Politics and Books and My Hero

2004-06-16 - 8:55 a.m.

Well, there goes my Gold membership, and so now I must wait to post during busy times. For my birthday, I am getting myself a year membership, darnit!

Last night I got stoned and alternated between watching the federal election English debate and my new Kids in the Hall season 1 dvd.

On the election: Is it wrong that I almost want to vote for the leader of the seperatist party? Is it wrong that I'm starting to think the country would be in good hands with the Bloc Quebecois as the official opposition?

At any rate, I've decided to vote for the Green party. My riding is likely going to go to the Liberals anyway, so whether I vote NDP or Green won't make much difference, it's not a time to "vote strategically", so I get to vote for the party I actually want, which more and more is Green. I'll miss the NDP, but for the ten years that I've been politically aware, the party keeps trying gimmick after gimmick, and keeps looking foolish, and can't seem to elect a charismatic and effective leader. I also can't support the NDP's slight movement toward the centre, even if they believe it's necessary to hold on to an increasingly conservative voting public. Also, the NDP were mean to my mom and that makes me grumpy.

On the Kids in the Hall, there isn't much to say except that they are brilliant and funny and their dvd is definitely not something over which I'll be experiencing "buyer's remorse".

I also bought a book that I've been wanting to read for the last few months. It's called Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs (I think...the book is at home), and is about Western culture and her belief that we are barelling toward a new dark age and the end of our way of life. I'm only a few pages in, but it's really fascinating, and I think there'll be a few things to take away from it.

Reading her book reminds me why I have an uncertain attitude toward Michael Moore's work. Jacobs is managing to describe a situation without resorting to leftist rhetoric. I can see her book appealing to a variety of people regardless of their political stripe. People may disagree with the conclusions that she's drawn, but, with the exception of an occassional comment, she doesn't seem to be affiliated with any position. Rather, her book is a straightforward account of trends that she's observed, and her attempt at drawing conclusions from those observations.

Michael Moore is definitely partisan, if not to a specific political party or group, then to an ideology. It comes through in his work, and it leads him to gloss over facts and conclusions that don't agree with his world view. I think he's a force for good, because his work prompts discussion and debate, and because he's fearless when it comes to challenging the status quo. Still, he has these blinders on that always make me wonder how much what he says is true and how much is only mostly true.

I'm still a fanboy for E.M. Forster, and every essay I read in his Two Cheers for Democracy collection makes me love him more. The section on politics and society and totalitarianism was the shortest part of the collection, though Forster's love of the individual and his belief in individual potential and right to be free runs through everything he writes. The longest part is his look at "The Arts," a series of essays, some discussing art in general and its place in society, others looking at individual musicians, poets, novelists and other miscellanious artists and Forsters' opinions of them. Fascinating.

It's amazing to read Forster, because through my life I never really had a "hero". In elementary school, we always had to write essays and do presentations on our "heroes" and I always just chose someone who I kinda liked...there wasn't really much idolization on my part. But when I read Forster, I find that he speaks to me, I agree with a LOT of what he says, and what I don't agree with, I can usually understand or see where he's coming from. Plus, his writing is exquisite. He has such an understanding of the English language and he can construct almost flawless sentences, making the rules of grammar work for him. I'd be hard-pressed to find a flaw in him (which concerns me...it hints that I may not be reading him as critically as I could...). It looks like, at the ripe old age of almost-27, I've found a hero. Or something like a hero.

And I guess I've rambled long enough about stuff...

Cheers,

The Magus

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