Decency, Division, and the Lines We Draw

In 1985, the National Film Board of Canada released a short animated film called The Big Snit.

It’s about a married couple in their house. The husband cheats at Scrabble, the wife catches him, they start yelling at each other. She relieves stress by shaking her eyes, he by sawing the furniture.

Outside, the world is ending in a nuclear war. But this couple doesn’t notice. They’re too busy arguing.

That tension between trivial obsession and looming catastrophe is exactly what gives the film its dark punch. It was nominated for an Oscar.

The illusion of safe distance

Yesterday, America reached another tragic milestone in its race to destroy its Great Experiment.

Watching it from Canada, besides the grotesque absurdity of it all — the shouting matches on cable news, the cruel memes on Facebook — it’s easy to feel as if violence is happening further away than it is.

Less than an hour after Charlie Kirk was killed, a kid in a school in Colorado shot two classmates, and then killed himself. The news reports followed the same, tragic template, right down to parents interviewed outside the school saying they couldn’t believe it could happen to their kids, in their school, in their community. It’s easy to feel as if violence is happening further away than it is.

No border for rhetoric

Whatever you think of Charlie Kirk, nobody disagrees that his death was a product of the ugly, overheated political talk that’s been building for years in the United States.

And some of that talk has crept across the border. Reckless talk, where politicians replace debate with soundbites engineered to rile their base. Insults, instead of ideas. 

Donald Trump called the border between our two countries an artificial line. He’s not wrong. It’s a line on paper. A line we defend, a line we protect, but there’s no wall that keeps cable news out. Our border agents aren’t checking rhetoric.

Canada, today, is at its own turning point.

A real line we draw

We can continue to look the other way when our political leaders chase cheap points from the American playbook. And if we do, it will carry the same risk. The louder the words get, the easier for violence to be the next logical step.

Or, we can choose the other path and call out politicians who trade in the same poison. We can stand up at rallies and say “No, we don’t substitute anger for leadership here. We don’t confuse cruelty with strength. Not here.” 

That’s a decision we make. That’s a line we draw that’s not artificial.

On my desk, I have a TV. It’s usually tuned to Canadian news. But today, I watched American cable news. Sure, the Kirk killing was covered. But they spent more time on other stories. Veterans doing something for 9/11. European interest rates. A UN emergency meeting.

Not even 24 hours, and the news cycle is ready to move on.

There’s still time to choose

At the end of The Big Snit, that animated film, it’s too late. The bombs are already in the air. Nothing can bring them back.

Canada’s not there yet. We’re still a young country. We have time to put down the saw, close the Scrabble board, and look each other in the eye.

We can still be the country that shows the world that disagreement doesn’t have to mean destruction. That decency can be stronger than division.

If we choose to.