A Skewed View

A world leader laughing along with laughing world leaders is accused of not being able to act like a leader on the world stage. And of not knowing how to treat an ally because of what he thought was privately recounting the ridiculous behaviour - not calling the behaviour ridiculous, but recounting behaviour that can only be considered ridiculous - of a man who publicly, proudly, and without apology disregards the needs and endangers the lives and political structure of allies. The hypocrisy is strong with this news cycle. 

In the 90s, I read a trilogy reportedly approved by George Lucas, written by Timothy Zahn, which continued the story of Luke, Leia and Han. In it, Han and Leia married and had twins. A boy and a girl. The twins were strong in the Force. Leia asked her twin Luke to train them to be Jedi. The new Star Wars movie coming out is called "The Rise of Skywalker". We already know one Skywalker is Kylo. Leia's child. Strong in the Force. Trained, at Leia's request, by Luke. Who has a connection to Rey, reminiscent of Luke's connection to Leia. Which is supposed to be inexplicable for someone who never crossed paths with Rey before. Like Luke supposedly never crossed paths with his twin Leia before. Gee. What an absolutely un-crackable mystery this titular Skywalker will turn out to be. (But at least it would explain why Leia hugged her instead of Chewie after Han died) *Yawn*

I've been seeing people embrace and celebrate the phrase "Ok, boomer" lately. I've found that this disturbs me. I've realized it's because I believe people shouldn't be PROUD of being disrespectful. You may think you had cause to disrespect someone else. Perhaps you even feel they disrespected you first. But showing anyone disrespect should not be something you take pride in. It should be something that you look back on, when you look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day, and say "Well. I could have handled that one better." Especially if your argument is they deserved it by disrespecting you first. Because then you're saying it's wrong when others do it to you, but it's something you take pride in when you do it to others. And if there's one thing I abhor even more than disrespect, it's hypocrisy.

I don't dislike Don Cherry. But let's face it, his patriotism has always bled into the "anti-foreigner" camp. Usually anti-Europeans. Mostly the ones in the NHL. Again, that doesn’t mean that I dislike him. It means that I disagree with the way that his mind seems to work. He is a voice from another time. A voice from when we didn’t know better. And that voice has profited him well, as it has many people who, like him, speak their minds regardless of consequence. That’s not a bad thing, being honest about one’s opinion. Not staying silent because of who might react. It’s admirable on its face. But this adds a different dimension which is less admirable: perpetuating stereotypes that have no basis in fact. Stereotypes which form the basis of knee-jerk, us-vs-them rhetoric. We know better now than to foster that rhetoric. So, I think moving on from Don Cherry was just a matter of time. That isn’t what has captured my attention about this situation, though. What capti...

If you want a recap, that is. Years ago, my last post set off a reaction that is inexplicable to me to this day. How my statement that I was going to listen to myself above all others could have been interpreted as anything except empowering my own choices remains beyond me. Ironically, it put me off sharing my thoughts and feelings any more. I decided that being honest about where I was emotionally wasn't worth it if I had to labour under other people's reactions to that honesty. I decided it was best to keep it all to myself. Quite the opposite of empowering, you might say. And you'd be right. What's changed since then? Events since that post have proven to me that getting my thoughts and feelings outside of myself is much less damaging to my physical and mental health than damming them up inside in an attempt to protect other's thoughts and feelings.  If my choice is between chancing someone else's negative opinions or my own health, I'm going...

Yes.