Thursday, September 21, 2023

Social Media

Social Media


It use to take me much longer to read the Washington Post
These days its more opinion, less fact, more advertising
Truth isn’t what it use to be, it is not absolute
 now merely an abstraction filtered from multiple sources
 then filtered over and over again until the homogenized product
 is spewed out in sound bites for beginner ears on social media
 pre-determined by algorithms placing each an everyone of us
 into isolation bubbles of so called information, in turn it makes us
 angry and serves to divide us and lash out in anonymity against
 more anonymous enemies in every direction.  
There is no accountability, we doubt science and hail the truckers.

 We all then become disjointed versions of ourselves
 in an environment of discontent.
 Influencers may beat their children and be haled as virtuous, but
 we are convinced we are fully informed and righteous in our
 cause. We adapt the corporate good-speak in which employees
 are now associates, but we can’t raise the minimum wage.

We know there are solutions to every problem
 but with the high level of division they remain elusive just beyond
 grasp ever creating a cycle of frustration.
 The memes promote fossil fuels, regression,
 and status quo while mocking innovation and change. 
 
Conservatives sell their fear and very souls on every street corner,
while the rich hide the not- for- profit
 social solutions, promote and finance a mock democracy
 even if the candidates
 are not real and the results can never be verified, 
They let you believe it is forever power to the people.
It will all trickle down.

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Pierre Poilievre Does not Listen to CBC


Pierre Poilievre does not listen to CBC


Pierre Poilievre spoke at the Conservative National Policy Convention in Quebec City on September 8th as if he were the incoming Prime Minister of Canada and perhaps he is just that.  Justin has had his eight year rule and in Amercan terms that is a done deal; so maybe he and the liberals should be looking for a more viable alternative.  I mean don’t get me wrong I am a liberal slash NDP guy myself. Having a minority party status with the two parties depending on each other I find brings out the best in each party while keeping the conservatives at bay frothing about truckers and pronouns.

But it might be time as politics does go in cycles, voting liberal then conservative, back and forth and it may be the portion of the cycle whereby with a new leadership and with product or brand fatigue the liberals put out a new product for longer shelf life.  However, I am not recommending Poilievre. I do find however that once the inevitable switch is made from a liberal to a conservative government, more out of fatigue and protest, that within a year people/voters are saying across “well informed” social media sources “look what those nefarious conservatives are doing cutting social programs. How dare they!  

In the second official language...
Quelle Surpris!

I would add just like they promised they would. Conservatives and Liberals alike do actually want to balance the books, but it is the conservatives that will attack education, health care, research and development, infrastructure, environment, Greenbelts and the like some very foundational mainstays of society and send a wake up call that reverberates through society begging the question what’s so good about a balanced economy I can’t even balance my credit card?

Isn’t that the situation with Ford in Ontario, the liberals may have gotten a little stale made a few mistakes the voters take a knee jerk reaction vote in the conservatives out of spite or to make a point and all of a sudden there goes the Green Belt, health care, and education.  However, the ads I see on TV these days sure paint a different picture. If I wasn’t an educator and I just saw those ads I’d say the conservatives were also in love with education.  They are not.

In theory everyone wants a balanced budget Mulroney, Cretien, Martin, Harper and now even Poilievre is saying that is our standard of good government.  Wild guess, but I think our country started in debt with the railroads and has continued in debt to this day. Have we ever been out of debt? Just putting it out there.  I would say debt is the norm for must households, most individuals and all countries, maybe not Norway.  Liberals and NDP would also like to be out of debt but this is more a rallying cry then anything remotely realistic. 

When Poilievre says to his people and others “Bring It Home”. What is he actually saying?  At the policy convention it appears it means  there should be “no surgical or medicinal interventions for gender diverse and transgender children”.  He and his party are quite clear on that issue.  Gender always seems to frighten conservatives for some reason many of them by virtue of their conservative natures get their solace from the bible, well need I go further as that goes into anti-science, no vaccines, faith and all the rest.

“Bring It Home” is a call against crime and for public safety as apparently presently there is chaos in the streets.  I was unaware of the crime wave but again that could just be my sheltered life style and white privilege.  I think though that conservatives do like to play the fear card when they can.  Fear and emotionally based decisions rather than facts and analytical problem solving seems to be their “go to”.  

Poilievre has a lot to say about the cost of living but in reality much of that is out of the scope of the Canadian economy.  None the less he calls for, in his words, “a common sense conservative government that frees hard working people to earn powerful pay cheques that buy affordable food, gas and homes in safe communities, or the alternative is Trudeau’s costly coalition.”


Really who could disagree with such an emotionally charged motherhood statement as that, it would be like hating puppies.  It is so universal it is practically a useless statement other than its super charged emotional appeal created by the contrast at the end.  He gives an alternative implying that Trudeau, liberals and NDP stand for all of the opposites.  It shows a lack of respect for logic and his opponents.

He wishes to incentivize cities to build more houses, provinces to develop more resources while at the same time scraping the carbon tax a defunding the libtard CBC.  He seems to be moving in many directions, while some of these issues are hot ticket items and need to be done I’m still not certain as to how conservatives would handle environmental issues, or if its even on their radar. And why CBC? Is it simply too liberal? Conservatives don’t listen or watch it, or simply don’t relate to it or understand it? 

Pierre’s wife, Anaida, made an appearance at the conference as well making it apparent that the couple have simple roots and have struggled themselves. She particularly singled out her support for nurses and plumbers and of course TRUCKERS.  Red flag, the so called “Freedon Convoy”.  Pierre did not condemn, or criticize it in any way, in fact he went out of his way to support it.  The truckers and their supporters gave him a flood of support in return. I simply question a leader and a party who does not recognize science, in this case determines that the freedom of the individual supersedes the common good in terms of pandemic control.  Its likely the single issue that swept him into power so quickly.  He won’t let this gem drop. 

My fear with the conservatives, this leadership, the truckers and their supporters is that with the next pandemic, when it comes, it will likely be more powerful and because of the divisiveness created and the mind set developed through pick up trucks waving Canadian flags people will question, debate and fight before they do anything productive about protecting society from another virus.  But I guess if you drive a big rig and you lead a bunch of conservatives you also understand how to divide and conquer.

In the near future should you willingly or through a protest vote or otherwise vote conservatives into power and you subsequently observe education, health care, and green belts being dismantled science disregarded and there is no CBC to listen to as you drive to work in a more polluted world.  Just remember who brought it all home.  

But what do I know I listen to CBC.

Marty Rempel