Tag Archives: Facebook

Jian Ghomeshi vs. The Women: 4 Reasons Why Liking Q Isn’t a Good Enough Reason to Defend Him

There’s been a lot of big news Canada over the last week. On Wednesday, a mentally ill man shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a soldier who was guarding the National War Memorial, before storming the Parliament building. The shooter, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, was then shot by 58-year-old Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, preventing any more casualties.

According to CBC’s sources, Vickers “dove to the floor around the pillar [where Bibeau was shooting from], turning on his back as he landed and simultaneously firing his weapon upwards at Bibeau”. Pretty impressive for an almost-60-year-old.

Yet the story of Cirillo’s death and Vicker’s heroism was quickly pushed aside when the news about Jian Ghomeshi hit.

When John and I first heard that Ghomeshi was going on leave we didn’t think much of it, and both said, “Well, we know he isn’t going to get fired. People love Q.”

Famous last words eh?

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ISIS, Gaza, Ebola, and Robin Williams: Dealing with Grief on the Large and Small Scale

This week I emerged from my happy little language cult in a tiny remote Quebecois town.

I emerged to discover a lot of sadness.

I had already been hearing bits and pieces about the deaths in Gaza and the lives lost to Ebola before I even left Trois-Pistoles, but the last few days I’ve also been hearing a variety of horrific rumours about ISIS. Last night when I started researching for tonight’s blog, I thought I would look into the veracity of those articles.

That was a bad idea.

At the time, I had a hard time finding coverage of the things I had heard about from any reputable sources. And the things I did come across were highly disturbing and meant to be provoking. I’m not actually going to link to anything I came across in my search, because I don’t want to see those images ever again. I don’t know when or where those photos were taken. I don’t know if they are fake or real. All I know is that they made me very very angry. And they made me feel very, very powerless.

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University Rape

We recently had a comment on our Facebook page asking for our opinion on an article that asks its readers if college rankings [could] solve the campus rape crisis.

In light of this topic, you may be asking yourself if university rape is actually a current crisis. I have asked myself the same thing, since I am currently a university student and have never felt threatened on campus. Unfortunately, rape seems to be a very troubling reality in post-secondary schools- it just doesn’t take usually happen in the way we  tend to picture.

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A Culture War Report: Facebooking the Ukrainian Protests

Social media is rapidly becoming a common source of news. For me personally, scrolling through my Facebook news feed can feel like picking up the morning paper. I have get to read comics, funny/uplifting stories, and even, these past few weeks in particular, serious current events as they happen. Sometimes, when you’re lucky, networking through Facebook can mean you might be able to contact friends who are near where those events are occurring and get a perspective you might not hear in the news. I had that opportunity with the Ukraine Protests and will be sharing with you the experiences that were shared with me.

Around mid-February I started to see this video circulating on Facebook:

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I’m Not Sad About Nelson Mandela Dying

Death, or the thought of death, has been on my mind as of late. Seriously, though, we’ve had two posts in just as many weeks on the demise of a cartoon character, and before that a CWC discussing funerals which was brought on by the passing of Gordon’s grandfather. There was also actor Paul Walker’s fatal car accident two weeks ago.

Which is why, in a way, the following status on Facebook yesterday didn’t really shock me:

statusda

There’s going to be a lot of Facebook in this post; you have been warned.

In part it’s because the fact that people do die has kind of been on my mind, but also because the last time I heard anything about Nelson Mandela he was in the hospital for lung problems. Naturally I was concerned about him and probably even prayed for the guy, but honestly no more than I put in a good word with the Lord for the homeless Chinese woman I saw begging yesterday [I had no change to give her, before you jump to the conclusion that I’m a prayer-over-action kind of person]. Continue reading

Culture War Correspondence: Online Dating Sites

EVAN: I think it’s pretty fair to say that you all like being online. I mean, if you didn’t then how did you ever find yourselves in a place where you typed the words “dr.lizard vs killer croc” into Google and found our blog? Really, the internet has everything we could ever want or need save for physical sustenance, but what about . . . love?

Today Kat and I will be discussing what the deal is with what the cool kids are calling “online dating” and that the uncool kids are calling . . . well, frankly I don’t know.

KAT: I’m pretty sure they also call it online dating.

EVAN: I’m not sure how you could possibly know that, but I’m going to give you the benefit of a doubt and assume that an uncool kid told you.

KAT: Yeah… exactly. Continue reading