Ah, the last long weekend of summer. What better time to take a vacation, relax, and recall all the racist incidents in Halifax in the last year or so.
If you have friends who do annoying things like play in bands, do stuff about social issues, or own a business, right about now they’re probably lobbying you to vote for them in the “Best of…” contest in The Coast.
My own journalisming is of course entirely original (vote for me! Best journalist!) so I would never steal a concept from somewhere else. I am merely submitting my entry for the “appropriation prize.” I can’t wait to drink with Margaret Wente and her friends! Yay!
Examiner readers, I know you have of course been dying to 1) read lists instead of actual news or intelligent commentary 2) vote on things even though there isn’t an actual voting system, and 3) do the work I’m getting paid for by submitting your own entries in the comments thus making it look like since I have a lot of comments I must be the best writer (vote for me! Best writer!).
Therefore, I have created a list of “Best of…” things for you to vote on and/or suggest your own entries for. And by the way, making lists and putting in links and stuff actually takes forever, fuck making lists ever again.
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“Best Fuckery” intrigues, not only for its creative pitch-perfect title, but because four of the five choices are influenced and/or determined by forms of governance. Yet only 19% chose “less than 54%” turnout as best fuckery. Not bad, I suppose, given highest vote percentages are 24%, but El’s stark comment has stayed with me: “Maybe we should get rid of elections instead.” Indeed. And if that hypothesis ever occurred, imagine the unrivaled glee of the political party currently “serving,” the one which could/would make it a fait accompli.
Had a recent wide-ranging discussion with eldest Halifax-living, working and voting Generation X son. His thoughts included:
1. Cautioning me against assuming low voting turnout was protest, but rather in addition to that element, includes a mixture of indifference, ignorance (wilful or otherwise) and laziness.
2. He advocates more frequent elections, maintaining the electorate has too limited effect on the system with current scheduling.
In hearing his engaged feedback, I suggested a variation of El’s suggestion that startled him: that non-voters lose their voting privilege for one corresponding election. Let only we who are engaged and vote solely determine, and let abstentions apply to be reinstated or do it automatically for the next electoral cycle.
In related but different conversation with youngest Halifax-living, working, voting Generation Y son, a math/stat whiz [am definitely not] he agreed with my poorly presented theory that non-voting cohort skews.
However we proceed to address this pernicious, destructive, increasing element in our democracy, for the record, I do not advocate getting rid of elections.
I know there are cat people, and there are dog people. Me, I like both cats and dogs.
Bit of a hastily fired, cheap shot at a good man on council in Shelburne.
Queen’s Marque Pissoir – we’ll smell it in Lunenberg on foggy nights.
Best boss for workers? Joanne Bernard as the new head of Easter Seals. She vilified& underfunded you but all is forgiven as she lobbies her former colleagues for scraps of rainbows and puppies.
She is some able!
Great, Best Of poll, El. Never bothered with the Coast poll, but this one was great fun. I do take issue with one result: I won’t argue that Whitman is not a racist, but I think the only reason he won the category was that so many people find him to be just one of the most annoying people ever.
Also, I believe you could have added Emera’s Chris Huskilson and his merry band of incompetents to the list of oligarchs. By the way, your reference to oligarchs, is one of the few times I’ve heard that word used in a Nova Scotia context. I use it a lot, but I rarely listen to myself, so it would be nice if other people used the word when describing the nice folks who use our labour and our resources to “create jobs”. Next year, please add The Most Underused Word category.
Have not seen the Examiner mentioned on FB today, sometimes Saturdays there are some. Folks may be on vacation. El’s submission today may take away any R&R feel. Sad that she could come up with so much negative, racist situations in our municipality- a few new to me. So glad I have opportunity to see the good, non judgemental people as well as be mindful of the bad and ugly.