the darkerside to rants

Darkness before the light?

For many years, Harris Decima pollster Allan Gregg has asked respondents whether they consider themselves conservatives, liberals or centrists, and he’s also asked them how they vote. In recent years, he told the Manning Centre conference, the number of self-identified conservatives has been growing. But what’s almost more interesting is that the political allegiance of self-identified centrists has shifted, too. In 1997, 41 per cent of centrists voted for the Chrétien Liberals. In 2008, 48 per cent voted for the Harper Conservatives. Two things have happened. As the population ages and is buffeted by polarizing events like the struggle against international terrorism, the centre has shifted rightward. And the Harper Conservatives have pushed the Liberals, sometimes with their hearty co-operation, off-centre.

Gregg found that 89 per cent of respondents, nearly everyone, agrees that “nothing is more important than family.” Sixty-seven per cent agree that “marriage is, by definition, between a man and a woman,” 60 per cent that “abortion is morally wrong.”

This is interesting to me for a few reasons.

As with every year, the country has whipped itself into a “frenzy”, “remembering those who served our country”. By putting fake poppies on their lapels, and as a new fashion statement, onto their avatars on Twitter and Facebook et. al. Tomorrow they will be forgotten and people will continue the way they did before.

Otto Dix: Invalids

Well, not quite, those who went to war and fought in it are remembered.

Cities all over the country will have parades where soldiers march in lockstep with music and you can admire more than one “cool toy” (incidentally yesterday they released a new game: Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2 which has lots of cool toys as well, but I will write about that at a different time).

Proponents of Remembrance Day are quick to point out that they don’t really (no really) support war, just that they are thankful for those who sacrificed themselves “for the country”.

So here is my question: Where are the days that remember the Firefighters, Police Officers, Paramedics etc.? Why don’t we have ambulances parade down the street with orchestras playing?

Oh, I am sure somewhere in the calendar someone put a “Paramedics Day” in there, but that will have as much resonance with the average person as “SysAdmin Day”. None.

Regardless on how people want to spin it, Remembrance Day is not about “honoring those who served” it is a marketing show that tells people that when we go to war it is for a just cause, and don’t you forget it, oh, and sign up here please.

Oh really?

Let’s take a quick stroll down history lane and see where Canada got involved and if it really was such a noble cause:

World War I:

Otto Dix Painting

As modern lore has it (there was even a movie about it last year), World War I was where Canada “was made”. I say modern lore here on purpose because having looked through some older newspapers / textbooks the interpretation that Canada was “made at Vimy Ridge” seems to be a rather new interpretation that is less than a decade old.

Let’s face it: as much as the modern Stereotype is that Austria-Hungary and the German Empire were the culprits in WWI the reality was not quite that black and white. But of course if you want to justify to have gone to war it must be “we are good, they are bad”, mix in some bravery and “birthplace of the nation” and you have created yourself a tale worthy of the Ring Cycle.

There are ample stories of people on both sides brokering a seize fire over the Winter Holidays and even exchanging gifts, so if the soldiers in the trenches could have a “good time” with the “evil enemy” then what exactly is left of the claimed nobility of WWI? Nothing.

People died on both sides, usually a horrible death, gassed, shot, crushed by tanks or torn to shreds by explosions or succumbing to infections due to trench foot and other ailments that were part of the daily “life” in the trenches on both sides.

World War II

Otto Dix: Flanders

Ah yes, in the Western World this is being billed as the fight of Good vs. Evil. Anybody who has read anything beyond the overall war (Nazi Germany Evil, Western Allies Good, and oh my God the Holocaust), would quickly realize that this was, once again, far from Black & White. WWII was about global politics, not about “defeating the evil Nazi Germany” or “saving the Jews”.

Two examples to illustrate this

A couple of people tried to flee Nazi Germany, they charter a ship, the SS St. Louis, it set sail from Hamburg to initially go to Cuba where the refugee’s wanted to wait until they could enter the United States.

When the St. Louis arrived in Cuba they were refused entry, so the ship turned north, trying to land in New York, again being refused entry the ship tried Halifax, where the Canadian Government refused entry for the ship and it’s refugees.

The situation in the end got so bad that the captain decided to run the ship aground and force the Canadian Government to take in the Refugees.

You can read the entire story of the St. Louis here.

The second example is about the Allies decision to not bomb the rail lines that were moving prisoners into concentration and death camps. The Resistance and their own intelligence network had made the Allied High Command aware of what was going on, they knew what the trains were being used for, but the decision was made that it wasn’t of “strategic importance” to prevent more people moved to slaughter.

You can read more about this here.

Lastly, there is of course the question as to what really lay behind WWII, much like WWI the answers aren’t as black and white, but I leave it up to you, if you are interested, to read through the historic documents of the time and come to your own conclusion.

But so much is pretty clear: It wasn’t about the death camps, the jews, the political opponents or the mentally disabled. It was, much like WWI, about who got to rule the world.

Korea

In that context Canada soldiered on and went into Korea, this was somewhat a bit different that it was a “UN Mission”, either way the war was as bloody and as useless as the other two engagements. It was once again not about “good vs. evil” but about “us vs. them” and them happened to be the Soviets and their man in Pyongyan.

After intense fighting the country ended up split in two parts, up to this day I might add, with a guy in power who got drunk on having stubbed the US and the West in the nose.

After Korea, Canada seemed to have smarted up a bit, under Pearson Canada came up with the role of “Peacekeeping” and for close to 40 years dedicated it’s military predominantly to that role. Just how “noble” even peacekeeping can be could be seen in the early nineties in Rwanda, where politics, not “nobility” or “humanity” won out.

I think the US ambassador to the UN made the most striking statement about the failure in Rwanda: “We have isolated reports of Genocide”, that was of course long after it had swept across the country. The cynicism and disregard for human life that the UN was supposed to protect is pretty staggering.

The reason why the US especially was trying so hard not to use the G word for so long was because the moment the UN recognizes a genocide the Security Council has to act. Not just by writing a stern note to the country that commits the genocide but by actively intervening. You know, the “noble war” thing. Of course this was shortly after the Somali mission that went tits up and the US didn’t want to get involved. So they avoided the issue for as long as they could, meanwhile hundreds of thousands were butchered in “isolated cases of genocide”.

And then there is Afghanistan. Canada (and Germany for the first time since WWII) are heavily involved on foreign soil. This isn’t a peacekeeping mission, this isn’t about “making things better”. Anybody who knows a little bit about the history of Afghanistan could have told you that the intervention would pretty much end up the way it did. Yet many countries, under the shock of 9/11, decided to commit troops to a cause that once again was sold to the populace as “noble” and “necessary”.

Of course if it really would have been about the terrorists who committed 9/11 Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would have been the targets they should have gone after, not a country that mainly existed in name and was essentially a loose collection of tribes that worked together when it furthered their need and who were at each others throat when it didn’t.

And in conclusion

Let’s be clear about one thing. War is not noble. Nobody ever died a noble death. There is no honor or nobility in death, regardless of what generals or politicians are trying to tell you.

Though there IS a need by the people in power and those who run the military to indoctrinate people to think that they are fighting the good fight and that it is a noble undertaking to put yourself in harms way for the “greater good”.

It is all Bullshit. War at times may be a necessity (in defense) but it is never a “noble cause” nor is it something we should admire or hold at high regard.

World politics was always made by old men and paid for in blood by the young. As long as we have had tribes we have sent (mostly) sons into harms way and rationalized it away with a noble cause or a necessity of some kind (if we don’t kill them, they will kill us).

No war ever started because of noble intentions, it started because the other group had something we wanted. Since WWI though we have perfected the ideal of the soldier who puts his or her life at risk to “serve his or her country” and elevated that service to a noble cause.

If people really want to remember those who we have sent into war to kill and be killed we should ask hard questions of those we have tasked administrating our country. We should make sure that we can defend ourselves if need be but do lack the ability to fight and offensive war and even then the military should be the option of “last resort” not the first one that comes to mind when a disagreement arises.

Remember that, next time you are in awe of large military machinery, play a military game, put a fake poppy on your lapel to “show your support” or shout of the top of your lungs that one “needs to support the troops”. The best way to remember the dead and support the troops is by not putting them into a situation where they have to kill or be killed.

Paintings are by Otto Dix.

It’s all about the timing and the light….

With the healthcare “debate” in the US being in high swing the usual ones are coming out of the woodwork here in Canada as well, mainly the ones that slack the “Canadian Healthcare System” (which doesn’t exist, it’s all provincially run, the Federal Government does provide funds, but the administration is in the hands of each Province).

One of the favourite “punching bags” for those who criticize the Canadian System is the lack of General Practitioners (GPs) or as you may know them: Family Doctors.

It is true, of course, that they are few and far between, anybody who ever moved and had to find a new one can tell you a story about that, but while the critics like to lay the blame at the feet of the public system, the reality for it is most likely to find somewhere else: Societal Perception.

Back when I first came to Canada the sister of the girl I was dating for a while asked me what I was doing for a living one day. I told her I am involved with Computers (there isn’t really a lot of sense getting more specific with most people). Her answer to that was: “Oh, at least you have a real job, unlike her ex.”

Curious I asked her what it was that he did and the answer was: “Car Mechanic”.

Now the ex was an asshole out of a variety of reasons, but I don’t think his job choice counts as one of those bad things about him. But what it did show me is that most people have very little to no respect for “manual labour”.

So what does this have to do with the GP shortage?

GPs aren’t really specialists, what they do is, in general, perceived as “low level medical work” not as glamorous as say a Neuro Surgeon etc. The fallout of this is that when most students go into medicine they try to specialize, find a niche that has a certain “cache” as such lots and lots of would be doctors end up in a field that requires a lot of specialized knowledge but nobody with a broad enough base to act as “first contact”.

The drought of family doctors I think can be directly attributed to the way society sees them compared to all these specialists out there. People want to have recognition and if you go to University for a few years and indebt yourself with student loans you want something to show for it.

Think about it, when would you be more impressed, when someone told you they are a Neuro Surgeon or if they tell you they are a Family Doctor (in a small community in northern Canada)? Exactly.

So, next time someone tells you what they are doing, think about what it REALLY is that they do for you and society and maybe adjust your perception of what “low level” is. Simply put: If you cannot do it yourself, maybe you should show some respect to what the person is doing. If you could do it but don’t want to and rather pay someone else, stop looking down.

I have to wonder if the writer of that headline even for one second wondered about the double meaning? I walked past by at first, then my brain kicked in and I went back and read the thing.

Seriously, no one double checked these flyers???

Lately several people mentioned to me (independently) that my shots reminded them of Fred Herzog. I hadn’t really known anything off / about him but to my surprise I just realized he was born in Stuttgart as well and came to Vancouver via Montreal (back then the port of entry into Canada for many as today is Toronto) and Toronto.

I don’t know if I am really “like” him in my style, though I think we have similar interests: Life. But am I really that different from all the other “Street Photographers”?

I just read this on the CBC:

Dr. Donald Low, the chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who played a key role in battling the SARS crisis in 2003, says while there haven’t been any confirmed cases in Canada yet, it could be just a matter of time before they appear.

What irks me about this is the way SARS is presented again. Yes, there was an outbreak, and yes it quickly spread through air travel to other parts of the world, but the mortality rate of the “pandemic” was a joke back then and the world overreacted, not in the least the panic caused by the media.

And now we have the swine flu virus making the rounds, and yes it does seem to be more deadly than “even” SARS, but the only reason people get all worked up about it is because of the fact that it quickly sprang north into the “civilized” world.

Sure, there is a potential that we will face a pandemic in the not too distant future, but the way SARS was reported on (and now the Swine Virus) is doing more damage than good in my opinion.

Travel advisories and informing people is one thing. But getting people to panic (and most people do when they hear about deaths, regardless of the probability of actually dying from an infection) is counter effective. When Toronto declared the SARS emergency ERs and doctors where overrun with concerned people.

Doctor Low sinks even lower (unless he’s being misquoted) when he says:

“What you’re seeing here is the makings of a pandemic,” Low said. “You’re seeing a new virus that we have no natural immunity to. You’re seeing a virus that can cause disease, and in causing disease, can transmit from person to person.

Viruses always appear, this is why every year the flu vaccines need to be updated. Our bodies do have the ability to adapt to these changes as well and considering the amount of people who seem to have been infected and the number of deaths I’d say our immune system still can cope with it.

He then continues on:

“All it needs to complete that equation is the recognition that it’s spreading over a wide geographical area. And I think that’s what we’re hearing this weekend, that it’s actually happening,” he said.

Although he is right, unless it is a very virulent and aggressive strain (read, it transmits over the air, is not at all detected by the immune system and kills within a few hours after infection) this is, although a concern, no reason to panic.

Viruses (and in fact larger things like animals) have travelled with humans ever since we gained mobility. We have brought different species to other continents and used “biological warfare” in North America when we introduced the European Smallpox strain to the original inhabitants of North America.

But since then we have made huge progress, we know what a Virus is, we know what Bacteria are and we have a much better undstanding in how to fight the diseases. The fear mongering in the media right now though makes things worse in the short run, because everybody with a runny nose who was not even close to anybody from Mexico City will now wonder if s/he got infected and run to the doctors.

I really wish the media would be less sensationalistic and more realistic in their reporting, but then: “If it bleeds it leads”.

I am not sure I really like D76, every development I have done so far with it turned out… well, bland for my tastes. I really did take a liking to the HC 110 though.