Oh justin, how could you? | thearticle

Every once in a while a news story comes along that cheers you up no end. One such is this week’s revelation that that most politically correct, most achingly woke of politicians, Canada’s

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has just been hoist by his own virtue-signalling petard. Oh Justin, how unforgivable. How could you? The hilarious story is this. Back in 2001, when Justin was

a teacher at a school in Vancouver called West Point Grey Academy, he attended a school costume party with an Arabian Nights theme, dressed as Aladdin, in a turban and with a browned-up

face. As is the way of things in our all-seeing, all-knowing era, when one’s past actions – no matter how unremarkable at the time – live on into eternity, a photo of him in said costume was

somehow unearthed and has now been widely disseminated through the world’s media. Naturally, he has been roundly condemned for this grievous act of cultural appropriation and his insult to

Arabs everywhere, be-turbaned or not. The grovelling apology followed at once: ‘I shouldn’t have done that. I should have known better but I didn’t. And I’m really sorry. I have made a

number of calls to friends and colleagues and I will have many more calls to make.’ But he didn’t stop there. He went on: ‘I’m going to be asking Canadians to forgive me for what I did. I

take responsibility for it.’ And on some more: ‘It was a dumb thing to do. I’m disappointed in myself. I’m pissed off at myself for having done it. I wish I hadn’t done it but I did, and I

apologise for it…’ All right, all right. Shut up already! I couldn’t take anymore. I was laughing too hard. Unsurprisingly his political rival, Andrew Scheer, leader of Canada’s opposition

Conservative Party, has been capitalising on the story. ‘Like all Canadians I was extremely shocked and disappointed when I learned of Justin Trudeau’s actions,’ he announced solemnly

(although secretly he must have been cracking up, just like me). He said Trudeau had ‘a complete lack of judgement and integrity’ and was not fit to govern the country. ‘Wearing brown face

was an act of open mockery and racism. It was just as racist in 2001 as it is in 2019.’ But that’s where Scheer is wrong, and I suspect he knows it. Eighteen years ago – hell, probably only

five years ago – people weren’t such fanatical offence-takers as they are now. You could go to a costume party wearing some exotic fancy dress and no one would accuse you of being racist.

Because that’s what you do at a costume party. Or it’s what you did, anyway. Nowadays, as we have seen, you can’t even put on a sombrero without being castigated for stealing someone else’s

culture. Look at Kim Kardashian – lambasted for featuring a kimono in her fashion line, poor thing. I sniggered over that, too. Of course, if he had any strength of character, not to mention

courage, Trudeau would simply have faced down his accusers and declared that he has blatantly never been a racist, and that his youthful Aladdin party schtick was purely a bit of harmless

fun, with no insult intended and (in those more sensible times) none taken. Therefore he has nothing to apologise for. But that kind of courage is in short supply these days. People lose

their jobs over it. And Trudeau is presently campaigning for re-election. If Scheer uses his (doubtless inflated) outrage to make life harder for his liberal-lefty rival, I’m all for it.

Trudeau has been a poor leader of his country, known mainly for being the ‘prince of woke-ness’ and blubbing like a baby in public, instead of behaving like a grown man with a grip on

things. No doubt he will carry on a while longer, grovelling and apologising tearfully to Canadians and to Arabs, to Aladdin, to the whole world and probably beyond. He might even prostrate

himself like some medieval monk . . . or like that other Justin, called Welby, who’s been begging forgiveness for the British massacre at Amritsar. Oh Justin, was that you? How could you?