May I suggest that you read some of the wisdom provided within the forums and articles at rabble.ca.
Rabble has been around for some years now as a haven for elements of Canada’s extreme left wing. The site initially enjoyed government subsidies and actually offered tax-receipts to donors. After having been exposed the site lost such benefits in embarrassment but sadly still does exist. Despite their constant pleas for funding in the past (and demands for tax dollars) it is obvious that an online discussion site does not require multiple full time staff members (as rabble used to have).
Either way, I do pop in there now and then when I am seeking a distraction. Reading the rabblers tying themselves into knots while discussing ways to save the world without ever offending anybody in any sort of way is entertaining in a dark-comedy sort of way. The infighting on their threads is worthy of a chuckle for the political voyeur as well as one tries to out-extreme the other in their self-styled political correctness. It does appear that the only thing that these people can really unite upon is their deep seated loathing for individual success on any level.
Going through their labor threads, feminism threads etc. etc. one constantly sees calls for the boycotting of this and that. It must be incredibly difficult to be an extreme left wing consumer in this day and age. The obvious purveyors of evil such as Wal-Mart go without saying in demanding boycotts of course. It is the ever growing list of other companies that is laughable.
I see they hate American Apparel stores. Now American Apparel prides itself on purchasing and selling only domestic-made products and refusing to exploit third world labor. Isn’t that what the left has self-righteously been demanding of all businesses? Well aside from the clear American involvement (lefties hate all things American of course), it turns out that American Apparel may be guilty of refusing to hire enough ugly people. Yup, I am not kidding. I saw the term “lookism” for the first time in my life on rabble and nearly choked on my coffee (no it is not free trade or organic). Wow. Now what should be done? Shall there be quotas set for a level of ugliness among the employees? Perhaps a union of the esthetically challenged should be formed (I would hate to attend their rallies). What happens if an ugly person evolves into a good looking person through change of diet or something? Should this neo-attractive person resign any management positions? Decisions decisions.
How about the Body Shop. They sell products that are natural, hypo-allergenic, fair-trade, yadda yadda yadda and have openly refused to sell anything that has been tested on animals. They are OK right? WRONG! The Body Shop is evil as somewhere in their corporate structure a subsidiary of another company that crossed paths with some corporate soul has made a many times removed connection to the evil empire of Nestle incorporated. Nestle is on the evil list for selling baby formula thus people MUST NOT shop at the Body Shop. This is of a limited dilemma to people on the fringe of the left anyhow since personal hygene has never really been a priority in their subculture. They can still roll in organic dust or something in order to get clean. Any other body aromas may be covered with copious application of pitchouli oil (as I have discovered at left-wing rallies to my dismay).
No petroleum companies are good nor automotive. We are supposed to walk or bike wherever we go of course. Well what is a good place for walking and hiking apparel? Mountain Equipment Coop comes to mind of course. They are a coop thus are not evil capitalists, they purchase fair-trade and all that crap so why not? Well it appears that MEC is going too far into the bicycle market and they have displaced some small bike retailers thus they rallying cry has been sent; BOYCOTT MEC!!!! Yup, MEC got to that point where they could be considered successful thus they are now not worthy of the patronage of pompous lefties. Only free-range bicycles handcrafted by some local tinker are now socially acceptable.
Where is that magic line where a company goes from a nice little outfit to a corporate demon anyway? Starbucks is a prime example of this evolution. Starbucks began as a snotty little outfit that justified overcharging for coffee by going out of their way to purchase politically correct everything. Lefties could gather and share their pretension guilt-free and drink coffee that was saving the world somehow. Alas, the model was too good and Starbucks is now yet another evil corporate empire worthy of loathing and boycott by the left. Sigh….
Tim Hortons is out too by the way. They have some American ownership and they cause too much pollution. They make a profit too which is of course immediate grounds for boycott.
The great thing with left-wing boycotts is that they are completely ineffective anyway. You see, the majority of those who are calling for these boycotts are students or graduates with liberal-arts degrees (waiters/waitresses) who really have utterly no economic clout anyway. Sure there are champagne socialists such as Maude Barlow and David Suzuki who make immense money on the left. These folks purchase their stuff from high end specialty shops that are not part of these boycotts anyway.
The pains in attempted political correctness are fun to watch with them too. It is quite a lexicon that the left must keep up upon in order to avoid offending anybody. Crippled went to handicapped went to special which went to disabled which went to differently abled which went too….. bah I don’t know. The term used makes no difference, it is the respect that a person displays towards people within that identifiable group. Smug fools who feel changing the term used changes the reality are living in the wrong world.
The feminism forum is an entertaining read. The embittered gals who fire their venom at everything even conceivably male is almost frightening in it’s profound hypocrisy and hatred. It must be nice to plant every personal shortcoming one endures directly on the feet of another gender. Much better to blame men for everything rather than to better one’s self. The feminists hate exploitation of women thus harped on pretty strongly against prostitution. Alas, some women who have chosen prostitution spoke up and a conundrum regarding choice arose. The battle was legendary. The solution was to make an entirely new forum catering to issues with sex-trade workers and the feminists stick to their own. The growth in side forums at the site is interesting to say the least.
The reviews of the movie Avatar are interesting. Apparently the movie is racist, it is anti-disabled and is pretty much evil in general. What their issue really is of course is that the movie is popular and successful. Those are two qualities that the left oppose at every opportunity.
It must be stressful and tough living in such a world where one has to constantly tiptoe and live in a politically correct world. One needs to embrace a complete disconnect with economic and pretty much general reality in order to do so. Rabble contains those willing to pursue that disconnect. Thankfully these folks are a tiny but vocal minority among us.
We see the extremes highlighted on the right on a regular basis. The extremists on the left are often overlooked. There is little to be gained in reading rabble aside from a distraction. I do feel that people should pop in there now and then though if only to remind themselves that such lunatics do exist out there.
