The Great Divide

[Paul Murphy]

I've been mulling over Andrew Dinn's exceptionally well-articulated post
from Monday about cartography and borders and the like ... and this 'love
it or leave it' thread ties in with the topic, as well as the Westrope /
Vaska bickering over Canadian Statism ... see, the 49th parallel is just as
arbitrary and fictitious and divisive and power-saturated as the
Mason-Dixon line. If one thinks about the Loyalists fleeing the War of
Independence, which made having a fortified border between the Canadian
Provinces and the States necessary. The border also gained significance
during the Underground Railroad, when escaping slaves would make their way
to freedom (of a sort). Later on, the border became the escape-point for
draft dodgers during the Vietnam War (a time in recent memory when 'love it
or leave it' became a matter of life and death). These days, the border's
been eroding due to free trade and infinitely escalating mass-media
penetration, but it still has its advantages (like leave your handguns and
your fucking death penalty and your private health-care on your side of the
divide).

Later in M&D, we'll get a chance to cross the border into the power-centre
of the Jesuits, which I found to be a very interesting section from a
Canadian perspective; also, we'll notice the cameo appearance of a certain
Gen. Wolfe, praised in conservative Canadian historiography as founding
hero and martyr for his role in the conquest of New France at the Plains of
Abraham, and equally reviled by Quebec nationalists for said conquest.
We'll see that TRP places Wolfe squarely in the camp of the bad guys,
through the recounting of a moment of British history which Canadian
schoolchildren are not taught (or at least were not taught when I was a
lad) -- namely, the suppression of the British labour movement.

Just a few things to think about.
Cheers,
Paul