IntenseDebate - GeoffM

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - A colour-blind man loo... · 1 reply · -2 points

The nice thing about Elizabeth May is that her single issue is the green issue. Whereas Jim Harris put the colour on the can, but if you actually read the ingredients you felt like a Vegan who just mistook a plate of horse meat for tofurkey.

Not that I find the party palatable in either guise. (But horsemeat? Mmm...)

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - I've got your meltdown... · 0 replies · +3 points

"Especially if we judge the quality of Japanese engineers and regulators by their competence at communications."

I'd like to retort that I prefer to judge them by their cars and cameras, but if that's my standard, I have to concede that those particular reactor designs aren't Japanese, they're American, circa late 60s/early 70s. That's the era of the Chevy Corvair and Ford Pinto.

Surprising choice on Japan's part, considering how their first encounter with American nuclear technology turned out.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - France: Land of Conrad... · 0 replies · +8 points

The zaftiger the asset, the inspiriting the cromulence.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - The persecution of Jus... · 1 reply · +1 points

I'm still debating where to slot you in. Are you hostile towards the boy because:

– You're mad that you weren't a YouTube sensation at an early age?
– Your own passion (critiquing teen popular music) isn't as marketable as Bieber's passion (creating teen popular music)
– You recognize on some level that the teeniebopper next door probably didn't pass up the latest Woodhands album in favour of the latest Bieber album, anymore than she passed up the new Economist for Seventeen Magazine, but you just can't shake your Bieber obsession?

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - The persecution of Jus... · 3 replies · +2 points

Most of Bieber's adversaries are just taking a piss at the kid's expense, but if you confront them with a column like this they won't begrudge the lad his success.

But by far the more entertaining Bieber bashers are the Rationalizers, who go to all kinds of lengths to tell you how he's wrecking society.

You got your Communists who, freshly driven to Marxism and central planning, want to convince you that the cultural preferences and spending habits of teens and preteens are abject, and only their own tastes and consumption habits comprise our legitimate economy.

There's your Failures, who couldn't seem to get their own superior brand of REAL music out of the garage, bro (it's chief attribute being the total absence of any audience willing to listen).

I like the High Minders for their infallible hypocrisy: they insist they're indifferent to Bieber, are tired of all the media attention, and then they'll seek out articles about him and take the time to post on a message board ("just clicked through to let you all know I'm above this cultural phenomenon, and object to the effort wasted on its coverage!").

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - The persecution of Jus... · 0 replies · +1 points

Just last week I saw Stephen Hawking in the soup kitchen line. Meanwhile, my neighbourhood can't get a paper boy because all the kids have lucrative record contracts. It's a real crisis.

Put your kids in the arts, folks. That's where the money is.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Justin Bieber says you... · 0 replies · +1 points

Rolling Stone wanted to talk about abortion. MacLean's wanted to talk about rape. Bieber wanted nothing to do with either conversation, though he was honest enough to try to state his position and move on. (Abortion is like killing a baby. Rape is sad.) Me, I respectfully disagree with the young man on abortion, but I share his position on rape.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Justin Bieber says you... · 0 replies · +1 points

On the contrary, the Biebs may not be deep, but he is sensitive. As you say, he stated his position on abortion (bad), addressed the question about fetuses conceived by rape with a philosophical point (God has a plan for every fetus) and then quickly realized that his philosophical point might be hurtful to a rape victim. (Not to mention: badly phrased.) So he followed up with a personal corollory: philosophy aside, that's a sad circumstance that he doesn't want to make worse with a hasty judgment. I've never given much thought to Justin Bieber one way or the other, but after reading this I have to say that he seems like a nice kid.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Justin Bieber says you... · 0 replies · 0 points

I think you mistakenly thought this was the Larry Flynt thread. But shame on both of them for making money.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Justin Bieber says you... · 3 replies · +6 points

This just in from Wikileaks: A transcript of the MacLean's editorial meeting.

TOPIC: HUMOUR COLUMN
FESCHUK: What I'll do, see, is misquote a 16-year-old popstar on the issue of rape.
KEN WHITE: Rape! Ha ha! But can you work in abortion somehow?
FESCHUK: Pfffffff! If I can stop laughing long enough!
KEN WHITE: And then we'll put it on the homepage of our news magazine, where there's no danger that anyone will think it's satire.
FESCHUK: GUFFAW! I'll get accused of trolling feminists and tarring the good name of a teenager who was dumb enough to give an honest answer to a direct question, but that's okay! Because in my heart I know the satire is really about media spin and role models, or something (LOLs)!

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