I wonder how many of those that protest the cost of the Olympic games wear make up, buy new clothes, or go to the spa.
I wonder if those that protest that the money could have been better spent on the homeless, ever make the decision to give the money they were about to spend on going out to eat to the homeless man they had to step over to get into the restaurant.
I wonder if those same people justify their vanity spending because they do give a little.
I wonder if the government justifies their spending the same way.
So many are so quick to judge and condemn without self reflection. It is easy to condemn the government when you think of what they spend their money on, without realizing that they same justifications you give for giving a little, the government does on a different sale.
Charity begins at home. If you make vanity purchases, why fault the government for that? Protests should be about Education, not instigation, not intimidation. Guilting people for feeling any joy only causes them to shut down. If you are protesting you have to sell it to people. Has any campaign ever been successful through guilt?
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You do a lot of navel gazing and wondering, but no fact gathering.
ReplyDeleteNo quotes from any protesters from any groups at all? No links to the sites the various groups organize through and get the word out from?
This opinion piece is barely even opinion... it's uninformed speculation.
The government has spent the taxpayers money in excess of 6 billion dollars, while cutting social programs and arts funding. The type of absolute you are talking about is simply fantasy. Are you seriously comparing a cost of 6 billion dollars to whether or not someone buys the local homeless guy a cheeseburger?
ReplyDeleteWhat does the government do to oppress any of these groups? What is the government doing to keep them from getting a job, keep them from getting a home?
ReplyDeleteThe government spends 6billion for vanity. Do you put all of your money towards helping your fellow man? Do you do anything for your own vanity? If you would rather spend your resources on vanity how can you fault the government for doing the same, or for doing what gets the most votes?
The government isn't there to help everyone, it's there to help the majority who vote.
@Book of Balance:
ReplyDelete"What does the government do to oppress any of these groups? What is the government doing to keep them from getting a job, keep them from getting a home?"
That you asked these questions at all shows you haven't looked. It would also pay to remember the protests aren't solely about municipal/provincial/federal government spending, but are about capitalist drives that marginalize and criminalize the homeless and poor.
We tolerate and encourage a society today that doesn't think anything of a multinational like Coke spending millions on market share while 750,000 are homeless.
An *additional* $6,000,000,000 has been spent on advertising by corporate sponsors. Six billion.
Are these your priorities?
Again it's not the governments fault, it's not the corporations fault. You're placing your blame in the wrong place.
ReplyDeleteIt's the individuals fault for supporting those corporations, and the government.
Neither the Corporation or the Government condemns or oppresses.
By placing the blame on the Government and the Corporation you are giving the individual a scape goat. It's no longer their fault because they just drink the coke. You don't stop cancer by blaming the cancer you stop cancer by addressing the causes.
@Book of Balance: Your argument is predicated on the belief that individual voices count in the current version of Canadian government. That individual voices will be heard by government and effect change. That's not currently the case, hasn't been the case in Canada ever, but *should* be.
ReplyDeleteCorporations are legal fictions protected by that same government, with no other imperative than to serve profit. Which then drives those same corporations to protect their ability to make a profit. Corporations like HBC and RBC and Coke et al are not representations or avatars of citizens.
They are a symptom of a society that has never been in a position to choose otherwise, corporations and laws founded or made in a colonial era.
It is up to individuals to speak out with whatever voice they have to make sure they are heard, using a diversity of tactics. The voting booth hasn't worked to represent citizens. The belief that a citizen choosing among 2-4 individuals chosen by a party elite once every 4 years is democracy is patently ridiculous.
As long as you shift blame you will remain in the darkness.
ReplyDeleteThe Corporation exists for profit. Regardless the individual has to give them that profit. While corporations might have an easier time of getting an official elected, it is only because they are better at organization, and have more people supporting them.
It is democracy at it's truest form. They have the support of the majority. Regardless of how vocal the minority is, society is ran by democracy.
It is the lack of education of the individual that gives the corporation power. What are you doing to educate the individual about their own inherent contribution?
@Book of Balance: You assume a great deal in suggesting they are supported, actively supported, by the majority. Corporations have held the upper hand for so long you'll find the 'majority' don't even have an inkling they *could* change it.
ReplyDeleteIt's protest at all levels that brings the awareness, at varying degrees, that there are things more important than profit. A reminder that we can act.
The government and corporate response will of course be violence and suppression as they continue to protect themselves. And they'll remain better funded and 'supported' as media continues to not cover the issues being protested because the corporate sponsors and IOC don't want it.
It's not a lack of trying to get a message out on the part of protesters. The message is suppressed at every opportunity, except when it clearly can't be.
As to what I, as an individual, am doing? As much as I can, daily. I use a significant chunk of my earnings to donate GOOD clothing to local homeless groups, active in other local issues, and speak to people when I have the chance to challenge their assumptions and views.