Maybe, maybe not. This is a sidenote. Today, I took part in the Student Walk of Shame, when whoever wanted to - perhaps 15-20 students from NSCAD joined a few other students in front of Province House, which is where parliamentary decisions, or something similar to that, is held every year. Our Walk was actually rather well organized, though I can't remember the specifics, and not many people attended, not nearly as many as the Student Day of Action, which I did not take part in. Today was the date for some important meeting, and to have our voices heard we went with banners and slogans and songs to remind the Province's government that we have something we want them to do. We screamed until our voices cracked, and well after. When my sign broke from the constant shaking, I held it in my hand and beat the stick to the rhythm of the slogans. When my hands chafed I switched hands and kept going. We did so for perhaps an hour and a half. At the end of it all, I was spent. But the organizer encouraged us with messages from inside the building, that they could hear us well into the rooms, that they had decided to discuss our issue. We celebrated, and chanted louder, as loud as we could, though really we couldn't speak anymore.
But you know, they listened to some extent, and so that is a nice thought, that our effort was somewhat recognize. Whether we will get anything out of it remains to be seen, but it's better than sitting around and waiting for the axe to fall. They somehow agreed to talk about our complaints. That, perhaps, is a success in itself. I find myself invigorated, remembering that these men are humans too, and that their job being to administrate a province, they can't be totally unreasonable when it comes to listening to those who protest against them. Maybe, if we tell them what we want, and prove to them that we want it badly enough, they will consider our desires. After all, we are their subjects, no? At the very least, we will not be ignored. At the best, we will not be defeated.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Get On With The Show
God, I've been doing nothing but jewellery since last week. Should I go read up, or should I head straight to bed and go to cass with nothing to show for it? The bed sounds attractive. My mind isn't really up for it right now. Still I should do something at least, this being the final class before the final class. In other words, I have 1 week to come up with a 2500 word essay. No biggie, really, since I've done that twice before. Its only 5 pages of text, double spaced to look impressive. Well *I* don't double space, because its not fashionable, and because it looks rather scary, before you start writing. But since my handwriting is smaller than TNR 12 font, 5 pages of typed stuff rather invigorates me.. Anyways, back to the point, which is Brainstorming and Organizing My Thoughts In Preparation for the Upcoming Essay. There is a fine line to be walked along here; working alot will get me more or less prepared enough to make tomorrow morning's class useful, but I myself will be unable to directly contribute, or I may conversely not do anything at all, ensuring that I get 7 hours of due rest and that tomorrow's class will be utterly pointless. Really the only feasible alternative is to hurry and find sources to read, download them now, get whatever sleep I can and read them in class, formulating my strategy as I go and sustaining my physical body with processed glucose.. With that in mind, on with the show. Such as it is.
So, first order, repeat the token sentence: "Democracy is unattainable unless it is brokered by institutions, mandated by the people and made accountable to them, whose primary purpose is to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak and to prevent people of all stations from resolving their differences by means of violence. The collective noun for such institutions is government."
As I have said, I want to evaluate the state of Canada while using this sentence as a template. I will then pass my judgement. Of course this will be an overview of what I should in reality be getting down on my knees to scrape with a toothbrush, but 5 pages really is too small. Small enough that with prior research it could be composed in 2 days, while floating off some tropical island, with all your crewmates diving off the foremast, and yourself cursing your own stupidity for procrastinating until the ship arrived at said island, forcing you to quickly butcher what could have been a rather well done assignment, all for the sake of a few jumps into a shimmering turquoise sea and an afternoon of play. This of course provides a rather suitable motivator of diligence on the student's part. One wonders if all institutions should perhaps keep a campus on some far-off Caribbean island, for use at the end of each term, tempting students to play on it's beaches thus forcing them to try harder, focus, and be efficient with their time.
You'd think some program might do the trick... Let me tell ya, this wall of fog is just too thick. I've thought of everything but the whip, but nobody on my ship is up to it.
"Democracy is unattainable" is an interesting quote in and of itself. I would like to take a moment to ponder Monbiot's wisdom.... Done. "unless it is brokered by institutions" Brokered meaning "deal acheived through a hired agent", as I understand it, the sentence means that Democracy - where the sum of all opinions determine the course of action - cannot deal directly with the people, it requires an infrastructure to manage and mobilize. This infrastructure is the government, obviously, and begs the question; why can democracy not simply be managed by the collective who's power it affects, and whose powers affect it? As it stands, the multiple layers of government ensure that no particularly rebellious ideology can suddenly gain favor and endanger the balance of the system. This is a good thing. It also speeds up the decision process by eliminating the need for referendums for each and every decision - a political system that could, today, with the internet, be feasible, but would require a rather educated populace to be efficient, or would otherwise educate it's populace based on necessity. In that light, education of the masses is a good thing, right? There is another issue, that with the detachment of decision-making from the common folk, those who's ideas are not represented in parliament, or those who feel that they are not represented, may decide that democracy is a useless measure, and by that decision (or rather by the political inaction that follows it) making democracy a slightly useless measure. This may be the case with youth. There is a further complication. A party may make some reasonable decisions, and some that are absolutely and completely retarded. This kind of democracy sort of... seems to degenerates into a "Lesser of two evils." scenario...
Boy am I tired. I need to just read up more on this stuff before I make any more wild theories. Copy paste the Wikipedia articles and then off to bed.
So, first order, repeat the token sentence: "Democracy is unattainable unless it is brokered by institutions, mandated by the people and made accountable to them, whose primary purpose is to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak and to prevent people of all stations from resolving their differences by means of violence. The collective noun for such institutions is government."
As I have said, I want to evaluate the state of Canada while using this sentence as a template. I will then pass my judgement. Of course this will be an overview of what I should in reality be getting down on my knees to scrape with a toothbrush, but 5 pages really is too small. Small enough that with prior research it could be composed in 2 days, while floating off some tropical island, with all your crewmates diving off the foremast, and yourself cursing your own stupidity for procrastinating until the ship arrived at said island, forcing you to quickly butcher what could have been a rather well done assignment, all for the sake of a few jumps into a shimmering turquoise sea and an afternoon of play. This of course provides a rather suitable motivator of diligence on the student's part. One wonders if all institutions should perhaps keep a campus on some far-off Caribbean island, for use at the end of each term, tempting students to play on it's beaches thus forcing them to try harder, focus, and be efficient with their time.
You'd think some program might do the trick... Let me tell ya, this wall of fog is just too thick. I've thought of everything but the whip, but nobody on my ship is up to it.
"Democracy is unattainable" is an interesting quote in and of itself. I would like to take a moment to ponder Monbiot's wisdom.... Done. "unless it is brokered by institutions" Brokered meaning "deal acheived through a hired agent", as I understand it, the sentence means that Democracy - where the sum of all opinions determine the course of action - cannot deal directly with the people, it requires an infrastructure to manage and mobilize. This infrastructure is the government, obviously, and begs the question; why can democracy not simply be managed by the collective who's power it affects, and whose powers affect it? As it stands, the multiple layers of government ensure that no particularly rebellious ideology can suddenly gain favor and endanger the balance of the system. This is a good thing. It also speeds up the decision process by eliminating the need for referendums for each and every decision - a political system that could, today, with the internet, be feasible, but would require a rather educated populace to be efficient, or would otherwise educate it's populace based on necessity. In that light, education of the masses is a good thing, right? There is another issue, that with the detachment of decision-making from the common folk, those who's ideas are not represented in parliament, or those who feel that they are not represented, may decide that democracy is a useless measure, and by that decision (or rather by the political inaction that follows it) making democracy a slightly useless measure. This may be the case with youth. There is a further complication. A party may make some reasonable decisions, and some that are absolutely and completely retarded. This kind of democracy sort of... seems to degenerates into a "Lesser of two evils." scenario...
Boy am I tired. I need to just read up more on this stuff before I make any more wild theories. Copy paste the Wikipedia articles and then off to bed.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Introductory Research Bibliography - Annotated [On]
A general overview to get my ideas brewing. Hopefully this essay will not be using any of these directly, but rather a synthesis of my opinions on all of these subjects and more.
"Politics of Canada." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 23 Mar. 2011
This is an article that describes the political system of Canada, as well as a history of. I'm using it to get a general idea of what our political system is like. My god, I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I hate politics and all politicians!
Shevtsov, Jane. "Manifesto for a New World Order - Beyond Borders Books." World Beyond Borders. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
This text is a simple, two paragraph review of the book mentioned above. Most interesting is the phrase "Democracy is unattainable unless it is brokered by institutions, mandated by the people and made accountable to them, whose primary purpose is to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak and to prevent people of all stations from resolving their differences by means of violence. The collective noun for such institutions is government." The publisher's notes describe the author as a realistic utopian, and reader reviews point out that it is a text meant for people already involved in the anti-globalization movement, and thus likely an undecipherable brick. But, it can be bought on e-bay for 1.59$ plus shipping. I suppose the next target for research should be the anti-globalization movement. Just a basic overview will do, though there appear to be scholarly articles on the subject.
"Anti-globalization Movement." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. As I expected, a movement that is critical of corporate capitalism and MNCs, unregulated trade agreements and free-market fundamentalism, whatever that is. I have done a *very* quick overview, and will have to return to soon.
"Politics of Canada." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 23 Mar. 2011
This is an article that describes the political system of Canada, as well as a history of. I'm using it to get a general idea of what our political system is like. My god, I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I hate politics and all politicians!
Shevtsov, Jane. "Manifesto for a New World Order - Beyond Borders Books." World Beyond Borders. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
This text is a simple, two paragraph review of the book mentioned above. Most interesting is the phrase "Democracy is unattainable unless it is brokered by institutions, mandated by the people and made accountable to them, whose primary purpose is to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak and to prevent people of all stations from resolving their differences by means of violence. The collective noun for such institutions is government." The publisher's notes describe the author as a realistic utopian, and reader reviews point out that it is a text meant for people already involved in the anti-globalization movement, and thus likely an undecipherable brick. But, it can be bought on e-bay for 1.59$ plus shipping. I suppose the next target for research should be the anti-globalization movement. Just a basic overview will do, though there appear to be scholarly articles on the subject.
"Anti-globalization Movement." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. As I expected, a movement that is critical of corporate capitalism and MNCs, unregulated trade agreements and free-market fundamentalism, whatever that is. I have done a *very* quick overview, and will have to return to soon.
And of course, this is supposed to be ongoing. I wrote this much on Wednesday, but forgot to publish it. Oh well.
Other things worth checking out could be found in the book, If I should buy it.
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