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The Citizen, 2018-02-01, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018. PAGE 5. Other Views It's time to stop and ask questions The seats are very comfortable on the bandwagon, but the view can sometimes be obstructed. There are two issues these days that are so "right" that many people can comfortably tag along with the crowd without asking questions, even if sometimes we should. A large proportion of people in the U.S., Canada and around the world take it for granted that U.S. President Donald Trump is stupid, if not a touch crazy. Nearly every day he tweets or says something to confirm our opinion that he is a narcissistic bonehead who makes decisions based on his personal opinion which is not backed up by facts. But when we dismiss everything Trump does, maybe we're becoming blind ourselves. Recently, Jaime Watt, Toronto Star columnist and Conservative Party strategist, suggested Trump may be accomplishing more than people give him credit for. Most obvious of these accomplishments, for a conservative like Watt, is the U.S. President's enormous tax reform bill. Many progressive people see this as another example of trickle-down economics — that if the rich have extra money the rest of us will benefit from their spending. Their doubts may in the end prove correct but it's also true that some U.S. corporations have been keeping huge amounts of profits outside the country, not wanting to pay the heavy U.S. corporate tax rate. By offering breaks to corporations if they bring this money home and invest it in creating jobs Trump may help the economy. Apple, for instance has pledged to invest $55 billion this year and $350 billion over the next five years, creating 20,000 new jobs. Harder to accept is Watt's suggestion that perhaps Trump is accomplishing more in foreign affairs than we think Perhaps his Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk insults and threats are making North Korea worry that he really might attack them and are having an effect, Watt suggests, citing a high- ranking North Korean defector who claimed past U.S. presidents were too "gentle" in their treatment of the rogue nation. Watt also credits Trump's tough talk about Iran for encouraging recent street protests by opponents of the regime. He also claims Russia has been less aggressive toward its neighbours since Trump came to the Oval Office. The point isn't whether Watt's rosey view is right, or not, but that we shouldn't be as closed -minded as Trump is by easily writing him off. The other bandwagon that's careening downhill these days with no one at the controls is the #MeToo movement. Frustrations at the failure of our court system to provide justice for women who have been sexually assaulted by men has led to the sense among some people that if any woman makes a complaint against a man, she must be right and he must be wrong. In the case of someone like Harvey Weinstein, the large number of women who've come forward with accusations lends credibility to this concept even if none of the charges have been proven in court. But the issue has snowballed. The frightening place we've come to was illustrated last week by the near instantaneous destruction of the career of former Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leader Patrick Brown. When he heard that CTV was going to broadcast allegations of two anonymous women that he had behaved badly toward them several years ago (but committed no crime), he tried to head the story off by calling a news conference to say he was innocent. While he was still speaking, members of his staff were tweeting their resignations. Next, his party caucus, panicked that they might be tainted by association with a man accused of sexual harassment, insisted he resign. From revelation to complete destruction of Brown's career took four hours! Wise people are worried about where things are heading. Iconic feminist Margaret Atwood was criticized when she wondered if she'd become a "bad feminist" for asking questions. "My fundamental position is that women are human beings with the full range of saintly and demonic behaviours this entails, including criminal ones," she wrote in The Globe and Mail. "They're not angels, incapable of wrong doing. "Furthermore, I believe that in order to have civil and human rights for women there have to be civil and human rights period, including the right to fundamental justice..." The #MeToo movement has been valuable in reshaping the idea of proper behaviour in the workplace and, hopefully, making men in positions of power realize using the bodies of women around them as they please isn't one of the perks of their job. We're in dangerous territory, however when accusation becomes conviction becomes execution as in Brown's case. When the mob is running in one direction it's often smart for the free -thinking individual to ask if the crowd is thinking straight. Speaking on (only) my own behalf When writing my column, I try to stay away from identifying individuals (except for politicians and celebrities) but when someone starts making claims on my behalf, I change the rules. It's happened. Once or twice someone has said that I've felt one way or another when they don't know the truth of the matter. It's not usually something I let get under my skin because I have this space on a weekly basis to tell everyone what is on my mind. Recently, however, I found myself being falsely represented as a Blyth ratepayer, not by a politician, not by a municipal staff member, but by an East Wawanosh ratepayer. John Brown of Belgrave holds a belief that the Wingham Police Service should not cover the rest of the municipality due to the increased cost. "As far as East Wawanosh and Blyth, we're going to keep the OPP," he said in a meeting regarding Wingham policing last month. While he is entitled to his opinion, Mr. Brown took things a step too far, claiming he was speaking on behalf of Blyth and East Wawanosh when he couldn't possibly know the will of the individuals within those wards. I'm not saying I'm running out to sign on for yet another tax increase. I'm also not knocking the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) at all, but, after hearing how great the Wingham department is from multiple ratepayers at that same meeting, I started wondering about the benefits of an officer dedicated to Blyth and East Wawanosh. I come from Goderich and, in 1998, the town switched from its own police service to the Ontario Provincial Police. The decision wasn't exactly universally applauded. I wasn't around to see any of the changes as my family moved away soon after, but it wasn't long until I began hearing complaints. Complaints included, but weren't limited to, Denny Scott Denny's Den response times, community visibility and community services. It's possible these concerns were from a few squeaky wheels (I'm not going to assume anyone spoke for all of Goderich) but the complaints were there. It was pretty clear at the meeting I attended that North Huron Council was receiving a strong message of support for the Wingham Police Service from many of those present. Those few who spoke their support were cheered by swaths of the audience. To demonstrate that kind of support while knowing the police could cost $200,000 more a year (eventually) than the OPP, shows that the ratepayers appreciate what they have. Again, I'm not dismissing the efforts of the OPP. The Citizen's editorial staff do significant amounts of work with the provincial force and, as members of the community, we also know several members of the OPP. This isn't a judgement passed on them. This is simply me saying, what's the harm in considering it? Definitive answers, like Brown's, are best left until the question is called. As it stood, Brown was answering a question that was secondary to the purpose of that meeting. Above, I said his answer could be that of many East Wawanosh residents, but I didn't say all, and there's a reason for that. Sitting in council chambers and on the street I've heard of and from East Wawanosh ratepayers who have been burgled or, worse yet, robbed while at home and while I'm not going to speak on their behalf, if that were me, I'd be interested in investigating alternatives. Whether that's paying a premium for OPP to guarantee more presence in the area to dissuade drone surveillance property theft or whether that's looking to the Wingham Police Service, I don't know. I'm also not so presumptuous to answer for other people. It's easy to paint everyone with the same brush, I know I've been guilty of it before in passing conversation. However, to do so in a public forum in front of policy -makers is not just wrong, it's doing wrong by your neighbours. Remember, just because someone has expressed frustration with something, like municipal services, doesn't mean they think life is better without it. Take, for example, computers. Right now, my office computer is acting less than exemplary and, on deadline days, you might hear me cursing the program giving me trouble if you're near my office. It doesn't mean I want to go back to Gutenberg's printing press, it just means, at that moment, I'm frustrated. Complaining about municipal services can be the same way. Increasing taxes is something to be avoided, but as I'm sure readers have heard, you can't cut your way to prosperity. Maybe having better snow removal in Blyth would be a cause worth hiring (or re -hiring) some roads staff for and, in turn, cutting some equipment expenses. Maybe having a police officer checking on Blyth's main street at night like Wingham ratepayers spoke highly of or having a more consistent police presence in East Wawanosh to dissuade property thefts in rural wards could be worth the extra $1.10 a day ($400 a year) for some ratepayers. Unfortunately, with attitudes like Brown's, we might never know. Shawn Loughlin Shawn's Sense Art in the aggregate On Friday night I was the guest speaker at the Brussels Agricultural Society's annual meeting. I have made jokes that Outgoing President Matt Cardiff simply couldn't find anyone else, but in reality, he said it was nice, for once, to hear the story of the storyteller. One of the questions I fielded after my talk was what my favourite story to report on has been over the past decade. It was a hard question to answer. Sure, there was interviewing Alan and Laurie Willits after they survived the running aground of the Costa Concordia a few years ago. That was a memorable one. There's been spending a day with Julie Sawchuk in the early days of her rehabilitation and just recently interviewing newly -minted Olympian Justin Peters. However, when I answered the question, I set my sights on the Countdown to the International Plowing Match (IPM) series Denny Scott and I undertook last year. We interviewed families and volunteers and we heard some important, touching stories. It wasn't so much one story or another in that series that made me bring it up when I was asked that question, but rather viewing the collection of our work on the IPM. For over five years, we reported on the match and the people behind it; from the announcement of the bid to Chair Jacquie Bishop's year in review, we were there from nose to tail. So when the Ontario Plowmen's Association wanted to chronicle the journey of the IPM, they came to us. And, when Secretary Lynne Godkin said the organizers wanted to create a commemorative volume, she came to us. It's that view — taking a step back to look at the scope of our work — that made me realize that what we did last year was special. I told the group on Friday night that week by week, one story at a time, essentially Denny and I had written a book on the IPM (at least in the eyes of the match's organizers). Recently seeing The Post, the Oscar - nominated movie about the reporting of the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s, I was reminded of the former Washington Post Publisher Philip L. Graham who said that journalism is "the first rough draft of history". In another Oscar -nominated movie, Phantom Thread, parallels have been drawn between writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson and his main character Reynolds Woodcock (played by Daniel Day -Lewis), a highly -regarded dressmaker in post -World War II England. In the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote that in the movie, Woodcock fights for his legacy as a dressmaker in the face of creating something that's beautiful but that beauty is fleeting. He makes a dress for a woman to wear on one occasion, never to be seen again. The same, Scott says, could be said for movies. "It's only a movie," audience members say before they move on again. However, when viewed as a body of work, what's been created is much more. Thompson has created a vastly important collection of films, just as the fictional Woodcock had built a legacy on the bodies of the women who wore his dresses, one garment at a time. So, as someone who puts his heart and soul into something that, as we always say, will be lining bird cages just a few days after they're delivered, it's good to remember the body of work being created over time. The Citizen has won awards and received compliments, but it's its year -after -year contributions to the community that make all the work worthwhile.