My Friends,
Last night I went to Toronto to visit my sister, Tanya and her boyfriend, Brian for the first time since my return to Canada. We crushed a good meal before I decided to accompany them that evening to the east-end of Toronto for the political event they were attending, as I had nothing better to do. I didn't know it at the time but the event in question was the nomination/election gathering for late NDP leader, Jack Layton's Toronto-Danforth riding, and there were three hopefuls looking to replace him. The reason Tanya and Brian were going there in the first place was because one of the hopefuls, Claire Prashaw
was Brian's cousin and he and his family wanted to offer moral support. We arrived at the church and while standing in line it occurred to me that if my die-hard conservative father could see his two kids standing in line for an NDP function it would kill him. With that thought, I suggested to my sister that we try to get the attention of some of the cameramen to maximize our exposure.
As we waited in line there were left-wing types peddling their socialist newspapers and I was reminded of Arthur Koestler's reminiscences of meetings of the German Communist Party during the 1930s in "The God That Failed;" it just gave the whole assembly a subversive feeling even though it was a sanctioned political event. As we entered the venue (a church) it began to seem a little more legitimate again, and we found seats in the upper pews to the right of the altar.
We spent about twenty minutes waiting for things to get going and in that time we looked down on the floor where reporters, photographers and cameramen were interviewing, photographing and filming the candidates and other notables. One notable of note was Trinity-Spadina MP, Olivia Chow,
who, as well as being a politician in her own right, is the widow of the former NDP leader. Brian remarked to me as he watched her working the room how much he hated politics and the fakeness of it and I was inclined to agree: watching these people pander to audiences even though I was not even able to hear what they were saying really bothered me. Politics to me seems like the most obvious manifestation of The Spectacle. If you are not familiar with this term you are perhaps more familiar with The Matrix? Essentially, the dream-world which has been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth of what is really going on. It has nothing to do with robots and human beings being harvested for their energy (at least not in a literal sense): Politics, professional sports, reality TV, rap beef, terror attacks, etc... -These and others are all just things to distract us from the real problems that persist in our world and more importantly, the real solutions.
Real Solutions. This is important because anyone who thinks that a vote for X candidate or X party will bring about the change that they need (not want) is deluded. In fact, most people don't even know what they, and ultimately "we" as a species, need.
We don't know that we need free, unlimited, and democratic energy sources. Instead we want cheaper, cleaner energy.
We don't know that we need free, dignified, and well-constructed living accommodations for everyone on the planet. Instead, we want more affordable housing.
We don't know that we need a world without borders where people can live where they want but will never have to migrate because of war and persecution because these things would not exist. Instead we want more immigration policy reforms.
Finally we don't that we need to be free from wage-slavery; to be able to develop our interests and talents without being beholden to a job which degrades us as human beings simply so we can make a dollar. Instead, we want "more jobs."
The "Gentleman Pimp," A.S. Jackson once said, "He who thinks in terms of catching mice will never catch lions." While seemingly a non-sequitur at first glance, there is actually a lot of wisdom in that statement. We are so pre-occupied with choosing from the pre-approved list of options that we are given
that we don't stop to think that they all suck and are all affronts to our dignity. And when we do realize this we just laugh it off and say some bullshit like "well, that's life," not daring to imagine that life could be better.
So anyhow, back to the nominations: They did a tribute to Jack Layton which consisted of pictures with some corny song playing in the background. As I listened to the words (Love-letter to a nation...) and the chorus (...hope is better than pessimism...) it occurred to me that they had just "songified" his final letter to the country which he wrote before succumbing to cancer. Everybody knows that if you are going to songify something you gots to use auto-tune.
Last night I went to Toronto to visit my sister, Tanya and her boyfriend, Brian for the first time since my return to Canada. We crushed a good meal before I decided to accompany them that evening to the east-end of Toronto for the political event they were attending, as I had nothing better to do. I didn't know it at the time but the event in question was the nomination/election gathering for late NDP leader, Jack Layton's Toronto-Danforth riding, and there were three hopefuls looking to replace him. The reason Tanya and Brian were going there in the first place was because one of the hopefuls, Claire Prashaw
Pictured Here
was Brian's cousin and he and his family wanted to offer moral support. We arrived at the church and while standing in line it occurred to me that if my die-hard conservative father could see his two kids standing in line for an NDP function it would kill him. With that thought, I suggested to my sister that we try to get the attention of some of the cameramen to maximize our exposure.
As we waited in line there were left-wing types peddling their socialist newspapers and I was reminded of Arthur Koestler's reminiscences of meetings of the German Communist Party during the 1930s in "The God That Failed;" it just gave the whole assembly a subversive feeling even though it was a sanctioned political event. As we entered the venue (a church) it began to seem a little more legitimate again, and we found seats in the upper pews to the right of the altar.
We spent about twenty minutes waiting for things to get going and in that time we looked down on the floor where reporters, photographers and cameramen were interviewing, photographing and filming the candidates and other notables. One notable of note was Trinity-Spadina MP, Olivia Chow,
Pictured Hyah!
who, as well as being a politician in her own right, is the widow of the former NDP leader. Brian remarked to me as he watched her working the room how much he hated politics and the fakeness of it and I was inclined to agree: watching these people pander to audiences even though I was not even able to hear what they were saying really bothered me. Politics to me seems like the most obvious manifestation of The Spectacle. If you are not familiar with this term you are perhaps more familiar with The Matrix? Essentially, the dream-world which has been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth of what is really going on. It has nothing to do with robots and human beings being harvested for their energy (at least not in a literal sense): Politics, professional sports, reality TV, rap beef, terror attacks, etc... -These and others are all just things to distract us from the real problems that persist in our world and more importantly, the real solutions.
Real Solutions. This is important because anyone who thinks that a vote for X candidate or X party will bring about the change that they need (not want) is deluded. In fact, most people don't even know what they, and ultimately "we" as a species, need.
We don't know that we need free, unlimited, and democratic energy sources. Instead we want cheaper, cleaner energy.
We don't know that we need free, dignified, and well-constructed living accommodations for everyone on the planet. Instead, we want more affordable housing.
We don't know that we need a world without borders where people can live where they want but will never have to migrate because of war and persecution because these things would not exist. Instead we want more immigration policy reforms.
Finally we don't that we need to be free from wage-slavery; to be able to develop our interests and talents without being beholden to a job which degrades us as human beings simply so we can make a dollar. Instead, we want "more jobs."
The "Gentleman Pimp," A.S. Jackson once said, "He who thinks in terms of catching mice will never catch lions." While seemingly a non-sequitur at first glance, there is actually a lot of wisdom in that statement. We are so pre-occupied with choosing from the pre-approved list of options that we are given
I'll just leave this here...
that we don't stop to think that they all suck and are all affronts to our dignity. And when we do realize this we just laugh it off and say some bullshit like "well, that's life," not daring to imagine that life could be better.
So anyhow, back to the nominations: They did a tribute to Jack Layton which consisted of pictures with some corny song playing in the background. As I listened to the words (Love-letter to a nation...) and the chorus (...hope is better than pessimism...) it occurred to me that they had just "songified" his final letter to the country which he wrote before succumbing to cancer. Everybody knows that if you are going to songify something you gots to use auto-tune.
"[They] are so dumb ... for real..."
While I really found his final letter inspiring it didn't do much for me in song-form aside from making me face-palm.
Following this tribute, they had the nominations and speeches which only further convinced me of how bullshit politics is: if the three candidates gave a fuck about the country why wouldn't they just go into a room and decide amongst themselves who was the best among them to be in office? Surely one or more of the candidates suspects that their opposition might do a better job than they could hope to. Therefore, they only campaign and perchance get elected to the detriment of the rest of the country. Honestly, I would have a lot more faith in politicians if the nominated candidates didn't campaign but instead talked amongst themselves and came to a decision about who was best for the job. Instead, personalities clash and we have to listen to the same speech delivered several times in different but equally rousing ways.
This...
...is...
...actually...
...this!
In the end, the person who wins is the one who represents themselves as the most (or least, as the case may be) black/female/LGBT while also appearing to be the last bulwark against the drugs/guns/terror/brown people who threaten our existence, through the use of appeals to lofty but vague ideals such as democracy and patriotism. It's absurd, but it happens. And it was depressing that most of the people at this nomination/election actually took it seriously.
In the end, Craig Scott won the nomination instead of Claire Prashaw (perhaps if my whole heart had been in my sign-waving...). But in the end, like all political races, the outcome doesn't really matter.
"THEY'RE THE SAME DEVIL, BITCH!!"
It's not like government really sets the agenda anyhow.
Stay Thirsty,
-Andre Guantanamo
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