Canada Votes, 2019

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I get what you are saying, but I think the situation is a bit different from what @Kimmio Laughterlove is talking about.

We have disabled actors working their butts off in minor roles or theatre while major disabled roles like the male lead in Me Before You (the movie Kimmio is talking about) go to "name" actors with no disability.

I mean, deaf person Marlee Matlin got an Oscar for Children of a Lesser God and that was probably one of the first times a disabled character in a major movie was played by an actor with that disability. And, in spite of her win, things have not improved much.

It's similar to the whitewashing problem. There are plenty of good Asian actors in Hollywood yet, when they went to adapt the Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell, the lead went to Scarlett Johansson, who is a terrific actor, but pretty hard to pass off as Asian. And then they added insult to injury by talking about making her look more Asian.

And Scarlett raised hackles again by accepting a role as a transgender character in Rub and Tug. Again, there are plenty of trans actors trying to make a living, some of whom are becoming fairly well-known. Why not let one of them have the job? To her credit, Scarlett stepped down in this case.

And I would love to see trans actors playing cis characters or a disabled actor getting a part that wasn't written to be disabled. But right now, Hollywood won't even cast them in the roles they should be naturals for, so let's get over that hump first.
There is (it's about time) a Netflix series - a comedy/ rom-com/ drama about a young man with CP written by same man, Ryan (forgot last name) - who plays the lead role - it's called "Special". I highly recommended it. It's semi-autobiographical. He does a great job - he's naturally funny, and real - and he's an amateur actor, maybe even a brand new actor. It's a short season, easy to "binge" through. I hope there's another season. It was pretty groundbreaking for a couple of reasons. He's a gay man with a disability - both in RL and onscreen.
 
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There was JR Mitt who played Walt Jr. in Breaking Bad (one of the most "normal" characters in the show) who was cast as a person with CP (the actor doesn't use arm crutches), but aside from one screen where he gets taunted in a store, it's not even a focal point of the show (and that screen was more about Walt Sr's unexpected tough guy reaction to the taunters that impresses his son).
 
*screen - I meant scene.

(Also meant to convey - The actor JR Mitt has CP but doesn't presently use crutches in real life - but the show really doesn't focus on his disability. He's the teenage son of Walter White who happens to have a visible disability.)
 
Everything is fine unless it benefits your religion and not mine.

Thus that beyond sensation by times ... and we are knocked out by prevailing beliefs ... thus the populace passes ... para sited ... and we go along with the different cosmos as long as its out there! That's God as a greater mystery than a fixed mortal could know in stoic shape! Gravitas strikes ...
 
Chris Burke (with Downs Syndrome) played the lead role of Corky (who had Downs) in the ABC series Life Goes On from 1989-1993.
 
Chris Burke (with Downs Syndrome) played the lead role of Corky (who had Downs) in the ABC series Life Goes On from 1989-1993.

Actually, that's one of the best examples around. I didn't watch the show much so I forgot about it earlier but, yeah, that really threw a spotlight on Downs Syndrome in the day.
 
The autistic spectrum reaches into automity! Thus all these isolated divisions ... adding up to an integral form ... its wholly to many! Then others may have missed the vesicle ... inside them some emotions are whetted ... there can be greater implications!

The stuff young folk are kept in the dark for purpose of curiosity constructs! In great dismissal ... perhaps nothing will be lost ... thus under the stars ... adolescents are overcome by ADs tars ... the blackness that's out there beyond the accrued bodies ... more Downs ... illuminating the genius savant ... folks that do etude on strange stuff ... dark matter/energy that can convert in the will 've a wisp! Hear yea ... emotions might be cured with information ... provided in balance on edge of a line ... that can be walked out!

If jumping the broom you could be dusted off ...
 
Back to the election, Trudeau is tossing out promises thick and fast, presumably trying to get something to stick that will get the brown/blackface incidents off of people's minds.

So far he's going to increase the basic personal exemption to $15K. It's currently at c. $12K but indexed so it changes a bit every year, he's just speeding things up. That is, of course, to counter Scheer's promise to reduce the rate on the first $47K of income (ie. the lowest tax bracket).

25% cut in cell phone bills. I prefer the NDP policy of tying cell phone rates to the average of the OECD since the basic problem is how much more expensive we tend to be than certain other countries for similar or less service. A simple one time cut doesn't fix the problem in the long haul and 25% may be too much anyhow. But I guess the Liberals figure a big number will sound good to cash-strapped consumers.

And this morning, he made a major healthcare announcement.


Nothing here is really the sort of thing that inspires oo's and aw's but taken in toto, might convince some voters who were wavering over the scandals. The Nanos daily tracker on the weekend showed the Libs losing ground post-scandal so some work definitely needs to be done. Just not sure that blowing us away with a wave of expensive promises is it.
 
He is actively trying to change the channel. Interesting, one of the articles this morning quotes him as responding to a black face question with his trade mark. I have been very open with Canadians about this and then not answering the question. That arrogance may come back to bite him. I don’t feel he has been open. I don’t feel he has been upfront. He has apologized for things that were discovered about him and tried to bring us all into his unaware net by things like. We all need to be aware.......

It article in the UK this morning keeping the story alive

Disappointing to me is that this seems like it might just be water off his back. Does that mean that our country looks away from overt acts of racism or only that we do if we like the person who committed the act. Would people have thought nothing. If this was Harper, or Ignatieff, or Sheer.
 
Yesterday was interesting. I have a fairly multicultural congregation. The older families are predominantly white, although there are some older black families as well. Most of our younger familes are Asian, East Indian or black, to the extent that of the dozen children who came forward for Children's Time yesterday - none were white.

My congregation knows that I'm a bit of a political junkie and we talk politics often over coffee, etc. (I've never bought into the idea that ministers can't talk politics with their congregations - just don't bring partisanship into the pulpit.) This was a topic that came up, and what I found interesting was that those who were upset about Trudeau's "blackface/brownface" incidents were the white members of the congregation, while those from visible minority populations really didn't seem to care about it at all.

I found myself wondering how much of that reaction was a sort of collective white guilt over racism - white people were angry at Trudeau because he somehow reminds them of something about themselves or their past. Or - conversely - was it a sort of shrug your shoulders response from the others who are just used to dealing with racism and move on from it? I don't know.
 
Yesterday was interesting. I have a fairly multicultural congregation. The older families are predominantly white, although there are some older black families as well. Most of our younger familes are Asian, East Indian or black, to the extent that of the dozen children who came forward for Children's Time yesterday - none were white.

My congregation knows that I'm a bit of a political junkie and we talk politics often over coffee, etc. (I've never bought into the idea that ministers can't talk politics with their congregations - just don't bring partisanship into the pulpit.) This was a topic that came up, and what I found interesting was that those who were upset about Trudeau's "blackface/brownface" incidents were the white members of the congregation, while those from visible minority populations really didn't seem to care about it at all.

I found myself wondering how much of that reaction was a sort of collective white guilt over racism - white people were angry at Trudeau because he somehow reminds them of something about themselves or their past. Or - conversely - was it a sort of shrug your shoulders response from the others who are just used to dealing with racism and move on from it? I don't know.
From what I've been hearing from the minority populations, blackface/brownface is just another day in their life......much the same as white people crossing the street to avoid groups of black men, whites pulling their children closer when passing gatherings of minorities, etc......and on and on
 
Would people have thought nothing. If this was Harper, or Ignatieff, or Sheer.

Truthfully for a long time now I have been lamenting the tactic of bringing up pictures, posts, quotes, etc. from years and years and years ago and using them to attack candidates of any party. I've publicly (on social media) defended candidates from various parties who've fallen prey to this. I'm far more interested in what someone has done in recent years than what they did many years ago. So if the circumstances were the same but the name Harper or Scheer were substituted for Trudeau I would have no different reaction at all. I wouldn't care what they did or said 20 years ago. I'd be more interested in looking at what they're doing and saying now.

But this has reinforced for me why, in spite of the fact that I'm a political junkie, I would never - ever - consider for even a moment running for public office. I've said and written enough publicly over the years that someone could surely take something I've said out of context and make me out to be a racist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, etc., etc. Why anyone wants to put themselves through this ridiculous and excessive scrutiny is truly beyond me.
 
If this was Harper, or Ignatieff, or Sheer.

The thing is, over the years we've had education programs and more awareness brought forward for the general population to become more informed over the years. So when this becomes actually effective and turns attitudes around in some people, are we going to continue to drag them through the mud for how they believed in the past (eg.Trudeau)? To me look for the evidence that this is not a current way of thinking for the PM......but the dirty politics of bringing someones past back to life is questionable....which makes me think that the party who did this doesn't have much substance or faith in themselves to have to resort to dirty pool.
 
I hate all forms of attack ads.
Tell me what your platform is. Tell me what you would do in the next four years if you were in the position of power. Tell me how you would work cooperatively with all elected representatives when referring your party or another. And if you are in the position of opposition, particularly if you carry that balance of power, how would you cooperate with the leader to fine-tune his agenda of good government for all, or hold his feet to the fire if you feel he is messing up.
 
I hate all forms of attack ads.
Tell me what your platform is. Tell me what you would do in the next four years if you were in the position of power. Tell me how you would work cooperatively with all elected representatives when referring your party or another. And if you are in the position of opposition, particularly if you carry that balance of power, how would you cooperate with the leader to fine-tune his agenda of good government for all, or hold his feet to the fire if you feel he is messing up.
Doesn't mean we can believe them.
 
How much will the rich benefit from the impoverishment of the poor?

What lies will be told to cover up answers from either side? Thus answers to the inevitable conflict are non existent ... only more questions!

Powers hate questions ... even thought the bible says to question everything!

Didn't read into that part! Illiteracy really screws those suffering naivete to their own detriment ... leading to neigh Ms.

Chi'll get you in the end ...
 
This election was being shaped by racism long before the Trudeau blackface images leaked. It was being shaped by how much tolerance Canada has for white supremacy in the other major party as if it's even debatable. Just because Scheer and Bernier didn't get caught in any old photos wearing dark makeup doesn't mean entertaining white supremacist colonialist anti-immigrant supporters, white ethnostate supporting influencers and their dog whistles, in the current political climate, was not worse. And the only reason Bernier is criticizing Trudeau is because of the hypocrisy, not because Berniers platform itself is not racist - not with any deep understanding that racism is unacceptable. If Trudeau was on the right, Bernier and Scheer would be defending him and/ or his apology.

The right is making this a superficial political football while they continue to court the really harmful attitudes.

What Trudeau did was wrong, and I doubt he feels it in his gut as much as he should. He's probably more deeply embarrassed - I imagine that's what he's feeling anyway, since he's tried to be the political poster boy for diversity. However, he did launch the MMWI, he did symbolically try to have a diversity representative gender balanced cabinet. I'm inclined to think he learned something for the better in the past 20 years - whereas, the conservatives and further right want to preserve the "good old days" when institutional and systemic bigotry was par for the course and white European culture was dominant - and want to try to say that talking about white supremacist ideologies and race and gender based "science" attached to human worth is an appropriate discussion to have. Some of their champion influencers have risen to fame on bigotry. To me, that's far more present and dangerous than Trudeau's ignorant behaviour in 20 year old photos. It does represent an unpleasant reminder to minorities just how tainted by bigotry this election is. But nobody wanted to discuss the neonazis as a real problem. I find that hypocritical.
 
In reality the powers don't believe that racism exists ... this is all in the abstract form ... in the unreal imaginary numbers that are mostly overlooked physically speaking ...

One must believe in the imagination that things could be better for little folk! This is hard for them to imagine ... given the pious and gravid nature of congealed dirt!
 
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