Of Self and Society

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." -Jack Layton

[ofselfandsociety]

[ofselfandsociety]

Neda Topaloski explains why she went topless to protest Bill C-51

“Femen started as a protest movement that protested with our clothes on. And then nobody listens to women, nobody listens to women’s protests, it’s always marginal, it’s not really society, it’s just women. At some point, you realize there’s only one thing that the system and patriarchy is interested in: women’s bodies. You see it all around, so we decided to use that, but speak for ourselves and take back our bodies and identities and make them subjects, not objects.” 

I’m undecided on Femen and its tactics, but this quote by the protester who interrupted the House of Commons debate on Bill C-51 (incidentally, topless) makes a lot of sense to me. And certainly touches a nerve.

[gohoneycocolove-deactivated2015]

Chris Rock just said the most insightful thing on race 

“So, to say Obama is progress is saying that he’s the first black person that is qualified to be president. That’s not black progress. That’s white progress. There’s been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years. If you saw Tina Turner and Ike having a lovely breakfast over there, would you say their relationship’s improved? Some people would. But a smart person would go, “Oh, he stopped punching her in the face.” It’s not up to her. Ike and Tina Turner’s relationship has nothing to do with Tina Turner. Nothing. It just doesn’t. The question is, you know, my kids are smart, educated, beautiful, polite children. There have been smart, educated, beautiful, polite black children for hundreds of years. The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let’s hope America keeps producing nicer white people.”

- Vulture/NY Mag

[tytnetwork]

This interview is excellent and full of interesting topics and thoughts. We also really enjoyed him talking about why it’s significant that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook came out as gay. 

[ofselfandsociety]

The Pick-up Artist - Videos - This Hour Has 22 Minutes

CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes takes on pick-up artists and Shaun Majumder is so bad it's good I'm in stitches laughing Susan Kent is perfect. 

Wake up, baby PUAs. You're all ridiculous.

[ofselfandsociety]

Frat Bros Used Dildos to Harass the Women at an Anti-Rape Protest

Greek Life keeps hitting rock bottom — and reaching for jackhammers.

I tried to come up with a catchy, sharp title but really this one is already effective. 

Read on at mic.com

[ofselfandsociety]

A call to action

It took a crack-smoking mayor and an existential crisis for Toronto voters to come out in record numbers for the municipal election this year. Does it require that kind of scandal to get us to participate in our democracy?

We’re gradually choosing to not be fully engaged citizens. Just look at our national voter record over the years — 59% in 2008; 61% in 2011. Or ask the average 20-something who the leader of the Official Opposition is (hint: it’s not Justin Trudeau).

Many say it’s because government is ineffective and our political system is corrupt. If those ideas are true, they’re only so because we let them.

We’re better than that, Canada. We’re the most educated we’ve ever been and we’re more connected to each other — and the world — than ever before. And there’s more than enough talent and determination among us to make positive change.

So, how about it? Interested? inForum wants you.

This is my call to action to my generation, the Millennial generation, in Canada. 

I'm hosting a youth political conference next May in Toronto for 18-30 year olds to discuss national issues and network with political players (and journalists, civic organizations, non-profit organizations, etc). What matters to us? What do our elected officials need to do on our behalf? 

inForum 2015 will also be a day intended to increase civic participation and political engagement among young Canadians. We avoid the political process because of a whole host of reasons, one of which is that we don't think politics and government work for us. It's time for that to change.

Visit our website: http://inforum.co to find out more. Join us. We could use someone like you. 

[ofselfandsociety]

This place is SO. COOL. 

Meghalaya: The Wettest Place on Earth

[ofselfandsociety]

"The chief obstacle to having an intelligent, or even intelligible, conversation across the racial divide is that on average white Americans live in communities that face far fewer problems and talk mostly to other white people."

Read more on TheAtlantic.com

[ofselfandsociety]

Greek court acquits farmers who shot 28 Bangladeshi strawberry pickers

'Scandalous' verdict condemned by politicians and anti-racist groups after case that revealed migrant workers' plight

Read more at The Guardian.

[micdotcom]

Forget Bieber and Bloom, this is the video you should watch today 

By now, most people who pay attention to pop culture have heard of the video of Orlando Bloom attacking Justin Bieber outside an Ibiza restaurant. It’s been played over the news ad naseum, generating hundreds of articles and blog posts (even from the most respected news outlets), discussing everything from the long list of people who hate Justin Bieber to what the woman at the center of it all did during the fight.

But as this video went viral, it likely crowded your Facebook and Twitter newsfeed, pushing out a more truely important story.

This is the UN’s Chris Gunness. He breaks down in tears while in an interview on Al Jazeera.

[ofselfandsociety]

Morning funny.

[ofselfandsociety]

"The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish."

Terence McKenna

[ofselfandsociety]

Merkel Shows Men How It's Done

Angela Merkel's leadership style has proved more effective than her male opponents could ever expect. It has changed Germany for the better.

Read more HERE.

Where my ladies at?!

[lovethyfemaleself]

The idea of the humourless feminist is an incredibly potent and effective silencer. It is used to isolate and alienate young girls; to ridicule and dismiss older women, to force women in the workplace to ‘join in the joke’ and, in the media, to castigate protest to the point of obliteration.

Laura Bates, Everyday Sexism (via lovethyfemaleself)

[micdotcom]

7 positive phrases we should be teaching America’s boys about masculinity

Common phrases like “man up,” “be a man” and “suck it up” are all part of this rhetorical tradition. What we usually want to communicate with these phrases is that our boys should learn to be independent, responsible, honorable and capable. These are all qualities essential to becoming a respectable adult man, but they are poorly communicated with chauvinistic, ambiguous phrases like “grow a pair” that send dubious messages about binary gender characteristics and what defines being a man.

Read more | Follow micdotcom

[ofselfandsociety]

Whew! What a crazy two months. 

I finished my reporting contract at the CBC’s Parliamentary bureau/CBC Ottawa at the end of March, fell into a whirlwind romance, took off for a holiday in Washington D.C., moved back to Toronto and got a job as a senior writer with the CBC’s national online desk, celebrated my 23rd birthday and then got summoned back to our nation’s capital for a three-week gig web reporting for the Parliamentary bureau.

I only just back to Toronto last night and am now getting ready to take off once more. I’m heading to Europe in mere days for a long-anticipated vacation. First stop: Rome!

Forgive me if this sounds like a laundry list - life has been moving a bit fast and I haven’t yet stopped to take everything in and deal with it emotionally or mentally. I only know I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Is it a cliche to say I feel blessed? I do.

[ofselfandsociety]

Comedian Hari Kondabolu on racism and intolerance in America. And "white" people.