Lies, deception, falsehoods, fibs and prevarication.
If someone tells you the world DOESN'T run on lies, they're lying. I get so upset when we see a young innocent flat out lie and we ask, "Where did Junior learn that?" If a young innocent were to tell the truth even though he/she would get into trouble, THEN, "Where did Junior learn that?" is appropriate!
Lies are not all flat out lies. We have the playing dumb lies. Big business and politics are experts at this. Like when Canada protests Nestle taking B.C. water for $2.25 per million litres and Nestle hires people to say, "Here, here, B.C. sign this petition against Nestle taking OUR WATER FOR $2.25!" YEAH!!! Big cheer. Thousands of signatures. Did anybody read it? It actually says Nestle will keep on taking B.C. water for $3.25 per million litres. B.C. says, "Hey, wait a minute..." Then the corporate dumb act kicks in. Nestle says, "What? Isn't this what you wanted? You have to be more clear. We have a petition signed by thousands of people that says they want us to take the water at $3.25 per million litres. How are we supposed to understand what you guys want?" Because when Canadians have a problem with a European company taking Canadian water from the land we live on and pay taxes to live on and the people we pay taxes to ALLOW them, nay, ENCOURAGE them to sell that water back to us at a million times what they paid for it, the big business dumb act kicks in and they say, "It must be the price point the people are protesting." Big business is not that dumb. It's just an act.
Same thing happened with the occupy Wall Street and the occupy anything movements. All these confused looks from politicians, bankers and businessmen, "We just don't get a clear message of what you are protesting. We don't understand..." It's just an act. Banks are not that dumb.
Cotton plantation owner pays his slaves barely enough to survive. Plantation owner goes out and gambles away a fortune. Next day he forces the slaves to give him some of their subsistance wages to cover the loss. They're supposed to be satisfied with the explanation that without the good and honourable plantation owner they wouldn't have any wages at all. Well explanations like that don't satisfy. You can't eat them. So the slaves protest. They say, "We don't want to work for this jerk-off any more. We want freedom!" The government says, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, ha ha ha ha. I know what you're saying. Right you are! Freedom! We shall give you freedom." So they're released. They don't work for that jerk-off any more. But they have to find jobs. The only place hiring is the sweat shop where they make cotton shirts. (out of that jerk-off's cotton) But they pay a whopping 7 bucks an hour! "That's WAAAY more than that jerk-off paid us! We're free!" Then tax time rolls around and the slaves realize they're still slaves.
War profiteers from rich countries selling weapons to both sides where there are clear cut conflicts. Muslims and Christians. Shiites and Sunis. Hutus and Tootsies. Sandanistas and Contras. Good guys and terrorists. But that's not all they sell. They also sell fear and hatred. The fear and hatred builds until the two opposing sides USE the weapons sold to them. The conflict escalates so they need MORE weapons. The war profiteers in the rich countries get richer. But then people protest. "Stop the violence," they shout to the profiteering countries. Then the politician dumb act kicks in. "OH, oh, oh! We read ya. Loud and clear. HUA! Heard, understood and acknowledged. You want us to sell weapons to OUR military and send OUR soldiers into the fray. Our peace-keeping forces. Well we can do that. And while we're at it we can get some of the spoils that come the victors' way. They have oil, don't they? Diamonds? Ivory? Sure we'll peace the shit outta this country!"
While "peacing the shit outta" countries people are killed by the war profiteering country's military. Unfortunately innocent people are killed. Resources are taken. Jobs are lost. Homes are blown up. Cities are turned into rubble. Futures are destroyed. The people of the country getting the shit peaced out of it begin to despise the peace-keeping forces. They begin to tally in their heads all of the losses forced upon them by that country. They begin plotting revenge. They organize. They buy weapons. From, in all likelihood, that very SAME war profiteering country. They attack that country. They can't declare war but they engage in small attacks from time to time. Unfortunately innocent people are killed. The people protest. "Stop the violence," they cry. Then the political dumb act kicks in. "Oh, oh, right, right, right. We hear ya. These people who are attacking us FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER are terrorists and they need to be stopped! We need to fortify our forces in our own country to guard against them. Carry the three... that'll require at LEAST a gojillion dollars worth of our arms. But we're in luck. This month chemical weapons are 25% off..."
Folks there's only one real kind of terrorism that I've noticed in the world. And it ain't the kind the lamestream media is so invested in getting everyone to think. They would have us believe that somewhere right now someone is sitting around in a place where there have been no attacks, no deaths, no cause for anger or revenge and thinking, "Sigh. I'm bored. Think I'll strap some dynomite to my chest, find a highly populated area full of Americans even though I have absolutely no reason to hate them, detonate the dynomite killing all those wonderful Americans and myself even though I have no reason to hate Americans and I am perfectly happy and have no desire to kill myself. Yeah. What better way to spend a Friday afternoon?" If there is such a person, he or she is not a terrorist anyway. He or she is batshit crazy.
No, the real terrorism is more like this: France sitting around one day in 1830 going, "Sigh. I'm bored. Look at Algeria over there. Lots of fertile, empty land. We could plant cotton there. Cotton is hot right now. It's like the oil of the future. Probably. I don't know because it's not the future yet but probably oil will be valuable. So why don't I go into Algeria, kill the Muslim men, rape the women and force the kids to all pick cotton for me?" So France does so. And as recently as the 1940's were STILL killing, raping and enslaving Algerians. THAT is terrorism. And its cause is money. Capitalistic terrorism is the only real terrorism I have found. But you have to dig deep to find that out. It's well hidden. If you discover it, the best it will be accepted as is you opinion. A theory. A conspiracy theory. The terrorists know it's all true. But they act like they don't. It's just an act. They're not that stupid.
Incidentally, two of the "terrorists" who without any reason whatsoever, copletely unprovoked, out of left field attacked Charlie Hebdo offices in France. From Algeria.
Let's do the alien attack thing again. Aliens from the planet Buttox attack the earth. They pillage the natural resources, kill the men, rape the women, and make the children work as slaves extracting natural resources from the earth so they can be flown back to Buttox. Then they leave the earth in shambles and the citizens to start a civilization all over again. Well they do. And in a thousand years the society is technologically advanced enough to send a squadron of warships to Buttox and attack it. Then the alien dumb act kicks in. "What a completely unprovoked terrorist attack!" They kill all the humans so no Buttoxians can hear the reasons the "terrorists" had to attack. But more humans come. Then more. The government of Buttox incites fear of the humans. They create in the humans a fictional terrorist enemy. The citizens of Buttox shout out, "Stop the violence!" The Supreme Commander of Buttox, who also owns controlling shares in the laser company Sizafitz and the munitions company Lackheed Martian, says, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, ha ha ha ha ha. I read you comrades! You want me to fortify Buttox against any further terrorist attacks by purchasing more lasers and war machines. Carry the three, that'll be a hillion billion buttbucks." And now the UNIVERSE runs on lies!
Back down to earth I have friends who are being put through hell by some asshole who has lied for money. He sued them for 70 grand. They are completely in the right and everybody knows it. The asshole is completely in the wrong and everybody knows it. But it makes no difference. They will have to hire a bunch of lawyers to hash it all out in court or arbitration or whatever before they come to the conclusion that the asshole is an asshole and my friends are in the right. And with the court system the way it is nowadays, there is no guarantee that that will be the final ruling. Best case scenario is that bringing out the truth will be expensive. Worst case scenario will be that the asshole will earn some money for his lies. And the lawyers? They always win. Lawyer and liar. Practically the same word.
I'm going through the requisite lie fests that in the business world are called interviews and applications. "Please give us an idea what you're looking for in our school." "That's easy. I want to make a lot of money and I don't want to work too hard. Oh yeah, and I want to work for a school that does what they say they will do and doesn't break the contract." XXXX AAANNNNHHHH!!! "You fail! You do not get the job. You are HONEST! We don't want honest people working for us."
"Oh geez, you're absolutely right. Okay let's see, I want to work hard at improving the enrollment and reputation of my new 24-hour-a-day family at City English School. I promise to employ the educational strategies of the businessmen who run it, and the control freak mothers of the students therein abandoning any and all educational teachings and teaching experience I have garnered over my many years in the field. I will work sick. I will sacrifice holidays and/or pay when the school is struggling. I will satisfy myself to bask in the glory of City English School." "Well okay then. You're hired."
Ever notice how similar a job interview is to a first date? And you get asked the same questions. Not really word for word but the same questions. Like I always get, "Why have you changed jobs so often?" The dating equiivalent would be something like, "How long was your longest relationship?" or "How many partners have you had?" You gotta be careful answering this question, and by that I mean you gotta lie. I usually say, "I have left most of my jobs to move up to a better work situation. Better pay, more vacation etc." XXXXX AAAANNNNHHHHH!!!! That's just like saying, "I left Jody for Iris because Iris had bigger jugs. Then I found Rosie. She was WAAY better than Iris in the sack!"
I find it's better to say something like, "I had to return to Canada for a family tragedy. That's why I left my last job." The dating equivalent is something like, "Iris died. She got hit by a car. Tragic when they go so young and busty." Girls and employers like loyalty better than truth. And employers like the family tragedy answer. But if your Grandmother dies and you ask for time off to attend the funeral, they will have forgotten this conversation.
"Are you an ambitious person?" Employers love people who love money. It's a comfort to them to know that this employee will cancel his plans to go to the one and only superconcert of Led Zeppelin and AC DC with the temporarily re-animated John Bonham and Bon Scott to work the weekend if you throw him an extra hundred bucks. "I like a man who knows what he wants and goes out and gets it. Are you like that?" There IS no right answer to these questions. Employers and women like you to be upwardly mobile but don't want to be stepping stones. You can't win.
"Once I get the visa from you I'll be a lot more employable and I'll probably transfer to a much better school before our one-year contract is up." XXXX AANNNHHH!!! "I know what I want and right now that's you. I'm gonna reach out and take you. But in a month I'll want another girl because I don't believe humans are naturally monogamous so I don't want you to be upset when I reach out and grab another woman. You just said you like that quality in a man." XXXXX AAAANNNNHHHH!!! The best answer is something like, "Yeah. I'm like that." Even if you're not.
Sigh. I'm a little bummed by people responding poorly to my honesty. And employers and women BOTH wonder why they end up with asshole workers and asshole boyfriends! THEY FORCE US TO BE ASSHOLES! Lying assholes. And that's the truth.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
I Am
It bothers me when people assume I'm stupid. People should never assume. Because it makes an ASS... it ASSES... it ... well UME just shouldn't do it. Heh heh.
Oh there are stupid people out there! Maybe more than ever. But it occurs to me that somehow we have been socialized to believe thay're everywhere. Like the computer geeks might say the default setting for intelligence expectation has dropped. I think computers just might have something to do with that. Let me explain:
Ever have trouble with a webpage? I'm looking for work right now and going to all kinds of sites where you are supposed to be able to upload your resume and thousands of prospective employers will be able to view it. The trouble is I fill in blanks for half an hour then press the "upload resume" button and nothing happens.
There are also job ads that ask for pictures, resumes, cover letters, email, passwords. employment histories, transcripsts, passports, criminal record checks, degrees, certificates, references, seals, stamps, apostilles... then you send them all this and they get right back to you with, "Please fill out our application form." The application form asks for pictures, resume, cover letter, email, password, employment history, transcripts, passport, criminal record check, degree, certificates, references, seals, stamps and apostilles. The exact same stuff. Then when you finish filling in all the blanks and press send or save or finish or whatever you get a message like, "there is some difficulty with your email and password." So you try every combination you have ever used in your life but none works. You tell the employer their online application is not working correctly and you don't get the job because the fault MUST be with YOUR computer skills.
I even applied to a company to get my criminal record check all taken care of for me. THEY had a website too and the same thing happened. I spent hours and hours filling in the information that they need to put on the RCMP criminal record form and the address they need to mail it to and the credit card number they need to receive payment and every time something went wrong.
And sometimes you get sent to a registration page after filling in all this information. The registration page just asks for all the same information. But you figure maybe the site will work if you are a registered member. So you fill in the registration blanks and register. I have NEVER EVER EVER filled out a registration form that didn't work! Hmmm. Mysterious isn't it? Anyhoo, you get all registered and sent back to the page with all the blanks you've filled out. The blanks are blank once again so you fill them in again thinking that now that you are filling them in as a registered user it will make a difference. You press send or finish or continue or whatever and again nothing happens.
There are lots of other situations like this when websites don't work. You've experienced it. Everybody has. It's because there are a LOT of flaws in these stupid websites. Some are designed to work with certain operating systems and not with others. They probably receive funding from rival operating systems to be like this. How are we to know if a website supports Internet Explorer or Google Chrome? They never tell you. You have to waste all the time and energy finding out yourself.
Then there's Skype. Can someone PLEASE tell me why everyone can use this but me? I froze two computers downloading it! Froze. Like had to restart in Safe mode and nuke it from there. Even the one or two times I have managed to get it without destroying my computer it comes with so much axtra shit I'm getting rid of programs for months. And I'm sure I don't even notice all of them. AND it takes up almost all my RAM. EVERYTHING is slower! AAAANNNNDDD it's annoyingly in your face. I haven't put in the effort to learn the ins and outs but the first trick I'd like to know is how to shut if off. I HATE that it's always going and that there is no user friendly way to shut it off! That's a sure sign to me that I don't want or need that program. AAAAAANNNNNNDDDDD then, when I use it the stupid thing shuts down all the time. I've had exactly ONE entire conversation on Skype without the thing shutting down on me. But people in the biz look so cool and modern with their Madonna headphones and face mikes! They LOVE Skype. Please!
And then comes my personal favourite part: you find an email address, "If you have trouble just email us at techsupport@brokenwebsite.com So you send them and email explaining that you filled everything in, pressed SEND and nothing happened. Here's what you get: "Have you located the power button on your computer, pushed it and noticed some whirring noises and things lighting up?"
Right? Because it can't possibly be the website that their ingeniusness designed. The problem MUST be with the moronic member of the general public trying to use my perfect website. Or, "Have you registered?" Right? They ask that because this is where they make their money. THAT is why registration always works. They make money because once you register your info will be sold, no matter how many times they say it won't on the website, it WILL be sold or given to people that you don't want to have it. People like spammers, hackers, your government.
So in this way and for this reason are we NOT stupid? Do we NOT deserve to be treated like the dummies we are treated as?
Well that's not fair. I am looking for work. I HAVE to use these sites. That's where they get us. There are times when we have no choice but to do what it is THEY want us to do. Banking, work, official documents, immigration, registration, certification, taxation, enumeration... we're all just doing what we're told. We're free! We're free! We believe we're free! But really we're just free to do what THEY tell us to do.
Again, aren't we as dumb as they treat us if this is indeed the case? We're like that elephant tied to a little stake in the ground with a thin piece of rope. We're only NOT free because we're told we need to live like this.
Here's an interesting way of looking at it: If aliens came down and just helped themselves to natural resources destroying the environment, we'd attack them, wouldn't we? If they then forced us to work for them and give them at LEAST half the money we earned, we'd fight back, wouldn't we? If they kept us working long hours for subsistence wages, we'd be pissed, wouldn't we? Then if they called an election and asked us to choose between Kang or Kodos to be our leader, we'd think it was a fucking joke! Wouldn't we?
NO! No, we wouldn't. We'd vote. We'd vote for Kang because he's going to lower taxes to 45%! Or we'd vote for Kodos because he's going to let us work 9 hours a day instead of 10.
So, the next time I am treated like I am an irretrievably vacuous numbskull with the I.Q. of a turnip, I guess I shouldn't get so upset because I am. I AM!
Oh there are stupid people out there! Maybe more than ever. But it occurs to me that somehow we have been socialized to believe thay're everywhere. Like the computer geeks might say the default setting for intelligence expectation has dropped. I think computers just might have something to do with that. Let me explain:
Ever have trouble with a webpage? I'm looking for work right now and going to all kinds of sites where you are supposed to be able to upload your resume and thousands of prospective employers will be able to view it. The trouble is I fill in blanks for half an hour then press the "upload resume" button and nothing happens.
There are also job ads that ask for pictures, resumes, cover letters, email, passwords. employment histories, transcripsts, passports, criminal record checks, degrees, certificates, references, seals, stamps, apostilles... then you send them all this and they get right back to you with, "Please fill out our application form." The application form asks for pictures, resume, cover letter, email, password, employment history, transcripts, passport, criminal record check, degree, certificates, references, seals, stamps and apostilles. The exact same stuff. Then when you finish filling in all the blanks and press send or save or finish or whatever you get a message like, "there is some difficulty with your email and password." So you try every combination you have ever used in your life but none works. You tell the employer their online application is not working correctly and you don't get the job because the fault MUST be with YOUR computer skills.
I even applied to a company to get my criminal record check all taken care of for me. THEY had a website too and the same thing happened. I spent hours and hours filling in the information that they need to put on the RCMP criminal record form and the address they need to mail it to and the credit card number they need to receive payment and every time something went wrong.
And sometimes you get sent to a registration page after filling in all this information. The registration page just asks for all the same information. But you figure maybe the site will work if you are a registered member. So you fill in the registration blanks and register. I have NEVER EVER EVER filled out a registration form that didn't work! Hmmm. Mysterious isn't it? Anyhoo, you get all registered and sent back to the page with all the blanks you've filled out. The blanks are blank once again so you fill them in again thinking that now that you are filling them in as a registered user it will make a difference. You press send or finish or continue or whatever and again nothing happens.
There are lots of other situations like this when websites don't work. You've experienced it. Everybody has. It's because there are a LOT of flaws in these stupid websites. Some are designed to work with certain operating systems and not with others. They probably receive funding from rival operating systems to be like this. How are we to know if a website supports Internet Explorer or Google Chrome? They never tell you. You have to waste all the time and energy finding out yourself.
Then there's Skype. Can someone PLEASE tell me why everyone can use this but me? I froze two computers downloading it! Froze. Like had to restart in Safe mode and nuke it from there. Even the one or two times I have managed to get it without destroying my computer it comes with so much axtra shit I'm getting rid of programs for months. And I'm sure I don't even notice all of them. AND it takes up almost all my RAM. EVERYTHING is slower! AAAANNNNDDD it's annoyingly in your face. I haven't put in the effort to learn the ins and outs but the first trick I'd like to know is how to shut if off. I HATE that it's always going and that there is no user friendly way to shut it off! That's a sure sign to me that I don't want or need that program. AAAAAANNNNNNDDDDD then, when I use it the stupid thing shuts down all the time. I've had exactly ONE entire conversation on Skype without the thing shutting down on me. But people in the biz look so cool and modern with their Madonna headphones and face mikes! They LOVE Skype. Please!
And then comes my personal favourite part: you find an email address, "If you have trouble just email us at techsupport@brokenwebsite.com So you send them and email explaining that you filled everything in, pressed SEND and nothing happened. Here's what you get: "Have you located the power button on your computer, pushed it and noticed some whirring noises and things lighting up?"
Right? Because it can't possibly be the website that their ingeniusness designed. The problem MUST be with the moronic member of the general public trying to use my perfect website. Or, "Have you registered?" Right? They ask that because this is where they make their money. THAT is why registration always works. They make money because once you register your info will be sold, no matter how many times they say it won't on the website, it WILL be sold or given to people that you don't want to have it. People like spammers, hackers, your government.
So in this way and for this reason are we NOT stupid? Do we NOT deserve to be treated like the dummies we are treated as?
Well that's not fair. I am looking for work. I HAVE to use these sites. That's where they get us. There are times when we have no choice but to do what it is THEY want us to do. Banking, work, official documents, immigration, registration, certification, taxation, enumeration... we're all just doing what we're told. We're free! We're free! We believe we're free! But really we're just free to do what THEY tell us to do.
Again, aren't we as dumb as they treat us if this is indeed the case? We're like that elephant tied to a little stake in the ground with a thin piece of rope. We're only NOT free because we're told we need to live like this.
Here's an interesting way of looking at it: If aliens came down and just helped themselves to natural resources destroying the environment, we'd attack them, wouldn't we? If they then forced us to work for them and give them at LEAST half the money we earned, we'd fight back, wouldn't we? If they kept us working long hours for subsistence wages, we'd be pissed, wouldn't we? Then if they called an election and asked us to choose between Kang or Kodos to be our leader, we'd think it was a fucking joke! Wouldn't we?
NO! No, we wouldn't. We'd vote. We'd vote for Kang because he's going to lower taxes to 45%! Or we'd vote for Kodos because he's going to let us work 9 hours a day instead of 10.
So, the next time I am treated like I am an irretrievably vacuous numbskull with the I.Q. of a turnip, I guess I shouldn't get so upset because I am. I AM!
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Election Time in Chinada
When I was a kid I was always outside. I either went out on my own volition or was booted out by my Mom. Either was okay. It was where I wanted to be. Not kids nowadays. In fact it's pretty much social suicide in some places to be the parent who boots their kids outside now. You need to accompany them! Or at least make sure they are supervised. In extreme cases I've heard of people having their kids taken away for sending them out to play unsupervised! That's neglect, right? You are endangering your kids, right? Hogwash! You are allowing them to develop some things that are sadly, sadly lacking in the kids I see today. I'll give you one example: democracy.
What? How can I say such a harsh thing? Well it's true. And it's sad what passes as democracy nowadays and even sadder that kids believe it's been like this forever. It hasn't. We had real democracy when we played outside in the days before we were even old enough to vote. We practiced what we hoped it would be like to make fair decisions based on the majority. We knew that the majority was not always right, but if 5 friends wanted to play football and 6 wanted to play hockey, we played hockey. And the 5 football fans were not that disappointed because the alternative, that is the losing vote, was still pretty good even though they believed things would have been better the way they voted. Furthermore, we all liked hockey AND football so sometimes the footballers would win the vote. I don't know of any friends I had that would only vote for football or for hockey even when conditions were perfect for the other one. If Donny got a new net and Jerry got goalie equipment for Christmas, we'd probably play hockey. If the weather was rainy we'd likely play football because it's more fun to play in the rain than hockey.
Then we got older. Then we got Canadian politics and the vote. We got Canadian politicians. And suddenly democracy was shattered. Now it seems even if you WIN the vote you get shafted! And the alternative, that is the losing vote, is even crappier because we usually believe things would have been better the way we voted. Not MUCH better because we don't like the Liberal candidate OR the Conservative candidate, but at least sometimes our candidate won the vote. Let's be honest, in a system like this, the only folks who win are the candidates, because through your vote you have enabled their behaviour and affixed your stamp of approval to the broken system that gives their lives false meaning. If one of my childhood friends had the arrogance to say, "I am the one who will decide which sport we play every day from now on. Vote for me," my friends and I would have pummelled him into submission with our hockey sticks. And rightly so. A lesson in humility brought to you by letting your kids play outside unsupervised and use their own brains to work things out. And their hockey sticks, as it were...
So why do we accept this exact same thing now that we're older? Why do we think that it's not good for our small group of friends to have one person calling all the shots? Because there is a better chance of that person being a narcissistic asshole who wants to control us and take advantage of our support to get what he wants than that person being someone who truly cares about us and is much smarter than the rest of us and will ultimately do what is best for us all. And this is among FRIENDS! Kids!
How is it then that adults, who are generally more cautious having had the requisite burns life lays on all us trusting people, will settle for a vote for a total stranger every election year as their sole means of democratic exercise, (real or imagined), even though it usually, (or always), becomes just one more burn to knock a little more of the life and hope out of us? Just look at who we have driving the political bus in Canada now. Or should I say the political "omnibus?" I'm not going to go over the mess Stephen Harper has made of Canada in the 7 plus years he's been goin' all Kanye West on it, you can read past posts or Google something like, oh I don't know, "Why Harper should be shot." You may not think that, but why do you think that most of Canada's waters have been deprotected; that it's harder to get a job and harder to get relief if you lose one; that our vaunted Canadian healthcare system is a shadow of its former self; that we have more oil than Norway and their citizens are all sitting on million dollar pensions while we likely won't even get pensions; that environmentalists are screaming at us from the welfare line-ups; that green energy plans have been proven massively popular amongst Canadians yet are blocked; that B.C. water is sold to Nestle for $2.25 per million litres while the province needs that water to put out massive forest fires; that it costs 10 times what it used to for a university degree while in some countries they're free; that journalists are being silenced; that there are more oil spills than ever in Canada and fewer people who know how to clean them up; that Canadians are unable to take advantages of more and more priveleges offered to people from other countries; that Harper is such a hero in China he has food named for him; that a house in a major Canadian city costs a million bucks; that Canada is the most sued nation under free trade agreements for oil, water etc.; that the workplace has become young kids in front of computers wearing headphones and mics Skyping each other in orgies of mutual cybercirclejerks and getting promoted while the real workers get the real work done in real life and real time; that if you make half a million a year you shouldn't pay taxes and if you make a mil., you don't; that our entire country has become a corporation; that you need a certificate to get a certificate to get certified to do anything; that our own spoken word poet, Shane Koyczan, refused to read his "hooray-for-us" poem called "We Are More" on Canada Day? Why? Because we are LESS! Maybe this ALL can't be blamed on Harper and his government, but this is what he meant when he said, "You won't recognize Canada when I'm through with it." But with the typical positivity at election time that makes fools of us all every four years or so, (four times in seven years in Harper's case), people thought he meant he was going to make things better for Canadians, not rich foreigners.
Here's a scary thought: a politician was once asked how much the average person knows about what really goes on in government. His reply was about 1%. Then he was asked how much he knew about it. His reply was about 2%. So the awful things that we know have happened during Harper's reign of terror, may only be the tip of the iceberg! There may be a lot more political doo doo to clean up for whoever replaces Harper than we, or even they know about. And then you see something like this:
I suppose the signs are upon us. It's election time once again in Canada. And people are getting election fever. That wave of foolish positivity that washes over the nation at election time and makes us say and think things like, "THIS time it will be different!" Why do we do this? It boggles the mind! I guess it's just one of those things we do. Like banking. Getting married. Paying outrageous prices for cable. Having kids. School. Work. Having a lawn. Just things we do. Not necessarily good or smart things... just things we do.
And then there are things we say. Like if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about government. Rock the vote. Or this gem being waved around by this guy in the pic. Who is he anyway? Probably just some dude trying to get laid. There, I said it. But at this time of year one of the things happens that makes a mockery of democracy, and this sign puts a fine point on it. That thing could be called "tribal mentality" or "populism," numbers 9 and 8 on this list. Now don't get me wrong! I already told you, I love democracy. I miss it really. But there are weaknesses in the way it is practiced in democratic countries around the world. The biggest weakness: people. Politics involves trillions and trillions of dollars and untold power. Expose a less than saintly person to that and he/she becomes part of the problem and not part of the solution. The biggest problem I see in politics is that it needs to be made less attractive to the people who are attracted to it. People who love money. Well, that may be an understatement. People who lust after money. People who roll around naked in money. People who would love to have money instead of hair growing out of their heads. You get the idea. Let's see, is Harper one of these people? He once called the Kyoto Protocol, "A socialist scheme designed to suck money out of rich countries." It's said with the assumption that we all believe, as he clearly does, that thinking about society, (socialism), is an inferior philosophy to thinking about money, (capitalism).
Then voters, because they are fragile, weak, flawed human beings, take these insanely greedy people, usually two or three of them, and vote for one. "Vote," like they would vote for their country in something like, oh, let's say a meaningless game of women's soccer. Do Americans like soccer? No! Do they like WOMEN'S soccer? HELL no! But wrap the players in stars and stripes and somehow attach some patriotism to it and between 20 and 25 million of them will watch it on TV hating the other side and loving these girls they've never heard of before. Just over 7 million watched the Stanley Cup finals! Why? Not NATIONAL teams playing. Wonder how many American guys had the investment of 40 bucks in a U.S. women's soccer jersey pay off when a cute girl in a bar joined them in celebration of the win. Folks, don't judge me. Millions of men everywhere think this way. Don't shoot the messenger. And don't assume this guy went to the trouble of making that sign JUST because he may believe it.
At any rate, let's get back to the message on the sign. It erroneously assumes that there are other candidates who would not only do things differently than the bad politicians that get elected, but that they'd do things BETTER than the bad politicians who get elected. Well let's use the baddest of the bad. Does anyone even remember who Harper ran against last election? Does it even matter? My position is no on that one. For all we know that other guy DID win. The election was fraudulent. Harper cheated! Should there be a royal commission on electoral reform and party financing? Sure should! Did Harper de-fund the office that could make that happen? Sure did! Was he found guilty in a court of law? Sure was! Was he removed from government or stripped of his office? Sure wasn't? Somewhere Ben Johnson is going, "What de fuck mon?" Well apparently, yes, Harper cheated, but it didn't affect the outcome. Maybe Ben Johnson being roided up didn't affect the outcome of the 1988 100 m. final or his 9.79 world record. But the Olympics are more fair than Elections Canada I guess. More olympian. And how many of you would even TRY the argument with your partner, "Yeah, sure, I cheated, but it didn't mean anything, honey, I didn't love her/him," if you were caught cheating? Not only was he convicted of cheating, but he has repeatedly done things in secret, often while in China, that he KNOWS the Canadian public doesn't like. That is, he has done undemocratic things. He was found to be in contempt of parliament for crying out loud! A 156-145 vote of no confidence for failing to disclose the full financial details of his tougher crime legislation, corporate tax cuts and plans to purchase stealth fighter jets is what lead to the election he proceeded to win through cheating. And he has continued to thumb his nose at Canadians and do whatever the hell he wants, (which is usually whatever we DON'T want), while in office.
Not long before that another cheater won the presidency of the United States. And what a presidency! Harper is doing his best to top the disaster George Dubyuh wreaked on America. And what is happening is people are noticing that now you don't even have to WIN the leadership of Canada or the U.S. As long as you get in, you're fine. This attracts even more of the worst possible people for the jobs. So, no, sign holder, no, the non-votes of good people DON'T elect bad people to office. Cheating does. And this makes for governments that do almost everything the people DON'T want. This is the absolute opposite of democracy.
And now, Harper is actually running AGAIN!!! And here's an article that describes how he actually might WIN again!!! What are his tactics? 1. Research on small groups of voters that could be persuaded to vote Conservative. Not the kind of research you or I can do, the research you need heightened policing tactics to perform. Kinda like spying and snooping. Hence, C-51. So in order to get that he will have to convince the Canadian public of the ludicrous assertion that Canada's terrorist attack possibilities are at threat level red. The fact is there may be a few more people who dislike Canada but only because of recent acts of the Harper government to strengthen our international anti-terror stance. So that's 2. Convince Canadians to never not be afraid. Of terrorists. Who all have relatives living in Canada. Possibly training in Canada. Come on! 3. One of the groups of people who CAN be convinced to vote for this douchebag is the newcomers to Canada group. There are unbelievable advantages being given to foreigners, (and paid for by Canadian people). Investments, as I have pointed out before, for foreigners are sometimes half as expensive and completely tax free! I have to pay 10% to buy a condo in Vancouver. Foreigners pay 5%. If its value goes up I pay 70% capital gains tax. Foreigners pay zilch. There are investments, not just in Hongcouver, all over Canada from which Canadian citizens are excluded! The majority of the foreigners to whom Harper is catering are, you guessed it, Chinese. This is why I call Harper's Canada, "Chinada." And 4. The Conservative party have perfected mud slinging. Easy to do if your opponents provide you with mud to sling.
What needs to be done is pretty simple. Back at the beginning I talked about real democracy. The kids in my neighbourhood weren't voting for people, we were voting for ideas: hockey or football. The time has come. We have the technology. Let's vote for ideas. The only people who say it's economically and logstically unfeasable are the overpaid liars whose jobs will be eliminated and whose power and riches will thereby be lost.
Or at the very least we need to make politics less attractive to the scumbags that are attracted to it by removing or at least limiting the corruption. If anything it's getting worse and so are the candidates. This is a view of politics that is becoming more and more attractive to me. If voting changed anything it would be illegal. I don't side with old Churchill in believing that our system of democratic government is the worst there is, except for all others. I think there are better ways to do things. Me with my crazy optimism again!
So good luck, Canada on the election. I will be withholding my vote because I don't support the platforms of any candidate, nor do I think any candidate will stick to their platforms. And I will continue to complain about the government of my country BECAUSE I didn't enable the election thereof. I wish the whole country would wake up and see things the way they really are instead of the 1% we may or may not know.
What? How can I say such a harsh thing? Well it's true. And it's sad what passes as democracy nowadays and even sadder that kids believe it's been like this forever. It hasn't. We had real democracy when we played outside in the days before we were even old enough to vote. We practiced what we hoped it would be like to make fair decisions based on the majority. We knew that the majority was not always right, but if 5 friends wanted to play football and 6 wanted to play hockey, we played hockey. And the 5 football fans were not that disappointed because the alternative, that is the losing vote, was still pretty good even though they believed things would have been better the way they voted. Furthermore, we all liked hockey AND football so sometimes the footballers would win the vote. I don't know of any friends I had that would only vote for football or for hockey even when conditions were perfect for the other one. If Donny got a new net and Jerry got goalie equipment for Christmas, we'd probably play hockey. If the weather was rainy we'd likely play football because it's more fun to play in the rain than hockey.
Then we got older. Then we got Canadian politics and the vote. We got Canadian politicians. And suddenly democracy was shattered. Now it seems even if you WIN the vote you get shafted! And the alternative, that is the losing vote, is even crappier because we usually believe things would have been better the way we voted. Not MUCH better because we don't like the Liberal candidate OR the Conservative candidate, but at least sometimes our candidate won the vote. Let's be honest, in a system like this, the only folks who win are the candidates, because through your vote you have enabled their behaviour and affixed your stamp of approval to the broken system that gives their lives false meaning. If one of my childhood friends had the arrogance to say, "I am the one who will decide which sport we play every day from now on. Vote for me," my friends and I would have pummelled him into submission with our hockey sticks. And rightly so. A lesson in humility brought to you by letting your kids play outside unsupervised and use their own brains to work things out. And their hockey sticks, as it were...
So why do we accept this exact same thing now that we're older? Why do we think that it's not good for our small group of friends to have one person calling all the shots? Because there is a better chance of that person being a narcissistic asshole who wants to control us and take advantage of our support to get what he wants than that person being someone who truly cares about us and is much smarter than the rest of us and will ultimately do what is best for us all. And this is among FRIENDS! Kids!
How is it then that adults, who are generally more cautious having had the requisite burns life lays on all us trusting people, will settle for a vote for a total stranger every election year as their sole means of democratic exercise, (real or imagined), even though it usually, (or always), becomes just one more burn to knock a little more of the life and hope out of us? Just look at who we have driving the political bus in Canada now. Or should I say the political "omnibus?" I'm not going to go over the mess Stephen Harper has made of Canada in the 7 plus years he's been goin' all Kanye West on it, you can read past posts or Google something like, oh I don't know, "Why Harper should be shot." You may not think that, but why do you think that most of Canada's waters have been deprotected; that it's harder to get a job and harder to get relief if you lose one; that our vaunted Canadian healthcare system is a shadow of its former self; that we have more oil than Norway and their citizens are all sitting on million dollar pensions while we likely won't even get pensions; that environmentalists are screaming at us from the welfare line-ups; that green energy plans have been proven massively popular amongst Canadians yet are blocked; that B.C. water is sold to Nestle for $2.25 per million litres while the province needs that water to put out massive forest fires; that it costs 10 times what it used to for a university degree while in some countries they're free; that journalists are being silenced; that there are more oil spills than ever in Canada and fewer people who know how to clean them up; that Canadians are unable to take advantages of more and more priveleges offered to people from other countries; that Harper is such a hero in China he has food named for him; that a house in a major Canadian city costs a million bucks; that Canada is the most sued nation under free trade agreements for oil, water etc.; that the workplace has become young kids in front of computers wearing headphones and mics Skyping each other in orgies of mutual cybercirclejerks and getting promoted while the real workers get the real work done in real life and real time; that if you make half a million a year you shouldn't pay taxes and if you make a mil., you don't; that our entire country has become a corporation; that you need a certificate to get a certificate to get certified to do anything; that our own spoken word poet, Shane Koyczan, refused to read his "hooray-for-us" poem called "We Are More" on Canada Day? Why? Because we are LESS! Maybe this ALL can't be blamed on Harper and his government, but this is what he meant when he said, "You won't recognize Canada when I'm through with it." But with the typical positivity at election time that makes fools of us all every four years or so, (four times in seven years in Harper's case), people thought he meant he was going to make things better for Canadians, not rich foreigners.
Here's a scary thought: a politician was once asked how much the average person knows about what really goes on in government. His reply was about 1%. Then he was asked how much he knew about it. His reply was about 2%. So the awful things that we know have happened during Harper's reign of terror, may only be the tip of the iceberg! There may be a lot more political doo doo to clean up for whoever replaces Harper than we, or even they know about. And then you see something like this:
I suppose the signs are upon us. It's election time once again in Canada. And people are getting election fever. That wave of foolish positivity that washes over the nation at election time and makes us say and think things like, "THIS time it will be different!" Why do we do this? It boggles the mind! I guess it's just one of those things we do. Like banking. Getting married. Paying outrageous prices for cable. Having kids. School. Work. Having a lawn. Just things we do. Not necessarily good or smart things... just things we do.
And then there are things we say. Like if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about government. Rock the vote. Or this gem being waved around by this guy in the pic. Who is he anyway? Probably just some dude trying to get laid. There, I said it. But at this time of year one of the things happens that makes a mockery of democracy, and this sign puts a fine point on it. That thing could be called "tribal mentality" or "populism," numbers 9 and 8 on this list. Now don't get me wrong! I already told you, I love democracy. I miss it really. But there are weaknesses in the way it is practiced in democratic countries around the world. The biggest weakness: people. Politics involves trillions and trillions of dollars and untold power. Expose a less than saintly person to that and he/she becomes part of the problem and not part of the solution. The biggest problem I see in politics is that it needs to be made less attractive to the people who are attracted to it. People who love money. Well, that may be an understatement. People who lust after money. People who roll around naked in money. People who would love to have money instead of hair growing out of their heads. You get the idea. Let's see, is Harper one of these people? He once called the Kyoto Protocol, "A socialist scheme designed to suck money out of rich countries." It's said with the assumption that we all believe, as he clearly does, that thinking about society, (socialism), is an inferior philosophy to thinking about money, (capitalism).
Then voters, because they are fragile, weak, flawed human beings, take these insanely greedy people, usually two or three of them, and vote for one. "Vote," like they would vote for their country in something like, oh, let's say a meaningless game of women's soccer. Do Americans like soccer? No! Do they like WOMEN'S soccer? HELL no! But wrap the players in stars and stripes and somehow attach some patriotism to it and between 20 and 25 million of them will watch it on TV hating the other side and loving these girls they've never heard of before. Just over 7 million watched the Stanley Cup finals! Why? Not NATIONAL teams playing. Wonder how many American guys had the investment of 40 bucks in a U.S. women's soccer jersey pay off when a cute girl in a bar joined them in celebration of the win. Folks, don't judge me. Millions of men everywhere think this way. Don't shoot the messenger. And don't assume this guy went to the trouble of making that sign JUST because he may believe it.
At any rate, let's get back to the message on the sign. It erroneously assumes that there are other candidates who would not only do things differently than the bad politicians that get elected, but that they'd do things BETTER than the bad politicians who get elected. Well let's use the baddest of the bad. Does anyone even remember who Harper ran against last election? Does it even matter? My position is no on that one. For all we know that other guy DID win. The election was fraudulent. Harper cheated! Should there be a royal commission on electoral reform and party financing? Sure should! Did Harper de-fund the office that could make that happen? Sure did! Was he found guilty in a court of law? Sure was! Was he removed from government or stripped of his office? Sure wasn't? Somewhere Ben Johnson is going, "What de fuck mon?" Well apparently, yes, Harper cheated, but it didn't affect the outcome. Maybe Ben Johnson being roided up didn't affect the outcome of the 1988 100 m. final or his 9.79 world record. But the Olympics are more fair than Elections Canada I guess. More olympian. And how many of you would even TRY the argument with your partner, "Yeah, sure, I cheated, but it didn't mean anything, honey, I didn't love her/him," if you were caught cheating? Not only was he convicted of cheating, but he has repeatedly done things in secret, often while in China, that he KNOWS the Canadian public doesn't like. That is, he has done undemocratic things. He was found to be in contempt of parliament for crying out loud! A 156-145 vote of no confidence for failing to disclose the full financial details of his tougher crime legislation, corporate tax cuts and plans to purchase stealth fighter jets is what lead to the election he proceeded to win through cheating. And he has continued to thumb his nose at Canadians and do whatever the hell he wants, (which is usually whatever we DON'T want), while in office.
Not long before that another cheater won the presidency of the United States. And what a presidency! Harper is doing his best to top the disaster George Dubyuh wreaked on America. And what is happening is people are noticing that now you don't even have to WIN the leadership of Canada or the U.S. As long as you get in, you're fine. This attracts even more of the worst possible people for the jobs. So, no, sign holder, no, the non-votes of good people DON'T elect bad people to office. Cheating does. And this makes for governments that do almost everything the people DON'T want. This is the absolute opposite of democracy.
And now, Harper is actually running AGAIN!!! And here's an article that describes how he actually might WIN again!!! What are his tactics? 1. Research on small groups of voters that could be persuaded to vote Conservative. Not the kind of research you or I can do, the research you need heightened policing tactics to perform. Kinda like spying and snooping. Hence, C-51. So in order to get that he will have to convince the Canadian public of the ludicrous assertion that Canada's terrorist attack possibilities are at threat level red. The fact is there may be a few more people who dislike Canada but only because of recent acts of the Harper government to strengthen our international anti-terror stance. So that's 2. Convince Canadians to never not be afraid. Of terrorists. Who all have relatives living in Canada. Possibly training in Canada. Come on! 3. One of the groups of people who CAN be convinced to vote for this douchebag is the newcomers to Canada group. There are unbelievable advantages being given to foreigners, (and paid for by Canadian people). Investments, as I have pointed out before, for foreigners are sometimes half as expensive and completely tax free! I have to pay 10% to buy a condo in Vancouver. Foreigners pay 5%. If its value goes up I pay 70% capital gains tax. Foreigners pay zilch. There are investments, not just in Hongcouver, all over Canada from which Canadian citizens are excluded! The majority of the foreigners to whom Harper is catering are, you guessed it, Chinese. This is why I call Harper's Canada, "Chinada." And 4. The Conservative party have perfected mud slinging. Easy to do if your opponents provide you with mud to sling.
What needs to be done is pretty simple. Back at the beginning I talked about real democracy. The kids in my neighbourhood weren't voting for people, we were voting for ideas: hockey or football. The time has come. We have the technology. Let's vote for ideas. The only people who say it's economically and logstically unfeasable are the overpaid liars whose jobs will be eliminated and whose power and riches will thereby be lost.
Or at the very least we need to make politics less attractive to the scumbags that are attracted to it by removing or at least limiting the corruption. If anything it's getting worse and so are the candidates. This is a view of politics that is becoming more and more attractive to me. If voting changed anything it would be illegal. I don't side with old Churchill in believing that our system of democratic government is the worst there is, except for all others. I think there are better ways to do things. Me with my crazy optimism again!
So good luck, Canada on the election. I will be withholding my vote because I don't support the platforms of any candidate, nor do I think any candidate will stick to their platforms. And I will continue to complain about the government of my country BECAUSE I didn't enable the election thereof. I wish the whole country would wake up and see things the way they really are instead of the 1% we may or may not know.
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