Tuition fees conflict
People who have social/political opinions are people I admire... in theory. I often find myself unable to have such strong opinions because there's always a reasonable doubt in my mind that forbids me to take a side.
For example: Québec (the Canadian province I live in) is in the middle of a HUGE conflict about tuition fees. The province's government wants to raise the tuition fees by 75%, but the public opinion is very divided, about half of the population does not approve this project at all. There's a huge student strike going on, it has lasted over 13 weeks so far, and there has been daily manifestations. It's all we hear about on the news over here. The manifestations are supposed to be pacific, of course, but ill-intentioned people take advantage of the chaotic situation to vandalize and be violent. Many manifestations have taken a turn for the worst, including one held in the city I live in, innocent civilians getting seriously injured (though none killed, correct me if I'm wrong). I remember a man losing an eye and a woman having her teeth broken by a police thrown projectile (it's unfortunate, but she was at the wrong place at the wrong time).
Everyone is getting a bad reputation from this conflict. The protesters are described as blood seeking hippies, the police is described as overly violent and the government is described as a vile two-faced entity that won't listen to the population.
The situation is pretty sombre. Negotiations between the government and opposing parties has just started last week and already, the government is deceiving opposing parties by phrasing the agreement drafts to its advantages.
The problem is --like the other 50% of the population-- I'm undecided. I cannot say I approve the raise of the tuition fees, 75% sounds like way too much to me, but I certainly do not approve a tax raise (Québec's population is one of the most taxed on the planet, 50% of our income goes to taxes) or the violence of the manifestations and blaming the police seems like the wrong way to go. After all, they're only doing their job, and unless I'm mistaken, the police has never deliberately hurt protesters. Yet they are the target of all sorts of critiques. I didn't see their work with my own eyes, but I feel like blaming them for a lost eye or broken teeth is too much. The mob was violent, the police are people too, they got scared and they tried to protect themselves to best as they could, what's wrong with that?
One particular friend of mine on facebook is very active defending the protesters. Overly active. Which brings me back to the sentence I opened this entry with: "People who have social/political opinions are people I admire... in theory". To me, she's not impartial anymore, everything and anything the protesters do is legitimate and everything else is wrong. Which annoys the hell out of me. I want to just hide her statuses, and even unfriend her. But then, I would feel like I'm playing the ostrich: the only way I really know whats going on and have and inside view of the protesters side are through the tens of links she shares everyday. In a way, I don't want to lose that, but I am very uncomfortable with the stories and opinions I read trough the links she shares. It's a shame, really, but the overexposure to "martyr protesters" has made me dislike them. I'm all for their cause, but not for their ways.
I really hate conflicts, they are the worst. I read The Rose of Versailles recently, its a historical manga about the French Revolution. "French Revolution" were just words to me before I read that manga. I had no idea what it was about in reality. Now I know (or at least I feel like I do). And it is way too similar to the tuition fees conflict going on right now. It's scary. I feel like Québec needs to change, yet I don't want to go through a small French Revolution in Québec.
Student unrest: It's about more than tuition fees
EDIT:
This particular overly active friend of mine, I've known since high school. At one point in my life, she was the person I most identified with, I shared so much with her. It didn't last long though, her parents didn't like me because I "didn't smile enough" (both her parents were psychologists) so upon her recommendation we parted slightly, then I graduated and went to college, and she moved to a bigger city where she undertook art studies. She's become an artist. But not just "a person who makes art", the kind of artist that is inaccessible, an intellectual artist. As far as I'm concerned, I respect artists who are "people who make art", simply. I don't especially value the social and political opinions of intellectual artists. "Cloud shovellers", we call them over here... The kind of people who look down at you because you don't have the same amount of culture as they do, and find it unacceptable to be so uninterested in art, music, theatre and whatnot. I have lost a great deal of admiration for her, and I am losing more every time she shares one of those pro red square link (the red square is the protesters logo). I don't see her often and I haven't seen her in a long time, but really, I feel pressured and judged whenever she's "around". I wonder what she'd think of me if I were to post pro tuition fees raise status on facebook. I get the feeling that she'd be offended and take me off her friends list rather than calmly argue. I'm just making suppositions here. But that's the feeling I get.
I don't know what's wrong with me, but every time I have friends I really care about, I feel like I'm the one making all the efforts to keep that friendship. Like I really want to keep them as friends, but they have better friends and they don't really care about me. That pro red square friend, I really really liked her, I went to visit her for her birthday once (I remind you she lived in a faraway city), she didn't seem so thrilled, like I was a black sheep among her new artist friends... Another example: Earlier in my high school years, I had planned something with my best friend of the time, it was really important to me, yet she decided to sleep in rather than to accompany me... later she could not trust my family, she wanted them to sign a contract discharging her from any mishaps while my family & I would stay over at our apartment for a few weeks. This ended up putting an end to our friendship. No matter how many times I tried to contact her, she kept insulting me for finding my own apartment instead. It may seem like I was the traitor, but why wouldn't she just trust us? My family is no hillbilly bunch! She's the traitor to me. I also remember a friend I had when I was little... of course she was a few years older than me and we were only children, but I liked her a lot and she always tried to get rid of me... I may have been only 5, I understood very well what she was doing, nevertheless. And then there are a few artists I've been friends with online, some for several years and met in real life several times, they disappeared from the web/changed their nick and didn't judge it necessary to warn me. I found out several years later, and I know it's silly, but I can't help but take it a little personally. Not once an online friend came to visit me, I'm always the one who travelled to meet them. Don't people value my friendship? I've learned to completely dissociate myslef from other people. I flee social events and I don't want any contacts with other people other than family and work. It's sad, really. But I find this less hurtful than having to accept that other people don't value me enough to keep me as a friend. The result is the same anyway, I end up alone.
EDIT (again)
Blep. Sorry for the angst, that was uncalled for. My social life sums up to deceptions XD; I envy people who have a lot of friends, but I can't do it.
For example: Québec (the Canadian province I live in) is in the middle of a HUGE conflict about tuition fees. The province's government wants to raise the tuition fees by 75%, but the public opinion is very divided, about half of the population does not approve this project at all. There's a huge student strike going on, it has lasted over 13 weeks so far, and there has been daily manifestations. It's all we hear about on the news over here. The manifestations are supposed to be pacific, of course, but ill-intentioned people take advantage of the chaotic situation to vandalize and be violent. Many manifestations have taken a turn for the worst, including one held in the city I live in, innocent civilians getting seriously injured (though none killed, correct me if I'm wrong). I remember a man losing an eye and a woman having her teeth broken by a police thrown projectile (it's unfortunate, but she was at the wrong place at the wrong time).
Everyone is getting a bad reputation from this conflict. The protesters are described as blood seeking hippies, the police is described as overly violent and the government is described as a vile two-faced entity that won't listen to the population.
The situation is pretty sombre. Negotiations between the government and opposing parties has just started last week and already, the government is deceiving opposing parties by phrasing the agreement drafts to its advantages.
The problem is --like the other 50% of the population-- I'm undecided. I cannot say I approve the raise of the tuition fees, 75% sounds like way too much to me, but I certainly do not approve a tax raise (Québec's population is one of the most taxed on the planet, 50% of our income goes to taxes) or the violence of the manifestations and blaming the police seems like the wrong way to go. After all, they're only doing their job, and unless I'm mistaken, the police has never deliberately hurt protesters. Yet they are the target of all sorts of critiques. I didn't see their work with my own eyes, but I feel like blaming them for a lost eye or broken teeth is too much. The mob was violent, the police are people too, they got scared and they tried to protect themselves to best as they could, what's wrong with that?
One particular friend of mine on facebook is very active defending the protesters. Overly active. Which brings me back to the sentence I opened this entry with: "People who have social/political opinions are people I admire... in theory". To me, she's not impartial anymore, everything and anything the protesters do is legitimate and everything else is wrong. Which annoys the hell out of me. I want to just hide her statuses, and even unfriend her. But then, I would feel like I'm playing the ostrich: the only way I really know whats going on and have and inside view of the protesters side are through the tens of links she shares everyday. In a way, I don't want to lose that, but I am very uncomfortable with the stories and opinions I read trough the links she shares. It's a shame, really, but the overexposure to "martyr protesters" has made me dislike them. I'm all for their cause, but not for their ways.
I really hate conflicts, they are the worst. I read The Rose of Versailles recently, its a historical manga about the French Revolution. "French Revolution" were just words to me before I read that manga. I had no idea what it was about in reality. Now I know (or at least I feel like I do). And it is way too similar to the tuition fees conflict going on right now. It's scary. I feel like Québec needs to change, yet I don't want to go through a small French Revolution in Québec.
Student unrest: It's about more than tuition fees
EDIT:
This particular overly active friend of mine, I've known since high school. At one point in my life, she was the person I most identified with, I shared so much with her. It didn't last long though, her parents didn't like me because I "didn't smile enough" (both her parents were psychologists) so upon her recommendation we parted slightly, then I graduated and went to college, and she moved to a bigger city where she undertook art studies. She's become an artist. But not just "a person who makes art", the kind of artist that is inaccessible, an intellectual artist. As far as I'm concerned, I respect artists who are "people who make art", simply. I don't especially value the social and political opinions of intellectual artists. "Cloud shovellers", we call them over here... The kind of people who look down at you because you don't have the same amount of culture as they do, and find it unacceptable to be so uninterested in art, music, theatre and whatnot. I have lost a great deal of admiration for her, and I am losing more every time she shares one of those pro red square link (the red square is the protesters logo). I don't see her often and I haven't seen her in a long time, but really, I feel pressured and judged whenever she's "around". I wonder what she'd think of me if I were to post pro tuition fees raise status on facebook. I get the feeling that she'd be offended and take me off her friends list rather than calmly argue. I'm just making suppositions here. But that's the feeling I get.
I don't know what's wrong with me, but every time I have friends I really care about, I feel like I'm the one making all the efforts to keep that friendship. Like I really want to keep them as friends, but they have better friends and they don't really care about me. That pro red square friend, I really really liked her, I went to visit her for her birthday once (I remind you she lived in a faraway city), she didn't seem so thrilled, like I was a black sheep among her new artist friends... Another example: Earlier in my high school years, I had planned something with my best friend of the time, it was really important to me, yet she decided to sleep in rather than to accompany me... later she could not trust my family, she wanted them to sign a contract discharging her from any mishaps while my family & I would stay over at our apartment for a few weeks. This ended up putting an end to our friendship. No matter how many times I tried to contact her, she kept insulting me for finding my own apartment instead. It may seem like I was the traitor, but why wouldn't she just trust us? My family is no hillbilly bunch! She's the traitor to me. I also remember a friend I had when I was little... of course she was a few years older than me and we were only children, but I liked her a lot and she always tried to get rid of me... I may have been only 5, I understood very well what she was doing, nevertheless. And then there are a few artists I've been friends with online, some for several years and met in real life several times, they disappeared from the web/changed their nick and didn't judge it necessary to warn me. I found out several years later, and I know it's silly, but I can't help but take it a little personally. Not once an online friend came to visit me, I'm always the one who travelled to meet them. Don't people value my friendship? I've learned to completely dissociate myslef from other people. I flee social events and I don't want any contacts with other people other than family and work. It's sad, really. But I find this less hurtful than having to accept that other people don't value me enough to keep me as a friend. The result is the same anyway, I end up alone.
EDIT (again)
Blep. Sorry for the angst, that was uncalled for. My social life sums up to deceptions XD; I envy people who have a lot of friends, but I can't do it.