Bullets Don’t Have Any Effect on Demons

Humans are humans.

If Ferguson Missouri’s Officer Darren Wilson thought he was defending himself against a demon, he should have been using whatever weapon is popularly known to…. Hahaha, gotcha.

If Officer Darren Wilson thought he was looking into the face of a demon, HE MAY NOT BELONG ON THE FORCE.

What if the following was made standard on all police force application questionnaires:

Rank these random subjects in order of perceived threat, with first position denoting the highest level of perceived threat:

demon

rabid dog

shepherd

armed suspect

teenager

Unlike whatever motivated Darren Wilson to shoot, it couldn’t do nearly as much damage.

I’m As Mad As Hell…

Today, CBC’s website posted the following article concerning the current cuts (link below). It includes comments from the president and CEO:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cbc-to-cut-back-supper-hour-news-in-house-productions-1.2688409

“Why are we doing this? Again, to scale it down, to be able to open our content creation to other actors, other participants in the cultural industry,” Lacroix said.

Finally, confirmation from the horse’s mouth: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s content is no longer journalism, it’s no longer news reporting, it’s no longer documentaries and programming in the voice of this nation or its communities; it’s CULTURE.

But what “culture” is he talking about if it isn’t Canadian journalism or storytelling?

I would argue that it is the culture of attention-seeking and attention retention; no more, no less than whatever generates the most clicks and likes. I quote, “We’re going to lead now with mobility, we’re going to lead with whatever widget you use.“
The Attention Economy.
So, to be clear, according to the president and CEO of the CBC, Hubert T. Lacroix, our publicly-funded national broadcaster is in the business of buying and selling our attention.
Thank you, Mr. Lacroix, for your honesty.

Most individuals and entities involved in running, funding, and maintaining the CBC are happily willing to do their job, or contribute their share to uphold the CBC’s mandate — specifically the first 3 points (Source: Wikipedia on June 26, 2014):

Mandate

The 1991 Broadcasting Act^[11] states that…

…the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as the national public broadcaster, should provide radio and television services incorporating a wide range of programming that informs, enlightens and entertains;

…the programming provided by the Corporation should:

• be predominantly and distinctively Canadian,
• reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions,
• actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,
• be in English and in French, reflecting the different needs and circumstances of each official language community, including the particular needs and circumstances of English and French linguistic minorities,
• strive to be of equivalent quality in English and French,
• contribute to shared national consciousness and identity,
• be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means and as resources become available for the purpose, and

reflect the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canada.

But the cuts have spoken, and they speak volumes. Bit by bit the service has been hollowed out like a jack-o-lantern, becoming more bark than bite.

So what can be done?

Then after you’ve yelled, write something, anything about it, and send it out there. If enough of us do that, then the powers that be might recognize some value in what we have said. Communication is vital. Our own individual understanding of it is worth considering its value and vulnerability more deeply than we may typically feel like doing.

Go ahead, get as mad as hell.