Why is it that so many activists are loudly claiming that it is now, at this moment, that Canada must act and intervene immediately and muscularly to assist a bunch of refugees?

Seriously, why RIGHT NOW?

I reject this chest-thumping as hysterics by people whose obsession with America is maladaptive and deranged. It is that obsession with America that is on display here, not some reasoned, perspective-filled decision making or grand altruism .

For crying out loud, where was Canada's immediacy when Hong Kong was handed over to Beijing totalitarians a few decades ago? We accepted Hong Kong millionaires en masse through our investor immigrant program, and we told the poor huddled masses of Hong Kong to go suck eggs. 

From events in East Timor to Rwanda to Hong Kong to Iraq, there has NEVER, EVER been such a screamingly LOUD chorus on our news pages to intervene IMMEDIATELY. We are drunk on parochialism: It is an obsession with AMERICA that drives this reflex loudly now, NOT empathy.