yeah, misty...let's have a tiny car show instead
It’s time we killed the air show
September 06, 2010
On Saturday in Parkdale, high winds accomplished what common sense could not.
The air show was grounded.
But it was business as usual afterwards, and there is no sweet way to say this: The sound of warplanes over this city is the sound of death.
It’s time we killed the air show.
Canada has no need of American fighter jets, nor do we need to thump our chests on a holiday weekend best suited to the quiet appreciation of the corn dog.
We are not at risk of invasion.
Even if we were, our enemies — if we actually have any, and if they are intent on taking us by force — are certainly not going to be deterred by a yearly show of military might above the rooftops of the west end.
Maybe you like the air show. I understand that some people prefer vicarious thrills; even I am not immune to the naked charms of roaring, throbbing, rivet-rattling power.
Those things have their place.
That place ain’t here.
Unless, of course, you think it is useful and instructive to remind your neighbours, many of whom come from war-torn countries — Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq — that they are lucky to live in Toronto, except when the jet fighters are in town.
You may disagree. You may also wish to equate your love for high-speed stunts and flybys with support for the troops; sorry, that stale stuff is the refuge of scoundrels.
But even if you think we were saved by the warriors of a generation ago — and my father, and three of his brothers served, and two were wounded, and one died as a result of his wounds — then surely what they saved was my right to an opinion.
The air show is a dodo.
You remain free to disagree. You may even believe that the trump card is the bravery and the skill of the pilots. Let me remind you that the pilot whose warplane crashed at the air show in Alberta a month or so ago was also brave and highly skilled. I’m glad he’s safe, but his big expensive ball of flaming wreckage advanced no one’s cause, nor did it make us safer.
The reverse is true.
The reason the big fighter planes — and the little crop dusters — restrict their stunts to the air space above the lake is precisely because of the risk of fireballs. Go slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God someplace else.
Because even if the air show stunts take place over water, the planes turn swift and low over our rooftops, loud enough to rattle windows, wake babies, disturb the elderly, frighten dogs, prevent shift workers from knitting up the ravelled sleeve of care, and cause the sick at St. Joe’s to roll over in their beds of pain.
Such is the price of your thrill.
Let me remind you that the Indy races, held on the grounds of the Ex, are also a thing of the past; performance car races serve no useful purpose unless it is to wreck machinery, ruin eardrums and waste fossil fuel.
Let’s kill two birds with one stone:
I say we replace the air show — and the Indy race — with the biggest, fastest, most technologically advanced electric car race in the world, with huge prizes and glorious honour for the winners.
Let us hold that race — did I mention it would be fast? And thrilling? And quiet? — on the last weekend of the CNE. Because we do not need to bask in the militarism of the past; we need to marvel at the possibility of the future.
Joe Fiorito (Toronto Star)