It’s not news that 2009 is shaping up to be a very challenging year on a number of fronts, and maybe that is exactly what we in the West need: to be forced to into a painful separation from what I’ll call the “Culture of Easy.” The Culture of Easy is marked by an impatience for in-depth thought, an avoidance of challenge, and a belief that entitlement and privilege will continue more or less automatically.( I should reinforce the point that this is a Western phenomenon; much of the world doesn’t have the luxury of being familiar with the culture of easy).

The idea for this post came while reading Mitch Joel’s Mass Media – Mass Destruction blog post from December 30th. One of the points he makes is about the decline of reading, and the insistence on bite-sized, easy to digest bits of content. I see the decline of reading as one of the prime symptoms of the Culture of Easy; why read a challenging book or article on an important topic when you can watch a thirty second Youtube clip? To gain a deeper understanding of an issue is seen as too difficult; it’s someone else’s issue’ let me get back to watching the reality shows.

The economic aspect of the Culture of Easy is pretty obvious and has been widely discussed: easy credit, the blurring of luxury and necessity, and in the case of business leaders, obscene riches without accountability, or having to personally experience the effects of downsizing, off-shoring, etc.

The third item I’ll bring up may not be as familiar to some, but personally it is one that I see a lot of, and this is the “Easy” trend in church liturgy; many people who still go to church do not go to be seriously challenged to examine themselves, or to participate in active social justice; they go for a “happy-clappy” experience, and to have their sense of entitlement reaffirmed. If church is not “easy”, people will not attend, or so the church leaders fear.

We are indeed permeated by the Culture of Easy, and 2009 will definitely shock many out of complacency, and indeed that is a good thing. So many marvelous ideas, inventions and artistic creations have been created in a sense of urgency, challenge, and need. There will be litle need to seek out challenges in 2009. The challenges will find us.

May we always live in interesting times.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

I had a conversation with a customer at work today; a first generation immigrant from Romania; she mentioned that she would frequently shop at a Russian store. I mentioned that I thought that was interesting, given that people of Romanian origin would not have fond memories of Soviet era domination and repression. She replied that she, and others like her, were able to leave that behind when coming to live in Canada.

She then went on to mention that she and her husband, of Pakistani origin, had friends of Indian origin. When they had these friends over for a visit recently, their friends remarked that this kind of socializing would be difficult, and perhaps dangerous, in India or Pakistan. She then remarked that they also had Jewish and Muslim friends who were also able to maintain a friendship, despite the most recent troubles in the Middle East.

After the conversation, I sat and reflected on how incredibly lucky I am to live in this country, and in this city. We’re certainly nowhere near perfect when it comes to cross-cultural relations, but this kind of story fills me with optimism. Canada may not be a “nation-state” in the traditional sense, and we often worry about what Canadian culture is, or if it even exists. But maybe, our culture (or what it could be ideally) is not defined in an ethnic sense, but rather an attitudinal sense, about celebrating diversity in a positive sense, and transcending bloody conflicts, long-held bitternesses, and lingering resentment.

We don’t always achieve this goal, but what a wonderful goal by which to define our country.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

Every family that celebrates Christmas has stories about the holiday: Stories about family traditions, funny incidents etc. that collectively help form the sense of specialness about the occasion for the family.

Sadly, family history is fragile. Unless you’re famous or historically significant, biographers will not be lining up to write the story of your family. The result? Through the passing of generations, stories fade, and voices are eventually stilled. It can happen very quickly: I have family home movies of Christmas celebrations from the early 1960’s; these are silent movies, and there are many people I don’t recognize.

This Christmas, if you have a sound recorder, why not record some family stories? In particularly, why not record Christmas memories from more elderly members of your family? If you preserve family history in this way, future generations will thank you.

Recently, recordings of more than 90 years ago were discovered in England. Efforts are underway to locate the descendants of those whose voices are heard on these fragile cylinders. Imagine the excitement if these voices are reunited with their families! This is the kind of excitement we can all give to future generations.

Merry Christmas, and hit that record button!!!

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Recording, Family

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

Here’s my official comment on the crap Stephen Harper got away with; it’s the newest dance craze in Ottawa – The Prorogration!

Here’s the song!

Stephen Harper’s found a way to screw the nation.
(Come on Baby, do the Prorogation).
He’s locked the house and now gone into hibernation.
(Come on Baby, do the Prorogation)
He had the Governer-General down on her knees.
Like any spineless lapdog she was eager to please.
So come on,  come on do the Progrogation with me.

You have to move your lips now, come on Stevie:
Just lie; be bad!
and hope that folks won’t know that they’ve been had.
Woah Oh

Send the party faithful off for Christmas enjoyment.
(Come on Baby, do the Prorogation)
Who gives a shit for those who’ll soon face loss of employment.
(Come on Baby, do the Prorogation)
To take away democracy’s so easy to do;
The only true Canadians are folks like you.

So come on, come on, do the Prorogation with me.

So come on, come on, do the Prorogation with me.

Technorati Tags: Canada, Politics, Harper, Prorogue, Coalition

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

I’ve been hit by the Sixth Photo Meme! Mark Blevis got me.

It works like this: go to flickr, and grab the 6th photo from page 6 of your photo stream:

For me, this was a picture of Julian Smith wowing the crowd at Podcasters Across Borders 2008.

This is the perfect time to mention that early registration is now open.

I went both in 2008 and 2007, and I cannot recommend this conference highly enough: the vibe, the learning and the sense of community is just incredible. It changed the way I look at the medium of podcasting!

Now I have to tag six more victims: Keith Burtis, Scarborough Dude, Daniele Rossi, Jim Milles, Connie Crosbie and Tim Coyne.

Technorati Tags: Meme, sixth-photo, PAB2009

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

As everyone in Canada knows (and perhaps a few outside the country might know), Canada is in the middle of a huge political crisis. It is quite likely that the Conservative government, just elected a few weeks ago, will be defeated next Monday, by a coalition of opposition parties. The war of words is intense, and feelings are running hot.

However, here’s the good news:

• the army hasn’t been called out.
• people haven’t been arrested for exercising free speech
• no one is shooting any weapons, and no buildings are getting blown up as a result of this crisis
• no foreign troops have come in to “liberate” us

Let’s keep in mind how incredibly lucky we still are. I hope the people in power, whoever they end up being, remember that as well.

Technorati Tags: Politics, Canada

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post