I have decided that I have a right to.......Anything I want.

Alright everybody, this is really important. please spread to everyone you know. I have just recieved word that if 1 Million people comment on my blog by October 14th than the Governor General will declare the Green Party as the new majority government in Canada. Please spread quickly.

Do you remember when you used to get this sort of email from one of your buddy's in your hotmail account. 'Forward this to everyone on your list, or they are going to close hotmail'. I used to fantasize that it was actually a virus, but it wasn't, it was just dumbass gullible friends letting the culture of fear (fear of losing hotmail no less) get the better of them. The latest version of this is the 'If you join this than.... ' Facebook Group. I am not trying to lump in the 'If 1,000 people join I will shave my head' style groups, they are fun lighthearted, and often do accomplish whatever stupid goal that is set out by the creator. To those groups I say 'Create on oh Frat Boy Jock, create on'. I am talking about the Groups like "If 1,000,000 people join by the end of the year than they will turn Facebook back to the old version." I am becoming so tired of these groups for two major reasons. 1) The Sense of entitlement that is inferred in the title 2) The wasted use of democratic energy.

So as most people who use facebook know, they changed the layout again. Guess what? people are bitching. What is it about change on facebook that people so detest? The new facebook is just as useful as the old one, it just looks different (cleaner, more organized). So why are people moaning? because, as my ever faithful (I hope) future wife likes to say "CHANGEBAD" The kneejerk reaction to change causes people to react swiftly and in this case angrily. But heres the part where my sympathy is really lost. In the case of Facebook many people feel that they have a RIGHT to the old style facebook. Many of the groups that exist use phrasing which often states outright 'our right' or implies it. In the world of Facebook, users have no rights. In fact in the world of online memberships, users HAVE NO RIGHTS. Those wonderboys who created and administer it whatever their names may be have all the rights. Facebook is not owned by its members, it is a club which allows people to join. If the creator wanted to change it to a satan worshipping site, he could, it would be perfectly within his right to do so. So when the creators introduce a new system, they have every right to change it. the only reason they have to listen to their members is because they want to maintain membership. Let's face it, people arent going to stop using facebook tomorrow. They will eventually, sometime down the road Facebook will fade into oblivion, but people will have seen many other format changes before that day comes.

The second problem with these groups is the hypocrisy inherent in their creation. The fact that hundreds upon thousands of people will get up in arms about haveing to learn a new format in which to check out their bff's pictures of that wild party last year, is offensive. Where is the showing of democratic solidarity against a government which is slashing health care funding, or extending wars unncessarily. In my first blog I mentioned the disturbing decline in voter turnout, especially amongst youth. we (I use we because I fall into the demographic referenced as youth currently) are able to muster outrage and energy to bitch about facebook changes, yet we wont bother excercising our ACTUAL RIGHT to vote and participate in the governance of our daily lives. This sounds like the same arguement that all the old codgers yell about 'Kids today' but if we put aside our gut reaction to reject my cliched rant, it becomes clear that a reorientation of priorities is urgently need. So I say again, forget about facebook, it doesnt matter, lets look outside the bedroom window to the world we live in, and state clearly I WANT TO PARTICIPATE. Vote on October 14th please.

Organized Atheism

Lindsay and I just saw the movie 'Religulous' by Bill Maher yesterday. For those that don't know him, Maher is a very politically charged comedian, or a very humorous political commentator, its hard to say. He hosts a talk show in which he interviews guests of all political varieties. I was not really familiar with him until this movie, and I must say, I am glad I didnt know him because I sure don't want to know him now.

The movie is a documentary on religion, but its not really clear that there is a thesis or driving point at all. Bill Maher is an atheist and he makes that clear quickly. The movie consists of him going around and asking people of different religions to explain some of the most inexplicable passages of the bible. His mission it appears is to make people who will never admit that they are wrong, look like idiots on camera. Asking questions about scripture, and then mocking the answers he recieves. At one point a man is talking about the little miracles he had experienced throughout his life, like putting a glass out the window and asking for water, only to have it start raining. Maher openly mocks him, and tells him that the coincidences in his life are pathetic excuses for miracles. Maher concludes his two hour 'Look at the dumb fundamentalists, lets all point and laugh, MOCKumentary' with a call to arms. Maher calls for all the Atheists of the world to stand up and let themselves be known, establishing themselves as an entity.

This brings us to the meat of this entry. The new movement of Organized Atheism, an ideological shift which has seen the worlds doubters come together to create a new market for the product of reassurance and validation. Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion became an international hit a few years ago and has become, in my mind, a milestone in the creation of this market. I have not fully read this book, in fact, I have barely started it, I hope one day I will finish it so that I can speak on it with more intelligence than I can now. The reason I have not read the book, is that I could tell early on that I would be offended by the tone of the book, a mocking, self righteous tone that felt unnecessary. What is the source of this new kind of Atheism? I am not sure but I know I don't like it.

Bill Maher, and Richard Dawkins are set to become the new deities for a religion of skeptics, but why do we need them, why do we even need to be a we. The only unifying thing about atheists is that we don't share a belief in a higher being. Is that what we share, nothing, is that something to build a cultural movement around? I havent been to a meeting of Non-Alcoholics un-anonymous, should I start my own? do we need to get together every saturday night and talk about how obviously right we are that there is no higher power. I often believe that people are most fundamental about their beliefs when they need to be reassured that they are right. The most avid churchgoers might go so often because they need the constant reassurance that there is a God above them. So would the Dawkins United Non-Church of Toronto have a strong following of people who were scared that they were about to start believing?? The new cult of Atheism scares me.

The call to arms in the last 5 minutes of Religulous was incredibly disturbing. Maher was talking about coming together under atheism while images of war were playing behind him. He was trying to reference the dangers of Religous zeal, but how different would organized atheism be? Maher is the kind of person that I think of when i think about a religious nut. Someone who no longer possesses logic or reason, but is blind in his cause.

Atheism is not about anything, it is not about believing anything in particular, nor following any staunch guideline. To me being an atheist is just having one less thing to worry about. I don't need to read books to prove how right I am, and now I know that I don't need to watch movies to prove how wrong all those believers are.

I think the kind of atheism I like best is found in the strip above. it is self deprecating, and yet a little bit of a paradox but fun and light hearted. Sort of.

The Vote

One of the most popular essay topics for undergrad Political Science students is 'Voter Turnout'.  In my final year at U of T I took a course called Party Politics, or some variation of that. The course was taught by professor Michael Stein, a wonderful professor, who was very ummm professorial in his approach. He seemed to care more about the material than the academic process, which is the kind of professor we need more of. The first essay assignment was a ten pager due at Christmas. The list of topics was fairly long. but when Prof. Stein returned them he announced that half of the class had written on the declining voter turnout in Canada. I had chosen to write about the electoral reform proposal in the Ontario provincial election, but the voter turnout wasn't far behind.

Looking back on it now, i'm a little confused about why my class cared so much but Canadians at large don't seem as interested. Either way I think that the declining voter turnout is tragic, and worthy of great more concern than we are giving it.

In 2007 only 52.1% of eligible voters turned out to cast their vote. Thats ridiculous, thats insane. If we were running a poll or survey, than yes a 52% sample is huge, but for an election thats not acceptable. in 1975 (the farthest back Elections ontario publishes on their main page) voter turnout was just shy of 70%. I suppose that I can't come up with any new theory about why our democratic participation is nose diving into apathy but I can certainly address some of the causes.

Most people point to younger generations and say 'They are the problem, they aren't voting'   this is true, they/we aren't, in fact I believe that something like on 25% of eligible voters under 30 actually vote (a figure I pulled out of my head, that I heard once somewhere, don't take as gospel).    I often hear the same response from many of my peers when asked about participation; 'I don't vote cause they are all the same and they all suck'   I call BULLSHIT, that has become the cliched automated response of our generation, apparently its the easy way to say 'I'm too lazy' without actually admitting that you don't know what your talking about. Only once have I ever spoken to someone who could intelligently back up this statement (Winnie) and it sounds like she is going to vote anyways.

I guess the biggest problem I have with this aweful, pathetic apathy is that people still complain about politicians, and how Stephen Harper/Paul Martin/Jean Chretien......./whoevers name is easy to remember when needing to sound intellectual...is destroying the country.   I am sure glad that people can notice these things, but if they didn't vote than they are part of the problem.   Voting is the one part of being a Citizen that I feel is a fundamental obligation. In fact, I believe that a system of fines for not voting should be in place. This would not mean that you would have to pick a candidate, if you truly felt that all the candidates were detestable, than spoil the ballot. A spoiled ballot is counted as such, and if counted in great quantities could be a signal for change. In fact if large portions of the ballots were spoiled, it would deligitimize the elected government, and possibly cause an emergency electoral reform.

Let's look at how essential voting is. Using the Ontario election of 2007 as an example.

52.1% of the electorate actually showed up to vote. Thats 4.5 million out of an eligible 8.6 million voters.   of that 4.5 million  approximately 1.9 million voted for the winning party (the liberals) thats 42% of the valid ballots cast.  So what we have is a government in power who was chosen by less than 25% of the eligible public.    Again, in a random survey that would stand up as a valid sample size. But we know that this is not a random 25% that has cast this ballot don't we.  earlier I mentioned that only 25% of youths are voting, and it has been drilled into our heads (at least in poli sci) that the educated upper class tends to vote much more regularly, and with much higher turnout than any other demographic. Now I'm not in the mood to try to figure out who the educated upper class is, but a reasonable guess would say that I mean wealthy, white people.

So what we are left with is a party in power that was only picked by rich white people. Isn't that what people have bitched about all along??? well guess what, its not some conspiracy, its a lack of voting, if your not voting, than you are contributing to this problem.

This feels eerily like the election for Head Girl and Head Boy in High School, ever notice that it was usually the really "popular" cliqueish ones who won?? Im guessing because the only people who actually gave two shits were their friends.

This blog hasn't turned out to be as coherent or intelligently phrased as I had hoped, so perhaps I will edit it later. But the end message is this.   Voting is an essential OBLIGATION of citizenship, a government cannot govern according to your desires if they don't know what you want, they arent going to chase you down to ask you they'll just assume you agree with them.

If you don't vote then you can't complain about how bad the government is doing, because you helped them do that bad job.

On October 14th do one thing for your country.  take the five minutes needed to mark an 'X' on the ballot. If you don't know about the party's then find out. Every party has their platforms available on their respective websites, and believe it or not, the platforms are not crazy legalese, or even that long they are, written for the average voter. so its not terribly difficult.

Give it a shot, lets see if we can't get more than 52% of the vote out.