Category Archives: Social Constructs

I read either an online paper or conventional paper, watch a television newscast or four and try to hear at least one or two radio newscasts a day.  Some friends feel that this is an obsession bordering on mania, while others look upon it as just being plugged into planetary events.  The roots are from radio days.

I worked for five years in small-market radio in the Ottawa Valley (Hillbilly country to the American friends).  As an announcer there, you did everything, including reporting news.  The station that I spent the most time at, CHOV (defunct now) in Pembroke, was a private radio station that was a CBC affiliate.  CBC, to translate, is like NPR and BBC, but has commercials and is first rate radio.

Part of the agreement of being a CBC affiliate was that we broadcast X-number of hours of live CBC Radio Network programming per week.  My first shifts were evenings, when AM radio used to do balls-out rock and roll radio:  1050 CHUM, The Great 8 CKLW, CFTR, WABC, CFRA, the rock and roll monsters before FM took over, blasted into our market, eating up our audience. 

We were broadcasting “The World At Six” and “As It Happens” from the CBC.  In that all-important, at the time, teen demographic, we might as well have been broadcasting Muslim prayers from Mecca.

The shift I did was a 120 minute blob between the 8 pm and 10 pm hours, of, naturally, balls-out rock and roll AM radio.  I started work at 6 pm and finished at midnight, spending the two hours before my real work and after my real work, listening to CBC.  As the programs from CBC required nothing more from you than to do a 30-second station ID, every hour at 30 seconds to the exact hour, I had plenty of time to listen.  As I also did a 30 second newsbreak at 10:19:30 PM I had to stay on top of the news wire, Canadian Press, that chattered over in the corner of the newsroom.

Consequently, being plugged in to world events via CBC and Canadian Press, I developed a manageable News Addiction.  In Television, I was near the newsroom feeds for eight years and saw the Challenger blow up live, a bus hijacking on Parliament Hill, the Papal Visit and hundreds of other events without a filter of time or analysis that only served to feed the news jones.

My point, and I do have one, is that I also look for the occasional offbeat news story.  I don’t really feel satisfied with my morning news-graze until I find that one very odd, strange, or head-shaking story.  And there is one every day.

Today, (link no longer working) a town in the US is the proud owner of a giant Cheeto.  The person who found it in a bag of Cheeto’s put it up on eBay and got bids on it.  Then, in a moment of clarity, donated the Cheeto to his town, where they plan to put the lump on display.  The funds that were bid to buy it, were turned over to the town Food Bank.  Frito-Lay was the big bidder, putting up a cool $1000 to get the orange lump.

The town plans to preserve the Giant Cheeto in a Plexiglas box, on a velvet pillow at City Hall, probably charging visitors a buck or five to see the Giant Cheeto.  My concern is not the town putting the Giant Cheeto on display, or charging for admission to see the Giant Cheeto, as that is The American Way.

I am most concerned about the poor child who wanted a mitt full of cheesy-annatto-coloured-deep-fried-corn-meal-sodium-bomb  who got ripped off his preservative fix for the afternoon.  The Bastards! Is there nothing that can be done?!?!?

Fred Rogers, known to generations of us as Mister Rogers, passed away at the age of 74.  His calm and kind demeanour, the red sweater and his gentleness will be missed. 

There are certain touchstones in our lives that we miss when they are gone.  Mister Rogers was one of them.

More fallout from Rhode Island and North Carolina as the lawyers get involved in two interesting cases.  The Rhode Island club fire sees everyone connected with the case, the state, the fire marshal office, the band, and the club owners jockeying for position in the court of public opinion.  In North Carolina, where the young girl was given a transplanted set of heart and lungs of the wrong blood type, then a second set with the right specs, sees Duke University Hospital and the parents lining up with the briefcase set.

In an adversarial legal arena, like we have in Canada and the US, you prove that the other guy was totally at fault and damaged you irreparably, to the extent that the only way you (or your estate) can be made better is by the topical application of millions of tax-free dollars in real and punitive damages. 

But I will argue, in both of these cases, that even if there are obvious bad guys who were cavalier with human life and just plain did not give a flying damn, that there should be a limitation on liability.  In both cases, there is much good to come from a complete and open investigation of all sides in the tragedies.  That means getting rid of the lawyers in both cases.  Lawyers, although noble in many causes, are not there to find the problem and fix it.  Lawyers are there to keep their fees coming.

As a hypothetical example, in Rhode Island.  Let’s say the band didn’t get the OK of the club to fire off indoor pyro.  Why did the backing go up so fast?  Was it poorly spec’d?  Did the fire marshal not see that it was flammable?  Was the effects charge mislabelled, designed for a bigger venue but labeled with a smaller margin of safety?  Do the laws regarding indoor effects need to be toughened, or just enforced better?  Was the band clear with the club about the type and kind of effects?  Were there too many people in the club?  Was the club constructed of materials that were not appropriate to that kind of use?  Should EXIT signs be improved?  Are overhead sprinklers mandatory in public meeting places? 

And on and on and on.  We’ll never know, because the lawyers won’t let anyone answer those questions, as they could be construed as admissions of guilt.

In North Carolina, what went wrong that a set of internal organs of the wrong blood type wound up in Jessica?  Is the paperwork good enough?  Is the organ donation system flawed, or is this one of those one-in-a-million completely human mistakes? Do doctors trust too many people to do their part of the job and hope that everything else works? 

I don’t know, but I do know that a prosecution-free investigation without any blame finding repercussions and lawyers, will find out what happened in both cases, leading to improvements in the overall system of how things get done.

Unfortunately, the cynic in me says that a no-fault investigation in either case is not in the best interests of the lawyers, therefore it will never happen. 

The parallel here is aircraft crash investigation.  The National Transportation Safety Board, the Transportation Safety Board and the Civil Aviation Authority in the US, Canada and Britain respectively do not seek to apportion blame.  They seek to find why an event happened through rigorous scientific and evidentiary testing of all the potential reasons why and how an air crash can happen. 

If it were possible in Rhode Island and North Carolina for an investigation into “why” rather than “who”, we would all be better served from these two tragedies.

Alas, the legal eagles are lining up to sue someone.  Notice that nobody is talking about suing the club owners, the band, or the pyrotechnician simply because they don’t have any money.  Rule One is never sue poor people.  Let’s sue the State of Rhode Island, as they have money and we can all get our pay day.  If it turns out that the fireworks company that made the charge is a big multinational, we’ll sue them too, as they have money.  And if Johns Manville made the foam on the backing of the stage, or the ceiling tiles, or the paint, we’ll sue them too, as they have pockets full of cash. 

Same in North Carolina, the family will probably not sue the hospital directly, but the hospital’s insurance carrier, who have deep pockets from all the premiums they collect and the company that made the bracelet that Jessica wore with her blood type because its Becton Dixon and they have deep pockets too as a major medical device manufacturer.  But Bayer made the anti-rejection drugs to keep her transplanted organs from leaping out, and Bayer is big, so let’s include them in this madness.

Madness is the correct term.  We want to know what went wrong and why and how to prevent it from happening again.  That is what we, as a society want from these two tragedies.  Answers and fixes.  Not blame.

Today is the international day of Peace Protest.  Perfectly fine, as membership in some kind of democracy involves some rights and obligations. To wit:

1.  Vote.  Voting is the essential keystone of democracy.  Majority rules, even in Florida.  Mark your X, have your say, win graciously, lose graciously.  Those who do not vote are not entitled to or engage in any of the other rights and obligations. Even if you have to hold your nose to do it, vote.

2. Listen.  Your elected representative is exactly that:  YOURS.  You own him or her and if they forget that little point, remind them.  Sometimes listening to the elected representative will tell you more about their stand and how it either matches with yours, or deviates from yours.

3. Think.  After you have heard someone speak, be it the government or someone with a contrary opinion, let it sink in.  Does their position make sense to you?  Is it sane, rational, or delusional?  Is it backed up by facts that you can check, or just ‘they say’ assumptions. 

4. Speak.  You are entitled to complain about governance. If you are not heard from then your silence is considered acceptance. Speaking, even in a forum as obscure as RoadDave is perfectly acceptable as it gives others something to think about.  They might not agree with you, but listening and thinking about what you say may, or may not convince them of your point of view.

The reason I’ve listed these four, simple, points is this:  Raytheon Presents The Gulf War II, brought to you by Lockheed-Martin (c) looks like it is going to happen, regardless of what Hans Blix and the Hot Licks has to say.  My position has always been War is Bad.  But if you’re going to fight, do it hard, nasty and fast, come First, then go home.

Other people and organizations do not share my point of view.  However, this list forces an obligation on both sides of the argument.  You must let those who do not agree have their say and listen to them. 

Don’t automatically call someone who thinks further inspections are a waste of time or the only path to peace, a hawk or dove or war-monger, or ostrich.  This means no detention camps for peaceniks or fighters.  After the decision is made, in whichever direction it goes, we all pull together.  We’ve had our say, we’ve listened and now we act together.