Neo-laziness
By: James Burge
September 22nd, 2008
I never really understood the laziness when it comes to escalators, I get that people are lazy and don’t want to walk up stairs, but my bewilderment grows when it comes to down escalators. The only reason I can see for not walking down an escalator would be if I was holding something or accompanying a child or someone with reduced mobility. So it amazes me in the rush-rush world we live in that people will still stand (usually with a somewhat vacant stare) and wait for an escalator to deliver them to the floor below.
So the other day when I was coming back from grabbing lunch and I was in a bit of a hurry to get back (to be honest I always walk fairly fast paced), out of courtesy, I allowed a guy decked out in spandex, looking ready for a marathon to go in front of me. To my amazement, he stopped and waited on the escalator (which was empty, except for the one person at the bottom about to step off). A guy who was obviously on his way for a walk/run at lunch couldn’t be bothered to walk the 8-12 steps it usually takes to traverse a typical escalator.
Are we so caught up in our daily lives that even walking from place to place becomes habitual (hence the vacant stare) or are we so used to the assistance we receive in the form automation that we can’t be bothered to do things for ourselves???
Another great example is automatic doors. It never ceases to amaze me how long people will wait for an automatic door to open. I’ve even seen situations where there is a bit of a lineup waiting for the automatic door. This is most notable at C-train stations, when everyone gets to the doors at the end of the platform and stops, waiting for the one of five doors that opens by itself. You can usually find me pushing (somewhat unceremoniously) to the front to open a door for myself (and hold it for those behind who couldn’t be bothered).
Don’t act so surprised
By: James Burge
September 12th, 2008
I came across an article (linked on drudge) regarding a Chicago teacher that used the only Muslim student in the class as an example of a terrorist. While I absolutely abhor what this teacher has done, are we really so surprised? The chance of this being the only incident of it’s type is impossible, and given the current mood of fear that touches all of us in some way, does the fault lay with the teacher who merely voiced an opinion that is shared by a large number of United States Americans (I’ve decided to make the distinction because I feel less and less kinship with our North American brothers to the south, but let’s not get into a debate about semantics, anyone who doesn’t realize that Canadians are also Americans (as are Mexicans,Brazilians, Chileans…) needs to pull out a map with more then just the US on it).
“She used the example of if Saleh were to go on to an airplane, put his backpack down and put two wires together and the plane were to blow up – and she didn’t make a point,” said Christina Abraham, Council on American-Islamic Relations.
So this teacher is being singled out for indefensible behaviour rooted in a belief that all terrorists are Muslim, a modern concept lost on me (likely because Canadian History includes the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) bombings which involved mostly white francophones not Middle Easterners, as one example). If all she was doing was illustrating a deplorable stereotype, shouldn’t some effort be made to try and address this as opposed to calling for the teacher to be fired (although I wouldn’t want her teaching any of my kids.. especially history).
In the past, North American Society has been fairly homogeneous, composed mostly of descendants of white western Europeans and the like, due mostly to the rate at which Europeans flocked to ‘the new world’ in search of a better life (and gold, and god knows what else…). Are we now to say that dream of a better life is for us alone and not to those who are still arriving (or in most cases, have been here for many generations). America wasa deam, a dream of a place where all could be free from oppressive oligarchy and live united as ‘we the people.’ But at some point that dream turned to a nightmare that has left us (especially the US) worse off, especially in terms of government control. (Although it should be pointed out that Canada did not succeed in declaring independence from the British Monarch who remains a figurehead in our country, in the form of the Governor General, to this day and with little contention)
At what point is a society responsible for the degradation of racial identity? It has to be said that majorities are undeniably blind to the plight of minorities and seem eager to regain any advantage in this fight for (in)equality. Although the US has had many high profile racial clashes that seem to only exacerbate issues of racial inequality, we in Canada are not far enough removed from Japanese internment to wash our hands of the issue. It is due to our conviction that we must voice our disgust with such behaviour, but to also begin the dialogue that could lead to helping people gain a new perspective. One that comes, not from fear mongering, but from acceptance of the individual as a member of collective society, not a member of a race. Although it seems that the US government seem to rely on this divisiveness, and subtly encourage fear, so that they can come along and offer the majority a solution (taxes to follow) that tends to have further reaching consequences than are justified by this form of inequality (racial profiling as policy is one example that comes to mind).
The ‘Politically Correct’ movement is, I believe, one of the biggest hurdles we must face in this fight. We can not expect to make any progress when we are afraid to discuss the issues faced by minorities by being afraid to infuriate those same minorities. It is the majority that is afraid to talk about it, and we hide behind PC terms like diversity and equality because we can’t face the guilt of privilege that we are all to quick to deny exists. It is my opinion that racism is rooted in guilt, and that we are afraid to admit, as a majority, that we receive benefits just for the colour of our skin. Only by our admission can we begin to address the subjugation that minorities experience.
Sorry wrong addie…
By: James Burge
September 9th, 2008
Ok maybe its because gmail is becoming more used by the general public, coupled with my email addie being an initial with a (not so common) last name, but over the last few months I have been getting an increased number of miss-directed emails. (to be honest until last year I don’t think I’d ever had a miss-directed email)
Now, it would be easy to mistake a miss-directed email as spam, but one example was a Jan Burge who had signed up for a service (requiring activation of course) and sent me the activation email used to confirm the email addie. (nicely done, genius…)
Another example; the other day I learned about B-day plans for someone’s Father… apparently a Jon Burge.
The thing that I’m not really sure of; how one would go about reporting a wrong addie similar to a wrong number? This is even harder when, as in the case of the first example, a webmaster’s web-bot sent the email and any reply to that address wouldn’t likely be seen by a person (this is just the assumption I made, it may not be so…). But it seems kinda rude to just send an email “HEY you got the wrong person!!” (I find it very hard to say it nicely, including ‘I’m sure it was an innocent mistake’, and other qualifiers). I think the problem has to do with the impersonal way we use email to communicate. When you know the person who emailed you, it is usually easy to grasp their tone and intent. however,with a stranger, it can be easy to missinterpret genuine concern as discomfort of rogue emails.
If you accidentally send an email to the wrong address and the person emails you back bringing your mistake to attention do you send an apology email or just leave the communication hanging as is?? [poll id="2"]
I think this is a great example of how we are constantly defining new norms and courtesy without any common direction. I have to admit that they few times that I take the time to email someone back who wrongly emailed me (or in one case I forwarded it to the email address I thought they meant given their name) I kinda expected something simple like, “OMG sorry” nothing more, but just a reply to conclude the communication (done out of courtesy not necessity).
Luckily, wrong emails aren’t nearly as annoying as wrong numbers (especially given the time of evening the calls usually occur).
LOL, as I was writing this I got yet another wrong email address… but I finally got a polite reply
“My apologies, thank you”
see that’s all I was looking for.
