The Intra-web?

 

This TED talk was given by Eli Pariser, and really it floored me a little. The idea that my facebook news feed is filtering out my Conservative friends because it knows on the political scale I'm to the left is astonishing. Well no wonder I'm baffled and confused by the Majority Harper now holds... I didn't see a single news story in Harper's favor... apparently google is filtering my news intake.

So what is the problem with catering to each interweb user? It does mean I get results that uphold my beliefs, generally something people like. But isn't that kind of like Brazilia for the Internet? Brazilia, the capital of Brazil, is a city built from a blueprint on a barren land, an architect's dream. Might at first seem like a wonderful idea where there are no nuances, no weird twists and turns, no one way streets. In fact, there's a whole road dedicated to the sale of lightbulbs, no shopping around town... all of the lightbulbs are on that street. Weird right? What is really means is no surprises.

Why do we need surprises? Well, it makes us more tolerable people. To grow up in Brazilia means you've never been lost or ended up where you never meant to go. When faced with difficult situations we gain character, the aspect of ourselves which is specific to the experiences we have had. Give everyone the same experiences, no surprises, no chance for growth and you have a self contained population which only has the opportunity to reproduce exactly itself.

More to the point of filtering the internet, without showing us opposing points of view, not only do we lose the chance to challenge our own view points, we lose the option of challenging other's beliefs as well. While we preach to the filtered choir, our cries for democracy will be squashed and silenced without our knowledge for we have rose colored glasses filtering out any challenge, surprise or opposing viewpoint.

Election Blues

This election has been a roller coaster ride. Just when you thought you had it all figured out your smacked in the face by polls and then their apparently lack of meaning! So what did we get? With 24% of Canadians voting Conservative, Harper gained one of the most illegitimate majorities in Canadian history. 37 % of Canadians did not vote for Harper and 39% did not vote. I honestly thought we'd see a higher voter turn out this time as youths across the Nation responded to Rick Mercer's 2008 election rant with vote mobs.

Silly me and my idealism even thought we might see a coalition government  for the first time since 1925-6 under Mackenzie King. My hopes were set so high even at 8:30pm as polls closed in Newfoundland and remained so as my riding and the rest of the island went red or orange. But once Conservatives reached into the hundreds before ever hitting Alberta, with Liberals and NDPs still under 30, I knew it was over and yet I watched with shock. Even after 155 I watched, waited and hoped as some numbers toggled up and down.

Four days later I've dared wearing something that isn't black or gray, perhaps because I need to do blacks in the laundry. Perhaps because I held hope for the electoral reform referendum in the UK today. A live blog shows the results as they stream in and I search another black or gray shirt to blend in with the fog rolling in.

Some friends have reminded me that a negative attitude, or worse apathy, will do nothing. We must celebrate the victories we've had and fight ever but of spite we muster up. Elizabeth May won the first green seat in Parliament, may she be the largest thorn in Harper's side that has ever existed. Jack Layton and the New Democrats became the official opposition with 102 seats and 30.62% of the vote; I wish him ever ounce of luck as he takes control of a rookie caucus. Finally, best wishes to Ignatieff, who's already found a different job and Gilles Duceppe, as we wait to see if the Bloc will remain without him, their first MP ever.

As for what we can do... well I challenge you to fight. A facebook friend made the comment Tuesday morning that they did not feel very Canadian. But I do, I am Canadian and that's something to be proud of and something to fight for. Consider these two classic quotes:

"Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism."- Thomas Jefferson
"It is the duty of the Patriot to protect his country from his government" -Thomas Paine

Finally, if you're looking for tangible ways to fight, please check out my sister's recent blog post here.

Cheers,
Trina

An eye for an eye...

It seems everytime I log into facebook I've got a new reason to vote anything but Conservative. Today it was the University of Guelph. They were the ones that kicked of the vote mobs, challenging other Universities to do the same and it seems now for the third time they've held pre-election polling booth via special ballots.

Check out their original vote mob video:  

So the Conservatives are trying to mark 700+ student votes as illegal in a battleground riding. Read more about it here: Guelph Mercury: Campus Votes and here's what you can do about it: Sign a this petition to tell Conservatives where to go and how to get there!!

If you're wondering what other shit Harper's done... there's a website for that which has hit viral status in no time. That's www.shitharperdid.com Love their videos too: 

 

And finally... If you're in a battleground riding like the students at Guelph or for a host of other reasons outlined in this last video then you should check out votepair.ca

The election

So I've got to come clean... I'm doing a horrible job of following the election. Why? Cause I'm in the eye of the storm. I see glimpses of things flying past me but ultimately... I answer the phone in the non-partisan constituency office. Yes people call on a variety of issues but overall I mainly pass them off to the person best able to deal with their issue. Oh what my political science BA has gotten me (I'm fresh out of school).

I'm highly left leaning, a good website to check out where your views put you on the Canadian political spectrum is Voter Compass brought to you by CBC. Very neat tool that will hopefully get people thinking and perhaps even shedding their partisan ways; "Oh my father and his father voted this way so I do too" should not be as commonplace as it is.

Another really cool website new this year is LeadNow. They started with local gatherings, very grassroots, and bubbled up from there with ideas and opinions about what's important to Canadians. Right now they are on their 4th stage I believe, which is the declaration for change.

LeadNow is one of the larger umbrella organizations encouraging the recent vote mobs which began with Guelph: Watch their video here

It's because of these initiatives that I have faith Canada will see a rise in voter turn out this year. These and the fact most sensible Canadians get shivers anytime they think of what Canada might look like should Harper gain a majority. Here are 2 great sites to look at
1. An article from Rabble (look around their site and there's a lot of choice to pick from)
2. A overview video of Harper's corruption

Whatever your views please make sure you vote. You can do today, tomorrow, the next day up to April 26th at your local elections Canada's office and then again on the final day May 2nd.