Posts Tagged politics
Canadian Election Choices … in song.
Posted by Paul Holmes in politics on April 25, 2011
Stephen Harper
Michael Ignatieff
Jack Layton
Elizabeth May
Gilles Duceppe
The Affirmation Society in the Information Age
Posted by Paul Holmes in internet, politics, social media on June 21, 2009
Can millions of young fans be wrong when they declare that the Jonas Brothers are the greatest music group in the history of the universe?
Of course they can. But they won’t believe you.
Why? Because they have received instantaneous affirmation of their belief, and can do so anytime their faith might be swayed.
Not by music experts, writers, community leaders – but affirmation online by millions of other fans, most of whom they don’t know, nor ever will.
Not terribly important in human history (for anybody but the Jonas Brothers and their benefactors), except when you translate the same human reality to other realms and endeavours: politics, science, religion.
Was 9/11 an inside job? Is global warming a serious, human caused phenomenon? Did Jesus get married and Father several children?
The new answer to all these questions and more is: Whatever you’d like to believe. Any answer you’d like, you can virtually guarantee instant affirmation.
The culture of affirmation used to be described to us by our leaders, media, politicians and opinion-leaders as the social domain of the strange and the perverse: racists, conspiracy-theorists, child-molestors, UFO abductees, etc.
The Internet has changed all that.
What are the consequences of mass affirmation, and how do we evolve as a society from here?
Perhaps we will transcend, as humans often do, into a new, more educated, media-savvy and otherwise street-smart society.
Or, perhaps we’ll devolve into a society of affirmed self-righteousness, until it ultimately descends into societal collapse, or human extinction.
It’s food for thought.
Next time an otherwise intelligent person comes to you with some crazy idea, as seen on the Internet, send them this article, and have them answer the question.
In the meantime, go Jonas Brothers – the greatest musicians ever!!
Economic Stimulus and Canada – An Idea
Posted by Paul Holmes in business, internet, politics, social media on June 4, 2009
I have an idea to help solve a bunch of Canada’s problems.
Here are a list of the problems:
- One of the largest media companies in the country, CanWest, is (apparently) hovering on the brink of bankruptcy.
- The Canadian Government and financial analysts are anticipating record federal deficits.
- American visitors must now have a passport to visit Canada.
- The website for the Canadian Government is stupidly branded as www.canada.gc.ca.
Here is my bold (and a wee bit crazy) plan …
The Government of Canada buys Canada.com from CanWest Publishing. The value of this property to CanWest is really the content, which can be moved elsewhere. OK, OK, there is some inherent value in the name, but, honestly, it’s not really ideal for what CanWest is selling.
It is worth a considerable amount of money, which the Government should pay (one time), and this would help bail out CanWest (somewhat), thus solving problem #1.
With this new acquisition, the Government of Canada should put together a tourism website a la Australia.com, and use it to promote Tourism to Canada to the world, thus alleviating problem #3, and growing this sector of the economy (alleviating, somewhat, problem #2).
This website, naturally, would incorporate some fancy social media features, too! Anything is better than the crappy website (Copyright 2007, no less) that Tourism Canada has now.
What about the acquisition cost and development of this tourism portal?
That will certainly hurt the bottom line in the short term, but I think it’s a good long term investment. Besides, the Government is busy spending money to help the economy anyway, so why not on something like this? It beats the hell out of a traditional corporate subsidy or bailout (like the crap going on with the automotive companies).
As for problem #4, the Government of Canada has full rights to using the name Canada.ca, but chooses the brand Canada.GC.ca. Why? I can only assume it is because of the concern that Canada.ca might be misheard, leading hapless Canadians to type in Canada.com instead, and end up, confused, on CanWest’s web portal.
Saying Canada.GC.ca makes people stop and think “hmmmm”, so they tend not to mistype it as a result. Theoretically.
If my grand scheme went forward, problem #4 could be solved, the Government of Canada’s web portal could be re-branded (not just re-directed) to Canada.ca. If people mistype it as Canada.com, well, they get the Tourism Canada site, and can click on a link that connects them to the right place. Done.
And the world’s problems are solved.
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