"There's something wrong with the world today, I don't know what it is."
-Livin' On The Edge -Stephen Tyler/Aerosmith, 1993
First, that was over 20 fucking years ago and if Ogie ever invents a Time Machine, I'm going to head back to 1993, track down Stephen Tyler and re-introduce him to a certain Canadian band called BTO (or Bachman Turner Overdrive) who wrote the aptly named, 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet' which was also 20+ years (1974) before Livin' On the Edge, back in the time when Aerosmith was busy doing tons of heroin. I'd also tell Tyler to wear some fucking pants in this video and also in 20 years he will lose all credibility of anything he did in the past when he appears on American Idol looking like a creepy Lesbian cabaret singer.
But it's been wrong for a really, really long time. For those of you over 40, you are lucky enough to have been born in a time of social ignorance yet are hopefully old and wise enough now to see how you were socially manipulated into seeing not what is integrally right but what is socially important to agree is right and are teaching your kids it's okay to disagree with authority and in fact, in this day and age it should be expected. Authority isn't always right. It's a tool used by others who decide what is right and it's not for the common good. Occupy Wall Street is becoming a fading memory as other more important ideals and stories are deemed more vital for the public good as opposed to what OWS is about.
This rant is precipitated by the slayings of 3 Moncton RCMP officers yesterday and the media manipulation that has followed it. While to most anyone who has watched enough cop procedural / psychology shows it is pretty obvious that First, the shooter Justin Bourque has a problem with authority. The ones he murdered weren't people to him, they were symbols of an unjust authority. The biggest fear that authority has is the 'copy-cat' assailant (as per Criminal Minds), someone who will take encouragement and courage from what said murderer did and strike in the same way. Decades ago, studies concluded that mass media reporting on suicide significantly increased the likelihood of more suicides and in a rare mass editorial decision that was deemed best for humanity, most media has stopped reporting suicides unless there is some 'special or extenuating circumstances'. So in an effort to prevent a wave of 'rationalized' cop-killing, decisions made by major news sources in regards to the Moncton murders were first to 'personalize' the victims; they weren't symbols of authority, they were family men first. They weren't cops first, they were people first. Monctonites were told to stay indoors as Bourque was perceived to be dangerous to 'people' and not just to 'cops'. Those RCMP members were people too, if he would only pick up a newspaper.
But to Bourque, they weren't. They were their uniform, their job, symbols of a (to him) repressive mindless regime that wanted to take away his freedoms (and guns). Or not. Maybe he knew them personally and had a vendetta of another reason which is doubtful. Maybe he was raped by a cop when he was a child or had an abusive father. Who knows?
Whatever the case shooting anyone is wrong; Bourque definitely wasn't wired correctly when he came out of the womb or perhaps he was. Maybe he just broke from the system, pulled back the curtain and found no Great Wizard, only him, much like those young men in California, Sandy Hook and Aurora. He isn't the first mass murderer in Canada, nor is he one of the few. While we are no US of A when it comes to psychos but when it comes to gay diabetic sadomasochistic pedophile couples, we have more than enough. But stories such as this, and especially the reasons why there are stories like this get swept quickly out of the public eye so that we can carry on with what we should care about; not a broken social structure, the growing rift between rich and poor, the Americanization of our natural resources and industries but being the best in the world at hockey.
I live in British Columbia, Canada - home of the second-worst cursed hockey team in the NHL, the Canucks. Second only to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team and city that Vancouver feels inadequate yet superior to, much like a banana smoothie ordered beside an all-wheat bran smoothie.
The two major issues in our province right now is something called The Northern Gateway and the BC Teachers Job Action/Dispute. There is also something slightly under the radar called the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline. The only reason why these are major issues is because the majority of the people in BC oppose the pipelines or support the teachers. Yet, the Liberal Government who was surprisingly re-elected last year after being down in the 'poll's by double digits seem tone-deaf to the concerns of the people who elected them.
Let's look at the two issues and see if I can relate it to Aerosmith and BTO and public perceptions and politics.
First the Northern Gateway. It's a proposal to build a pipeline to take crude oil from Alberta and transport it to the harbour of Kitimat, where it will be loaded onto tankers that will then take it to China or Texas to be refined into petroleum on behalf of foreign corporations who will then sell that oil back to us in the form of gasoline. It's being heavily advertised on television and other social media. A soft, understanding voice speaks over imagery of BC's forests and coastlines of how Enbridge is working to ensure that the 200+ requirements the Liberal Government requested are met. The latest is that they are saying is that the pipeline will created 560 PERMANENT jobs in BC. That's about how many new teachers and support staff the BC Teachers would like, but I will speak of that later.
The ongoing praise and advertising campaigns going on supporting the Northern Gateway makes one even question why there is an issue or two with it. The media diligently 'reports' on demonstrations, makes a small comment or two perhaps supporting the Northern Gateway but in no way can any of the major media outlets in today's social media world be expected to 'champion' one side or the other. Enbridge is paying a lot in print and television advertising. Ironically enough, that BTO video was preceded by that Enbridge commercial. Who uses Youtube? Young people. Who doesn't want the Northern Gateway? Young and Old People. Divide and Conquer.
What would it say if those same papers and channels came out and said No to Enbridge money? What would have happened if Christy Clark's Liberal election team said no to the oil and gas corporations donations? Sadly, on what was a surprisingly equal playing field (as the NDP also received equatable donations when it appeared they were going to win as everyone likes to back a winner) the NDP decided to play fair, avoided discussing the repeal of the HST, the continuing cuts to education and health care and wound up getting their asses kicked.
Point was, Clark and the liberals bought that election on the promise of seeing the Northern Gateway to completion. It has to happen. No matter how much arguing and demonstrations are held, it's all for show. The decision was made by a majority of voters in 2013.
As for the Teachers? Well, who doesn't want their kids to go to a class with thirty other kids with a couple of high needs kids, spitting, sitting and moaning in the back corner with their special assistants? Who doesn't want their children to learn so little that in ten years, parents will look to American-owned private schools to give their children a well-rounded and Americanized education on the evils of the Canadian socialistic way of democracy?
But i'm tired... maybe that rant will be for another time.
No comments:
Post a Comment