By Dr. David Laing Dawson

The origins of this event involve the Speaker of the House inviting an elderly Ukrainian Canadian to visit the House of Commons and be recognized as a Ukrainian hero during Mr. Zelensky’s visit.

I have no idea how that came about, nor the extent of the duplicity or naivety of Anthony Rota or Mr. Hunka.

But when Mr. Hunka was presented to the House, he was announced as a Ukrainian Hero who fought the Russians in World War II.

Everybody rose and applauded, including Vlodymyr Zelensky.

Nobody seems to have heard or given thought to the phrase, “Fought the Russians in World War II”. Nobody at that moment seems to have thought: “Wait a minute….if he fought the Russians in WWII, doesn’t that mean….?”

I am writing about this because (apart from being a profound embarrassment) it is a profound example of how we humans think, or rather don’t think, or rather how our cognitive and intellectual capacities can be completely sidelined by group emotions.

And this was not an average crowd. All members of the House of Commons should know some history, have some capacity for independent thought. Or so one would hope.

Please, MP’s from all parties, surely you can do better than a MAGA fan at a Trump rally.