When You Fight For Something You Don't Understand

Canadians being urged to stop posting on Facebook, Instagram by advocacy group
(https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canadians-being-urged-to-stop-posting-on-facebook-instagram-by-advocacy-group) 

An advocacy group.  How wonderful.  See my previous post about all activist being assholes but for the benefit of the doubt, maybe these advocates aren't all assholes but are just misinformed because misinformation is a common currency these days especially from the groups they claim to support. 

"The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting group is asking people to stop posting content on Meta’s platforms on Aug. 23 and 24.  The group says the move is meant to show that Canadians won’t be pushed around by Meta, which decided to pull news from Canadian publishers from its platforms in response to legislation that recently passed." 

Meta isn't pushing anyone around.   It wasn't a response to legislation, Meta is just abiding by it.   If you read anything about Bill C-18, it's pretty clear the government tried to extort money from Meta and Google.  Meta said, OK we'll follow your law and not allow news to be posted on Meta.  The playground bullies on this topic are the Canadian government and now, advocacy groups.   Two wrongs don't make a right.   The government thought Bill C-18 would be easy money for them but when you're that glib, things like this will happen and then everyone gets nothing.

"So far, Meta has shown an unwillingness to cooperate on a potential deal." 

Lisa Laventure, head of communications for Meta Canada: "The Online News Act forces us to end access to news content in order to comply with the legislation.” 

"The group’s executive director Marla Boltman says the boycott will show Meta that if news leaves the platform, so will users." 

My question is why are people still using Meta and why would anyone use Meta as a news provider?  I wouldn't want my news coming from a second-tier entertainment website.  If you're using Facebook as a news source, you're probably still wearing a mask when you go outside. 

I hope Marla doesn't really believe that Facebook will be losing "many Canadian users" or is a "valuable commodity".  Facebook is more of a commode that a commodity and it's not like this "demonstration" of not posting for 2 days will do anything.  More people are already in Facebook Jail longer than two days for posting a funny picture.  And then what happens after the 24th?   Posting starts again on the 25th?  That means no users from The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting actually left the platform making this an empty threat.  Or Friends isn't serious at all and are looking for some free press.  OK, that worked because I haven't heard of these yo-yos until today. 

Marla, look up Michael Geist.   He's the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa.  You might learn something about your "cause" and who's really to blame. 

If you're going to fight for something, make sure you understand what you're fighting about.  If you don't, at least make sure you're not on the side of the jerks.

A Weirdo in Dog's Clothing

 

I almost posted about how not racist the Small Town lyrics were even though it's still an awful New Country song but I decided on this story instead:

Man who spent $20K to transform into dog steps out for first public walk

Lots of wrongs on this one: a man with a dog fetish spends 20 grand on a Hallowe'en costume and believes he's an animal.  This story reminds me of something else along the same lines.  It's escaping me now.

This dog is not a real princess

“Do you remember your dreams from when you are little? You want to be a hero or a wizard,” he (Toco-san; the man who bought a dog costume) wrote in the clip, describing his life-dog dog dream as seemingly “unrealistic.”

Who the hell wants to be a wizard when you're 10?  Sure, wielding magic is cool but nobody wants to look like Santa Claus at 10.

“I remember writing in my grade school graduation book that I wanted to be a dog and walk outside.”

“I turned into a dog and went out on the town!”

Toco-san is not a dog.  Maybe the Japanese word is lost in the translation but he didn't literally turn into a dog.  Sure clothes make the man, but an adult putting on a costume doesn't make you anything more than a weirdo in a costume.

I remember when I was a kid and I wanted to fly like Superman.  I'd safety pin a red towel around my neck and leap off the sofa and as far as I got was the floor.  Since I'm not from Krypton, the glow of the yellow sun did not enhance any of my abilities.  It's a bitter pill to swallow when you're 6 years old but I knew since neither of my parents were from Krypton, I would never be able to really fly.

"Actual dogs walking knew something wasn’t quite right as far as Toco’s collie went."

“The dogs were not fooled lol. That must’ve been freaky for them,” one person observed.

Another added, “You can always count on children and animals to be 100% genuine.  I completely relate to the dogs’ reactions of ‘wtf is that creepy thing?!’”

This dog will never be Italian

I bet Toco's a little sad.  Even though he dressed like a dog, the real dogs were not fooled.  That's so strange because Toco himself said "I turned into a dog".  Didn't the other dogs know that Toco was a dog because he said so?  I wonder why a real dog would get freaked out about a guy in a dog costume pretending to be one of them?

This is bugging me.  I can't remember where I heard this kind of thing before.  It's not necessarily a dog costume but... Shit.  Someone dresses as something else and thinks that they're that actual something else... I hope I remember by the end of this blog entry.

One loser's comment was: “Their parents said that they could be anything when they grew up. They wanted to be a dog and made it happen. As bizarre as it is I’ll give them props for fulfilling their dream.”

He didn't make anything "happen" other than to play dress-up.  And if that's your dream, I recommend dreaming for something a little more practical like dreaming of winning the lottery.  Also, the article said Toco's parents were "very surprised" so I don't think they were there every step of the way.

I still can't remember where else I heard a story like this but I do remember just because it looks like a dog and barks like a dog doesn't necessarily it make it a dog.

Cry Like an Egale

Well, you know me: I'm one of those anti-censorship and if-you-don't-like-it-don't-look-at-it types.  I wish everyone was like that.

I have no fondness for activists.  They're not fun people.  If there's one way to ruin a good thing, add an activist to it.  Activists are those rotten people that say they support a good cause, hoping that you'll think they're a good person too.  It's a ruse: they're still the obnoxious, demanding Karens that look like they're going to WalMart again to buy some more pink or blue hair dye.  These activists are only out to make themselves feel better; they couldn't care less about the groups they claim to support.  But when they get caught doing something they shouldn't (like when BLM got caught buying a 6 million dollar mansion), it's straight to the defensive and you're the problem.  You can insert any "group" in there and get the same results from activists.

What's starting this post is reading about who's raising a stink about having Fox banned from Canadian Cable packages (https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/canadian-regulator-launches-public-consultation-on-banning-fox-news-from-cable-packages-1.6386988) and it's Egale Canada, another Feminist/Social Justice group that are really bad at pig-latin phobias.  If you’re having a hard time sleeping, read their open letter to the CRTC: https://egale.ca/awareness/open-letter-crtc-fox-news/

"People in Canada deserve to know that the news broadcast on Canadian airwaves is reliable and objective, and marginalized groups must be protected from malicious propaganda," the group's executive director Helen Kennedy wrote."  That, I had a laugh at because after Bill C-11's passing the other week, you'll only get the most unreliable and unobjective news now.  There's that equity the activists always pine about: we're all going to be lied to equally.

Kennedy specifically accused now-former prime-time host Tucker Carlson of provoking "hatred and violence" against trans people by making "false and horrifying claims" in a segment that also included Egale's name and logo.  I should say one example from Helen's letter to the CRTC which isn't a lie, was from the second paragraph: "The segment also contained a range of other malicious misinformation about 2STNBGN people, including that trans people are given preferential treatment in employment and other opportunities."  Well, they do.  Ask any Diversity Officer (also, it's part of the Employment Equity Act).

""The trans movement is targeting Christians, including with violence," Carlson said in a March segment following a mass shooting at a Nashville school.

"Egale has experienced firsthand the hate that is generated from a single segment aired on Fox News in Canada," Kennedy wrote. "This programming is in clear violation of Canadian broadcasting standards and has no place on Canadian broadcasting networks."

I didn't see the Tucker segment (or any examples of "hate" from Egale) but I've seen other "activists" get pretty violent over the last couple of years.  Perfect example would be Antifa, supposedly short for Antifascists (which would make them technically Communists; I've seen a little WW2 stuff too), and those guys are pretty destructive whether it's throwing concrete at people or super-looting stores.  I will say Antifa has some of the best arsonists in North America.

Now if the activists did start something with the Christians, then I could see why she'd be defensive because that would make her group the ones provoking "hatred and violence" and being abusive because it's really, really rare that Christians pick fights.  When was the last time you were bullied into going to the Loaves and Fishes Cookout?  Is Egale some kind of oppressive hate group?  Probably.

Anyways, someone has to talk to these activists.  Either you support a democracy (majority rule) or you support marginalized groups (minority rule).  You can't do both.  Life isn't Star Trek 2 where the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many... or the one.  We all know that doesn't work, or it doesn't work for long. 

"The public consultation, which began earlier this month, was triggered by an open letter from advocacy group Egale Canada."  And a whole 160 out of 44 million people signed a petition.

""Why would we want a broadcaster spreading falsehoods and damaging our democracy in the way that it has done to the U.S.," someone in Ontario wrote." 

Nobody's watching cable news anymore because no one's watching cable.  I don't watch Fox but there's no reason it should be banned.  As much as the CBC has nothing to offer and has spread their fair share of lies (I'm thinking of something as dumb as the Russians were behind the Freedom Convoy), I don't want it banned either.  The answer isn't to ban anything.  If something is meant to exist or die, that'll happen on its own.  

One comment was: "As a person who identifies as LGBTQ2SI, I firmly believe Canadians are able to decide for themselves which cable channels they want or don’t want, and Canadians are able to discern opinion from reality without options being removed on their behalf," a person in New Brunswick stated.

That's perfect, even though it's 2SLGBTQI and not LGBTQ2SI.  One year in the Gulag and some anti-something training for you, person from New Brunswick.