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Bickering or Democracy?
Apr 14th
The so called “Leader’s Debate” was completed Tuesday and Wednesday evening with everyone claiming victory. The Conservative Party claim that Stephen Harper won the debate, the Liberal Party claim Michael Ignatieff won the debate and the NDP claim Jack Layton won the debate. Who actually won? The broadcast consortium won. That’s who.
How did they win? They won because they effectively told the Canadian public that the Green Party of Canada was not a party to take seriously. The broadcasters have decided that a party that received nearly a million votes in the last election, ran candidates in all 308 ridings, had the largest increase in the popular vote and Canadians demanded be involved in the last leader’s debate should be excluded this time around while the leader of a party that represents 1 province with 75 candidates is included. That is democracy?
During the debate, Liberal leader Ignatieff interrupted Conservative leader Harper as Mr. Harper was talking about the supposed “bickering” that appeared to be going on. Mr. Ignatieff quickly made the statement that “this is not bickering, this is democracy”. I would like Mr. Ignatieff to explain himself on this point. How is this democracy when the participants were dictated by a group of suits that are supported by and support the 4 leaders invited.
So, while I was making this point on Twitter yesterday, I was promptly called an “asshat” for even suggesting that Green leader May be included. Jeff Leroux (@jeffleroux), a twitter user who appears to spend more time answering tweets or retweeting rather than coming up with original thoughts of his own, stated to me in reply to my tweet (#db8 Iggy: "This is not bickering, this is democracy". How so @M_Ignatieff when @ElizabethMay is not invited to the debate? Explain? #elxn41) that you need to be a member of parliament to be at the debate. Since when?
And yes Mr. Ignatieff, what was mostly going on during the debate was bickering. Very little was based on what the parties would do if elected and how they would go about doing it. Instead, the leaders all took turns taking shots at the Conservatives while Mr. Harper spent his time deflecting. But did we learn anything new? Not an iota.
So here is my suggestion to the Broadcast Consortium next time there is an election (which should be in another 2 years). Ask the Canadian public who should be invited to the debate. Let the Canadian public decide who they want included in both the English and French debates. Let us decide who we want to listen to the thoughts and ideas of. Don’t dictate to us who we are going to listen to.
Should the Jeff Leroux’s of Canada be afraid if the broadcasters do this. Yes they should. It will be pretty embarrassing for the major leaders when the smaller party leader wins the debate because they actually have ideas worth looking at in Canada. Maybe that was his point. Don’t include Elizabeth May or any other non traditional leader as it might show Canadians that there are actually smarter and more progressive alternatives to the big parties.
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Technorati Tags: Election 41,Conservative Party,Liberal Party,NDP,Green Party of Canada,Bloq Quebecois,broadcast consortium,Leader’s Debate
Election 41–Social Media Links
Apr 1st
As a follow-up to my last post I thought I would post some of the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr links I could quickly find so that you can follow along and become better informed. Please feel free to leave any other links you feel appropriate that I may have missed in a comment. If you want to follow along on Twitter and find out what people are saying about this election it appears the #elxn41 is the hashtag being used for this.
Conservative Party:
- Website – http://www.conservative.ca/
- Twitter – Stephen Harper
- Facebook – Conservative Party
- Facebook – Stephen Harper
- YouTube – Conservative Party
- Flickr – Stephen Harper
- Blog – Campaign
- RSS – Conservative Party Top Stories
Liberal Party:
- Website – http://www.liberal.ca/
- Twitter – Michael Ignatieff
- Facebook – Liberal Party
- Facebook – Michael Ignatieff
- YouTube – Liberal Party
- Flickr – Michael Ignatieff
- Blog – Campaign
- RSS – Liberal Party Blog
New Democratic Party:
- Website – http://www.ndp.ca
- Twitter – Jack Layton
- Facebook – NDP
- Facebook – Jack Layton
- YouTube – NDP
- Flickr – NDP
- Blog –
- RSS – Press Releases
Green Party:
- Website – http://www.greenparty.ca
- Twitter – Green Party
- Twitter – Elizabeth May
- Facebook – Green Party
- Facebook – Elizabeth May
- YouTube – Green Party
- Flickr – Green Party
- Blog – Elizabeth May
- RSS – GP Main News Feed
- RSS – Press Releases
Bloc Québécois:
- Website – http://www.blocquebecois.org/accueil.aspx
- Twitter – Bloc Québécois
- Twitter – Gilles Duceppe
- Facebook – Bloc Québécois
- Facebook – Gilles Duceppe
- YouTube – Bloc Québécois
- Flickr – Bloc Québécois
- Blog – Bloc Québécois
- RSS –
I wasn’t able to find a link to either a party or leader blog on the NDP site. I was also not able to find an RSS feed on the BQ site but that might have been more because I didn’t translate correctly. I was looking for the RSS Icon.
Please leave me comments of any other links you think readers would benefit from in order to become more informed voters on May 2nd.
Technorati Tags: Election 41,Elections Canada,Conservative Party,Liberal Party,NDP,Green Party,Bloc Quebecois
The Reasons We Need/Use Social Media Sites
Sep 5th
Today seemed like the perfect day to do this post. With many of my Facebook applications again having issues, I don’t have to worry about missing something. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? Missing something on Facebook. Isn’t it amazing that so many of us spend hours every week doing things and playing games on sites like this. Why do we do it?
I think for many people, the games played and connections made on social media sites give people a distraction from their everyday lives. Sometimes people have so much on the go or so much else to think/worry about that maybe we all need to just clear our minds and playing these games or interacting on these sites allows us to do that. It is not much different than watching TV or becoming immersed in a hobby is it?.
For many users it is a way to procrastinate from the things in real life that we need to do. Everyone is a procrastinator aren’t they? Why should we do now what can be put off until tomorrow? Social media sites give us a way to keep busy without looking after the real things that need to be done. Everyone works better when that deadline is closer anyway…don’t they?
People also like to be acknowledged. Even when they are just people we have no contact with other than on social media sites. Everyone likes to have their statuses commented on. It makes us feel that others are paying attention to us. Retweeting our tweets makes us feel that we have something important to say. People like that feeling…even if it is just online.
We all like to feel we belong. Being alone sucks. But being connected online gives us a feeling of belonging to something. We can find people with the same interests or problems. We join groups and follow topics as part of a social group. We love that feeling of belonging to something.
Many use social networks as a way of assuring themselves that their decisions are the right ones. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you connect with. You can ask the social-sphere to help with a problem you have knowing what you think is the right thing to do. Asking for that assurance makes you feel better about your decision…the problem is that you don’t know many of the people you ask those assurances from so they don’t know the whole story.
My final idea of why people flock to social media is the anonymity of it all. Many people can be who they want to be. People can post whatever picture they want. They never have to show people who they really are even if they are interacting within their social media of choice. Many people choose not to show their picture or share any part of who they really are. While going against the true meaning of social media, it is their choice albeit not one I agree with. I dislike people who want to be a part of social media sites but who don’t share anything including their picture. People who use fake names don’t have any part in joining social media sites in my opinion.. The other thing with the anonymity is many use this mask as a way of striking out at others. They are online and have hidden who they really are so they can say what they want without repercussions. What goes around, comes around!
So why do you involve yourself with social media sites? Leave me a comment and let me know why?
Facebook Picks on Upstart Social Network
Aug 29th
Facebook Sues Teachbook Over Use of ‘Book’ | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.
I came across this article today that I thought was strange and reeked of intimidation or worry by Facebook.
My big question is “when did the use of the word “book” become a trademark by Facebook? Does that mean we are going have to start calling “Books” by a different name? What are we going to call a notebook? Are Blueline, Mead or Cambridge next up for the courts? I mean, Facebook might think that everyone could start writing status updates in them and mailing them to their friends or leaving them in designated bins for people to pick up and write their status in there.
What about Notebook software? Is Smart Technologies next in line for suing? What about the bluebook and your little blackbook? Where is this going to stop?
Next thing you know, YouTube will start kicking RedTube’s ass and taking TeacherTube to task over their use of the word “Tube” in their names.
NOTE: I didn’t link to Redtube for a reason. The word “Red” is there for a reason so if you want to go visit it you can go there yourself.
Now, I can understand Apple not allowing anyone to use that “i” in front of a product name…that is a little obvious in being an infringement. Same with McDonalds not allowing that “Mc” in front of a product that might get confused with their product. Those are pretty straight forward.
But “book”? I would think that Facebook would take the use of “book” in Teachbook as flattery. Isn’t imitation the best form of flattery? Besides, is anyone really going to get confused between Facebook and Teachbook. Isn’t this the same sort of situation as Youtube and Teachertube?
Get off your high horse Facebook and be happy that what you have created demands to be imitated in a different forum. Spend your time, effort and money in fixing your own product. Stop taking liberties with people’s privacy. Concentrate on your own issues and leave others alone.
The Power of Social Media
Aug 22nd
We live in a time when anyone can find out information about anything or anyone. We live in a time where the world has become compressed due to the internet with its’ blogs and many social media sites. News that used to take years, months, days, weeks or hours to spread to other areas of the world now is instantaneous through new forms of media like Twitter and Facebook. We used to rely on newspapers and libraries for information where we now have access to information through various websites be it online versions of newspapers or books or through blogs. We used to have to rely on mainstream journalists for the news. Now everyone can share the news as it happens or even their own opinions through blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc..
With this ability to access information anywhere and any time, people need to know that what they say online can (and probably will) be seen by anyone at any time after it is posted. It may not be read right after it is posted but it is available to read anytime…even years into the future. You have to be aware of that. If it is on the internet it is there for everyone to read.
Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it. –
A couple of items piqued my interest this week when it came to the power of social media. First off there was a blog in Edmonton that received a nasty response from an Artistic Director/Actor of a local theatre company. An attempt to resolve the issue privately failed as another blogger was basically told the same thing. I won’t go into the details of the whole thing as you can read them at the links in this paragraph. The second blogger decided to write a post responding to the initial and subsequent nasty responses and posted this on his blog. He then sent a tweet out to announce his blog post as he always does.
Inspiration? I’m Humbled
Aug 22nd
Posted by martin in About Me
1 comment
So in the past couple of months I have had several people who used to read my posts ask me if I was going to start writing again. 2 of my readers even went as far as saying that my writings on my struggles to lose weight and control my diabetes was an inspiration to them to either lose weight or live more healthy. For those thoughts I am humbled.
So, I have my computer set up and I will be back posting and hopefully people will come back and read what I have to say. You may not always agree with what I post but your opinion is as valuable to society as mine so either way, please leave me comments. It is this interaction that makes blogs and social medias successful.