Tag: Oppression

Society and treatment

Q: How do you see you have been viewed by the dominant or mainstream Canadian society since your accident and how has this evolved over time?

A: Generally most people are quite accepting and genuinely (assumed) nice to me. That said, no-one is totally sheltered, I encounter “ignorance,” on occasion. Specifically from people who don’t know how to and go out of their way not to take the time to interact with me. But perception goes both ways, kid. When people choose to carry on as such I interpret them as possessing a somewhat closed mind. Frankly it has nothing to do with me. It’s their problem, not mine. I can’t control my “perception,” nor would I wish to. All I can hope to do is to change peoples impressions with my innocent charm… Continue reading Society and treatment

Look What I Just Tripped Over

“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.” Continue reading Look What I Just Tripped Over

Keeping Them Honest?

Well it’s been a few days since I managed to witness a CNN television news anchor interview an employee of the US Food Safety and Inspection Service. Regarding a story the Humane Society broke in late January. And I’m not feeling a bit better about what I saw.

An “Undercover Investigation Reveals Rampant Animal Cruelty at California Slaughter Plant,” which showed “downed dairy cattle” at, or presumably entering the Westland Meat Co. slaughter house killing floor by means of a forklift pushing them. That’s right, pushing them. With a forklift! Continue reading Keeping Them Honest?

Nothing More To Say

Today's Empires Album Cover

You know, I couldn’t possibly hope to successfully describe just how I’m feeling about life right now. Not my life, specifically, but that of life in general. Let me tell you, it feels pretty fucking shitty…

I had an opportunity to read the article, “People Are Still Scared Of Expressing Themselves,” which recently appeared in the Ottawa Citizen. It was regarding a woman from East Timor, named Bella Galhos. Yep, that’s right, the person who inspired the song “Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An.”

What’s it been, nearly 7 years since Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes was released? And, sadly, today I finally, fully understood what Chris is singing about. Continue reading Nothing More To Say