Politically Incorrect

There are 6 posts filed in Politically Incorrect (this is page 1 of 1).

Will You Be Allowed to Vote?

Tomorrow is the Canadian federal election. I already voted, early. Tonight I’m wondering, in this new democracy where people are allowed to make one choice only, call it coerced, whatever word you like. Will this be our last election?

First, I thought about future elections requiring a vaccine passport. Only those who have been vaccinated several times (with “the vaccine” not all those other vaccines, they just don’t count now) will be allowed to vote. But, then, why not take it a step farther and get rid of the political parties and candidates. Just admit Canada is no longer a democracy but a dictatorship. So, elections will be a thing of the past. I really don’t think it matters which party gets in. They have all become a blob, all the same, doing the same, acting the same. The faces and the words and promises are irrelevant. Their actions are the same.

I think it is a short step to removing the rest of the rights and freedoms people have from where we have come now with the so called pandemic as an excuse. Privacy is flying out the window pretty quickly. I could not imagine having my medical records made public, demanded even, by someone as proof of my being allowed to enter a restaurant, or any kind of public place.

Now I don’t want to write or think more about it. Too much. If this were a science fiction story no one would believe it.

A Little Boy Wants to Wear a Tutu

I am not tolerant of the transgender thing popular these days, especially when it is applied to children. To me this is like child molesting, adults controlling and using a child sexually. Children are easily led, their opinions and ideals are easily created for them. A child looks to it’s parents for their reactions to decide what their own reactions should be.

I know I do not have the “right” attitude about transgender children (or people). But, I’m not going to accept something I feel is very wrong.

Yesterday I was told about a little boy (3 years of age) who wants to wear a ballet tutu, and he likes to play with some other traditionally girl things. He is being raised by women. This is just a point of information, it does not mean he needs more men to guide him to become masculine, change him from tutu into hockey gear. But, it is interesting that people want to change his gender.

Why not his race too? When you think of a person wearing a little pink tutu is it a white girl with blonde hair? Possibly a Catholic white girl with blonde hair. So, if this little boy wants to wear a tutu maybe his gender isn’t enough to change to fit into our concept of who wears a ballet tutu.

Or, could a tutu just be a tutu? An item of clothing where the only real requirement is the size. Maybe the little boy just needs a tutu in his size, not his gender, race, religion or anything else people might stereotypically connect with a tutu.

Gender stereotypes are not new. But, they seem to have become a lot stronger, more enforced and deliberate.

Let the little boy wear the pink ballet tutu with all the frills, if he asks for it beyond just a one time whim. Don’t turn it into an issue of gender, or any big deal at all. Maybe he grows up to join the ballet, or maybe he wears it a few times and forgets all about it. Let it be his choice. Don’t load it with a lot of stereotypes and drama you carry around with you.

Still Protesting Sunday Shopping

sundayshoppingI was surprised to see a site still protesting Sunday Shopping. At one point the writer says he did not start out protesting due to religion. But, if not for religion it could be any week day. Sunday is the legendary “day of rest”.  But, not if you’re an atheist. Why not keep Sundays  for business and close down Monday? Or Friday? Maybe Wednesday, it’s right there in the middle of the week.

I might pick Thursday but then who would really want to go back to work on Friday knowing you have Saturday and Sunday off?

There can only be so many religious holidays. Christians already have more time off than any other religion in North America. I don’t think the Sunday Shopping protest is going any where. The real test is to see how many people are spending time in church. I’ve heard the numbers are dropping. A shame but… religion is a personal thing.

Image source: Save Our Sundays

White is a Mixed Race Too

The issue should not be skin colour at all. No one can tell enough about you from just your skin colour to classify you as a person. The issue of race is based on fear of something different, unpredictable. Human beings tend to be intimidated by something we can’t understand, predict, or control.

If people stopped promoting racism, it would likely go away a lot sooner. Consider why it is so important to you to keep promoting racism before you write about the colour of someone’s skin – whatever colour it may be.

In our culture, we think we are so civilized and sophisticated, skin colour should mean nothing more than a feature of a specific human being – like the shape of your nose, a mole, a scar… they all add up to characteristics which create the whole. All of those are superficial. You can’t actually know anyone at that level, let alone where their ancestors and heritage came from.

I’m “white” but just as Keanu is Hawaiian, Chinese, etc. I am Canadian, Austrian, German, Scottish and whatever else farther back in time. What does it matter to you or anyone else? You don’t know me. Being “mixed race” is more than skin deep and should be about more than skin tone/ colour.

No one is “monoracial”. To want rights based on being mixed race and then deny or begrudge the same rights to another group of people (for the very same reason!) is backwards and silly. Being white enough to pass for white is far too far down the rabbit hole. Everyone, each human being on the planet, is of mixed race.

All the complaints about racism only create more racism. Instead, stop focusing on skin colour as a way to judge a person. Brown, black, white, green… it is all mixed race. We are on this planet together whether your skin is light or dark, your hair is straight or curly,  or not there at all. Each of us decides their own identity. If you base your identity on race, that’s up to you. Don’t push it on others who may feel their career, hobbies, skills, strengths, etc define them more than the colour of their skin.

(This post inspired by a post about Keanu Reeves being of mixed race but passing for white and being denied his identity. See below).

As mixed race people, we must have the freedom to define our own identities. Thus, monoracial people deciding our identities for us is dangerous behavior that renders us invisible.

So, is Reeves being cast truly a case of White-washing? No. As a person of non-white heritage, Reeves being cast is not White-washing. While audiences may not read him as a person of color, that is not his fault, nor is it his responsibility to ensure that people make the correct assumptions about his identity. That is not and never will be the job of mixed race people.

Is White-washing an issue? Most definitely. Are mixed race actors to blame? Not at all.

Source: Keanu Reeves and the White-washing of Hollywood :: WINM :: Keanu Reeves Articles & Interviews Archive

A Just Looking Fee?

What do you think about stores charging people to shop at their locations? You would pay to look around the store, a brick and mortar store, but get the money back if you purchase something.

Here’s what the sign says:

As of the first of February, this store will be charging people a $5 fee per person for “just looking.”

The $5 fee will be deducted when goods are purchased.

Why has this come about?

There has been high volume of people who use this store as a reference and then purchase goods elsewhere. These people are unaware our prices are almost the same as the other stores plus we have products simply not available anywhere else.

This policy is line with many other clothing, shoe and electronic stores who are also facing the same issue.

Management

via Stores Charges Customers $5 ‘Just Looking’ Fee To Combat Showrooming – Yahoo! Finance Canada.

I’m sure there will be a lot of protest against this. But, I do see the logic behind it. Here in Ontario we used to have a chain of wholesale/ retail stores called Consumer’s Distributing. I don’t know what happened to the stores, they went out of business years ago. I still think they had a near perfect business model. People would come to the store, look at the catalogue and write down the page number and the item number of the product they wanted. If there were extra things like colour or size you wrote that down as well. Then you brought your ticket/ note to the service desk. There were always a few people there and one would take your note and go into the warehouse to bring out what you wanted.  You could open it up from the packaging, take a look and make sure it was what you wanted. Then you paid for it and were done.

Stores now are becoming the catalogue for online shoppers. Not fair to them. Not something which will work out in the long range plan. So, I do understand a retail store trying to get people to shop and buy in the store rather than use the store like a catalogue or display, a place where they can deal with the store staff, have them open packaging and then leave the store without making a purchase. This leaves the store paying for staff, lights, insurance, and so on but not getting the sales which they rely on.

I actually shop the opposite way myself. I look at prices online, see what stores have listed and then I go to a real store to have a better look and at this point I almost always buy whatever I was looking at because I have already done my shopping around online. I prefer to buy from the brick and mortar store than the online stores. I like to really see what I’m buying before I open my wallet.

What do you think?

Would you pay the fee to just look – especially knowing you will get the money off your purchase?