I.e., I write today confused with fear and trepidation.
First I am fearful because of the fall-out from the last blog. Two great guys get off on a misstep and all hell breaks loose. Normally, that is kinda fun but only if the two, like Sandburg’s fog, make up and move along. And that means ‘we move along together’. And this time that is not it. One has temporarily taken his leave. Ticked. We are moving on separated and divided.
Oh, well. Old guys get grumpy. Sometimes they ‘get over it’ and other times it is heavily invested in and they are stuck there. Such is life. Such are old guys. I get it. I am one. Sometimes I am mature. Sometimes I am not.
So, let us (the collective we) move on. By the way, the door is always open especially to those who sign in with ‘anonymous’ because, well, no one knows who you are anyway!
But, moving on…..
As my few remaining readers know, I am a pinko, lefty, Greenie, liberal, bleeding heart by self-description and a conservative-minded fellow who believes in fiscal responsibility and our general right to be here on the planet. Despite my small ‘L’ liberalism, I am not an ardent apologist for much. Bad things happen. When we learn of it, we should just fix it and move on. Life.
But yesterday, listening to the God-awful CBC, I heard a woman-of-colour being interviewed and it ‘put me off’. In the interview, I was told of systemic racism, discrimination and the scourge of prejudice in Canada. And I get that. Not good. Very bad. But that kind of inhumanity is clearly improving and, when it comes right down to it, what else can one do except behave better? You cannot re-write history and especially since the attempts at re-writing make no accommodation for the perspectives of the times.
Anyway, it seems she was saying Canadians have had their hand in slavery, too. BIG TIME!! I was shocked at that and suspended my being ‘off-put’ and listened. It seems that some Americans, French and English living in ‘Canada’ either had actual slaves in their employ or else they treated their ‘people-of-colour’ so badly that they were the equivalent status of slaves. Bad, bad, very bad.
And then she added: “This was all before Canada was created by Confederation!”
So, here I am being asked NOW to be responsible for the acts of long-dead foreign people (none of who are related to me) for actions taken BEFORE the country was even a country and to NOW make it up to current poor souls by what….? Paying gobs of money to other people-of-colour (also not related) to make amends?
Well, halfway through the interview, I was disinclined to listen much further. It was sounding like apologia gone too far. Of course I acknowledge that the sins of the great, great, great grandfathers are visited on their future progeny but other than today’s people striving to ‘do better’, there is little that can be done about what was done two hundred plus years ago.
And she went on……..and I listened. And, by the time she was through, I was less off-put and more sympathetic. Not completely, though. She had definitely shifted me off my position. But I did not shift as far as she was. I was now wondering ‘how we could all do better quicker and more effectively’. I had been moved.
And that is the point of this chicken-blog: so many things are changing. So many things are not true. So much is confusing and so much obviously still needs a lot of work. And now there is no faith in the system by which we are informed. So much is now fake news!
Yeah….I know who that sounds like.
Also yesterday some woman described as a Gold Star mother was being interviewed about Trump’s position on the alleged Russian bounties placed on American soldiers in Afghanistan. If you did not listen carefully, you would be outraged at Trump, admire the woman and wonder what the hell is wrong with that man (I still wonder) but the facts were this: Her son was killed in Afghanistan in 2011 by FRIENDLY fire! He was shot by his own guys! Doesn’t matter how you cut it, her story is irrelevant to the current allegation against Trump. It was fake news!
I guess what I am saying is this: we cannot right past wrongs. But we can do better. We will likely do MORE new wrongs but that will only be evident in retrospect and so we may NOT be better right away. Furthermore, the information we are given is so often wrong and misleading, self-serving and delivered with an agenda that the sins of today’s fathers will inevitably be visited on their sons, too.
It seems that being righteous is getting even more elusive but outrageous righteousness is an epidemic. No wonder I am sometimes confused.
Our Off the Grid Home 
John Rodgers Jewell 1783-1821 was enslaved by Nootka Chief Maquinna around 1802. ‘’White Slaves of Maquinna” was written about John’s time as a slave. Twenty-four of his ship were killed. Slavery ended in theory ended in the British Empire 1833-1834. This book is still in print. Slavery in Northwest Coast Societies(First Nations) is well known. The persons doing the enslaving were FNs. No white washing involved.
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Fascinating. Thanks. That was left out of the interview. It all seems to indicate further that ‘that was then, this is now and now is different’. Still, confusion and fear reign and outrage is rampant. When did becoming the victim become synonymous with saintly or entitled?
When did outrageous indignation replace polite disagreement?
Oh, I know, I know…’easy for you to say, Whitey?’ And that is somewhat true. It is easy to say without having had the experience. But what else can one do besides say the right thing, march and chant? And, for the record, just because one is white does not mean the so-called white privilege was all that beneficial – especially if you you are also poor, ill educated, rural, unconnected or otherwise disadvantaged in life. Discrimination can show up against whites, too. Not all whites eat bon bons while watching soap operas and yelling at their servants.
Still, I know the counters to my own statements. It can be confusing….or is it just me?
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I read “White Slave of the Nootka” decades ago.
Fascinating account.
Seems the British Traders were slaughtered after one of the ship’s officers slapped a chief for a perceived theft. They returned a day later and killed or captured the crew/ burnt the ship and sank it.
John Jewell was spared because the Natives realized he was valuable (the ship’s blacksmith) and could make/fix tools.
Forced him to marry the chief’s daughter. Took him on raids of other villages. etc.
Several years later Jewell was able to escape and write his book, which he lived comfortably by going on lecture and sales tours.
Yes.
The good old taxpayer funded CBC and its endless quest for “equality”.
” Toxic racism, systemic racism, gender racism, LGBTQ racism,”……. on and on and on and on and on and on and on until the CBC has an even smaller audience than it has now…… an irrelevant mass media corpse that smells of rot and decay. from coast to coast…… a billion dollars a year for what?
To justify more federal employees sucking on the govt payroll/pension teat?
But I digress.
As for the “message” that I’m responsible for ALL that is bad in the world because I’m a white, English speaking male?
Isn’t that reverse racism/sexism?
I’ve stopped listening to the endless mewling from the “offended”, the “oppressed”, the “outraged” because if these endless whiners were to be living ANYWHERE else they would realize how good they truly have it.
Now all you offended folks can go cash your CERB cheques that my hard working taxes paid for and scurry back to the free wifi at Starbucks to log on to another socially aware website so you can discuss my bullying, racist, sexist rant.
I have work in the real world to attend to unlike the money hemorrhaging CBC.
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To this day the family names of the FN people enslaved by high status FN people are still know in that community. Typical taunt: My people used to own your people.’ Privilege exists in all societies. Privilege exists in all skin colours. FN societies are hierarchies. Canada has hierarchies and without hierarchies society might face challenges.
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I agree. That part I know. In fact, the relationships between HK-ese and Philippinas is as close as it gets to slavery today. Maybe Saudi Arabia can compare.
The ‘slave’ status is almost part of capitalism. Hell, we even refer to the people sometimes as ‘human capital’ which is just another way to see people as ‘things’ rather than humans.
And let us not put our heads in the sand – some people are ‘better’ than others. Some people contribute more than others. Some people are a waste of space. Having said that, everyone should at least START off from a position of equality and they should even have that ‘legal status’ equality protected and encouraged as much as possible throughout their lives.
And we just don’t do it.
But N. Americans are NOT the worst offenders. Nor were they ever. We have history. We should learn from it. And we have learned some. We need to learn more. But I am inclined to learn from today’s subjugated and oppressed rather than beating myself up with a cat o’nine tails over the abuses of the past. Hell, maybe in a previous life I was a slave. Maybe in this life some of those still suffering from inequality were previously slave traders. I am more inclined to the here and now rather than the past. But it can be a bit confusing…don’t you think?
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The pox on all you settler colonizers.
Greece was colonizing 2500 years ago and others before that
But but but , civilization,, eh,what a concept
It was only a few years before the invention of electricity that local tribes were romping about enslaving women and children, and parading around with the husbands and fathers heads on sticks.
Yep we are all in this together I doubt Even the gated communities will be saved
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I kinda knew that making a comment about all the ‘sensitive issues of the day’ would provoke more comment and that is good. I think. We had a few casualties recently but, generally speaking, commentary is good.
NonCon is convinced he is being ripped off by Starbuck babies and government. And he likely is. Others are convinced that the poor babies-of-colour have been so maltreated that we all have to help raise them up off the back alleys and give ’em free drugs. I come down somewhere in between. But I have no idea how to make that ‘in between’ effort work and I know that, even if I did, the system is too entrenched to change so what is the point?
And thus another way to express my confusion over all this.
My family was poor. Dirt poor. Lived in condemned and abandoned houses, only white kid in an otherwise all-black neighbourhood, 13 different schools before I graduated, after-school jobs since I was 11…that kinda thing……(well, it was worse at times but that is enough to give a picture I think). And I am OK. NOT great but OK. A smidge better than OK, actually, but that is 100% attributable to Sal. The point: a happy life is not a direct result of privilege and a tragic one is not an inevitability of lack of privilege. The individual MUST take the largest part of the responsibility for their own situation. Mind you, had I remained in the ghetto or grew up on a remote reserve or had I suffered ‘colour-based’ discrimination at every turn, things may have turned out differently so one really must NOT expect everyone to ‘just get over it’ either.
This ‘public mewling’ (NonCon’s term) is counter productive, tho. This victim-oriented radio programming paid for by government to the point of exhausting repetition is also exceptionally boring. The complaints have been laid. But you can’t fix everything. How do we apply the wheels of justice and what do we simply dismiss as LIFE?
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Maybe you are the proof that one needs a portion of hard work, a strong will to “make something of it”, a portion of luck and hopefully a good partner that will support you.
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It was pointed out earlier that privilege exists in all skin colours and all societies except mythical utopias. So far the folks taking to the streets against ‘Perceived privilege’ have yet to say what they mean by privilege. What is privilege? One of the terms in current use is “inclusion.” To support the theory that “society ought to be more inclusive” a number of measures have been offered to partly remedy it. Inclusion or lack of inclusion might be one of the pillars to define “privilege.” What are the other pillars of privilege?
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I was wrong.
CBC tv recieves $1.5 billion dollars from the Trudeau govt. not 1 billion.
Then I googled CBC tv ratings.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-canadians-are-ditching-cbc-so-why-do-we-keep-funding-it
Some snippets;
“Did you know that across Canada, over a total of 27 stations coast to coast, the average audience for CBC’s supper hour newscast was 329,000 people? That’s not 329,000 people per market, that is across the country.”
“Other nuggets in that annual report include that CBC’s prime-time audience share in television was 5%, down from 7.6% in 2017-18. We also learned that CBC News Network’s total audience share is 1.4% of all TV viewers.”
“CBC is asking the CRTC for permission to broadcast less Canadian content on TV even as they take more of our money. As part of their broadcast licence renewal application, the state broadcaster is asking the broadcast regulator for permission to show less “mandated content,” meaning less Canadian content.”
“CBC does well in radio ”
“The National has been the third most watched national newscast for decades. Their recent reboot has only made things worse, pushing ratings below 400,000 viewers a night and at times I am told below 300,000 viewers.”
CBC is nothing more that a $1.5 billion per year love fest with the Trudeau govt.
Surely he can buy better propaganda for less taxpayers money and reach a wider audience with ….say…..Netflix?
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Agreed. CBC is an incestuous, nepotistic, clique that wastes money with drivel. GIVE $1M to each city and let them start up an NPR type radio and cancel CBC or fire them all and start again.
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In your opinion!
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Whaaa, don’t you love those syndicated barf shows like dragon den and kids baking shows,
Why not start a mirror blog ‘ defund CBC’?.
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True that. ONLY MY opinion. Mind you, I rarely write other’s opinions. I keep it usually to just my own. Having said that, the report referenced seems to indicate much the same. $1.5B for an audience of 300,000 sounds a bit pathetic – to me – and my opinion, such as it is, is that the CBC is a waste of money. Forgive me.
Just so you know, I am in favour of a good CBC. I am in favour of a National voice. But I have had some experience with the CBC and it is definitely incestuous so I will stand by my opinion. As an intellectual question- it is very difficult to write an opinion that is NOT one’s own…right?
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Can’t do that Aldo. I am already taking heat for having an opinion…on my own blog, no less! Censored, thy name is anonymous!
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Speaking of chickens feet!
Have you and Sal ever tried raising the little cluckers?
Or is it too much work/ too many predators ?
Or you dont like killing and eating something you’ve named?
Anyone else up there raise and butcher?
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Everyone thinks of it. A few do it. The minks and hawks love the effort. But every year sees someone doing it and we buy their eggs. But, no. Chickens are too much work EVERY day. You cannot ever leave them and half the time, something is trying to kill ’em….and succeeding. Chickens are nature’s loss leader.
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Apologies again. The above answer regarding chickens is just my opinion and does directly reflect the opinions of the blog. But no chickens were harmed in the production of this opinion.
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19 million CBC podcasts are downloaded each week. The average CBC user listens on average to 2.4 hours of podcasts per week.
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I didn’t know that. Some people must like the CBC. I am not one of them but I do think a few shows are good. As It Happens, Terry O’Reilly and sometimes Randy Bachman. I hafe the Ontario centrjc news and find most other things just plain dull. But that is just my opinion.
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You are correct. Many areas along the Northern USA Border tune into CBC radio and television.(In some cases it is the only signal available.) Many CBC programmes are carried on NPR in the USA. Daily CBC radio has five streams two with French content and three English streams; AM radio one, FM radio two and radio three a live internet stream. CBC also broadcasts French and English television programming on two separate televisions networks. In Quebec CBC French radio and television play a valuable role in preserving French culture. The CBC Gem app allows listeners and viewers to get local broadcastS from any region in Canada. In the far north some of the broadcasts are in many indigenous languages. Some people like and rely on the CBC but with the expansion of media platforms in many areas of Canada more choices exist. In many urban areas of Canada many media broadcasters compete for audiences. With many local newspapers forced into bankruptcy the CBC is a source of local news in regions all over Canada. Fishermen rely on the marine broadcasts, traffic reports in urban areas, travel advisories, forest fire reports, generally not the type of reports that all listeners need.
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But all that doesn’t mean it is worth $1.5 billion and, if it is worth it, it is NOT worth it to me. In fact, I am sure we could better. Positive, actually.
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That is the beauty of an opinion.
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Essentially.
Keep CBC radio and nuke CBC tv and save 1 billion dollars….
Would anyone notice?
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