartial, professional behavior. It's breathtaking. The Uof Manitoba is only a bit better. The non-radical student body certainly is higher, but the main instruments of communication and political power are all in the hands of the radicals -- the Manitoban, the radio station, the student council. Try going on UMFM and discussing the positive reasons for the Iraq war, or how feminism has become bankrupt. Let's see if you get a second show.
What was it about Carolyn Parrish that so incited so many Canadians?
For the anti-US crowd it was hateporn. It may have been 'tongue-in-cheek" and so on, but like any spectacle that features underlying aggression, there was a certain titillation factor that Parrish's fans lapped up. I'm sure the catharsis was amazing for polite Toronto ESL teachers or frustrated Vancouver poets. The big leather boot, the Amazonian Parrish stomping. There's actually a whole fetish community that revolves around crushing and foot fetishes and leather boots. I have absolutely no doubt many radicals of that bent got all hot and bothered by Parrish's stomp-play. I'm being sarcastic, but not completely.
As for the Parrish-haters, it was another example of the infantile behavior of our 'leaders". The progs and lefties that deify Parrish are the same ones that take others to task for being impolite or writing harsh comments in their blogs. Meanwhile they apparently have no problem with Parrish's language or behavior. They got called on it, plain and simple. And if there's anything a prog hates, it's being called on his or her hypocrisy.
Was that oft quoted poll about 40% of Canadian teenagers believing Americans to be 'evil', for real?
Who knows? I despise polls. I studied research techniques in university enough to know what a farce they are. If it is 'true', I guess that goes to show how influential the America-haters are. Teenagers will believe almost anything if you say it properly. If they believe this, the radicals are doing their job well.
What will it take to repair the relationship between Canada and the US
I think it's beyond repair. I think the chickens will definitely come home when the dirty bomb goes off in Toronto or Ottawa and we are left holding our dicks while the Keystone Cop armed forces dust of their canoes and potato guns. Canada right now is the smug teenager rebelling against his parents. Just wait. Wait until reality hits home and Junior finds himself in trouble. Guess who that one phone call will be to? And I have absolutely no doubt that when America comes to save us, we will be ungrateful, rude whiners. And as soon as we get back to 'normal" the absurd bitterness will rise again. Look at Germany and France. They'd be physical and social wastelands right now if it wasn't for the Americans. And for their troubles, the Americans get backtalk and sass from ungrateful little pricks who easily forget who put the roof over their head and the food in their stomach, maybe not literally, but certainly historically.
Realistically, what should Canada's role be on the world stage?
Polite doormat? Our moment in the sun as a world power to be reckoned with is long over. I'd like to believe that we could be that way again, but not even I am that naive. Canada deserves what it gets. And right now it's a doormat. That's what you get when a country is based on negative first principles, on being anything except like it's bigger brother to the South. That's one thing I love about people who say Canada needs to be it's own person and have it's own values etc. They love to rant about how unlike America we are, but can't forward any real concrete definition of who we are, not even component parts let alone a whole. They use either abstract ideas like 'tolerance', which they then contradict by being Anti-American or anti-Conservative, usually in the same breath, or else they fall back on sterile, impersonal Soviet-style, government-based identity -- we are 'Universal Health Care" and "Unemployment Insurance". Sorry, but my national identity, if I had one, wouldn't be based on various government services that have encroached on my life. Christ, only a country as insecure and soulless as this one could define themselves using government service departments as metaphors.
How did the Liberal Party come to have such a grip on power in Canada? What will change that?
Lies. Fear. Promises of Utopia. Just like any other dictatorship. Cover up their corruption and project it onto others, make you fear others as alien bodies in the organic world they created for you, and keep that organic world afloat with excessive promises and endless miles of swampland. The only difference between Liberal Canada and the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy or Cuba is that we have freedom of speech to complain about it, and money has actually been spent, albeit mostly without success, on those Utopian ideals, which has turned out to be almost as bad as not having spent the money at all.
Is Quebec a part of Canada, or is that illusory? Why?
Technically yes. Any other way, no. They have set up a distinct society that has little or nothing to do with the rest of the country. Saskatchewan might as well be Tanzania for the average Francophone. Nice place to visit for a week but I can't wait to get back to my own hemisphere. As much as I despise the hardcore Frogs for their disloyalty and hypocritical behavior on almost everything, I have to admire the ability to maintain their own little world. The terrorists and radicals, as well as immigrants in general who see Canada as the doormat I mentioned above, could take a few pointers from Quebec on how to setup your own mini-universe as a base to tear the rest of the country apart.
What will Canada look like in 100 years? Why?
The exact same. Quebec spinning its wheels and shaking its fist; Alberta tax-free with gold-paved sidewalks grumbling about moving out on its own but not wanting to raise a fuss; Legions of Indian doctors, lawyers and millionaires enjoying their success while the victimhood cult, now a national political party, keeps up the bitching about now-600-year-old crimes. Maybe a burnt-out building or a memorial crater where part of Toronto or Ottawa used to be before the one tile in that wonderful, polite, charming cultural mosaic set off a nuke or dirty bomb. Otherwise the same -- no identity, no balls, no presence in the world.
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