Tag: Politics

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Politics

Why I will always be anti-Conservative*

Sometimes I’m a little slow. It took me this long to figure out another reason why people who vote Conservative don’t give a shit about the privatisation of health care and other public services.

They figure they don’t need it.

So Conservative voters who don’t have children don’t care about public schools. They have the resources to take care of themselves and are therefore probably healthier than the average person, so they don’t need public health care. And they definitely don’t care about parks or bike lanes or public transit or community centres because they just don’t use them. They probably don’t even know much, if anything, about them.

And if they do need it they can afford to pay for it.

Also known as, so why subsidize others? Each for themselves only.

So the Conservative voters with kids put their kids in private schools. (and yes, I am well aware of this particular irony). Or they pay their own private health providers wherever they can anyway. So why pay for public health care?

So yea, while I knew it was all about greed before, I only ever thought of it as “I want to pay less taxes / I want to run my business without regulation.” I never thought about the day-to-day arrogance of the Conservative viewpoint. I guess I have PP to thank for that.

And I’m still amazed at the average person who votes Conservative. I mean, I get the CEOs and heads of banking divisions and stuff but seriously, the vast vast majority of us have far more in common with the people camping out in my local park than we do with millionaires. And many people are far closer to becoming the people camping out in the park than we are to becoming millionaires. And I like to think that even if I somehow became a millionaire, I’d still give a shit about other people, the environment, our descendants etc.

Bright green sticker on a black pole. Black writing on the sticker reads: Vote ABC Anything But Conservative A Bas Les Conservateurs
By Neal Jennings from Toronto, ON, Canada – Vote ABC, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5337191

For strategic voting assistance:

https://smartvoting.ca/

https://votewell.ca/

*For the non-Canadians, the Conservative Party (of Canada and each province will have their own variant as well) is the right-wing political party in Canada. They promote “traditional” values, institutions, and biases. Conservative platforms and politicians are often anti-immigration, pro-centralised authority, paternalistic, misogynistic, definitely anti-free press etc.

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Book Diversions Politics Reading Review

Bookish – Sept 2022

So back in August I said I would finish the library books I already had and then focus on reading some of the actual books I already own.

Because my father teased me in a dream lol

So I finished up:

Introducing Feminism by Cathia Jenainati & Judy Groves

The Truth Will Set You Free – but first it will piss you off by Gloria Steinem

Introducing Feminism was published in 2007 and is a good overview of historical stuff. Also reminded quite clearly that non-white, non-affluent individuals are often relegated to the margins/footnotes. Though there is a fair bit of Black American feminism reflected here there is very little Indigenous or non-western.

Steinem’s book was published in 2019. It’s hard not to feel her energy coming off the page. It’s mostly quotes and little vignettes so a quick read though lots to stop and think about. I would like to read more by her. Any thoughts on where I should start?

Then there was:

This Book is Feminist by Jamia Wilson and Aurelia Durand

Published in 2021 it’s meant for teens and I’m fine with that. I still learned a lot and it was nice to have everything clearly set out without assuming the reader knew it.

There were some good definitions in here including intersectional feminism, womanism, and more. And a constant reminder to look at who is being left out.

And the last of my own little mini intro course on feminism:

Amplify – Graphic Narratives of Feminist Resistance

By Norah Bowman & Meg Braem with art by Dominique Hue, this 2019 book was published by UofT Press and tells the story of 7 different people / groups and how they can be seen as feminist.

This started with the premise that the willful taking on of a feminist political identity is itself an act of resistance. It told the stories (very briefly) of Pussy Riot, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Idle No More, Harsha Walia, and others.

The backlash to feminism always seems to come from conservative governments and their innate fear of change. And just outright selfishness: the fear that giving more to others will mean less for them. Sigh.

as an aside this little exploration of feminism was brought about by trying to read Nora Loreto’s

Take Back the Fight

I’m not gonna lie. It was a tough slog. For how amazing it is to read her stuff on Twitter and what she wrote for The Maple and Chatelaine etc. this was hard. I couldn’t do it. One of the rare times I said “enough, I’m not getting anything out of this especially for the effort going in.” So I took a step back and started from the basics.

And then I picked three random books from A authors, which I’ll write about soon… thanks. love you.

Categories
Politics

Buying a new car…the search is kinda sorta starting

Probably not a very sexy topic at first – more political than anything but I’m so disappointed with US car manufacturers that I had to set it all out. And if part of their argument is “no one wants electric cars” then I wanted to add a voice to that side that says “yes we do!”

We’re starting to put money aside to help with the purchase of a new car. Don’t get me wrong, we’re hoping our current car lasts as long as possible but we know it’s got to be replaced eventually.

Which means of course I’m paying more and more attention to cars and especially anything that comes up in the news. And it seems that US car manufacturers are starting to fight against environmental regulations, arguing that the California standards are too high, that no one wants electric cars, and so on and now Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (perhaps increasingly mis-named) is reversing rules that would have required improved fuel efficiency and thus led to reduced oil consumption and reduced carbon dioxide pollution.

I guess I should be pleased though, knocking out the traditional US car brands definitely narrows down the vehicle I’m willing to look at. I’m keeping Teslas in the mix though the ability to afford one remains a dream 😉

The benefits of electric cars go well beyond saving money on gas to helping reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and improving the environment for everyone. In Ontario some cars are still eligible for rebates including full battery electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

Here are a few resources for electric cars in Ontario:

Ontario Ministry of Transportation

Plug ‘N Drive

Do you have an electric car? Which kind? Would you recommend it?

Categories
Politics

Oppression breeds resistance

It’s been an emotional week. And I’m not American, or even in the U.S., so I can only imagine it goes even deeper there. Well, for some. For others, as we’ve seen, they take this as their time to shine.

I’ve kept politics out of this blog till now but I cannot be silent any more. It’s just not right.

I have a sister-in-law who is a writer. Robin has written many books for kids and teens and wrote her first non-fiction book on Pride. It’s aimed at tweens I guess, ages 9 to 13 according to the publisher Orca. You really should go to the link – you can scroll through some pictures and read reviews etc. but the part I remember most about the book and the website is the reminder: “Pride Day looks like a party – but it began with a riot.”

Pride is a celebratory book – but it goes back and looks at the history, teaching it to kids maybe for the first time AND most importantly showing them that they are not alone.

A line Robin recently posted about I think it needs to be repeated again and again: “…whenever there is oppression, there is resistance. People fight back – and that’s how change happens.”

I have a lot of friends sharing things to do in the US like the 10 Actions in 100 Days. I’m trying to find similar Canadian projects so please share if you know of any!

I don’t expect to change any minds but I want others to know they aren’t alone. While I welcome all discussion, anything disrespectful will be immediately deleted.

I don’t know where I first saw this but I love it.