Pop psychology

The Throne Speech is proving to be an almost limitless mine, a virtual El Dorado, of nuggets of ... well, not gold, not exactly. Take this exceptionally purple bit of prose, designed, it would appear, solely to leave the Lieutenant Governor literally breathless:

We must be prepared to try innovative approaches to ensure we remain relevant, on the leading edge of change, riding the global wave that will carry us forward from the subservience we have suffered for too long to the brand new future of self-reliance and sustainability that is beginning to dawn.

Ask yourself: do you feel subservient?

Confer the following, an example from the Premier's early days in active politics, back in June 2001:

The more that I see, the more nauseous and angry that I get. The way that our people and our region have been treated by one arrogant federal Liberal government after another is disgusting. The legacy that the late Prime Minister Trudeau and Jean Chrétien will leave in Atlantic Canada is one of dependence on Mother Ottawa,* which has been orchestrated for political motives for the sole purpose of maintaining power.
...

Our fellow Canadians must wonder why Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are always angry, always complaining about the inequity of the Upper Churchill, when we receive unemployment and TAGS benefits from Ottawa together with generous transfer payments.

Do you feel angry and nauseous at all, let alone "always" so?

Such statements are of little to no value as social science, as an assessment of the political culture of Newfoundland and Labrador (unless, perhaps, you're M.T.) They reveal virtually nothing about the societal values or social trends of the province's population.

But they are still of powerful probative value — as to the state of mind of the person who wrote them.

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* Bonus points: "Mother Ottawa", another classic Agnesnoseworthism.