Where do I see Canada in 50 years?

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:22:56 -0700

With the US, our southernly neighbours, becoming more and more Orwellian by the day, it makes me question the place of Canada in the mid to distant future. So, I think i’ll make some entirely baseless and random claims for what I think is in the cards for Canada.

First, with our own wave of Orwellian doctrine coming straight from Harper’s conservative government, I see a counter-reaction. We are much milder and reasonable than Americans, in my opinion, and he will fail to turn us into the redheaded american step child he wishes us to be. We already seen it in the last election. A big turn around and people came out in droves to support our left leaning NDP. For some reason, Harper, seeing this, decided to become even further right, and to polarize the country more. However, I don’t see Canadians as having as big a right sided base who will stand for these shenanigans. So, I believe, because of the conservatives, the next election, or atleast in the very near future, Canada will see a rise in liberal voices and votes. We will start using our resources to support a future infrastructure, we’re on the verge of legalizing marijuana, which will start the lead to decriminalize other drugs, we’ll hopefully stop artificial tuition hikes and so on.

The second biggest thing I see is pretty intuitive: global warming. With global warming, Canada should fare incredibly well. We’ll have longer summers and milder winters. We’ll have longer farming and harvesting seasons. We’ll increase our freshwater supply. We’ll have an influx of immigration on top of our already incredibly picky immigration requirements, we’ll be able to become even more picky. This will hopefully create a bit of a circular effect. More prairie provinces will start to see higher levels of investment as people start to realize that traffic volume will drastically increase with warmer weather, higher resource rates, low population density, and job availability.

Either way, good things, I think, can be expected from Canada in the future. It’s a good place to live, and while I used to be envious of other countries, I’m glad to say I live here.

This has been a delirium fueled service announcement based on bullshit hypothetical that likely have little to no practical value.

Why the Occupy Movement Matters

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:05:51 -0700

Lately, i’ve been hearing an increasing amount of negative press and opinions directed at the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement that is going on in the US (and beyond). The two most popular pejorative statements I hear are that they are “hippies with no job” and that they don’t have a clear issue, demand, or goal. Let me address both these issues, and through that, I might be able to show why this is a movement that matters.

First, ignoring the fact that their employment and social status is not only a straw man argument, but completely irrelevant to the issue, here is a pretty substantial stat. A survery of 1600 people involved in the occupy movement showed that only 13% were unemployed. Another survey, done by the Wall Street Journal, suggests that 15% were unemployed. Let’s be conservative about this, since these stats could be off. Even if the unemployment rate is at a very high (in regards to the surveys) 20%, that still means that 80% of occupiers are employed. It’s hard to define anything by only 20% of it’s members, so I don’t think the label of unemployed fits. The term hippie, though, is in my opinion an extremely vague word that I think is generally only used by an opposition when they don’t have any real basis for argument. I will say, however, that in Zuccoti Park, they were able to erect a library, a kitchen, and a medical centre. These are not unorganized hippies too lazy to get a job. These are articulate Americans who are unhappy with the situation in the US and are done being idle observers of a failing system.
But let’s for a second here oblige the opponents of the OWS and for arguments sake declare that they are, in fact, unemployed hippies. I don’t think that would have any bearing on what they are trying to get across, would it? Here are some pretty brief issues that I have noticed coming up through the OWS movement. The ‘War on Terror’ is an unwinnable imperialistic war that is sapping the United States citizens of their personal freedoms and their bank accounts while benefiting corporate interests. The “War on Drugs” is an unwinnable, unnecessary war that is pointlessly taxing its people to fund a local and hopelessly ineffective war with their own citizens. Private jails that are influencing law makers through lobbyists resulting in aggressive policing, harsher sentencing, and longer time served that does nothing to protect the people and everything to fund corporate prisons. Health care in the US is the #1 most expensive health care per GDP and is ranked a dismal 37^th in the world (according to WHO). The education system is becoming increasingly expensive and less effective and students leave school, not with a leg up, but with a mountain of debt to climb out of. Wall street and other various corporations are becoming increasingly ingrained in the political system through backdoor donations and lobbyists. Transparency is a thing of the past. Mass media has come to dominate the public sphere with their skewed and partisan opinions. Political corruption is on the rise. US Politics and the political process have become an absolute joke. The two party system is not working. Electoral corruption. The growth and impact of religion in the US. The growing inequality and wealth gap between the rich and the poor.

Of course, not everyone in the movement would agree with all the issues because they are all so broad and so varied. This is one of the reasons why they don’t have a clear demand or a goal. But the point is that these people are noticing that there are extremely big problems in the US. Problems that electing someone from one of only two parties will likely not be able to fix. Problems that need a movement to change, problems that need to get out there and need to be addressed. This is what the movement is doing, it is giving a voice and a direction to these problems. These people are no longer sitting idly by and hoping politician from party A or B will fix these problems because they’re starting to understand that not only will they not fix these problems, but they simply do not want to fix them. They’re starting to understand that they need to take it up themselves, make a stand, and use their voice. They are using their First Amendment right of the freedom of a peaceful assembly to get their message across.

No matter who they are, no matter what kind of person they are; if they’re conservative mega millionaires, if they’re unemployed hippies, it doesn’t matter. They’re recognizing and declaring that there is something inherently wrong with the United States right now, and they’re using their constitutional rights to bring a voice to this problem. They are showing that these problems are not going away and that they matter. They’re showing that they matter. They’re showing that their voice should and can matter. This is why this movement matters.

An Argument for Solidarity

Where do I see Canada in 50 years?

Why the Occupy Movement Matters