Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-08-19, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19,1992. PAGE 5. Arthur Black The dangers of over-sterilization There was a time when you could make a joke about almost anybody - thrifty Scots, sleazy lawyers, dumb jocks, absent-minded professors, libidinous priests - and get a laugh. Those days are gone. We live in the Age of Sensitivity. Of Political Correctness. Never has the Importance of Being Earnest been more manifest. I read in my newspaper that psychiatrists are objecting to the movie Silence of the Lambs. They don't like the fact that the villain, Hannibal Lector, is a cannibal. They want the public to know that psychiatrists, by and large, do not consume their clientele. Similarly, veterinary surgeons are raising a hue and cry about the movie Beethoven, because it features a vet who kidnaps dogs for research. It's a familiar story. Nowadays, any movie featuring mafiosi is sure to be picketed by Italians outraged at the “stereotyping” of their people. Any new book that portrays Iroquois or Apaches, Blackfoot or Inuit, as anything less than noble and oppressed buckskin-clad saints is bound to draw howls llnternational Scene Unemployment - a world curse When the Swiss start complaining about the high level of unemployment in their country, it is time to really sit up and take notice. For years that country has operated about as close to a zero level of unemployment as it is possible to get. However, they are not there now and it bothers them. I assured them when I was there that it bothered us too; after all, our rate of 11.5 per cent was considerably higher than theirs, although we had a rate of inflation that was somewhat lower than theirs. However, that is another story. What I want to do in this article is to look at a few of the causes of this international malady; most of what I have to say has relevance for Canada as well since the nature of the beast does not change too much from country to country. First of all, whether we like it or not, we still have to contend with the economic cycle during which periods of prosperity alternate with periods of recession/depression. We have yet to find a way to smooth out the path of economic growth so that we will move steadily upwards in our march toward a higher standard of living. The fact remains that the seeds of a downturn are frequently to be found in the previous period of prosperity. When just about everybody is working, people tend to go out and spend their money more rapidly than they would at the bottom end of the cycle. They buy new cars and other durable goods either to replace the ones that they already have, but which are wearing out, or else they are of outrage. As topics for light-hearted banter, women, gays and, all minorities (save WASPS) are now off-limits. Verboten. Taboo. Nobody will moum the passing of racist and sexist stereotypes - they're ugly and moronic. But there is a danger of over­ sterilization too. We could become so hyper- censorious as to render everything we talk about meaningless. Take the term ‘People of Colour’. Peel off its veneer of political rectitude and you find a profoundly racist ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ term. It puts white people on one side and everyone else - black, brown, yellow and copper-skinned people - on the other. Well, damnit, I'm a Person of Colotfr too. Off-pink as it happens, but definitely coloured. Yet the term People of Colour excludes me. It's not the only example of linguistic goofiness making the rounds these days. Are you fat, like me? Never fear. Once the New World Word Police get finished, no one will ever dare call you tubby, fatso or Mister Four-by-Four again. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance advises that the officially approved terminology for lardbuckets like us will henceforth be “people of size”. Even the traditionally down-to-earth world of agriculture is not immune to Newspeak. By Raymond Canon entering the market for the first time and want to have as much of the good life as they can possibly get. This means that sooner or later the demand for such products drops off. The result? You guessed it; layoffs in those industries. This state goes even further when people borrow in great amounts to add to their purchases. This is what happened to both Canadians and Americans in the 1980's. Consumer debt hit an all time high and just kept right on going, which helped prolong the prosperity period. However, banks and other lending institutions being what they are, the same consumers are expected to pay their debts and thus, if they are running down debt, they are not running up purchases. This is what is being done right now and of course it all adds to the downturn and hence greater unemployment. Most of the industrialized nations, including Canada, rely a great deal on trade for their prosperity; they have what are called open economies. To give you one example, in Canada one worker out of every three owes his job to international trade and commerce; a similar percentage exists in Holland. If a country's foreign customers are having problems of their own and are reducing their imports; the exporting countries suffer as well. Right now there is not one of the leading industrial nations which is at the prosperity stage of the cycle; because of this, exporting is not up to the level that it should be. This all causes more fuel to be added to the unemployment fires. It is probably clear to everybody by now that we are living in a time of great change. This is just as true in industry as anywhere else. One product of this rapid change is that companies have to be constantly concerned with more efficient ways of producing their goods or services; this is what we call productivity. Unemployment can result for one or both for two reasons. Changes in manufacturing processes may mean greater Remember shepherds and milkmaids? Well, forget ‘em. In Britain, at least, they've been transformed into the Professional Herdspersons Society. Before you laugh loo loudly at the silly Brits, I should tell you about our own John Efford. His business card describes him as the Chairperson of the United Fisherpersons of Newfoundland and Labrador. Where does all this dopey stuff come from? From our schools, I fear. Mealy- mouth, meaningless loppy lingo flourishes in the Groves of Academe. Consider these recently harvested nuggets of educational jargon: Learning facilitator: teacher Negative attention-getting: class troublemaker Deficit at grading period: failed Where will the madness end? Beats me. British botanists are the latest target. They're being accused of “biological racism” for their habit of classifying plants as ‘native’ or ‘alien’. Here at home, Mark Meisner of Pollution Probe is going after opportunistic corporate tycoons claiming their products are “environmentally friendly”. Meisner's recommendation? He says almost anything labelled “green” should be blacklisted. Poor Mark. He has much to learn. I'm sure he meant to say List of Colourlisted. / use of machines and less of people. If a company does not move with the times, there may be a reduced demand for its products; this, too, leads to layoffs, some of which can be the permanent kind. We can even find totally different ways of doing things. I recall when steam engines were replaced by the diesel kind, this meant that the fireman were not doing their job; they were probably doing it very well. However, there is quite a difference between steam and diesel and they got caught in the difference. There have been many more such examples and there will be many still to come. Finally, the Swiss may be able to get their employment down to next to zero; most countries can't. In Canada, for example, economists consider rock-bottom unemployment to be at about the five - six per cent level. In other countries this may be a three - four per cent, but no matter. It is there and, unless we can bring about dramatic changes, it will continue to plague us. When we talk about what to do to reduce fluctuations, there are a lot of ifs. If we could make consumers spend more evenly, borrow less at peak times, if we could have companies strive to increase their productivity as well as market more aggressively, if we could bring in technological change in a more rational manner, we could do a great deal to reduce the number of people who find themselves out of work. However, ask yourself one question. Would you like someone telling you how much to spend and when to spend it? I doubt it very much, and thus some level of unemployment will always be with us. Political leaders, including Bob Ray, have discovered or are in the process of finding out that spending large hunks of money which you have not raised in taxes, makes little more than a dent in the figures. Ideas, anyone? The Short of it | By Bonnie Gropp Cycling helmets, not ‘uncool’ This week a young teen in the Toronto area was killed while riding his bicycle in a parking lot; not by a sniper's bullet, not by a mugger, not by a hit and run driver. While riding he ran over something and was thrown a tremendous distance. Had he been wearing a helmet he would have survived I couldn't help thinking how tragic a loss of life is when it could so easily have been avoided. The radio broadcaster made a strong point when he said that many kids are reluctant to wear helmets because, quite simply, it's not considered a 'cool' thing to do. It's an amazing, but sad, reality what power there is in peer pressure for young people. That friends can dictate what should be independent choice, can tease away any of the fragile self-confidence many youths possess has always been a strong force with sometimes frightening results. Fear of being a laughingstock, of being ostracized, will make it difficult for parents to force reason and will instill a steely determination in a youngster or adolescent. I remember as a teen walking over a mile to high school in the winter with very bare legs. Skirts, as you may well remember, were, in the 60's, not much. It was virtually a sin to wear anything but knee socks. I can remember the horror I felt when my mother suggested that it might be warmer if I were to wear leotards. Leotards! "Mom, they’re for kids. Everyone would laugh at me. I wouldn't have any friends left." In a placating manner, she suggested nylons as a possible alternative. Though thin, they would provide some cover against the elements on a frosty winter morning when biting pellets of snow or sleet would often drive against my then, very skinny limbs. "Get serious, Mom. Gosh, don't you know anything?"" Having only tried to provide a sensible solution to an illogical problem my mother let me have my own way. Though my legs were victims of bonechilling numbness and a bright red in colour by the time I reached school each winter morn, I was never an object of ridicule. At least I didn't think so then. Looking back now, it seems pretty ridiculous. Cold legs is not a life and death situation, which makes the issue of cycling helmets even sadder. There are many things that we can do to make us appear foolish, but it should certainly not be in regards to our own safety. Like the battle with seat belts, which began some time ago, I'm afraid this one may also take some time to win. No statistics will convince young people as much as the opinion of their peers. That is why children should be encouraged to wear helmets when cycling, even for only short distances around town. According to the Canadian Standards Association many people, especially children, are injured or killed while cycling because they didn't have on a helmet. Most of these injuries happen close to home and are caused by falls not collisions. We protect our children so closely it is difficult to imagine that we could be frivolous about any aspect of their safety. If they balk at first, we should stand firm and convince them that the ’uncool’ ones are the ones who won't protect themselves. With the provincial government suggesting mandatory use of cycling helmets the choice will hopefully be taken out of their hands.