Sunday 15 March 2015

Thursday 12 March 2015

Let Them Eat Cake: To Have or Have Not

O
n a beautiful sunny Tuesday in Beverly Hills, California, a young woman alights from her white gull-winged Lamborghini Countach and hands the keys to the young Valet. "Be careful - I just got it waxed", she says to the boy. He is dressed impeccably in a white uniform almost matching the car in its tones but lacking its lustre and its shine; he is only a worker, not an elite. As he carefully parks the machine in a row of other impressive machines along a street lined with palm trees stretching high above, she walks towards the boutiques with a stride and confidence becoming a queen. The sun gleams off her car in the lane and off of her designer sunglasses as she struts, and it's just another Tuesday for Marie, but today is a shopping day, and she always loves a good shopping day. Partly because she loves things, but mostly because she is very, very good at it. When Marie goes shopping, she always tells her socialite friends, she goes shopping.

Monday 9 March 2015

Canada's Bill C-51: Shredding The Charter of Rights and Freedoms Before Your Eyes

C
anada set the tone for their new anti-terrorism bill over the course of the past few years by carefully exploiting isolated incidents such as the shooting at Parliament Hill in October of 2014. Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the nation on that eve, and with stern conviction told us that we are in danger of losing our way of life and freedom because of the threat of terrorism, becasue of this one isolated act. This rhetoric sounded all too familiar, and I couldn't help but feel dread as I listened; that this was going to be used as another tool to chip away at our remaining freedom and bully us into accepting new and unwanted policy. Since 9/11, the West has moved towards more surveillance of its population, less freedom of speech, and broader powers of spy agencies to pry and detain and act without warrants or just cause.

Sunday 8 March 2015

The World Is Too Dangerous For Anything But Truth

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. - Socrates
A
fter Socrates completed his service in the war, he devoted himself to his love of pursuing truth, and he soon came to be regarded as one of the wisest man in Athens. In fact, the Oracle of Delphi revealed to one of his friends that he was in fact the wisest of all men. Rather than revel in this and boast, Socrates set out to try to prove the Oracle wrong. He thought that if he could find a man who knew what was most important in life, then that man would surely be wiser than himself. He questioned anyone who would speak to him about this, and discovered that they all pretended to know things he did not. After some time, Socrates thought that maybe the Oracle was actually correct in his assessment, because he alone seemed to posses the knowledge that he did not know the answers at all, and he alone was prepared to admit his ignorance. It's too bad that Socrates is not here to refresh our memories in these modern times, for this is not how our modern-day thinkers and leaders act and operate today. They are arrogant in their assumptions.