Kony 2012 and VIA Rail plays "throw Jann from the train"

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or you’ve given up social media for lent, you will have heard about KONY 2012 by now.  To summarize, KONY 2012 is a campaign that has been developed by an organization called “Invisible Children” to bring attention to Joseph Kony who has spent the better part of the past 20 years killing and terrorizing civilians in countries such as Uganda, Sudan and the Central African Republic.  At the centre of this campaign is a 29 minute video that speaks to the atrocities perpetuated by Kony and promotes the “Stop Kony” movement as presented by Invisible Children.  As you might imagine over 100 million people viewed the video on Youtube and “Stop Kony” trended on Twitter for two days.

Of course, as seems to happen with most matters that gain attention on social media these days, it did not take long for critics of KONY 2012 to appear and I’m sure both sides will continue to wage a public relations battle via traditional and social media over the coming weeks.  That being said, following are some of the things I learned and observed as I watched the KONY 2012 story play out:

·       I was reminded yet again how sad it is that we still live in a world when war lords can operate in such a vicious and sadistic manner in isolated and/or under-developed parts of the world.

·       I was reminded yet again about the power of social media.  There is no way that, as recently as 15 years ago, a movement such as KONY 2012 would have garnered this much attention from large media outlets.  However, when the video went viral so quickly, and considering the subject matter, it became very difficult for the major media outlets to ignore…score one for social media on this one.

·       I learned how quickly certain people will move to call into question any group, organization or movement, no matter what the end objectives of the movement are.  I can appreciate that some people had concerns about the finances of “Invisible Children” but when I watched the video, I saw it as a call to action in efforts to raise awareness about this issue and about what Kony was doing, not as a fundraising effort.

·       I was saddened to watch when one of the many women who have been disfigured by Kony’s “soldiers” appeared on international television to speak out against the campaign by “Invisible Children” and emphasized that she did not understand why “Invisible Children” was trying to “make Kony famous” after what he had done to her and so many other people.  It became obvious that she did not understand the real meaning behind the “making Kony famous” concept and I felt that she was misguided by the people who arranged to have her interviewed.

·       To that point, I was reminded yet again how important messaging is when it comes to any cause or movement.  In retrospect the “Make Kony Famous” slogan may have been ill-advised.

·       For a few brief hours last week, we got a glimpse into what I hope is the future of social media.  A medium that is used for good and to share important messages on a myriad of subjects that often get ignored in many countries because organizations such as “Invisible Children” do not have the financial resources to get their message out to the world true traditional channels.

·       Finally, I was reminded of how important it is to make sure you get as much information as you can on any cause or organization before providing them with any financial support.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

·       Yesterday I was mumbling to myself about how the week had gotten off to a bit of a rough start when I saw a report on CNN that 45 women and children had been slaughtered in Syria…immediate perspective…there are no words.

·       So Jann Arden get kicked off of a VIA train “in the middle of nowhere” (most of us know that place as Oshawa) because she had hidden her dog in a carry-on bag and pets are apparently not allowed on VIA trains.  That’s when Ms. Arden went all “modern diva” on VIA and complained about the treatment her and her dog received on her Twitter feed.  You get no sympathy from me on this one Jann.  I saw the real you at one point and it is much different than the persona you project during interviews or with your fans.  You are a diva and I’m next to certain you thought you could bring your dog on that train because you were Jann Arden.  Good on VIA for calling you out.

·       The other day I was at a local store when I saw boxes of the “Popeye candy cigarettes” that were so popular when we were kids.  Of course, I had to buy a box and try one when I got home…WTF were we thinking when we were kids.  Those things are awful!

 

·       It was interesting to watch the U.S. media deal with the story of the Staff Sergeant who killed all those people in Afghanistan.  They are trying so hard to find a reason, not to justify the act, but to explain why it happened.  Bottom line is one of your guys killed 16 civilians; if an Afghan soldier did that to American civilians there would have been hell to pay.

·       Dick Cheney just cancelled a speaking engagement because he does not feel safe when travelling to Canada.  Well Mr. Cheney, I’m guessing you will spend the bulk of your time in the U.S. from now on because if you do not feel safe in Canada you probably should not feel safe in most other countries either.

·       I recently came to the conclusion that I would have made a lousy “spokesperson” for an American presidential candidate.  Listening to these people trying to “spin” every question they are asked in such a way that they can stick to the “speaking points” they were given by the campaign team makes very smart people sound very dumb on national TV…just sayin’.

My first hate mail, from "Growing Pains" to being a pain and loving our weather.

Late last Friday, I posted a status update on Facebook that read as follows: 

“Listening to intelligent U.S. political "talking heads" try to justify Rush Limbaugh publicly calling a young university student a slut because of a stand she has taken on contraception makes me that much happier that I live in Canada.”

Little did I know that this one sentence statement would result in me receiving two nasty private messages from Facebook “friends” of mine admonishing me for my “stance on contraception”.  I’m not even going to address these two individuals except to say that if you take the time to read my status carefully, it really has nothing to do with me taking a stance on contraception.

My issue with Rush Limbaugh in this case is that he used his bully pulpit to insult and make personal attacks on a young lady simply because he does not agree with her on the issue of contraceptives being covered through health care benefits.  He called her a slut, a prostitute and then said that her parents should be embarrassed of her.  Well, it’s a good thing that I am not that young lady’s father because I would have paid a visit to Mr. Limbaugh’s studio and tried to shove his microphone somewhere rather uncomfortable.  Thankfully, several companies have pulled out as advertisers of Limbaugh’s show since he made these comments and I hope that they will not return despite his feeble, half-hearted attempts at apologizing to the young lady.

What was even more disturbing was watching a number of individuals of influence, specifically supporters of the Republican Party (…Limbaugh is a big supporter), go out of their way in an attempt not to justify what Limbaugh said but to deflect away from his comments.  It was political spin at its worst as highly ranked officials shied away from calling out a vocal and influential supporter of their party. 

The bottom line is that if anyone had made a similar comment on national radio in Canada there would have been an uproar; and I’m next to certain that the comments would have been taken to task by individuals of all political stripes.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

·    So Kirk Cameron, whom none of us have heard from since he left Growing Pains almost 20 years ago, appears on CNN last week and tells the interviewer that he believes that being gay is “unnatural” and that it is “…detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of a civilization.” One, who cares what Kirk Cameron says anyway and two, why the hell would a station like CNN interview a has-been actor in primetime on national television to ask him his thoughts on homosexuality.  It reeks of a station that knew Cameron would say something controversial and took advantage of it to get additional publicity.

·    I have to laugh when I hear snooty music insiders scoff at Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, etc and complain that they cannot sing or that they are not real artists.  The funny part is that many of the music industry’s most influential producers have worked with Bieber, not because they hope that he will then follow them on Twitter but simply because they feel he is talented.  As for Taylor Swift, even Rolling Stone Magazine has written that the only reason why she is not widely recognized as a brilliant songwriter is because critics can’t get over the fact that her main target audience consists of 12 year old girls.  I’ll be the first to agree that Ms Swift has an average voice at best and neither of these two young artists will ever be confused for Lennon/McCartney in their songwriting efforts, but in the meantime they are both laughing all the way to the bank while, “…all the critics are ever going to be is mean”.  (Ouch…can’t believe I just quoted a Taylor Swift lyric in my blog)

·    I’ve always been of the opinion that in the limited amount of time that I have on this earth, I will do what I can to make sure that I see as much of our planet as possible.  That is why I am always perplexed when I hear friends of mine say that they are planning on returning to that same beach in Jamaica or Cuba for the 7^th straight year.  I’ve been on beach vacations before but I’d rather spend my hard earned money on seeing the world that I live in than catch up with Lupé the bartender at a resort in Punta Cana who has been serving me drinks every winter since Jean Chretien was Prime Minister.  Some will say that they want to go to the beach to relax.  Honestly, I have never been more relaxed than I was when looking out at the mountains in the different Himalayan villages we visited and there was not a beach to be seen for a thousand miles.  To each their own, but I feel it is such a waste not to see and experience our world while we are here.

·   I always find it interesting that gas prices often go up 4 or 5 cents/litre at a time but when gas companies lower prices they only do it one cent/litre at a time.

·   Is it only me or are most of the singing competitions on TV incredibly overrated when it comes to creating stars. To the best of my knowledge, the only winners of these competitions that have made it big are Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.  I’m not saying that the others have failed in their careers but I think it is fair to say that their success has not been what one would have expected after winning a contest in which millions of people vote on a weekly basis.  Remember that neither Jennifer Hudson nor Chris Daughtry won American Idol.

·    I hate our winter but I will admit that I am thankful for the cold every single time I am watching TV and see reports on the tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters that have an impact on different parts of the world.

Mountain legacies, dinner with Taylor Swift and viral guitars!

A little over two years ago as I sat in a quiet, very remote lodge in the Himalayas, I sat looking out a window at some of the tallest mountains in the world and had one of those deep thought moments about my future that I never thought I’d share with anyone…little did I know that I would someday be a semi-regular blogger.

I spent the better part of that afternoon thinking about legacy, more specifically what my legacy in this world would eventually be. Ever since I returned from that trip I have spent a fairly large amount of time thinking about the type of legacy that I wanted to leave behind.  Well, that process is about to bear fruit. After months of planning, tweaking and tweaking some more, I will soon be formally launching Virtual Shows Canada.  Over the coming months and years, I trust that this new venture, and all of the different components that it will encompass, will have a transformative impact on the region.  As boastful and as illogical as that might sound, I believe it in my gut and my job for the foreseeable future is to make that happen.  As they say…stay tuned for more details.

I am also in the process of setting the wheels in motion for the creation of a foundation that has as its goal to develop a program that will make a difference in the lives of kids growing up in communities of all sizes, especially in small communities like the one I grew up in.  I already know who I’d like to run this foundation for me but I’d have to pull her away from a government job and quite frankly I can’t afford to! She actually reads this blog on a regular basis…and, no its not you JUNO, although you’d be great at it!  I’m not in a position to provide many details at this point but suffice it to say that I will build this foundation, brick by figurative brick to keep a promise I made to myself way back in 1999.  This foundation will be the real legacy that I leave behind.

So now that I have all of you thinking I was writing this blog while smoking a very large reefer, all I’ll say is stay tuned…and on to the rest of the blog

Who’s coming to dinner?

So I was having coffee with a couple of people a few weeks ago when someone mentioned a TV special they saw a while back where Larry King had a number of celebrities over to his house for a dinner party where they all shared stories about their lives and careers.  As you might expect, the conversation turned to whom each of us would invite to such a dinner at our house.  Well, here is my list of 7 guests in no particular order…note that they had to be alive and individuals that we had not met before…

Wayne Gretzky – Why? Because I’m Canadian and he’s Wayne Gretzky…need I really say more?

Bill Clinton – Love him or hate him, the man is really intelligent, specifically when thinking with the head that sits between his ears, and I’m guessing that after a few drinks he could tell some really cool stories!

Lech Walesa – It was a toss-up between him and Nelson Mandela.  However, I spent more time while in university focused on Eastern Europe and the Warsaw Pact (…yes I am that old).  It would be great to hear first-hand how he and his colleagues sowed the seeds that eventually led to the end of communism in Europe.

Sheryl Landsberg – She is the COO of Facebook…she is the business and marketing genius that combined with Mark Zuckerberg has turned Facebook into the social media giant it is today.  She also used to be a VP at Google and was once the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.  Look her up on Youtube, she is a great speaker.

Christy Turlington – I would invite her partly because she was one of the really hot women in the world when I first started paying attention to women; but mostly because she has used her fame as a supermodel to make a difference.  She is well educated, speaks with passion…and did I mention that she is really hot.

Oprah Winfrey – Don’t roll your eyes, I am not a member of the “Cult of Oprah”.  However, that woman built a business empire from scratch and has had access to, and learned from, some of the most prominent thinkers of the past 50 years.  I would not so much want to hear her preach, I’d mostly want to hear her tell stories as shared to her by others.

Taylor Swift – Laugh all you want but this kid GETS IT!  She has kept her nose clean, literally and figuratively, despite becoming famous at 15, is the CEO of her own business and has an endearing way about her.  I've seen her in interviews on 60 minutes and on Charlie Rose and she has a head on her shoulder, way more than you'd expect from a 21 year old.  Plus it is always good to have someone who can sing (…ok, sort of sing) and play the guitar if the party starts to wane a bit.

So there you go…an eclectic group that I’m sure would change if I had to write a similar list a week from now.  It would be really cool to hear from some of the people reading this blog about who they would invite.

Random thoughts:

·       A few weeks ago, I found out that my favourite bartender was a regular reader of this blog.  I know exactly how many people read each blog…and I still can’t believe that many people bother reading my random rants, it is humbling…but it kind of struck me when she referred to something I had written in my blog.  I had a “…where did you hear that moment”.  Anyhow, she mentioned that she found my blogs to be a bit on the short side…so, now you know who to blame for this one!

·       As much as I’ve become a fan of social media and all of its positive impacts.  I do have a problem with trends on Twitter where people start random rumoura about a celebrity dying or of a disaster happening simply to see how many people they can get to re-tweet or comment.

·        So last week when Jeremy Lin, the newest sensation in the National Basketball Association and the first Asian-American to play in the league had his first bad game; a producer for ESPN came up with the headline “Chink in the Armor” only to state afterwards that he had no idea that the term is often used as a slur against Asians...really, that the best you could do buddy, “I had no idea it was a slur”.  Listen I grew up in a community where the closest thing we saw to an Asian was Mr. Sulu on Star Trek and I even knew when I was younger that the term was not proper.

·       Then there is Rob Morris Congressman from Indiana who refused to support a resolution honouring the 100^th anniversary of the Girl Scouts for the following reason; “…many parents are abandoning the Girl Scouts because they promote homosexual lifestyles.”.  I’m always amazed at how some politicians find the most idiotic issues to take a stand on.

·       Ran into one of the most honest salespeople I’ve ever met the other day while I was shopping for an iPad.  It was refreshing hearing someone tell it as it is.  His suggestions to me did not get him a sale that day (…he pretty much told me I should wait a couple of weeks to buy) but he did guarantee that he will get my business and my commission when I go back to that store to my iPad!

·       I wanted to take a second to congratulate Dave Carroll…you know the Timmins boy who got his guitar broken by United and went viral online as a result.  Well, Dave took his 15 minutes and has turned into a huge profile boost that is not only benefitting his career but is helping people and businesses throughout the world enhance their social media awareness and deal with customer service issues.  If you haven’t been to his new site yet www.gripevine.com.