Dangerous Shoes

I have on several occasions written about the Talebanization of US society promoted and encouraged by fundamentalist rightwingers such as John Ashcroft and Michael Powell. Now I can report that the British Columbia administration of neocon-lite Gordon Campbell is not free of this dangerous fascism.

Of course, being BC and being Gordon Campbell, we are not talking weighty matters such as personal privacy or the freedom to protest. No, here it is the type of shoes that female lawyers are allowed to wear to work. According to a story at the always entertaining The Tyee, this "summer, the staff at the Vancouver-Main Street Crown Counsel offices were sent an e-mail declaring that certain shoes were not acceptable to wear in the office."

Of course, being Liberals, and therefore programmed to be helpfully intrusive, the memo included a handy-dandy chart illustrating the good, the bad and the ugly.

According to the women affected

"this small slice of office wear politics is both disturbing and humorous. None are willing to go on the record with their opinions. But they grumble about managers spending time compiling pictures of acceptable shoes, and ask why only women’s shoes are depicted in the illustrations. According to the government employee directory, at least two men work in the office.

This is, of course, just foolishness. But I don't expect people being paid out of my pocket to be spending their time creating picture lists of "acceptable" clothing with which to intimidate other public servants. More importantly, it is little things like this which, if left unchecked, become the horror of life under an Ashcroftian Taleban.