Dear Editor:

Re: Cartoon rouses local reader, Review, December 1

I read the letter from Dr. Hunter and found myself saying he just proved the point of the cartoon he found so offensive; there were too many points to digest.

In the 1960s, it was civil rights, in the ‘70s it was the war in Vietnam, in the ‘80s it was gay rights. In all of these protests, people were involved, they belonged heart and soul, they were committed. They gathered in in very large groups across all of North America and for years, they marched, they had sit-ins and they weren’t afraid of being arrested for the cause because they knew that they weren’t alone, that the average Joe knew why they did it and the fever spread.

Soon, the politicians had no choice but to listen and things did change. None of the above would have happened if the call to arms had been as muddled as the recent round of protests have been.

In the old days, people did what was needed: a massive show of concern year after year – not a few hundred camping in a city park for a month. The protesters from the past showed respect for the public as they knew that it was in their hearts and minds that would bring about change, not a litany of points that confuse the issue.

Most of the points cited in the letter are things the government cannot control; inflation is not a tool the government wields, neither is poverty or greenhouse gases. Our government cannot control governments like those of the United States or China; that is why we are opting out of the Kyoto Accord, because the Canadian government stands alone.

The writer mentions he gets a yearly raise that is not enough – he is in the minority; most of my friends and family have not been on the receiving end of a raise in quite some time.

In short, I don’t think the protesters showed us what they were worth or what their main cause was. How can they hope to get the public’s backing when they themselves can’t agree on a plan of action?

And the second question is: where are they now? Why have the marches ended? As little as 25 years ago, gays were fighting for their rights. They succeeded without email, Twitter or any social media. It was their passion for the cause that brought change, not the thrill of the moment and then it’s gone.

Tom Dunning
Valens