Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Canadian Political Free-for-All -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gulo who wrote (247)	11/10/2000 1:03:03 AM
From: Gulo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 37138

Gilles Duceppe scored the best humour in the debate, at least in the part that I saw. He questioned Chretien with something like: "Do you think you invented the idea of a surplus - or maybe the internet too!" -g

To: Gulo who wrote (247)	11/10/2000 1:12:58 AM
From: SofaSpud	Respond to of 37138

I didn't have a chance to watch the debate, but did see the CBC groups of viewers offering their reaction. Critical of Day for not putting forward concrete policy. Geez -- Reform published the "Blue Book", and what freaking good did it do? They spent years trying to have substantive debate on policy, and succeeded in getting the 25 policy wonks in Canada engaged in polemics. I have to wonder if those citizens would know a policy debate if it fell on them. Not that the clips I saw of the "debate" looked like a policy discussion. Just that it seems like there's a real mind-set out there to damn them if they do, and damn them if they don't. If they don't, it's a hidden agenda. If they do, it's an opportuntity to jump on them because they aren't worshipping the sacred cows. Gimme a break.

To: Gulo who wrote (247)	11/10/2000 10:36:35 AM
From: canuck-l-head	Respond to of 37138

Gulo: Agreed. Our fast-paced technological society has created an environment where we rarely get to know our neighbours. But, alas, even when I reflect on my childhood on the "farm", my parents both had their difficulties in neighbourhood friendships. The result was that only as an adult did I ask the question, "What happened to Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so? They just stopped coming over to visit, and I never figured out why?" My Dad, to his credit, would phone a neighbour he had a "problem" with and lay it on the line. My mother (true to the nature of women) would keep it all inside. I think men deal with stress more successfully... And, our society has resulted in the breakdown of the extended family, which is a tragedy. More often than not, Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles live in separate cities or provinces, and the kids have to find role models where they can. Unfortunately, this leads to another problem I have with Canadian society - our blind dependence on the formal education system. Even David Suzuki, who is somewhat like a Geraldo Rivera, stated in a documentary a few months ago that kids are raising each other more than the family is raising the kids. Peer pressure, desire to be accepted at school, desire to be "wanted", etc, etc, all contribute to kids doing ANYTHING INCLUDING MURDER (note I didn't say anything SHORT OF MURDER) just to be accepted. The formal education system has taken it upon itself to be judge, jury and parent. But the teachers go home at 3:30 pm, so do they thereby forfeit responsibility for the kids? Rena Virk desperately wanted to belong, and she was murdered because she sought her sense of self from her peers. They murdered her because of her naiveity. Fact is, we ALL want to belong. But when the hit-and-miss atmosphere of the school system and the bad judgement of peers replaces the thoughtful, experienced influence of the parents, kids lose their way. They aren't told by the school system, "Now you listen to your Mom." But they ARE told, "If your Mom is mean to you, you can report her to us or Social Services." Sigh. And that is where Socialism, too, has gone too far. Kids are taught that someone, somewhere, will always believe their story and feel sorry for them. But again, like teachers, Social Services workers go home at 4:30 pm, so does that mean they can forfeit responsibility for the kids at that time? Parenting is a FULL-TIME job, after-school and week-ends. It is a 24-hour a day job, 365 days a year, for (unfortunately) all of your life. How many teachers and Social Service Workers would be willing to accept the responsibility for every child that much of the time? Reality would dictate that they have kids of their own. But they forget that once they take the role of God or replace the necessary influence of a parent, they can't just hand it back when they want without doing more harm to the child's emotional development than they would have if they had kept their nose out in the first place. canuck-l-head