Voting matters, Shania Twain, Idols we don’t remember and ignorant old hags…

Every time we approach an election in this country, whether it be federal, provincial or municipal in nature, I think of, and am disappointed by, the number of people that do not exercise their right to vote.  Let me begin by saying that I fully understand that one of the rights we should have in a free society is the right to decide whether we will vote or not.  So, if per chance you are one of the few people who actually do not vote because they are consciously exercising that right then please forgive the following observations.

In the last provincial election in 2007, only 52.6 per cent of eligible voters exercised their right, the lowest number in an Ontario election since 1923.  In May of this year, only 61.4 per cent of eligible individuals cast a ballot.  Those numbers are appalling and embarrassing.

There are no excuses when it comes to someone not exercising their right to vote, a right that was handed to us by generations of men and women who fought on foreign soil and gave their lives to protect our freedom.  Go back and look at the opening sequence of the movie “Saving Private Ryan”.  You know, that part where soldiers head towards the Normandy shore in landing crafts and when the door lowers they are shot within seconds.  It happened in real life folks, throughout both World Wars and other conflicts, thousands of Canadian soldiers; fathers, brothers, husbands, and friends killed as they defended our right to live in a democracy.  The fact that barely half of the eligible individuals show up to vote in our elections is an insult to their sacrifice and their memory.

The fact that this happened over 60 years ago is no excuse.  If you have time to go get your double double at Tim Hortons on election day; if you have time to go grab lunch at Subway on election day; if you have time to go get that laundry detergent that is on sale on election day and if you have time to go to that aerobics class or do your regular workout on election day then you have time to go vote!  No excuses…we owe it to my grandfather and every other man and woman that represented Canada on foreign soil and defended our freedom.

Random thoughts

·        Last week, there were a number of people who spent an inordinate amount of time on Facebook writing about how they were upset that Facebook had changed the layout of their profile page. It was amusing to watch the sense of entitlement that people have developed regarding Facebook even though it is a service that they do not even pay for.  By the way, those of you threatening to leave Facebook as a result…I have some news for you.  First, with over 800 million users on Facebook, I’m not sure Mark Zuckerberg will notice you are gone. Second, you’ll be back before you know it.

·        A note for the local Wal Mart manager…letting a woman with a cart of full of stuff stay in the express lane when there were 12 people in line behind her after your cashier told her to go to a regular line might have kept the ignorant old hag happy but it pissed off the other 12 people in line.  The customer is NOT always right!

·        There are so many singing competitions on TV these days which is perplexing since the winners in many of these competitions barely make a ripple in the industry following their victory.  Does anyone remember who Ryan Malcolm is?  Taylor Hicks? Michael Grimm?  See told you!  Apart from Carrie Underwood and perhaps Kelly Clarkson the rest of the Idols, America’s Got Talent, Sing-Off, etc. winners have been pretty forgettable.

·        A note to the NFL, NHL, NBA and other professional sports.  I don’t care how popular a player was when he was still active, if he can’t put two coherent sentences together without sounding stupid, he should not be part of your broadcast team.

·        In the near future I will do a full blog on Shania Twain, the Shania Centre and it will probably piss off every single coffee shop expert in town…well, at least the three coffee shop experts that actually read this blog!   In the meantime, have a look at her most recent video.  You might see her outside of a building, standing next to a mini-van…she did not have to do that, but she did...just sayin'!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMciyWyugKY

9/11 from 1500km away

I’ve lived in Northern Ontario for most of life and, to be honest, it is a pretty insulated area when it comes to natural disasters and terrorist activities.  Apart from the odd flood and forest fire, our biggest concern is figuring how many inches of snow will fall during the next snow storm.  When it comes to terrorism, luckily, it is something that we have only ever lived through the images and sounds that we see on TV.  Even though I was over 1500 kilometres from either New York City or Washington at the time, September 11^th 2001 is the day that terrorism really hit home for me and probably for a number of other people that live in Northern Ontario and in other parts of Canada. 

On this, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, there will be hundreds of people with much better writing skills than I that will write blogs and stories about the events of that day.  There will be others who were either involved or impacted directly by the attacks that will write stories that will be gripping, tragic and insightful.  As for me, well...here are my most distinct memories about that day:

·        Like many people, my first call after the magnitude of what was happening that day set in was to my Mom.  Strange how when you are observing something that shakes you to your core your instinct is to reach out to someone whose voice has comforted you in the past.  Although I was 31 at the time, it was almost as if I needed to hear my Mom tell me that everything was going to be ok.  Truth be told, she was as shocked as I was so it was a short, choppy conversation but I remember feeling better after hearing her voice.

·        I remember watching part of the coverage that afternoon with two co-workers on a small 14 inch TV in an industrial trailer where we could get a TV signal…it was as quiet in that room as it ever was when all three of us were in the same general area.

·        I vividly remember sitting at home that evening, watching coverage on TV and thinking that I was glad that I did not have any children because I would have no idea how to explain that day to a child.

·        I remember a local reporter getting the number of a former Timmins resident who was working in New York City at the time and calling the individual on his cell phone to get a “scoop” story.  All he managed to do was speak to a terrified individual who really had nothing more to give to the story than what we already knew and had seen on TV.  It was small town, bush league journalism at its worst.

In the days following 9/11

·        I was never a big fan of George W. Bush when he was President but I will never forget his words through a bullhorn at Ground Zero surrounded by firemen when, in response to someone who yelled that he could not hear the President, he said:  “…I hear you, the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon”.

·        To this day, the photo of “Falling Man” haunts me when I see it in a media story either on TV or online.  A chilling reminder of what the people stuck high in those towers must have gone through.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/The_Falling_Man.jpg

·        I’ll always remember David Letterman’s somber monologue at the start of his first show following the attacks or the strange yet compelling sight of CBS news anchor Dan Rather breaking down in tears of anger when talking about the attacks later in the show.

·        I also remember how surreal it was that day when several of the specialty channels such as TSN and Much Music were showing live feeds from news channels and other networks such as The Food Network went off air completely that day.

Looking back today

·        Many people mention that Canada was not directly impacted by the events of 9/11.  Tell that to the families of the Canadian soldiers that have lost their lives in the “War on Terror”.

·        Are we safer today than we were on 9/11?  Well, there are still major terror networks throughout the world and if they had the resources, creativity and patience to plan and execute the attacks of 9/11 than perhaps we should never feel totally comfortable.

·        I recently watched some of the live coverage from that day on Youtube.  It was fascinating to listen to initial coverage and interesting to note all of the inaccuracies in the coverage amidst the confusion of an event of this magnitude. 

Have a good and safe week everyone!

Hurricane Anderson, social TWITS and bad leadership....

September 6^th

I’ve been told that over the past few weeks I’ve been a little harsh in my comments towards the City Council in my hometown of Timmins.  That I am calling into question their leadership ability.  Although I stand by the content of my previous blogs, the comments made by these individuals got me to thinking about leadership, specifically in the political arena, and whether or not the era of great leaders has come to and end. 

The question becomes whether or not men like Churchill, Kennedy, Trudeau, Levesque and others would have been viewed as great leaders had they lived in an era where politicians must deal with a vast array of media outlets, social media networks and various communications tools that capture their every comment or action.

It has gotten to the point that by the time a candidate announces their plan to run for office, specifically on the national level, the media has gathered enough information to scrutinize everything from where they went to school, to what type of social life they have, to the different relationships they’ve had, to the people they had lunch with 23 years ago on a Tuesday in June.  I acknowledge the fact that knowing more about a candidate’s previous professional, political and social activities will provide voters with some insight as to what they could expect from them as leaders.  However, I would also argue that it does not really matter if they inhaled, if they failed Grade 12 biology, if they once dated the sister of a guy whose best friend’s brother got arrested for selling drugs in college.  What I want to know is where they stand on the issues and how they have performed in their previous political offices.

My friends will tell you that one of my great frustrations with today’s politicians, be they municipal, provincial or federal, is that none of them seem to have the combination of intelligence, charisma, idealism, courage and political intuitiveness that many of the great leaders seemed to have.  Quite frankly, I would be hard-pressed to name any current Canadian politician that has the qualities required to become a great leader.  I will continue looking for that fresh new face with the qualities needed to eventually become a leader that voters will gravitate to and who will enhance our country’s standing internationally.  When I think that I’ve found him or her, I’ll let you know!

Random thoughts

·        Last week when Hurricane Irene was less intense than expected when it reached New York City I commented on Facebook about how Anderson Cooper would be disappointed that he’d gotten out of bed for this.  Following is a video clip seemingly confirming my point.  He actually sounds disappointed that the storm is not stronger! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON_-Nz56hkk&feature=youtu.be

·        Over the past several weeks I have found myself watching the odd show on HGTV such as “House Hunters” and “Selling New York”.  It’s official, I really need a new hobby.

·        The NBA is currently in a lock-out and last week, one of the players accused the owners of making it difficult for him to “feed his children”.  This from a guy who entered the NBA draft right out of high school because he failed to meet the minimum academic requirements yet has made over $70 million, yup…$70 million dollars paid to him by these same owners, even though he could not spell alphabet if you spotted him all the letters in the right order. I know many men, including my Dad, who managed to feed their children even though they made less in their entire 30 year careers than this bozo makes in a couple of months…just sayin’!

·        Is it just me or is Twitter still an under-utilized social media too in Northern Ontario.  Everybody and their Grandmas seem to have a Facebook page but few people I know are on Twitter.  If you happen to be on Twitter my account is @frankroch look me up! By the way, one does not send twits or twitters, one sends tweets. 

·        By the way, if you are ever interested in getting more insight and information on current social media trends, new applications etc, there is a weekly podcast that I listen to occasionally that is quite good.  It is called “The Social Hour” and each episode can be viewed at www.twit.tv.  No, the link is not a joke “TWIT” stands for This Week In Technology.