The boss of the Bank of Canada has apologized for putting an Asian face on a $100 bill, or for taking one off, or for telling everybody about whatever he did. It doesn't matter; somebody in Ottawa has apologized for something. That's once. Just don't expect anybody in the regiment of Harper's parliamentarians to apologize for anything.
The incident involving the new $100 is trivial. When a large denomination note takes up temporary residence in my wallet, I don't care whose likeness is on it. Even Porky Pig or Elmer Fudd would be fine with me. The point is that the prosperous human societies of 2012 are living on a steady diet of stuff that doesn't matter. We need a reincarnated Noah and a mega-ark to save us from drowning in a sea of trivialities.
The number of people with super-sensitive psyches is multiplying, as are the ways in which their delicate sensitivities can be outraged. There is money in being publicly offended by a person or institution that has bags full of money. There are lawyers eager to help on a contingent fee basis. We used to call them ambulance chasers. Now, I think they hide under psychiatrist's couches
Check a few hours of programming on the idiot box. You will see somebody doing something physical a millisecond faster than anyone else. You will hear about the latest round of musical sex chairs in the community of celebrities. You will hear garrulous, overly dramatic judges encouraging talent show contestants to keep on doing what they do badly. You will be told about a British prince cavorting in the nude. Of what real import are any these snippets of information (or misinformation) compared to bloody street scenes in Syria or tent cities in Haiti?
The trivialities divert us from paying attention to the modern pirates of Somalia, who extract huge ransoms from corporate kingdoms, which have amassed their treasures by another form of piracy. In the long ago era of the Spanish Main, executed pirates were displayed in gibbets as a warning to others who would follow their trade. Thus far, no corporate corsairs in Armani suits are decorating poles along the harbour front. It may just be a matter of time.
When will we acknowledge that trivialities should not be allowed to smother concern for the real problems of a poisoned, overpopulated world in which powerful people still scatter their poisons in order to fill their coffers with pirates' treasures?
