Media Bias and the Boxing Day Shooting
On Boxing Day in downtown Toronto a young women by the name of
Everyone in Toronto (and likely Ontario) knows this story, and knows the name of the girl who was killed. The investigation is on-going, vigils have been held, media attention was prolific. With this death certain people have stepped forward and started complaining. They aren't complaining about gun violence, they aren't complaining about personnel safety, they are complaining about the bias in the media. They complain that if Jane had been a minority, and he skin colour had been different that the story wouldn't have been as big as it was. They argue that we would not know her name, they argue we would not have held vigils for the innocent girl, they argue we would have been apathetic to this crime.
I argue that they are wrong. I don't believe that the media coverage of this shooting would have been any less if Jane was a minority. The most important aspect of this story is where and when the crime occured. It happened in downtown Toronto, on Boxing Day, in a public area filled with a large number of people.
I'm not saying that the media isn't caucasian oriented. I'm just saying in this particular case the colour of Jane's skin had nothing to do with it. I agree that minority related shoots do not get the coverage required. I agree that minority related shoots are very rarely seen on the front page of the newspaper. I also agree that things need to change. I believe that we all need to work together and start listening to each other to resolve these issues. Every life lost is important, no matter what the colour of the persons skin is.
The Godfather of Low-Flying Jumps
Hi Everyone. It's been a while since I've had a "what I've been up to" update. This past weekend Firda and I went up to Barrie, Ontario (2 hour drive from Waterloo) to visit my brother and sister-in-law. We also got to see the one, the only, James Brown in concert at Casino Rama. My brother and sister-in-law gave Firda and I tickets to see James Brown for Christmas, and even though I was fighting the final stages of a stubborn cold, we made the trek and saw the godfather of soul in action.
We left on Friday night. Drove two hours to Barrie and couldn't find my brothers place. Apparently the first email that my sister-in-law sent out had the wrong house number. She said 206, the number was 260. It took us a little while to figure it out (phone calls were made) but we eventually got there. Once we arrived we talked a little, watched a little TV, played a board game called Blokus (which I would describe as a cross between Othello and Tetris), played with the craziest kitten in the world Moxie (or Moxy, not sure about the spelling).
Saturday we hit a bunch of thrift and antique stores. Firda got two new vintage/antique cameras (an Argus Argoflex E and a Rover toy camera). I picked up a couple of books at the thrift stores. We had a lovely lasagna dinner before heading to Casino Rama for the big show.
I've never been to the Casino before. It was everything I imagined. Flashy, dark, smoky and loud. Thankfully smoking was not allowed in the auditorium. We had pretty good seats, about 200 yards from the stage. The auditorium was also set up with two large projection screens. The show was much like I remember. I've seen James Brown two times before, about 9 and 8 years ago, at a large bar in Kitchener called Lulu's. I got close enough for James Brown to spit on me (if he wanted to). This time we had assigned seats and sat through most of the show. The concert was good. James Brown is quite a bit older since the last time I saw him. His fancy feet are still just as fancy, though his high jumps are not really "high" anymore. The backup band/singers/fly girls really carried a lot of the show, due to the age of Mr. Brown. After the show we hung out at the casino for a while, just checking it out, and then went back to Barrie and straight into bed.
Sunday was spent sleeping in and driving home. We were both tired out when we got home so we didn't do anything for the rest of the day.
Monday morning I woke up and felt like crap, since I was still fighting off the tail end of my cold. I called in sick to work, so I could work from home. I slept in for an extra hour. I'm feeling significantly better today, though I could really use some more sleep.
Anyways. That is my story and I'm sticking with it.
