I worry I enjoy ambiguity, irony, “meta” and satire a little too much. I’m worried my last post about copyright laws might seem too resentful (it is somewhat resentful — regretfully) because I genuinely sympathize with all sides. In the case of copyright, I appreciate the economic [and social!] stability it enables, and I want [...]
Tagged as:
ambiguity,
conflict,
criticism,
humour,
irony,
laughter,
meta,
perceptions,
satire,
writing
by Brian on 05-12-2009
in civics
Something occurred to me while I was reading Paul Berton’s editorial about changes in the way we get around: through all of the arguments about who should own the streets and sidewalks (e.g. Toronto’s proposed right-turn ban, Vancouver’s planned cycling lane conversion), the most vocal people seem to be using absolute, race-like (i.e. racist) categories and assumptions. [...]
Tagged as:
conflict,
cycling,
pedestrians,
public transit,
traffic,
urban planning
by Brian on 03-16-2009
in global
We tend to reduce faraway conflicts by figuring out who’s the good guy and who’s the villain, then working out the rest of the narrative around those simple distinctions. And more often than not we decide who the good and bad guys are based on how we associate them with particular good and bad guys [...]
Tagged as:
complexity,
conflict,
justice,
pakistan,
politics,
war