What a week!
So, a week ago, nobody had ever heard of WO Patrice Vincent except perhaps those who worked with him and recruits who may have earned the rough edge of his tongue for screwing up during Basic. Nathan Cirillo was a Reserve corporal looking forward to the ceremonial post of guarding the Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa. Jian Ghomeshi was hosting 'Q' as he has since 2007. Rob Ford was still nominally mayor of Toronto, and here in HH, a woman with a lawsuit against the Town was running for mayor against the popular incumbent.
It's been quite a week.
This says nothing of the school shooter in Washington State, the 50th school shooting incident in the States since... ah, yes, I see your hand there, yes? Since...? Since Columbine? No, dear sweet one, no; since Sandy Hook!! Yes, since Sandy Hook in 2013! People don't go "postal" any more; they go to school, with the guns that their parents keep in the house "for self defense". Should America be taking away people's guns? Oh, heck no! Let's give everyone guns! Seeing as these school shooters are immensely likely to turn the weapon on themselves once they finish killing or wounding their stated targets, let's give everyone guns so that we can hurry them on their way with bullets flying everywhere, because of course the instant their weapon comes out, people will know (can't they hear the music on the soundtrack? Did they miss the closeup on the shooter's eyes when he went from "normal" to "insane"?), and will beat him to the first shot (John Wayne always drew second, and yet beat the bad guy to the draw!). Am I ranting? Probably. Can America do anything about it? Probably not. They've had a "gun culture" for so long that they can make the red tape as long as they want, someone will shortcut it and use their gun or the gun they picked up from a buddy ("Can I borrow this?") or on the street or wherever to commit their crime of choice. ("Five day waiting period?! I can't stay angry that long!!")
*huff, huff, huff*
*deep breath in, loooooooong breath out...*
I suppose there never has been the "simpler world" that we all long for, or at least that I am longing for right now. Maybe the first decade after 1900, when the only "war" was a short conflict between the Russians and the Japanese that most folks who look like me glanced at with a raised eyebrow and a shrug. It was "over there," and didn't involve us. Oh, wait - we sent lumberjacks to the Boer War, didn't we...? Then, of course, we had WWI, the Prohibition years in the US (aided and abetted by the rum-runners from Windsor), the Great Depression, WWII, the transitional years of the 50's when the troops came back and found nothing was really all that thrilling except for building, building and more building, the 60's counter-culture, the 70's counter-counter-culture, the 80's and big hair, the 90's and crack... Nope. There's always been chaos, right at the borders of reason.
In twenty years, we will look back on this decade and probably wonder how we ever got through it. This is the decade of Twitter and Facebook and everybody instantly knowing everybody else's business. John A. MacDonald once puked on his desk during an opponent's speech in the house, thanks to oodles of gin consumed in his office, and when he had done so, he is said to have remarked something to the effect of, "My thoughts on your words, sir." We wink and say, "Oh, you little scamp, you," because we don't have pictures, video, papparazzi rooting though his recyclables to find the bottles, and an instant history of his drinking at our fingertips, nor public pressure to condemn such actions (while simulatneously pressuring to legalize marijuana and allow sex workers to charge taxes and/or unionize 'for their own protection') from one side, with the other defending his greatness and breadth of vision to their dying breath.
Jian Ghomeshi doesn't think his "little bit of kink" should be a cause for firing - why? Because it's not on video, the way Ray Rice striking his then-fiancee is? Because no one has taken pictures of marks he has left behind, as with Adrian Peterson's son? Oh, wait - is it because he's not married, because every sexual encounter with him is simply a casual physical relationship that he controls from start to finish? Therefore, it shouldn't count? Oh, and because he's popular, the women haven't come forward because they knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they would be blamed for casting aspersions on a much-loved radio and music personality, that they would be held responsible and called "slut" and "whore" by a rampaging public. People have ranted, "All these women, and not one police report?" No, because they think they're the only one, because they don't want to be thought of as "kinky", and because they're embarrassed that something that should have been fun turned into a nightmare. I think of the marathon runner who had diarrhea during a race. Haven't seen the picture? You can Google it. Right. This. Instant. You may not know his name, but if you ever saw his face, you'd be able to say, "You're the guy who crapped himself and it got posted to the Internet!" These women just wanted the encounter to go away. But once it's out there, once they are out there, they can never go back. (Monica Lewinsky, anyone?)
I hate the internet, as much as I love it and rely on it. It's insane - the amount of good that can come from it (soldiers able to talk to their families in real-time over something like Skype) and the amount of evil it can be use to propagate.
*huff*, *huff*, *huff*
*Deep breath in.* *Loooooong breath out...*
It's been quite a week.
This says nothing of the school shooter in Washington State, the 50th school shooting incident in the States since... ah, yes, I see your hand there, yes? Since...? Since Columbine? No, dear sweet one, no; since Sandy Hook!! Yes, since Sandy Hook in 2013! People don't go "postal" any more; they go to school, with the guns that their parents keep in the house "for self defense". Should America be taking away people's guns? Oh, heck no! Let's give everyone guns! Seeing as these school shooters are immensely likely to turn the weapon on themselves once they finish killing or wounding their stated targets, let's give everyone guns so that we can hurry them on their way with bullets flying everywhere, because of course the instant their weapon comes out, people will know (can't they hear the music on the soundtrack? Did they miss the closeup on the shooter's eyes when he went from "normal" to "insane"?), and will beat him to the first shot (John Wayne always drew second, and yet beat the bad guy to the draw!). Am I ranting? Probably. Can America do anything about it? Probably not. They've had a "gun culture" for so long that they can make the red tape as long as they want, someone will shortcut it and use their gun or the gun they picked up from a buddy ("Can I borrow this?") or on the street or wherever to commit their crime of choice. ("Five day waiting period?! I can't stay angry that long!!")
*huff, huff, huff*
*deep breath in, loooooooong breath out...*
I suppose there never has been the "simpler world" that we all long for, or at least that I am longing for right now. Maybe the first decade after 1900, when the only "war" was a short conflict between the Russians and the Japanese that most folks who look like me glanced at with a raised eyebrow and a shrug. It was "over there," and didn't involve us. Oh, wait - we sent lumberjacks to the Boer War, didn't we...? Then, of course, we had WWI, the Prohibition years in the US (aided and abetted by the rum-runners from Windsor), the Great Depression, WWII, the transitional years of the 50's when the troops came back and found nothing was really all that thrilling except for building, building and more building, the 60's counter-culture, the 70's counter-counter-culture, the 80's and big hair, the 90's and crack... Nope. There's always been chaos, right at the borders of reason.
In twenty years, we will look back on this decade and probably wonder how we ever got through it. This is the decade of Twitter and Facebook and everybody instantly knowing everybody else's business. John A. MacDonald once puked on his desk during an opponent's speech in the house, thanks to oodles of gin consumed in his office, and when he had done so, he is said to have remarked something to the effect of, "My thoughts on your words, sir." We wink and say, "Oh, you little scamp, you," because we don't have pictures, video, papparazzi rooting though his recyclables to find the bottles, and an instant history of his drinking at our fingertips, nor public pressure to condemn such actions (while simulatneously pressuring to legalize marijuana and allow sex workers to charge taxes and/or unionize 'for their own protection') from one side, with the other defending his greatness and breadth of vision to their dying breath.
Jian Ghomeshi doesn't think his "little bit of kink" should be a cause for firing - why? Because it's not on video, the way Ray Rice striking his then-fiancee is? Because no one has taken pictures of marks he has left behind, as with Adrian Peterson's son? Oh, wait - is it because he's not married, because every sexual encounter with him is simply a casual physical relationship that he controls from start to finish? Therefore, it shouldn't count? Oh, and because he's popular, the women haven't come forward because they knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they would be blamed for casting aspersions on a much-loved radio and music personality, that they would be held responsible and called "slut" and "whore" by a rampaging public. People have ranted, "All these women, and not one police report?" No, because they think they're the only one, because they don't want to be thought of as "kinky", and because they're embarrassed that something that should have been fun turned into a nightmare. I think of the marathon runner who had diarrhea during a race. Haven't seen the picture? You can Google it. Right. This. Instant. You may not know his name, but if you ever saw his face, you'd be able to say, "You're the guy who crapped himself and it got posted to the Internet!" These women just wanted the encounter to go away. But once it's out there, once they are out there, they can never go back. (Monica Lewinsky, anyone?)
I hate the internet, as much as I love it and rely on it. It's insane - the amount of good that can come from it (soldiers able to talk to their families in real-time over something like Skype) and the amount of evil it can be use to propagate.
*huff*, *huff*, *huff*
*Deep breath in.* *Loooooong breath out...*