So this is my first blog post which probably will never be read or viewed. But in the vain hope that someone will use a generic google search I shall write on.
So as you can see the image above shows Canada's apathy for politics. Unlike Americans who are beginning to stew in their own hatred of each other Canada has become an apolitical nation. No one votes, but complains when something is done by the government that they didn't like. Granted many governments voted in are hated for doing something the electorate that voted them in didn't want but that's besides the point. Back in 08' when I was still in my Public Relations Diploma Program. Our entire class was expected to take a public affairs class that mainly focused on goverment and how it works. Being the sky person that I was I barely said anything, until that is when the teacher (a balding man with long hair that reminded me of a hippie) ask everyone to tell the class their name and anything generic.
When I stood up, I had to admit I was nervous sure I can debate with the best of them but this was a new class with people I didn't know and I felt the shuttering of nervousness ripple threw my stomach.
So I started to slightly ramble telling them my name and the reason for its meaning (which many students before me had stated) I told them it was mother who named me after one of Jesus deciples and that it matter little since I was an atheist and that I was a former communist. To my shock no one looked at me weird. One of the students in the class started up a conversation asking what a communist was and the class discussion took off, people were asking question and the professor was amused. They discussion were of course anti-communist (not all together surprising but at least they didn't badly about my atheism).
On and one the entire class discussed the topic of communism, they brought up sevearl hard question (Stalin seems to have crippled everyone's views about the original ideas behind communism) which I did my very best to answer. Some of my question were good but others fell off when it became apparent that many people viewed my defense of censorship. Not my best area of expertise but I tried nonetheless to defend the prat ice.
The class and myself were eventually forced to start lerning the lession. And this is where I shined, I mean who do you know that watched political speeches and polling's numbers like a sport before high school? It just didn't happen, the teacher started asking, and one a few hands would go up, this was the first time in my entire college year that I could answer every question. It seemed almost insane, everyone was starting to look at me for the answer people started ask me where I learned it all.
Some of the more misguided ones thought I had gone to some private school in Toronto, I just laughed it off with nervousness in my voice and my leg unwilling to stop moving (nervous leg syndrome). And just to make it clear, I went to a Catholic High School (Yes I know its ironic an atheist in a catholic school laugh it up) and I told them that anything I learned was through the internet, television and of course several books that I bought at Indigo.
After a few weeks everyone started to like me better (maybe they just liked to compare my answers on an assignment but that's besides the point. After a few weeks (which was during the 08's election year) people starting asking who to vote for. Should they vote Conservative, Liberal or New Democrat? They started asking me, ask if I knew what they believe in, I told them that I was going to voted for the Liberals because while I didn't like Dion at least I knew he couldn't lie his way out of a wet paper bag.
I just said to look up the views and beliefs of both parties from independent sources and compare their own beliefs and then vote. Here was a class that had complained in other course about the boredom of the class that I enjoyed going to every afternoon. Now here they were asking about voting and party policy.
I admit it made me jitter with excitement and while my teacher may not have been the most exiciting teacher he was engaging and pragmatic of any teacher. For years I've had to deal with wishy washy taechers who couldn't give me a straight answer.
The class all voted that year and people even talked of meeting up afterwords to discuss the vote. Here was a class that had been apathetic and only interested in other things but now after a few short weeks their minds had changed.
I'm hopefully one day the government will put aside some of its money and finally stop spending it on fancy new departments or more money for the military and make its citizens involved in the democratic process. That of course will never happen, one vote means one vote, and if everyone is stupid and pushed away from voting then it might as well be a communist dictatorship.
This is Filipe signing off.
P.S: I hate Twitter...just putting it out there
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