Monday, January 15, 2018

A Spade is a Specific type of Shovel

Freedom of Speech, verses Prejudices

So how much freedom of speech do we have in Canada? The US claims freedom of speech, but you cannot call a spade a spade. Germany has a "no hate speech" law, but do as they like, but not in the press, just like here. Here in the blog world, we can get away with more as some of us just delete or never allow the blow back to stick. Spam filters or black comment processes have there purposes. Just like black hole warranty, the product never comes back. 

Canada is trying to be an open culture, not prejudiced against any identifiable group except the obese, homeless, and the bearded. Oh, well, that is the formal position anyway. Individuals have their own views, many of which are far below what the government would like to see. Hiring practices are definitely prejudiced in many companies; others are culturally selective. There are companies that are Punjab run and staffed, Jewish run and staffed, Korean staffed, and many more. There is not much of an employment issue with natives that I have seen, many of them cannot hold a job for long except on the reserves.

So here in Canada, we have formal government standards, informal company standards, and private opinion on many subjects, and these are not the same. It is more about not transgressing any laws that the laws reflecting the true belief of the population. Our cultural superego, ego, and id do not match with reality, producing different results depending on the exposure conditions. We are a nation of great diversity, and opinions differ depending on what we think is or should be the desired objective. We are publicly inclusive and privately exclusive. Not a good mix. This effects what we say, and what we communicate to others, producing a selective truth in the media.

So the government sets out a vision, and laws to support that vision follow. We citizens do what we do, and occasionally the law alters our behavior, after it catches and prosecutes us. Oh well.

I was involved in the investigation of a fatality event of a sewer contractor. As soon as the site was released, the contractor was back in business under a different name, operating the same unsafe way as before. The hoe operator, who was the one man company, was fined a few thousand, and everything carried on as before, unsafely. The name of the trench victim was never made public while the event was in the news. I never did here the name of the fellow, only that he was day labor, and this is Canada, the land of the free, or so the song says.

    

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