Canada - What has happened?
May 29th 2013 | 9:48 am
#46
limey party pooper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 10,000
Re: Canada - What has happened?
Really? I think Mr. Ford is a fool; I also accept the electorate gets the politicians it deserves.
I do find the amount of coverage this episode is getting without any real evidence bizarre. I can't see how he can prove a negative; I can see how his accusers could prove the positive. One wonders what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot; actually, we all know the answer to that, it's just easier to ignore it.
I do find the amount of coverage this episode is getting without any real evidence bizarre. I can't see how he can prove a negative; I can see how his accusers could prove the positive. One wonders what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot; actually, we all know the answer to that, it's just easier to ignore it.
I hope we don't get the politicians we deserve, Harper?
May 29th 2013 | 9:57 am
#48
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,402
From: South of Calgary
Re: Canada - What has happened?
It's interesting that Gawker seems to have lost contact with the video sellers, did it ever exist? There was a photo online and it would be hard to say that it was definitely Ford, one very large and crewcut man in a suit looks much like another to me. He does seem to be a very strange man and the story is believable apart from the company he was in.
Are the RCMP that incompetent?
Whether you like him or not, many others do. In fact, I have yet to meet anyone that "likes" Harper. despite the fact that I used to live in his constituency. If not Harper, which politician does the electorate "deserve" as Prime Minister Mulcair, Trudeau, May?
May 29th 2013 | 11:13 am
#49
Oscar nominated
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 55,309
From: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Re: Canada - What has happened?
For a Brit who has just arrived in Canada, and who loves cricket, the English newspaper will be the best newspaper as it gives him the news he wants to read. However, being a sports fan, he will gradually start to take an interest in North American sports - if for no other reason than that is all there is to watch.
Not to dispute anything or to hijack the thread, but I've been in Canada since 2004 and I don't have any more interest in North American sports than I did back then.
I went to a baseball game in Montreal in 04. I live less than 10 minutes away from a baseball venue here but have not been.
Thankfully there's plenty of other choices of footie on TV and on line.
Oh, I did watch the winter olympics ice hockey final.
Am I alone in not getting into North American sports? I can't even watch MLS. It just doesn't seem right.
May 29th 2013 | 12:58 pm
#50
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Canada - What has happened?
There may be lots of truth to the story. However, truth without evidence to support it needs to be weighted appropriately. From what I have seen on the TV media, that doesn't appear to be happening. One wonders whether, if the video never turns up, they will admit their reporting errors. We both know they won't and we both know that such reporting would not be used against most other politicians.
Are the RCMP that incompetent?
Whether you like him or not, many others do. In fact, I have yet to meet anyone that "likes" Harper. despite the fact that I used to live in his constituency. If not Harper, which politician does the electorate "deserve" as Prime Minister Mulcair, Trudeau, May?
Are the RCMP that incompetent?
Whether you like him or not, many others do. In fact, I have yet to meet anyone that "likes" Harper. despite the fact that I used to live in his constituency. If not Harper, which politician does the electorate "deserve" as Prime Minister Mulcair, Trudeau, May?
May 29th 2013 | 1:31 pm
#51
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,402
From: South of Calgary
Re: Canada - What has happened?
It's similar to the "Savile Inquiry" shite in the UK at the moment too. Lots of publicity when someone is arrested; no commentary when the police decide to take no further action. Destroy someone's reputation for a 5 minute news piece. I simply believe it is wrong.
Of course, it would be tricky to destroy Ford's reputation
Last edited by Almost Canadian; May 29th 2013 at 2:02 pm.
May 29th 2013 | 1:59 pm
#52
Dive Bar Drunk
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 8,671
From: Toronto
Re: Canada - What has happened?
The Canadian Media should really grow some balls and purchase this video.
I'll be honest I doubt it's existence even though I think Rob Ford is a wally.
May 29th 2013 | 2:51 pm
#53
Banned
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 237
From: Keswick, ON
Re: Canada - What has happened?
OK, let's try this another way. (And let's put the quality of the journalism aside for the moment - this is just an example.)
The newspapers in Britain report cricket results. They don't report baseball.
The newspapers in Canada report baseball results. They don't report cricket.
For a Brit who has just arrived in Canada, and who loves cricket, the English newspaper will be the best newspaper as it gives him the news he wants to read. However, being a sports fan, he will gradually start to take an interest in North American sports - if for no other reason than that is all there is to watch. After a while he will see that baseball is a bit more than grown men playing rounders. Maybe he will go and see a few games. After all, it is a great excuse to sit in the sun for a few hours drinking beer. Maybe he will start to follow some local players, even follow a team. Before long, he will need to read a Canadian paper to check on his team’s statistics and the results of rivals.
He might still enjoy reading the cricket reports in a British newspaper every now and again. He has probably never seen the current players hit a ball in anger so is less involved, but it still conjures up wistful memories of Boycott grinding out a dour century under a forbidding Headingly sky. However, he needs the baseball results so he buys a Canadian newspaper. It is the best one for him now.
To labour the point to death, the British paper was best, now the Canadian one is. The papers haven’t changed – just his perspective. stuabroad's comments seemed to me like a Canadian in Glasgow telling other Canadians that the Scots are dumb because they don’t understand baseball.
I wasn’t intending to have a go at stuabroad in particular – it was just that his post came straight after mine. He is not alone – in fact his way of thinking is very common on here. But, I think it is useful in the immigration process to understand that it is impossible to make objective value judgements. Any judgement you make will be from your own perspective, and that perspective comes with all sorts of biases based on your life experience to date (mostly in the UK.) You can’t say X or Y is good or bad in Canada (or anywhere). All you can say is that X or Y is good or bad in Canada from your perspective. And, with time and more knowledge that perspective will change.
The newspapers in Britain report cricket results. They don't report baseball.
The newspapers in Canada report baseball results. They don't report cricket.
For a Brit who has just arrived in Canada, and who loves cricket, the English newspaper will be the best newspaper as it gives him the news he wants to read. However, being a sports fan, he will gradually start to take an interest in North American sports - if for no other reason than that is all there is to watch. After a while he will see that baseball is a bit more than grown men playing rounders. Maybe he will go and see a few games. After all, it is a great excuse to sit in the sun for a few hours drinking beer. Maybe he will start to follow some local players, even follow a team. Before long, he will need to read a Canadian paper to check on his team’s statistics and the results of rivals.
He might still enjoy reading the cricket reports in a British newspaper every now and again. He has probably never seen the current players hit a ball in anger so is less involved, but it still conjures up wistful memories of Boycott grinding out a dour century under a forbidding Headingly sky. However, he needs the baseball results so he buys a Canadian newspaper. It is the best one for him now.
To labour the point to death, the British paper was best, now the Canadian one is. The papers haven’t changed – just his perspective. stuabroad's comments seemed to me like a Canadian in Glasgow telling other Canadians that the Scots are dumb because they don’t understand baseball.
I wasn’t intending to have a go at stuabroad in particular – it was just that his post came straight after mine. He is not alone – in fact his way of thinking is very common on here. But, I think it is useful in the immigration process to understand that it is impossible to make objective value judgements. Any judgement you make will be from your own perspective, and that perspective comes with all sorts of biases based on your life experience to date (mostly in the UK.) You can’t say X or Y is good or bad in Canada (or anywhere). All you can say is that X or Y is good or bad in Canada from your perspective. And, with time and more knowledge that perspective will change.
May 29th 2013 | 2:55 pm
#54
Born again atheist
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 30,259
From: Europe (to be specified).
Re: Canada - What has happened?
He's still dead meat though.
May 29th 2013 | 4:11 pm
#55
half a century
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 10,222
From: Sarf Lundun to East Van :)
May 29th 2013 | 4:12 pm
#56
half a century
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 10,222
From: Sarf Lundun to East Van :)
Re: Canada - What has happened?
It's interesting that Gawker seems to have lost contact with the video sellers, did it ever exist? There was a photo online and it would be hard to say that it was definitely Ford, one very large and crewcut man in a suit looks much like another to me. He does seem to be a very strange man and the story is believable apart from the company he was in.
I hope we don't get the politicians we deserve, Harper?
I hope we don't get the politicians we deserve, Harper?
May 29th 2013 | 4:13 pm
#57
half a century
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 10,222
From: Sarf Lundun to East Van :)
Re: Canada - What has happened?
He looks like a prime heart attack candidate! Unless the crack gets him first!
May 29th 2013 | 5:48 pm
#58
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Canada - What has happened?
I don't really care overly as its the other end of the country. But when he's been in the telly he isn't saying that he's never been a crack addict or that he's never taken crack. Its always 'I am not doing those things now.' You'd think he'd be bombastic enough to carry off a junkie past.
May 29th 2013 | 6:40 pm
#60
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 72
Re: Canada - What has happened?
Terence McKenna on Culture:
"What civilization is, is 6 billion people trying to make themselves happy by standing on each other's shoulders and kicking each other's teeth in. It's not a pleasant situation.
And yet, you can stand back and look at this planet and see that we have the money, the power, the medical understanding, the scientific know-how, the love and the community to produce a kind of human paradise. But we are led by the least among us - the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons.
This is something, culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people's convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what have you. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are well treated by culture.
Yet we glorify the creative potential of the individual, the rights of the individual. We understand the felt-presence of experience is what is most important. But the culture is a perversion. It fetishizes objects, creates consumer mania, it preaches endless forms of false happiness, endless forms of false understanding in the form of squirrelly religions and silly cults. It invites people to diminish themselves and dehumanize themselves by behaving like machines - meme processors of memes passed down from Madison Avenue and Hollywood..."
"What civilization is, is 6 billion people trying to make themselves happy by standing on each other's shoulders and kicking each other's teeth in. It's not a pleasant situation.
And yet, you can stand back and look at this planet and see that we have the money, the power, the medical understanding, the scientific know-how, the love and the community to produce a kind of human paradise. But we are led by the least among us - the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons.
This is something, culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people's convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what have you. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are well treated by culture.
Yet we glorify the creative potential of the individual, the rights of the individual. We understand the felt-presence of experience is what is most important. But the culture is a perversion. It fetishizes objects, creates consumer mania, it preaches endless forms of false happiness, endless forms of false understanding in the form of squirrelly religions and silly cults. It invites people to diminish themselves and dehumanize themselves by behaving like machines - meme processors of memes passed down from Madison Avenue and Hollywood..."
