STFU, you weasel.
People sometimes refuse to answer seemingly simple yes-or-no questions. They know that answering truthfully would compromise them in some way. Getting caught in a lie would be equally dangerous. So instead, they give drawn-out, bullshit answers that say absolutely nothing.
We see this most often with parents and their children (“Timmy, did you break the vase?” “Paul, did you shave the cat’s whiskers?”, etc.). In the public arena, we see it with the media and politicians. I applaud the media asking the tough questions (when they actually ask them). Sure, somebody has to keep the politicians’ feet to the fire. At the same time, the media are just as much weasels as the politicians they’re interrogating. Most often, their only real goal is provide entertainment in the form of watching another weasel squirm in the hot seat as they try to dodge the issue. Again, understandable to an extent, as drama creates interest, which draws eyeballs, which brings ad revenue. Still… I’m uncomfortable…
With that in mind, I want to applaud how the new BC minister of transportation, Mary Polak, handled the recent fare-evasion-legislation-loophole issue (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/09/07/bc-translink-fare-evasion.html). I don’t often praise politicians (especially regressive conservatives), but when I do, I am profuse.
Bravo, I say. She admitted it was an oversight and promised to have it corrected within weeks and shortly after, it was corrected.
Granted, it was a minor issue. Wouldn’t win or lose any seats come election time. But imagine if we saw more politicians coming out and owning up to mistakes/failures/oversights! Likely, the media feeding frenzy would decrease (maybe a few flare-ups of “investigative reporting” into recent spates of gov’t incompetency, whatev) over time, as we become inured to gov’t admitting that they make mistakes but can commit to fixing them in a timely fashion. Maybe if they didn’t have to constantly worry about managing public perception, they could spend more time governing. Like, I’m just saying…
Follow the link above and have a look at the comments. As expected, they boil down to the usual smirking look-at-our-tax-dollars-at-work crap you see from the anonymous losers who post on news sites. Yes, government accountability is important. But people, try for once to stop being such fucking idiots. Or at least keep your moronic opinions on your own blogs like I do. You’re entitled to your opinion, but griping about it in every public forum really doesn’t help move public policy forward. Let’s consider what you do in your job for a moment. I wonder how much damage your stupid mistakes have caused to others. Think about it. STFU, weasels.
BTW, I cannot imagine a scenario where any BC Liberal would ever see a vote from me, even if the party ran a positively brilliant individual candidate in my riding. So, for any idiot who wants to comment on my partisanship, consider this a pre-emptive strike. I don’t endorse any party.
BTW, the irony of my anonymity comment isn’t lost on me. If you’re going to comment on that specifically, you better make it real fucking smart.
Bloodfreak 