Critical Perspectives and Reflections

BILL LEE October 29, 2020   I came across an interesting analysis of the relationship of Trump and his base recently. It sought to explain why Trump, against any sort of reason, would continue to rant and rave about locking people up, fomenting racial animosity among the alt-right gangs, pandering to the right wing so-called Christian fundamentalists, denying the Pandemic and climate change denial. Essentially the theory suggests that rather than Trump manipulating the members of his base into accepting his absurd farrago of anger and twaddle, it is Trump, with his pitifully weak ego and sub-standard intelligence, who is in bondage to the. In effect it is his need for affirmation that locks him into being a one trick pony whose only trick is to spew out venomous excrement to feed a demand for “punishment” of institutions and people who the base members feel are responsible for their lack of sense of self worth and agency. But can we venture a bit deeper, or wider. Is it possible th...

WAYNE JOHNSTON October, 23, 2020 Ok the last debate in this interminable this USA Presidential election cycle is done. Of course, everyone is asking who won? Naturally the political spin doctors are weaving their various webs of obfuscation and deflection. (The former US Senator Rick Santorum, who seemed to have watched a debate in a different universe was working particularly hard on CNN.) But I suppose that the Republican spin specialists are breathing a sigh of relief. The Donald didn’t go his typical full-blown bat shit crazy, like in the last debate. That said, Trump’s bar was set pretty low. Ok he didn’t act too nutty but he basically said the same stuff as he does every day, just less angry and unhinged than the last debate or in some of his cult rallies. So, I guess he was better... However, his fib metre was through the roof. To quote one fact checker. “With Trump it’s like being Lucile Ball in the candy factory scenei”. What lie to pick when there are so many? He didn’t offer...

BILL LEE October 21, 2020 The brutality, violent bullying and terrorism perpetrated by the Whitestream gangs that have been attacking the property and persons of the Mic Mog lobster Fishermen in Nova Scotia demonstrate, one more time, how colonial advantage is taken as a holy birthright by significant sectors of the Canadian population. The attackers are acting as though the Supreme Court’s decision in favour of the Mic Mog and Maliseet right to fish for a modest living never happenedi. They are attempting to cloak their violence and destruction with the pretense of environmental concern when it is nothing but the usual attempt to maintain their advantage over their Indigenous neighboursii. As well, we can observe this colonial and illegal action (threatening violence, violence itself and arson) for advantage being affirmed, protected and enforced by our national police force. In this we see the long-honoured mission of the force to maintain the right of the colonizer t...

WAYNE JOHNSON October 1, 2020 You could not have watched that debate  and be proud of president   - Anderson Cooper   Well wasn’t that Presidential debate a sh#t show, then again it had to be expected with Donald J. Trump on the stage. I am quite sure Trump did well with his base, aka cult. But that’s it. He showed zero leadership tonight. Rather what he demonstrated was “loudership”. In a thread I read on Facebook, someone said Trump showed dominance and confidence. This is hardly accurate; in fact, I would argue he demonstrated exactly the opposite. He appeared as a loudmouthed bully, who knew he was tanking and simply indulged his own frustration and anger. I’m not sure what some folks think being a leader entails, but I can’t believe most think that bullying dominance is really an admirable trait. He acted, for most of the evening, merely as a noisy, obnoxious and self-centred tyrant, but not one with ideas or real control. Confidence, not arrogance, is most cer...