"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Tuesday 29 March 2016

THE UNIMAGINABLE

In many ways, social media is the most exciting of revolutions. But it's a long way from civilzed and 
the gap is growing. It's hard to envision the  shape of it years hence.  If users don't self-regulate, it will prove over-all to be a gross liability to an orderly society.

Nothing is improved by  wild, untrammeled indulgence at the basest level of exchange. The language of  the Republican Presidential nomination battle is an example. We are all degraded. 

The video that went viral of a young woman misusing  an Ontario handicapped parking spot was
over  the top. 

O.K. she was  inconsiderate. She had a Tim Horton's drink in each hand. She hadn't ordered grilled sandwiches or toasted cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese that might have taken twenty minutes to prepare.  She didn't have a car full of passengers waiting for his/her order. 

She was hurrying back to the car to get on her way. 

The punishment was  severe.  Licence plates in full focus and a display  of fury that cost both drinks to be thrown at the accuser filming the video was extreme but perhaps not in disproportion. 

While not sympathetic to her situation, it was uncomfortable viewing that video . Her's was an error  of judgement . Who among us are not capable of it? Certainly the punishment was egregious no matter how you look at it. 

By the level  of criticism  for being caught in flagrante delicto, I cannot imagine empathy from the critics for a person in need of a handicapped parking spot or anyone else for that matter. 

The flood of foul language and vilification was beyond temperate and  definitely outside the bounds of civil interaction. 

That video has been an issue floating inside my cranium in need of venting. 

The last couple of conferences I attended while in office, were national. 

Municipal officials from all across the land came to hotels and conferences centers designed to host large numbers. 

Ramps and elevators make them accessible for people using mobility devices. 

But  between sessions the elevators were  fully occupied by people who had the option of escalators and ramps were  jammed by people who could use stairs.

These were people responsible for measures to make public spaces accessible to all. 

And without giving a thought to it, they themselves made  them inaccessible. 

It's the times we live in. 

They do not improve. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...



"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, i was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..."

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

The time was that of the French Revolution.

Possibly our time will be that of the American Revolution, 21st century version.

Anonymous said...

History does repeat itself.

Anonymous said...

I am astonished by the need to vent by complete strangers. Freedom of speech is fine but. man, when someone is screeching about another driver or even pedestrian, it goes right over the top. The level of anger seems ridiculously high even for tiny incidents. Particularly in the states now, there can be more danger from fellow citizens than foreign terrorists.

Anonymous said...

These people tend to be sensitive to certain issues. Maybe he had/has someone close to him who's had problems with accessible parking spots. Betcha that girl won't be parking in those spots again.

Anonymous said...

Trump has somehow made it acceptable to say whatever flies into one's head without considering the consequences. He has also justified taking a swing at an individual with a different opinion. His folks sent him off to a school modelled on military rules to try and stop him from being a bully. It did not work.

Anonymous said...

I was at the licensing place today. There was an elderly lady who was really trying hard to get her paperwork oked. Just inside the door were 2 chairs where one could have placed 4 and there were none beside the long line that had formed. On the wall was a sign to say they would accommodate those with mobility issues but a wheel chair would have been a very tight squeeze. And the doorway was not fixed to remove the bumps there.
The elderly gal had made it to 3rd in the line when I left. I hope her papers were all in order.

Anonymous said...

Everyone has his/her nose buried in cell phones - they do not want to see other real people.

Anonymous said...

If the Republicans continue to go after each other with such venom, it allows the democratic candidates to basically coast. I am just hoping that those now supporting Sanders will still go and vote for Clinton in the end. Numbers will likely be really important.