HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-10-27, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011. PAGE 5.
The human race has only one really effective
weapon, and that is laughter.
– Mark Twain
Our increasingly Don Cherry-like
federal government is in the process of
lashing out $9 billion for 65 fighter
jets – that’s $140 million per crate – for planes
that critics claim are absurdly unsuited to
Canada’s needs.
But that’s okay because Honest Sam, the
fast-talking guy in the stovepipe hat who sold
them to us, is throwing in a 20-year service
contract that will only cost us another $7
billion.
Sixteen billion dollars. I’m sure we could
have hired Jon Stewart for way less than that.
Stewart is, of course, the host of the popular
Daily Show, the TV news source for humour
junkies who don’t find Fox News sufficiently
hilarious. The Daily Show skewers politicians,
exposing them for the buffoons, poltroons and
baboons that they so frequently are. Trouble is,
the show’s got so much American raw material
from Washington, D.C. the Tea Party, Rick
Perry, Michelle Bachman (and of course Fox
News) it scarcely has time to train its
crosshairs on its frostbitten neighbour to the
North.
And that’s a pity. Imagine what Stewart and
his writers could do with walking punchlines
like our pudgy pit bull Foreign Affairs
Minister John Baird, the incoherent interim
NDP leader Nycole Turmel, and Defence
Minister Peter just-air-drop-me-off-at-the-
lobster-carnival MacKay. Not to mention
Darth Harper.
Jon Stewart has only one arrow in his quiver
– humour – but for the high and mighty,
humour is the H-Bomb, the ultimate weapon
of mass distraction. Tyrants can weather
insults, lies, treachery and chicanery but they
cannot abide being laughed at.
And we don’t laugh at them nearly often
enough.
During the Second World War the most
famous man on the planet was Adolf Hitler.
The second most famous was an actor named
Charlie Chaplin. Hitler loved Chaplin’s
films – until the actor made one called
The Great Dictator, which lampooned Hitler.
Hitler responded by putting Chaplin on his
death list.
In 1989 when the Velvet Revolution swept
through Czechoslovakia, peaceful protestors
came up with the ultimate ‘up yours’ to
humiliate the occupying Soviet tyrants. Under
cover of darkness they snuck up to a massive
public monument in a Czech square that
featured a menacing Russian tank. They
painted it fuchsia pink.
It is impossible to take a pink army tank
seriously.
People are warming to this new-found
weapon for the weaponless. In the decidedly
undemocratic republic of Belarus, the head
thug, Alexander Lukashenko, has recently
outlawed applause.
That’s because opponents of his regime have
been holding ‘laugh-ins’ wherein crowds of
protestors mass in front of the presidential
palace, break into huge grins and begin to
applaud – apropos of nothing. Soon waves of
laughter break out. It’s irresistible. Eventually
even the police join in.
Lukashenko goes batshit crazy whenever
this happens. His latest edict declares that
anyone caught clapping on Belarus
Independence Day will be arrested on the spot.
Can’t help but smile, can you?
Canada has had its own political pricksters –
Rick Mercer and Marg, Princess Warrior have
brought blushes to the well-upholstered
cheeks of many an Ottawa trougher, but those
platforms are getting creaky and showing their
age (did you realize This Hour Has 22 Minutes
is going on 20 years old?)
No, for real political humour with teeth you
have to go to The Daily Show and its offshoot,
The Colbert Report – even if the CanCon
percentage is lamentably low.
Currently, Stephen Colbert is lampooning
the stuffing out of the U.S. campaign finance
laws, which Republican wheel greasers and
pork barrelers have so thoroughly corrupted
they’ve managed to get corporations declared
‘citizens’ (Fred Exxon! C’mon over here and
meet Bob Wal Mart!”). That way there’s no
limit on how much said ‘citizens’ can spend to
elect their favourite candidate.
Stephen Colbert is steadfastly opposed to
such skulduggery.
“I do not accept the status quo,”
Colbert fearlessly declares. Then adds: “I do
accept Visa, MasterCard and American
Express”.
Arthur
Black
Other Views Taking on politics with humour
During the early days of the Occupy
Toronto protest, a Toronto radio station
asked the question: If these people
represent 99 per cent of the world not making
big bucks, then why the hell is the 401 still so
busy?
It’s a valid question. Perhaps the answer is
hard-working people have to get to their jobs
on a weekday.
I have made it no secret that I have little
patience for protests and Occupy Toronto is the
World Heavyweight Champion of making my
blood boil. Watching television and reading
newspaper coverage of the protest, one thing is
clear about the message: There isn’t one.
The dominant message about the Occupy
Wall Street protest is the growing gap between
the rich and the poor. And now because of that
protest, similar protests have sprung up all over
the world. At St. James Park you will find
people protesting anything from war to the
building of the “Mega-Quarry” to a whole host
of other issues. They’re just there to be there.
There is an insistence among the protesters
that those who criticize them are uninformed
about the group’s demographics. The
protesters, they say, come from all walks of
life. They are of all ages and all backgrounds.
However, despite the claims of the
protesters, it’s hard to believe these people are
employed. It is a special kind of job that allows
someone to pick up and leave for over a week
on short notice. Who knows though? I could be
wrong.
They say they represent us (unless there’s
some oil tycoon or Fortune 500 business owner
reading this column – then not you) and if
that’s the case, we need to rethink our
representation.
However, like many protests, Occupy
Toronto is yet another case of one of my
favourite terms “misdirected energy”.
It isn’t those in the top floors of Bay Street
buildings being affected by the protest, it’s the
hard-working people trying to get to work on
time.
It would be hard to disagree with the
message. The gap between the rich and the
poor is growing and the rich are getting richer
and the poor are getting poorer.
However, how is blocking a cab driver from
picking up a fare or a delivery truck driver
from his destination helping anything?
These people are working to keep
themselves afloat, to support their families and
to pay their bills. They haven’t just refused to
take part in life because they felt it was unfair
and complained about it to any news outlet
who would listen like these protesters.
The claim of every protester is always that
the common people are sheep simply accepting
what “The Man” is handing out to them.
Occupy Toronto spawned out of a protest in
New York. People in Ontario decided to create
a satellite protest of a campaign that began out
of largely American issues.
Protesting something here simply because
they did it in New York? Who are the sheep
here? Who’s just doing what they’re told?
A co-host from the aforementioned radio
station, Todd Shapiro, took a trip down to St.
James Park one morning last week with a
megaphone attempting to circle the wagons
shortly after 9 a.m. However, the majority of
the protesters were still fast asleep in their
tents, and those who weren’t, physically
escorted Todd out of the public park.
I guess they didn’t want to be bothered while
they did whatever it is they do with their day.
This was probably the first time they actually
knew what the actual 99 per cent feels like.
The great occupation
Recently Ashleigh and I decided to
renovate our bathroom. The tile and
vanity were too dated for her taste and
the vanity was too large for such a compact
commode.
The job included, among other small tasks,
removing the existing tiling, taking apart the
vanity, mirror, lights and medicine cabinet and
(the part I’m convinced Ashleigh enjoyed the
most) demolishing the existing walls that were
under the tile to be replaced.
Upon tearing out drywall Ashleigh stumbled
upon a copy of The Citizen from May 3, 1995,
that Betty Bowes, a previous owner of our
home, had placed in the wall on May 5 in
1995.
The newspaper was strangely reminiscent of
the problems of today;
Stories on the front page highlighted
municipalities arguing over arena boards,
debates regarding landfills and problems with
landowners not being able to build on
properties they had bought.
Just this week I’ve seen councils debating
road quality preventing people from building
homes, arena boards seeking support from the
municipality and both landfill sites and gravel
pits being fought for, and against, tooth and
nail.
This glimpse in the past serves to remind us
that the more things change, the more they
stay the same.
However this column isn’t going to focus on
the challenges faced by councils both of yore
and present day, but on the practice of leaving
things; be they a legacy or a newspaper in the
wall.
I’m fortunate as are all people who write
and/or take photographs professionally. Odds
are, in some form or another, especially in the
digital age, there will always be a reminder of
times past thanks to the work I’ve done.
And those reminders will bear my name, my
sense of style and my flare and, in that, I’ll
most likely live long past my recorded
expiration date.
Whether it’s through a photograph I take of
friends at their wedding or something as silly
as a group of friends huddled around a far-too
anatomically correct snowman during
Christmas break, odds are, some part of who I
am will survive through what I’ve done.
For others it’s getting easier and easier to
leave a lasting mark on the world through
technology, but one has to ask whether those
marks are the ones people want to be
remembered for.
I have friends who have completely
removed themselves from Facebook, Twitter
and all social networkings sites for fear that a
potential (or current) employer will see them
living their lives on their free time and not
approve of their activities.
Due to this fear they have “unplugged”
themselves from the digital world.
I have others who embrace social media
(aside from those who do it as their job) and
use it to connect with clients, peers or students.
The implications of these actions are highly
scrutinized by “industry experts” who state
that anything can be used against you when it
comes to potential job interviews.
I’ve heard some say that if you have an
online social presence and you have too many
pictures of yourself enjoying life, you may be
viewed as irresponsible.
On the other hand if your online presence is
spartan, potential employers may consider you
old-fashioned and not informed of current
technologies, or simply believe you are anti-
social.
It’s a game where the only way to win is to
not play... of course, that has its own problems.
I’ve heard of job applicants who have had
background checks done because they decided
not to have a Facebook profile.
It seems that, since they didn’t tweet, or use
Facebook, or advertise themselves on
LinkedIn or MySpace, their employer didn’t
believe they are who they said they are.
For a long time I was able to keep myself
separate from myself (and yes that does make
sense just give me a second).
When anyone starts post-secondary school,
they get a chance to redefine themselves.
I took this opportunity and ran with it, but
only because, aside from physical
identification, I had next to no connections to
my previous self.
I was one of only two (eventually three)
graduates from Central Huron Secondary
School on my campus and, thanks to
decentralized buildings and residences, I
barely saw anyone I had any contact with prior
to entering school.
Pair that with the fact that my residence, my
professors and the administration knew me by
my first name, James (for legal purposes, I
wasn’t trying to become some totally new
person, I just had to fill out forms with my
legal name), I was given the opportunity to
start anew.
I often wonder if that was the right thing to
do. I wonder if all those papers I wrote will not
be attributed to the same individual who writes
these columns due to my nom de plume.
However the choice was made and my
legacy may be changed because of it.
Unfortunately, the youth graduating and
heading on to post-secondary school today
may not have this luxury – social networks
may follow them wherever they go.
And, back to the newspaper that started this
all, Ashleigh and I decided to put a current
paper in the same secure spot in the wall for
the next people who decide our bathroom
designs need to be rethought.
Shawn
Loughlin
Shawn’s Sense
Denny
Scott
Denny’s Den
Be wary of the legacy you leave