The week in commentary: From dying Syrian children to the Tory leadership race

As photos of dead and dying children shock us and then fade from memory, little is done to help the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo. Standing by as people are indiscriminately slaughtered is humanity's disgrace.

In a scathing and urgent article in the Ottawa Citizen, Terry Glavin writes exactly what we've allowed to happen.

"Mass murder by chlorine gas. Massacres of innocents. Bombardments by Russian jet fighters. The deliberate targeting of hospitals and clinics. The firing of mortar rounds into crowded neighbourhoods. The terror of barrel bombs dropped from Syrian army helicopters. The starvation siege that followed the city's encirclement by Shia death squads and Assadist militias on Sept. 8."

He goes on.

"The truth of it is we'd just rather not take the trouble. We aren't prepared to suffer the sacrifices demanded of the commitments to universal rights we profess, so we absolve ourselves by talking about "the Muslim world" as though it were a distant planet. We talk about Arabs as though they were a different species. It's easier on the conscience that way."

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Say anything

Eric Merkley, writing for the Washington Post, analyzed media coverage of Kellie Leitch's campaign for the leadership of Canada's Conservative party.

By comparing articles about the race, he found that"once she started talking about screening immigrants for 'anti-Canadian values,' her average share of news coverage jumped from 13 per cent to 47 per cent."

This doesn't mean she's going to win, he says, but "it may just take a candidate willing to do or say anything to generate outrage and attract the news media who, for their part, are rewarded with readership for covering rhetoric or ideas that are shocking or even downright odious."

By focusing on Leitch's rage-baiting political rhetoric, we are missing valuable ideas from other candidates. As Russell Wangersky writes in the St. John's, N.L., Telegram, "If the Harper government was your clearest experience with the Tory party, you never would have guessed that there was such a broad range of ideas in the tent."

Erasing black history

Women may have led the way in the House but Canada's institutions still have a diversity problem. So does Canada itself.

"We live in a time when our cabinet, one of the highest seats of power in the country, is devoid of black women ministers," said Septembre Anderson on CBC's the 180. "We live in a time when 26 per cent of black people are food-insecure, compared to 12 per cent of all Canadian households."

We erase black history and ignore the economically deprived. That's why we need to remember Viola Desmond's history as we celebrate her being the first individual woman other than the Queenon Canada's paper money.

"Despite being a businesswoman at the heart of Halifax's black entrepreneurial class, the trial against her ultimately broke her. She died in poverty," Vicky Mochama writes in Metro.

Etc.

Where have all the scary clowns gone?

Providing internet access to rural Canada is not that hard.

Ottawa puns on condoms could be sexier: "There are caucus meetings on Parliament Hill. How about the party whip? Standing orders? Something about polls?"

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