Women: I Can Hardly Express

Working in a bar gives one an opportunity to see how a myriad of couples relate to each other. The young, the old, the first rush and the special blush, the bitter and sweet born of time, and true, true love: ever so sublime.

I recently had a conversation with a kind friend of some intelligence regarding the issue of how Muslim women dress, which is in and of itself an ignorant statement, given that the dress of Muslim women varies widely.

Make no mistake, this is a complex argument as it intersects with two sacred cows of western liberal thought. Freedom of religion, and the rights of women.

Through the course of our conversation, my reasonable friend tends to the side of  female rights, that he believes "Muslim women" are being oppressed.

The vast majority of women who are being oppressed are not being oppressed by cultural rules, they are being oppressed by douchebags who turn to monsters once they have control.

Granted, some societies and cultures are better at protecting abused women, reacting after the fact, but the level of abuse against women in our "civilised society" is not significantly less than it is in other cultures

I supposit that western women are being oppressed, but from the other side of the spectrum. Women in western societies routinely have their humanity removed every day. Through advertising, television, and those inhumane shoes that you walk around with. All of it is little more than a conspiracy to remove your humanity. and make you little more than a sexual object to men.

I suspect that eating disorders are not a big problem in Africa. Take a moment to consider why this is an issue in our society.

Muslim culture can be equally as oppressive as our own towards women. And like my western culture, there is a wide range of Muslim women in Arab societies, from liberal to fundamentalist.

Personally, I think we need to keep an eye on the Amish. I never trust a culture that thinks a belt buckle should be worn on a hat. What is up with that?

I'm a uniter, not a divider, and I like to find commonality in the goal of seeking a dialogue.

I ask only one question. Can Middle Eastern culture and Western Christian culture  agree upon one thing?

We both like to subjegate women, we just do it in very different ways.

Unfortunately, I live in a world where I need to warn you that the following video contains the "N" word, and I should also mention that women have been the angels in my world, my point notwithstanding.

Lets face it, we live in a global culture where it is accepted that irresponsible men are allowed to walk away from their moral responsibilities, and women are left to pick up the pieces.

And if you can show me any country on the planet where women forsake their responsibilities more often than men, I will lick your asshole in the middle of a heatwave.

(asshole licking offer is only available upon request, and is limited to three "licks" under precedent law, "Tootsie  Roll Owl v. Tootsie Roll Iincorporated in Ohio Circuit Court, on October 1973, when county judge Sam "Snicker" Snodgrass issued a decison declaring that "anything beyond three licks" be deemed "cruel and unusual punishement". This decision became entrenched in international law, when it was cited by The United Nations Human Rights Tribunal in Geneva, Switzerland during the 2006 war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic.)

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Wagging The Dog

So, maybe I made a mistake, but now I have to live with it, and do the best I can. This is the price one can pay when making an impulse purchase. To exacerbate matters, I made a mistake and bought the decked out limited edition model, and the most unfortunate thing about an internet transaction error is that there is no salesman to irately shake your fist at.

Allow me to explain.

It started innocently enough, with a heads up from the lady that I work for about an unbelievably cheap flight to Kenya. Toronto to Nairobi for $775. Now I had been seriously looking at a trip to East Africa, but realised that the reason people go to East Africa is to see the animals, and seeing the animals costs at least $200 per day (minimum three days) and that is a budget level well beyond my means.

But the cheap airfare made me bite. I meant to shorten the trip by a few days, and by doing so lower my expenses, and stem the loss of work time by two extra shifts, but I messed up, and forgot to adjust the date.

Having read countless stories of naive travelers buying incredibly cheap tickets on the internet and then trying to change them, I decided to eat my mistake. Que Sera Sera

Much of Kenya is like a hip nightclub, with a huge cover charge. Admission alone to the best national parks is $80 per day, and you must be in a vehicle. These parks are huge and one must camp, or pay huge amounts for hotels. There is no shortcut for a budget traveler here.

I briefly consider starting the Greg Stock Foundation For The Benefit Of Greg Stock, citing the fact that all donations go directly to the benificiary, with no administration costs whatsoever. Unfortunately,  I have a collection of friends who are of above average intelligence, and may be a tad reticent to use their hard earned dollars to pay for my jaunts to exotic climes.

While giving up all my hopes for The Greg Stock Foundation, I remind myself that this is the price one pays for not being kinder to the stupid.

So the upshot is that I am definitely going to fly in to Nairobi on Sept 26th. In the travel community, Nairobi is nicknamed Nairobbery, and is widely considered to be one of the most likely places to get mugged on the planet.

But that is the price one pays when one acts on impulse, submitting to the siren song of the "good deal".

Ironically, I am going to one of the greatest places in the world to see wildlife, and I won't be able to afford the luxury.

But thats OK.

I like people, too.

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PS: I've had this feeling before, and I'm not the only one.

 Breathe Greg, breathe.

Charity Case

Maybe it is just me, but the definition of charity in this country has lost all meaning.

I've railed about this before, but as things continue to get more perverse, I'm going to rail again.

Recently, a Calgary women whose daughter was a cancer survivor, was denied entry to a fundraiser because she was only capable of giving four hundred dollars, which to me is a significant amount, but the charity denied her entry like an angry doorman at some hipster nightclub.

Apparently, the cover charge was two grand. Even more apparent is the fact that this "charity" gives less than 25% of your donation to the actual cause. The rest is squandered on a bloated infrastructure run by overpaid people of questionable competence who make their living blackmailing your emotions for their own benefit.

Make no mistake, cancer intersects all of our lives, including my own, but I cannot abide charity corporations who think that an eighty percent tax rate is acceptable under the moral guise of a "donation".

In my estimation, any charity that exceeds expenses of more than 20% is no charity at all. By all means if you want to get on a bike or put your running shoes on so you and your friends can feel good about yourselves, please do so. But please do not define what you are doing as "charity".

It is an insult to the definition.

It is little more than a circle jerk with a tip at the end.

Read this before you donate.

I recently received an email from a friend in Africa. His sister has breast cancer. He needs money to save his sister. I am confident that 100% of the money I send will go directly to help someone with cancer.

I know that all my friends and most Canadians are incredibly generous people, but I fear that that inherent generosity is being taken advantage of, and I only ask that you put the same level of thought into your giving as you do into any major purchase.

And if you think that your two grand is best spent participating in some event with a tax rate approaching 80% , then  by all means don your lycra and off you  go, but don't BS me into thinking that what you are doing matters.

The majority of your donation supports a self perpetuating and for profit system, not some noble endeavour.

I humbly suggest that a well placed investment of $2000 can change lives for generations, but it lacks the glory of showing your friends how much you care as you trod some specially closed for you urban avenue.

Its called charity, and its prime purpose is not to make you feel better about yourself.

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The Toronto Sun Gives Hate A Chance

I've been closely following the epic political scandal that is engulfing Britain, and so should you, if only because its vastness and implications would make the The Bard drool. While it may be easy to guffaw from afar, could we please not allow our very Canadian propensity for smugness to overwhelm?

I submit to the court, an entity known as Quebecor, a massive media conglomerate that owns a great many right leaning publications spanning the country, including The Sun chain of tabloids. Recently they were granted a licence to broadcast on my cable package in a lame and odious entity imaginatively dubbed "Sun TV".

Your Hounour, and Ladies and Gentlemen of The Jury, and to my fellow Citizens in the gallery, I submit exhibit "A".

It is an article that appeared in Toronto Sun, and it is about a heinous crime.

I do not question the merit of the article, but I am deeply offended by the tone of the comments and even more anguished that the bright minds at Quebecor have now permitted the comment board at the Toronto Sun to be a repository for open hatred.

Look at the first comment, which has now been languishing for more than a day. "Muslims are evil". Then look at the others.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/16/charges-laid-in-york-university-sex-attack

Now I know that it is difficult to stop idiots posting stupidity on a comment board, but I'm just a blogger, not a major media outlet. One would think that a major media outlet like The Toronto Sun would have some policy about openly disseminating hatred on their comment board given that it is against the law.

In addition, the entire Sun chain withdrew from The Ontario Press Council last week, (an oversight body of Ontario print media) citing too much "political correctness" as a reason.

Sure, laugh at Rupert Murdoch, but don't be smug, and if we are not vigilant this contagion will morph into influence.

The fact that The Toronto Sun allows this garbage to fester  unfettered implies tacit approval for the hatred of Muslim  people.

I cannot begin to quantify how deeply offensive that is to me as a Canadian.

The turtle water continues to warm, and it warms for thee.

The defense rests.

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Tribal Diversity

Can we just be honest with each other for a moment, or a millisecond? I beg you to consider the audacity of the illusion of multiculturalism and the embracing of the buzzword "diversity".

Now don't get me wrong, I am in favour of both multiculturalism and diversity. But lately I've noticed that people are confusing the notion of diversity with the promotion of their own self interested and petty tribalism. Groups demand acceptance for themselves, but they live in ghettos whereby the acceptance of others is scarce and diversity is even scarcer.

Perhaps I'm wrong, and if you ever see a drag queen having lunch with a family of refugees from East Timor, please advise, because that is my definition of diversity.

I can abide the well intentioned and self serving lies that we tell ourselves in the name of tolerance. Make no mistake, I am pro tolerance. Just don't try and sell it to me as diversity.

Submitted for your approval is the case of one Toronto High School that saw a problem and addressed it in a creative and pragmatic fashion.

The problem was that many Muslim students were skipping classes, and using the call to prayer as an excuse. So the school decided to permit Muslim students to pray within the school, and all was well until some tribalist with a platform expressed her outrage under the guise of diversity.

To wit, I submit to the court one Heather Mallick, columnist for The Toronto Star.

http://www.thestar.com/article/1023979--mallick-some-toronto-schoolgirls-are-always-second-rate

Of course Ms. Mallick and her ilk have no interest in diversity whatsover, they only have their egomanical delusion that the rest of the world desires to live under the same value system that she does. But she is not alone, George W. Bush believed that better access to Big Macs would bring peace and happiness to the Middle East.

Ms. Mallick, like so many others, is utterly incapable of making the distinction between tribalism and diversity.

The audacity of her tribalism is so entrenched that she will probably be victorious, and the school board will ban this pragmatic solution. Ms. Mallick and her tribe will win, and more young Muslim girls will miss more classtime. I see no benefit in this arrangement for the girls, but apparently Ms. Mallick (and her tribe) does.

To me, accepting diversity means accepting the fact that not every culture is the same as my own. It most certainly does not mean that I should have the hubris to demand that ancient religious cultures bend to my will.

That would be egotism, right Ms. Mallick?

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