Effectiveness of Political Ads

Before every election most major parties release political campaign commercials and attack ads in order to get the support of the voters. in the recent years, the conservative party have released various ads that seeks to make the leaders of other parties look unfavourable. Most notably, Stephan Dion, former leader of the opposition, have been attacked by these ads, to a point where he became a la person who was not fit to lead the country through an impending recession that is to come with the tagline; 'Stephan Dion is not a Leader." Here is an example of an ad that was directed at Dion: Dion Attack Ad.

The current leader of the opposition, Michael Ignatieff was also a victim of these ads as another federal elections seems to be very close to being called. Iggy Attack Ad Micheal Ignatieff has come into Canadian politics in 2006 federal election, and has not been in Canada for very long. While he is a very intelligent and capable politician, he receives many criticism regarding the fact that he left Canada for a very long time, and that he will divide the Liberal party as he has made many friends and enemies within the Liberal party as he evidently has political views that contradict the views of other members of the party. (such as his support for war in Afghanistan and the Lesser evil approach) Ad which have been shown recently have all affected Canadians in some way as the ads have at least showed Canadians to the fact that he was away from Canada for many years.

Propaganda have been documented throughout history of civilization. Whether it be an tyranical chinese emperor scapegoating one of his subjects, Catholic church's indulgences and North Korea's Dear Leader's glorious army's victory over the infidels, these are all Propagandas that these attack ads arguably fall into. Propagandas and general political messages have been much more dominant with the inventions of new technology that redefined the methods of communication such as Radio, Television and now the Internet. These mediums have contributed to widespread of political propagandas in the 20th century. Radio was used during the reign of terror by Adolf Hitler in Germany to send out the message of hate and discrimination against his political enemies and his scapegoats while in the United States, FDR hosted a radio show called Fireside chart where he took his proposals to people and addressed the nation. During Post-World War II, The United States and the Soviet Union have used Television as their methods of spreading of political messages to people regarding their political enemies within and out of their own nations. This Link shows an American comedian poking fun at the Democrats and this link for propaganda during the cold war.

Effects these ads have on people are not something that can be measured accurately as it would have different effects on people depending on the person. During the last federal election, there was no indication that Liberal supporters have changed their support against the Liberals, but there were indication that people did not vote at all. At this, all time low turnout, election, when compared with the election of 2006, the votes for the conservative party have not changed by a large margin but in fact lost 100,000 votes while the liberals lost almost a million votes while other parties remained relatively the same. Although, it might not be the most accurate indicator of these ads working, but they may be able to show that due to these ads, people have either lost faith in the liberal party or the entire government.

Banning of George Galloway in Canada

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/20/george-galloway-banned-canada

George Galloway, MP from the United Kingdom was banned from entering Canada as he was a threat to the national security. Some argued that he did not pose any threat as he was a MP in the United Kingdom and the act of banning this man was just a form of infringement of fundamental freedom that everyone are given in Canada under section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom and that the Conservative government had its own agendas to appease the Jewish communities in Canada by banning an individual who spoke against the western and 'Israeli oppression' in the middle east.

With the brief introduction aside, the banning of Galloway from Canada does infringe the section 2 of the Charter. However, section 1 of the charter states: "1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." What has he said and done in the past that would limit his rights to enter the nation and speak? Why is he a security risk to Canada in the days where global terrorism has become one of the biggest concerns of the western world along with other problems such as environment and economic issues.

He was banned from Canada in accordance with the section.34 of the immigration act because of his possible relation to known terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Al-Queda and Hezbollah. Of course, he is an MP of the United Kingdom and it is unlikely that he is responsible for the death of thousands of people due to acts of terror. However, his preachings of jihadism is very concerning. He goes far as saying that it would be 'morally justified' to assassinate the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by means of suicide bombing. (source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5020222.stm)

George Galloway's history has been very questionable as he has praised many individuals who are, in fact, less than loved in the western world. For example, he had previously met with notorious individuals such as Saddam Hussein who has oppressed people politically and committed genocides against people who opposed him. Galloway told Saddam that:"I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability." (source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4016803.stm)

It is imperative a man this delusional be kept out of Canada as his presence may cause harm to Canadians and harm to society itself. The fundamental freedoms must be respected however should not be abused. When Galloway decided to preach his ways of jihadism and considers this 'revolution' to be justified, he had lost his right to express his beliefs. John Stuart Mills wrote in the book 'On Liberty' :“only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” (On Liberty, Mills)

Galloway banned from Canada, and here is his hypocrisy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN8WPy8EzDw ... Why is he a security threat? Because he supports international terrorist regimes and pariah states such as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgd5s7VUxA&feature=channel_page