STOP THE WORLD….

Time to clear the air….
I’m not responding to a lot of facebook posts anymore. Simply because…
I’m tired of conspiracy theorists.
I’m tired of hearing how Canada as we know it is doomed under Trudeau. Let’s get real here. It wouldn’t have mattered who got elected the gloom and doom crowd would have been tossing their uneducated prophecies ad nauseum anyway.
I’m tired of fifteen year old photographs/stories showing up as current fact even though they have been proven to be hoaxes for at least a decade. Check the facts before you post.
I’m tired of the assumption that if I respond negatively to a story then I’m anti-something. Other than Macaulay Culkin and aforementioned conspiracy theorists I don’t dislike anyone. If I choose to not ‘like’ your comments it has nothing to do with your religion, social status, sexual preferences or race. It’s simply because I don’t agree with your comment. If you have a problem with me not falling in line behind you then…like I said, it’s your problem.
I recently ‘unfriended’ someone because of our different views regarding one of his posts. It was regarding recruitment to form a march on the Alberta Legislature to protest the NDP Government. Let me tell you up front I’m a child of the Sixties and I am all for peaceful protest and, if I felt strongly enough about an issue, I would join the sit-in, signs and all. In this case, for me, there was a lot to be wary of. First the photograph of a flag-waving man atop an excavator posed rebelliously against a bright blue sky. Then comes the text containing a list of “I love my:”s…everything from oil sands to farming, guns to freedom. The way I see it trying to encourage a ‘peaceful’ demonstration yet feeling the need to throw ‘guns’ in there is somewhat counter-productive but it is the ‘freedom’ part that really sticks with me. The fact that we have the freedom to gather on the government’s doorstep and protest is a freedom not granted in many countries around this world. You HAVE your freedom and it was that freedom you expressed when you voted that party into office. You also have the freedom to vote them out and if you want to peacefully protest everything they do until you can kick them to the curb then go for it. When I read the original post I went back through the comments from the Bundy camp in Oregon and everything from content to presentation was eerily similar and I stated that in my response. I did receive the expected pro-Bundy style responses but then my comment was deleted. It appears the poster didn’t like being compared to the home grown terrorists on the other side of the border. The original post remained however so I have to assume he supports this type of thing. I don’t support it so I ‘unfriended’ someone for the first time in all the years I have been on facebook.
In the old days (yes I hate those words too but in this case it fits) if anyone managed to get a public forum it was through recognized media and they were required to adhere to certain standards but thanks to the internet anyone can now have their moment in the spotlight. Generally this is a good thing but as this forum also provides a stage for the wack-a-doos it is up to the reader to investigate what you see and read.
A couple of years back a fellow by the name of Bill Schoel posted on a wildlife site regarding the BC government’s policy of aerial-gunning down wolves and how it was a necessity because (according to the writer) a friend of his had seen his dogs torn apart by a pack of wolves in downtown Kamloops, BC. Coincidentally I live in Kamloops and I’m pretty sure I would have heard about this incident. Further investigation revealed that Bill lives in Maryland and continually posts idiotic comments to stir the flames. There are a lot of people like Bill who post under false names or simply anonymously to fill some sort of void in their lives but it’s when you see the responses these posts get you realize how easily unthinking people get wrapped up in stuff like this. If I remember correctly a dozen or so hunters responded that they were ready to camp out in Kamloops to gun down those vermin. A simple search of the local news outlets online would have proven the story false and they wouldn’t have looked like the idiots they most certainly are.
Memes falsely accredited to famous people, altered photographs, misleading headlines, totally laughable conspiracy theories, sponsored comments, and outright fiction is flooding social media and it now becomes the responsibility of the reader to validate everything before accepting anything these days.
If you believe that the government is spraying chemicals in the air to ‘dumb-down’ the public then fine. I think it’s simply that through social media the dumbed-down segment of the public that has always been there now has an unfiltered voice and a built-in audience that, back in the days of responsible journalism, would have remained silent.
Off my soapbox now.
I have been scarce on both this blog and the facebook pages lately due to a few things but mostly I’m working on a third book (which isn’t going as well as the first two) and the finalizing of the second book. I’m on the third read-through of the print-proof of ‘Barking at Yesterday’s Moon’ and it should be uploaded in a few days. It is available as an ebook on Amazon.
To those whose blogs I usually follow on a regular basis I apologize for my absence but hopefully I can get back into the rhythm soon…although as Evan Morris says in “Barking at Yesterday’s Moon”:
“Things change and the sooner you realize that life isn’t perfect…that everything isn’t going to magically fall into place when you get all those ducks in a row the better off you’ll be. Every step we take in life has its own trials and tribulations. After we get those sorted out we take that next step and…more wandering ducks.”

 

RESEARCH? Why bother?

The current way of thinking pertaining to the Canadian Grey Wolf on certain anti-wolf pages is that the Canadian Government decided (wolf) generations ago that it was going to design and breed a super wolf…a hybrid killing machine that would eliminate the ungulate population in the U.S. so that a) hunters would have to come to Canada to hunt and spend their money and b) the American government would cite that “without any hunting there would be no need for guns” and therefore would implement gun control measures.

I love America and the times I’ve visited I’ve found the general population to be genuinely friendly and real folk but this is just one of those absurd issues that make me wonder what the hell is going on not only there but here…and everywhere.

I have to keep reminding myself that this type of thinking is spouted by a minority with a collective big mouth but I also look at the number of people buying into these fairy tales. I’ve come to the conclusion that a certain segment of the world’s population needs bad stuff to make them feel good. I’ve grown weary of all the conspiracy theories surrounding JFK and 911 but now Sandy Hook was all a conspiracy? The Boston Marathon bombing was a conspiracy? I suppose if you buy into these then Canadian scientists developing DNA for a super-wolf pack back in the late forties makes a lot of sense. I can picture these three or four science guys sitting around plotting how they can destroy game herds in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho in 2014. And they acquired the technology needed to carry out their nefarious scheme from a flying saucer that crashed through the roof of Maple Leaf Gardens during a Stanley Cup final game. It killed about 3,000 people but of course we had to cover it up. Okay I made up that last part but I’m sure someone will believe it.

Since this non-native super wolf story unfolded there have been countless reports of these 250 pound killers (no actual proof though) showing up on people’s back porches and chasing elderly women from bus stops. Stories about a fully-grown wolf “trying” to get through a patio screen or, my particular favorite, a hunter and his son breaking through heavy underbrush only to “surprise” seven wolves lined up in a clearing ten feet in front of them. My God…paranoia fodder or what? These fables have become common and are accepted as Gospel by the disciples who worship these pages.

I write fiction but even fiction needs a firm grasp in reality if it is to be believed. My son has a Pit-cross that is probably half the size of that wolf “trying” to get through the patio screen but his dog went through our screen like it wasn’t there. And before you make up a story about “surprising” a wolf pack you might want to research the wolf’s hearing and sense of smell then tell me you could get within ten feet of them without them knowing you were there. I won’t even get into the configuration of a wolf pack at rest. Suffice to say they wouldn’t be “lined up”.

Research is all important if you’re writing anything. I daresay the fiction writer does nearly as much research as someone writing a fact-based book. In the book I’m currently finishing I refer to Edmonton, Alberta for one chapter. I lived there most of my life until I moved in 1994. Even though the area was clear in my mind after I’d completed the chapter I googled all the landmarks I’d referenced…then had some re-writing to do. Most of them were gone and the street I referred to is now one-way and an action I had presented would not be possible. Studying the google earth photos gave me a clearer reference and helped me add the touch of realism I wanted.

Is this important? Yes. Without me checking up on myself someone from Edmonton could pick up my book and see right through me but as it is they can now follow the story-line in a setting that they’re familiar with.

It’s all in the details.