G20 Security: Chicken or Egg? My 2 cents (whatever they're worth)

I find it really hard to come to terms with how everything went down with the G20 but I'll try...

It echoes of the Olympics and everyone knows how I feel about the Olympics because of my brother and other friends competing. It's supposed to be amateur athletes coming to the world stage to compete and then there's all these protests against the corporate sponsorships who do it not for the athletes but for their own sponsorship wants (though I do want to believe that the bigwigs do care a bit about that). But I digress...

It reminded me of the Olympics because everyone believed that big things were going to go down here in Vancouver 2010. Chris Shaw and his friends were followed for the months, if not years leading up to it and Nothing really major happened and I still wonder why not.

I mean, yeah, sure, they had protests out here and it was kind of tense for a bit but nowhere near what happened in Toronto. Here, when I was walking over to the hotel to meet Mom, I walked right into a standoff between cops and protesters. The protesters were pretty tame, not a Black Bloc in sight. Just a bunch of people and bongos and demands to not hold the games on Aboriginal lands.

Yes, there were the three types of cops - bike cops, city cops, and riot cops.

Yes, you could feel the electricity in the air - police caressing billy clubs with white knuckled fingers and waiting for a protester to start something so they could just get it over with. I watched people yell in the face of the cops, saw the anger and the frustration on both sides and all I could think of was, There’s gotta be a better way.

It's a chicken and egg theory. Spending 1.2 B on security in Toronto seemed to do nothing but fuel the fire and push protesters to the point where all that manpower would eventually be used. But, they're also trying to preemptively deal with protesters by having the manpower there just in case. How do you come to terms with that?

On one side, there's the hooliganism of protesters you know are going to be there because the Black Bloc have been waiting for a reason to run around in bandanas, break windows, throw Molotov Cocktails and generally just say, "Fuck you" to The Man. They don't even stay true to their so-called "cause" by waiting around for the credit because they're too busy stripping off anything telltale and disappearing into the group of peaceful protestors, thus forces cops to treat them all the same.

And yeah, maybe they already are treating them as such but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt...

The shittiest thing about the Bloc destroying property is that it isn't hurting the corporations, like they think it is. It's going to be the federal government that pays for it:

"[Mayor] Miller said the city will as the federal government to compensate businesses that suffered damages or had to close in addition to employees who lost wages because of the summit. 'It's only fair and reasonable," he said." - Globe and Mail (click to read the article)

Are you kidding me?

Where do the feds get the money? Taxes. Your taxes. My taxes. So, all those people bitching about their taxes paying for the police brutality are, surprise, also going to be picking up the cheque for wannabe bandits to bust up the city. Yeah, good job, Bloc. Thanks for that.

On the other hand, are the peaceful protesters. The ones that are marching and not carrying Molotov cocktails. The ones that want to make a difference and want to show their support but aren't quite willing to destroy property to do it. They're trying to get their message across but it won't work because by having the Bloc in their midst, it's already a losing battle:

"Whatever the exotic, anarchist political posturings of the violent protestors, it doesn't advance the cause of the poor to throw a Molotov cocktail into the open windows of an empty police cruiser. No unemployed person is going to find a job because some enraged grad-student socialist charged a line of riot police shouting expletive. If anything, these anti-social acts turn the public off." - National Post Op-Ed (click to read the article)

I'm not saying that they should out the Bloc but it's unfortunate that their message is lost because they're being overshadowed by the ugly violence that's happening on both sides.

The police are there to help. Yes, they went overboard, yes they got gung-ho, but are we really surprised? Really? I'm not condoning it, I'm just saying it's not surprising. I don't know what can be done about that but it makes me glad I'm not Mayor or Chief of Police of Toronto.

Largest Mass Arrests in Canadian history:

4. Quebec Summit of the Americas: 463 arrested

3. 1970 October Crisis: 465 arrested

2. 1993 Clayoquot Sound Logging Blockades: 856 arrested

1. Toronto G20: roughly 900 arrested

Ouch.

At the end of the day, honestly, who in the actual G8 or G20 meetings really cares about the little protesters running around down on the ground? What is it really going to do?

I just imagine some French dude (they really do have the best accents to be snooty with [and this is not a 'we hate France, honest]) looking down, "Oh look at zee leetle Canadians. Zeh look like little antz. Isn't it tres adorable. Zeh have little bottles zat zeh have set on fire. Oh look and zee fat cops run with zer leetle batons."

C'mon guys. Isn't there a better way? But I guess that's the thing. People are people are people and they're always going to have differing opinions and therefore take different action. There will always be the Bloc, there will always be people trying to do it peacefully, and there will always be the police to beat people down, regardless of method of protest.

Somebody's gotta build a better mousetrap. Because the one we're using obviously isn't working for anyone...

Oh, and for some amazing shots of awful events G20-style, click HERE.

For a chuckle, here are some fun Bloc pics a friend sent to me...

Anyway, that's all I got. I still don't know how I feel about any of it, even after all that... I'm sure there are some gaping holes but that's what I got right now. I believe that some things are necessary in order to get change but who gets to determine what those things are? I don't know and I don't know anyone who has the ability to make that call...

In other news, I'm starting work at a new bike shop tomorrow, which will put me back in the green for now. It's not a real job but it's something to keep me busy and something to keep me not homeless. Hopefully it's not as sketchy ridiculous as the last one and hopefully it has as awesome of people as the last one. :)

I'm also writing a boatload of articles this week. It's going to be busy. Luckily all sorts of people have left so I have fewer people to hang with and more time do to things. haha

Quote du jour: "People say they love truth, but in reality they want to believe that which they love to be true."

Little Bit of R & R for the Day

So, I'm reading this book called "Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story" by Chuck Klosterman. I fell in love with his writing when I read his book, "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs." Killing Yourself is about one summer where Klosterman travels across the country "exploring every brand of rock-star demise." Some of the musicians I recognized some of them I didn't but man, can this guy write. He's funny, he's dry, he's just great. I'm sure if I met him in real life, I might think he's a total asshole, but then, writers are a different breed all together.

A few highlights I loved,

_ The Theory of the Anger Scheme:
This old man is of the opinion that you can never really know someone until you've seen them positively enraged.

"People never show you what they're truly like until you see them go ape-shit," he says. "That's the only time people say the things they really feel. Anger makes people honest. No matter how reasonable someone might seem, you never know for sure until they get mad."

_ "You show up too early for everything. Don't you understand that when people say a party is starting at 9:00, they actually mean the guests are supposed to come at 10:00? That's just common sense." I will never buy that logic. In America, parties that are supposed to start at 9 pm actually start at 10. However, rock concerts that are supposed to start at 9 pm actually start at 9:45. Movies that are scheduled for 9 pm don't begin until 9:09. Sporting events set for 9 pm begin at 9:05. However television shows that are set for 9 pm do start at 9 pm, unless they're being broadcast on TBS. So what's crazier: That I show up for things when they're supposed to begin, or that everyone else in the entire world has somehow come to accept that every activity operates within its own unspoken, individual schedule? How is everyone else's wrongness understood to be right?

If Quincy is avoiding me on purpose, I will spend a lot of time staring at my hands.

_ When you are male and entering the 10th grade, there are only four kinds of people on the planet: girls you want to fuck, girls who are unfuckable, guys you want to kill, and guys who generally seem okay. For a 10th grader, those are the only four demographics for the entire world population. Obviously, that world-view changes as you become an adult; now that I'm 31, I realize there are at least six categories.

So, yeah... That's my intellectual spiel. :p

On another note, I went sailing yesterday. That was wicked. Moses & co. and I were supposed to go to the beach and just hang out but around 4 I get a phone call from him saying, "How fast can you get down to the docks?"

Pretty fast, friend, pretty fast...

We went out once before in December and it was amazing if I little chilly. This time it was gorgeous and super fun. I'll just have to remember to eat more or bring along snacks next time as I always seem to forget how much they love drinking and how much they love plying their visitors with drinks. :p We were entertained by Derek, the boat's owner, his brother, and their friend Sharky, who didn't seem to stop either talking or drinking and had a playful demeanour.

Moses looking all pro and captain-y.

Such a pretty day. :)

All in all, it was a good day. Rest of the pics can be seen on my flickr.

Quote du jour: "Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." - Edgar Allan Poe

Govn'r...

Forgot to write about this the other day and probably should've taken a picture because it would've been funnier in retrospect...

Thursday evening Moses and I did some moving around of the Gastown Sprints gear and then went out for a few drinks afterwards just to wind down... I didn't think

I'd drank that much. Was able to make a grilled cheese sandwich for myself when I got home and the burner was off in the morning so couldn't have been that bad.

Anyway, woke up in the morning and the first thing I see as I open my eyes is my phone, upright, in a cup of tea.

Facepalm Original

Other face palms that signify pretty much how I've felt about this month...

And my all-time fave:

Needless to say, I had to go get another GD phone. second one this spring. I'm a total dummy with all my expensive stuff and memory. Not good.

Popsicles, Police and 10 Pounds of Potatoes

So, a few firsts in the last couple of days....

Fiiiirst, I lost a filling in one of my back molars, which is fine and all. Tooth doesn't hurt, everything's fine. The suck part is that it took part of the sidewall of the tooth with it. So I had this lovely jagged edge at the side of my mouth that enjoys slashing the nice fleshy inside of my mouth and I'm afraid to eat solid food til it's all taken care of.

The dentist also thinks that I should get my wisdom teeth out, which would sort of suck because I don't want chipmunk cheeks. ha

I don't have a picture for this one because I don't want a pic of me with a cracked tooth floating around the interwebs. That's just trashy. :p

2. Went dumpster diving for the first time with my friend Corey...

It's not what you think. Behind the IGA there are these garbage bins about my size that are clean and have bags in them and are just heaped with organic stuff. Among the carrot tops and brown-tipped lettuce leaves, we found probably about 10 lbs of potatoes, couple bunches of bananas, apples, peaches, tomatoes, turnips, green onions and then tofu in another one. It was awesome! So, we came home and cooked it all up for a delish dinner.

So strange that they toss all this stuff... None of it was rotten, some had a few soft spots but it was all still good! Why don't they take it to a food bank or something? Or get someone to pick it up? I dunno.

3. I got my first ticket this morning...

I was riding across the Adanac bike route (my first mistake... stay off the bike routes!) and got nabbed right after an intersection because in B.C. they have weird way of doing things. Say, they have lights for the North-South direction,they have stop signs for the East-West. So, you're riding along, you see that the light is red North-South and the walk signal is blinking with the hand (because these things are never that long) so you go because you have the right of way. But, there's a stop sign on the right that you ignore because you have the right of way because the light is red the other way. Make sense? Does to me. Not to the officer that I talked to. So I got a ticket. Luckily, they decided to leave it at that - blowing through a stop sign, and didn't add in more for 'no bell, no reflectors, yada yada' though I don't know for sure that those are real offenses?

Anyway, how nice of them to add in this bonus - if you pay within 30 days, they knock 25 bucks off your ticket... great. Thanks guys. Sigh.

Needless to say, I definitely probably committed five more traffic offenses on the rest of my way home. Ah well.

These 3 things add up to something really awesome happening for me soon. Or else I'm on a giant slide down to the actual bottom of the barrel... that would really suck because I'm going to the velodrome tonight and I don't really want to break my neck or something. But bad stuff always happens in threes so I'm banking on the upswing.

June 12, 2010

Grocery List: _ Triscuits _ Celery _ Chocolate _ Eggs _ Bread _ Cheese

I hate buying veggies for one person because it's inevitable that something's going to rot because a) I've forgotten about it in the bottom of the fridge, or b) I've become bored of carrots.

To Do List: _ Articles _ Avoid Direct Sun _ Polo Knife Fight

It's never too early to fight wrinkles. And it's never too late for macho-feeling polo matches that draw blood without so much as the wink of a blade.

Soundtrack: _ Mother Mother

"You don't poltergeists for sidekicks/You don't need treats/You don't need tricks/And you don't need me."

_ Also, I don't feel like wearing a helmet today. Shhh, don't tell my mother or the cars will be the least of my worries...

Life is a PR Campaign

I was having this discussion with a friend the other day and it keeps rolling around in my head so here it is in all its hypocrite glory.

We're a voyeuristic society - aching for the latest celebrity gossip, Facebook updates, Twitter, blogs... we want to know people's secrets. I guess that also makes us an exhibitionist society. We enjoy telling others what we're up to, what we had for breakfast, who we're meeting for coffee later. We enjoy the idea of someone knowing something about us as if we ourselves were celebrities.

I know I'm guilty of it as well. I have a Twitter account, I update my Facebook status (though usually it's just quotes that have caught my fancy rather than "Going out for groceries" "Back with groceries - man, eggs are expensive this week" etc, etc, etc.), I do enjoy watching my flickr photos hits go up... We all want to be loved, want to be impressive, want to be envied by those around us. It's human nature. Keeping up with the Jones' and all that (who are these mythical Jones anyway? They must've been total assholes.). Do we want people to know what we're up to because we want them to want to be us? To have our lives? Is that too cynical? Complete ridiculousness? Somedays I want to think so.

There are those that keep to themselves, I guess. J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, wrote the book in 1951 and gave his last interview in 1980. He published his last novella in 1961 and on the dust jacket, he wrote "It is my rather subversive opinion that a writer's feelings of anonymity-obscurity are the second most valuable property on loan to him during his working years."

In an interview in 1974 he said, "There is a marvelous peace in not publishing... I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure." I wonder if he ever thought Catcher in the Rye was a huge mistake? Whether he would've taken it all back if he could... He died this past January and all I think of is James Earl Jones from Field of Dreams. Darth Vader does Salinger's demands of privacy from Robin Hood. Ridiculous, huh?

Maybe it's a generational thing. I read an article a couple weeks ago on the fact that kids were becoming more self-centred and less empathetic because of all these web connections. They're more concerned about how they look than the actual connections they're making on Facebook. It's like adding people from high school - you boost your friends number, get to see whether they've succeeded, get to laugh at them when they fail or have gotten massively huge on beer and late-night pizza in university, etc, etc, etc. You're never going to talk to them but you'd like a glimpse into their lives.

Where was I going with all this? Oh yeah, oversaturation and the disconnect. Having all of these technologies at our fingertips to share ourselves with the world seems to make people want to share their innermost thoughts with the world (no problem there) but also makes connections harder. I mean, you update your Twitter with a 140-character summary, you connect that to your Facebook where people who follow you on both get a double whammy of "Making pancakes. Forgot to put in two eggs. Whoops." By the time you get through with that, you're so tired, you don't want to go to blog form because then you'd actually have to flesh out those 140 characters with thoughts, feelings, commentary, etc. If you have a a written journal (pens and paper... whaaaaaat?), you just feel exhausted because you've already shared those thoughts with the world and don't feel like writing it all down again. Phew.

The disconnect? Well, I send and receive way more text messages than I get or make phone calls because it's easier to get to the point with people sometimes. Sometimes you don't feel like talking. Sometimes you don't want to talk to that person and it's easier. Phone calls don't have edits, don't have backspace keys, don't delay things in order to come up with the right response.

We feel disconnected from those around us because we spend so much time creating this image for others to see - an image that is the very best of us so people will love us, be impressed by us, and envy us. But mostly love us.

Because life really just is a PR campaign. :p Don't even get me started on the impact of this on interviews and resumes... sheeeeeet.

Photo of the Day:

Back deckness. Kinda grainy but I didn't want to use the flash and when I went to a lower shutter speed, it wouldn't focus properly. Yarg.

Quote of the day:

"There are things you do because they feel right and they make no sense and they may make no money and it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other's cooking and say it was good." - Quote of the day from Storypeople