CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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Hexigrammus: May 22, 2006; Cheech Wizard stories are clean, wholesome, reflective truths that go great with the marijuana munchies and a blow job.

pointers posted:

i too wish i had never been born

Yeah, I have a feeling my parents might not have been acceptable either. Poor, uneducated, and wanting to have 10 kids. Thank Christ biology intervened.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 17:32

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# ? May 13, 2024 21:51

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Why are yoga instructors calling people social justice warriors? Cause it's 2015.

quote:

Student leaders have pulled the mat out from 60 University of Ottawa students, ending a free on-campus yoga class over fears the teachings could be seen as a form of "cultural appropriation."

Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering free weekly yoga instruction to students since 2008, says she was shocked when told in September the program would be suspended, and saddened when she learned of the reasoning.

Staff at the Centre for Students with Disabilities believe that "while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students ... there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice," according to an email from the centre.

The centre is operated by the university's Student Federation, which first approached Scharf seven years ago about offering yoga instruction to students both with and without disabilities.

The centre goes on to say, "Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced," and which cultures those practices "are being taken from."

The centre official argues since many of those cultures "have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy ... we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practising yoga."

The concept of cultural appropriation is normally applied when a dominant culture borrows symbols of a marginalized culture for dubious reasons -- such as the fad of hipsters donning indigenous headdresses as a fashion statement, without any regard to cultural significance or stereotype.

But Scharf, a yoga teacher with the downtown Rama Lotus Centre, said the concept does not apply in this case, arguing the complaint that killed the program came instead from a "social justice warrior" with "fainting heart ideologies" in search of a cause celebre.

"People are just looking for a reason to be offended by anything they can find," said Scharf.

"There's a real divide between reasonable people and those people just looking to jump on a bandwagon. And unfortunately, it ends up with good people getting punished for doing good things."

There were about 60 students who participated in the free program.

Acting student federation president Romeo Ahimakin denied the decision resulted from a complaint.

Ahimakin said the student federation put the yoga session on hiatus while they consult with students "to make it better, more accessible and more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out in yoga-like spaces. ... We are trying to have those sessions done in a way in which students are aware of where the spiritual and cultural aspects come from, so that these sessions are done in a respectful manner."

Scharf offered a compromise, suggesting she change the name from yoga to "mindful stretching," since that would reflect the content of the program and would "literally change nothing about the course."

"I'm not pretending to be some enlightened yogi master, and the point (of the program) isn't to educate people on the finer points of the ancient yogi scripture," she told the Sun.

"The point is to get people to have higher physical awareness for their own physical health and enjoyment."

According to email correspondence between Scharf and the centre, student leaders debated rebranding the program, but stumbled over how the French translation for "mindful stretching" would appear on a promotional poster, and eventually decided to suspend the program.

Student federation official Julie Seguin sympathized with Scharf, defending the use of the term "yoga," and saying, "I am also still of the opinion that a single complaint does not outweigh all of the good that these classes have done."

Seguin said "labeling the CSD's yoga lessons as cultural appropriation is questionable (and) debatable" and called on further discussion with the student executive.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/11/20/free-ottawa-yoga-class-scrapped-over-cultural-issues

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:25

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

Ikantski posted:

Why are yoga instructors calling people social justice warriors? Cause it's 2015.

Yeah Ottawa U and Carelton U student unions are a lot of dumbasses. Including Ottawa U, when I was a student there, giving every students email address to a guy who had an issue with the administration because security removed him when he barged into Allan Rocks office and started screaming at him.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:29

Furnaceface: Oct 21, 2004

So because it might offend some racist french students and they couldnt think of a way to soften the name they flat out killed it?

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:31

Brannock: Feb 9, 2006; by exmarx; Fallen Rib

Cultural appropriation is a garbage idea and so are these people who shut down the program for progressive cred.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:36

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

bunnyofdoom posted:

Yeah Ottawa U and Carelton U student unions are a lot of dumbasses. Including Ottawa U, when I was a student there, giving every students email address to a guy who had an issue with the administration because security removed him when he barged into Allan Rocks office and started screaming at him.

Great, now you've reminded me that Marc Kelly exists and I need a daydrink.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:37

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

Dallan Invictus posted:

Great, now you've reminded me that Marc Kelly exists and I need a daydrink.

I had forgotten his name. Now i feel the need to google to see what bullshit he is up to now.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:43

cheese sandwich: Feb 9, 2009

What is this idiotic talk on cbc right now about moving Canada day fireworks to the mid afternoon

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:43

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

Giving up on a free class used by 60 people because you couldn't design a good poster for it is the most student government thing ever.

This stuff is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things but it also makes it easier to understand why "SJW" caught on as a term in the first place, and why so many students are turned off by the left wing activism they encounter while at school.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:44

HookShot: Dec 26, 2005

Everything about Ottawa U is terrible I say that as a person who did their undergrad there.

Everything about their business school is even more terrible than the rest.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:46

AegisP: Oct 5, 2008

I'm still confused about why they just up and cancelled it as their response. It wasn't because of a specific complaint, at least according to their president, but rather because of the potential for a complaint against some nebulous problem that they couldn't identify?

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:54

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

because the SFUO is literally retarded.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 18:55

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

I don't know about Ottawa specifically but a lot of undergrad student governments are dominated by a single slate of candidates and as long as you're on the slate you're almost guaranteed to win. You're also probably using your time in student government to shore up your r�sum� rather than focusing in your current duties.

When you're unlikely to lose the job that you're mostly using as a source of income and a stepping stone for career advancement then is it really surprising that you might just shut so etching down to avoid a potential head ache? And bonus points because you can feel self righteous for striking a blow against the Empire.

Likely some of these people will be NDP staffers or even backbencher s in a decades, just like the drunk shitheads in the Debate Club will become Liberals and the angry repressed tightwads in the business club will become Conservatives.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 19:03

Panderfringe: Sep 12, 2011; yospos

bunnyofdoom posted:

Yeah Ottawa U and Carelton U student unions are a lot of dumbasses. Including Ottawa U, when I was a student there, giving every students email address to a guy who had an issue with the administration because security removed him when he barged into Allan Rocks office and started screaming at him.

Hahaha. A buddy of mine told me about that. I kind of regret going to Carleton since I don't get as many insane stories as he does.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 19:24

DariusLikewise: Oct 4, 2008; You wore that on Halloween?

Ipsos polls are garbage. It's a website you have to get recommended for(it was when I get in on it) and you get paid to take surveys. Polls are just questions put up by other members and you answer them for e-cred pretty much. The "do you want to keep bombing ISIS" and the "do you not want refugees" both had just over 1000 people answer them. Sickens me that Global would turn that into an article.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 19:31

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

Helsing posted:

I don't know about Ottawa specifically but a lot of undergrad student governments are dominated by a single slate of candidates and as long as you're on the slate you're almost guaranteed to win. You're also probably using your time in student government to shore up your r�sum� rather than focusing in your current duties.

When you're unlikely to lose the job that you're mostly using as a source of income and a stepping stone for career advancement then is it really surprising that you might just shut so etching down to avoid a potential head ache? And bonus points because you can feel self righteous for striking a blow against the Empire.

Likely some of these people will be NDP staffers or even backbencher s in a decades, just like the drunk shitheads in the Debate Club will become Liberals and the angry repressed tightwads in the business club will become Conservatives.

I wouldn't ascribe it SO much to careerism (although there is plenty of that), as much as to the fact that only the true believers of various stripes and the scheming careerists actually care about campus politics and student government and/or turn out to vote, so it will always lack the moderating influence of an actually representative general election - the people that get there, in large part, ARE actually that sincere in their beliefs and arguably that self-righteous.

And yeah, it doesn't matter much in direct effect and the handwringing about campus activism is concern trolling to a certain extent but these are the people to whom the term "SJW" was originally applied as a pejorative, and these are the people who are most people's first exposure to leftist politics (they were certainly mine, thanks muchly Mike Hudema), and I have to wonder what indirect effect that has.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 19:32

Funkdreamer: Jul 15, 2005; It'll be a blast

I see some people patting that Sun article on the back, but this has less to do with the nature of campus activism and more to do with administrative politics and its tendency to take a path of least resistance against potential controversy. You see similar behaviour in corporate culture and businesses are in no way "SJW". It seems like there wasn't even really an inclination to end the program, they just couldn't be assed to come up with a new name and then scuttled it altogether which, as noted, is the most student government thing ever.

And please don't post Sun articles.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 21:04

Rime: Nov 2, 2011; by Games Forum

Hey guys, remember when the RCMP tried to turn two mentally ill junkies into deadly terrorists?

Mounties may be guilty of knowingly facilitating a terrorist act, says judge

quote:

There is evidence the RCMP broke the law while conducting a high-profile terrorism sting and must hand over confidential legal documents, says a B.C. Supreme Court judge.

Justice Catherine Bruce has not yet ruled whether the RCMP entrapped John Nuttall and Amanda Korody into plotting to blow up the B.C. legislature in 2013, but she said in a ruling released Wednesday that the Mounties may be guilty of knowingly facilitating a terrorist act.

"In my view, the defence have raised at least a prima facie case that the RCMP officers involved in Project Souvenir were engaged in unlawful acts during the undercover operation," wrote Bruce, referring to the operation by its code name.

"There is a sufficiently close link between the illegal acts committed by the RCMP and the prosecution of the accused to support an abuse of process claim."

Nuttall and Korody were found guilty earlier this year of planning to detonate homemade pressure-cooker explosives on the grounds of the provincial legislature during Canada Day celebrations two years ago.

Their lawyers are asking the court for a stay of proceedings for reasons of entrapment, arguing the RCMP manipulated the pair into carrying out the bomb plot, which they say would never have happened without extensive help from the police.

Over the course of the investigation, undercover officers posing as jihadi warriors gave Nuttall and Korody groceries, cigarettes, bus passes, cell phones, phone cards, clothing, cash and a portable hard drive.

They also provided the pair with a place to work on their terrorist scheme and a location to build the explosives, chauffeured them to various stores to purchase bomb-making equipment and transported them to and from Victoria and around the Lower Mainland over the course of the four-month sting operation.

Bruce's ruling ordered the police to disclose confidential legal advice they received about running the undercover affair, but added that she would vet the documents before releasing them to defence.

Communication with a lawyer is normally protected under solicitor-client privilege, but Bruce said the Mounties waived that right by willingly disclosing a portion of that information in court.

"These disclosures were not only contained in officers' notes, but were included in the minutes of the briefing meetings held by the command team and the undercover (operators). These meetings were attending by the highest ranking officers involved in Project Souvenir," wrote Bruce.

"They provided key insight into the state of mind of all the officers involved in the undercover operation."

The ruling revealed that lawyers had advised the RCMP on numerous occasions, including recommending officers "drive target but don't shop" when purchasing materials to build the explosives.

While finding that the police acted illegally may not be enough to warrant an acquittal, evidence that the police ignored legal advice relates to "the seriousness of their misconduct" and is relevant to whether a stay of proceedings should be ordered, wrote Bruce in her ruling.

Whether the Mounties followed the legal advice matters because it may show the officers acted in bad faith, she said.

Bruce noted that the Crown had not objected to some legal advice being disclosed before the court, so ruled that to allow prosecutors to rely selectively on otherwise-confidential legal opinions would "give the Crown an unfair advantage."

# ? Nov 21, 2015 21:36

HackensackBackpack: Aug 20, 2007; Who needs a house out in Hackensack? Is that all you get for your money?

Rime posted:

Hey guys, remember when the RCMP tried to turn two mentally ill junkies into deadly terrorists?

Mounties may be guilty of knowingly facilitating a terrorist act, says judge

I want to make this into a comedy movie. Paul Gross can play one of the Mounties. :canada:

# ? Nov 21, 2015 21:52

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Furnaceface posted:

So because it might offend some racist french students and they couldnt think of a way to soften the name they flat out killed it?

That's where I checked it 3 times to see if it was satire.

Funkdreamer posted:

And please don't post Sun articles.

Sorry to trigger you in your safe space.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 21:56

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

Ikantski posted:

That's where I checked it 3 times to see if it was satire.

Sorry to trigger you in your safe space.

Oh, and you were doing almost well (except the 2015 crack because this entire thing is totally Trudeau related ...)

# ? Nov 21, 2015 21:58

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Brannock posted:

Cultural appropriation is a garbage idea and so are these people who shut down the program for progressive cred.

As an Irish-Canadian I demand we close all bars due to cultural appropriation.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:23

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

bunnyofdoom posted:

Oh, and you were doing almost well (except the 2015 crack because this entire thing is totally Trudeau related ...)

It's a funny non-argument that can be used to defend any position, the sillier and more progressive the better. I wasn't even thinking of Trudeau.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:36

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Guys! Jenny kwan is here at Pearson and she's on my flight to Vancouver. Brb gonna go punch that dumb loving waste of skin in the face

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:39

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

Cultural Imperial posted:

Guys! Jenny kwan is here at Pearson and she's on my flight to Vancouver. Brb gonna go punch that dumb loving waste of skin in the face

Who's Jenny Kwan? Please don't be violent. :smith:

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:40

I Killed GBS: Jun 2, 2011; by Lowtax

Brannock posted:

Cultural appropriation is a garbage idea and so are these people who shut down the program for progressive cred.

a very brave opinion from a privileged white woman

took a lot of guts to post that, im very proud of u

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:49

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

Ikantski posted:

It's a funny non-argument that can be used to defend any position, the sillier and more progressive the better. I wasn't even thinking of Trudeau.

Uh huh. Sure you weren't.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:50

tagesschau: Sep 1, 2006; Guten Abend, meine Damen und Herren.

Albino Squirrel posted:

As an Irish-Canadian I demand we close all bars due to cultural appropriation.

As an American-Canadian, I demand we shut down Canada due to cultural appropriation.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:57

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

you gotta admit, muslims and sikhs doing yoga is pretty hilarious

# ? Nov 21, 2015 23:00

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad!

Cultural Imperial posted:

you gotta admit, muslims and sikhs doing yoga is pretty hilarious

Too bad your posts aren't

# ? Nov 21, 2015 23:27

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

No math in universities, it's Islamic cultural appropriation.
Also no fireworks on Canada day it's offensive Chinese cultural appropriation.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 23:32

Excelzior: Jun 24, 2013

I just saw some people meditating without being explicitly aware of the Noble Eightfold Path, I am so loving triggered right now

# ? Nov 22, 2015 00:08

The Dark One: Aug 19, 2005; I'm your friend and I'm not going to just stand by and let you do this!

Leofish posted:

I want to make this into a comedy movie. Paul Gross can play one of the Mounties.

Burn After Reading already exists, tho.

# ? Nov 22, 2015 00:39

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

tagesschau posted:

As an American-Canadian, I demand we shut down Canada due to cultural appropriation.

To fix everything, should we mandate that 33% of all media be devoted to teaching Canadians to do yoga through CanCon?

# ? Nov 22, 2015 00:47

Beelzebufo: Mar 5, 2015; Frog puns are toadally awesome

Small Frozen Thing posted:

a very brave opinion from a privileged white woman

took a lot of guts to post that, im very proud of u

So do you follow Brannock around waiting to score e-points, or were you just browsing a forum thread I've never seen you post in ever, waiting for your chance to strike?

# ? Nov 22, 2015 01:26

flakeloaf: Feb 26, 2003; Still better than android clock

A university student government in this very capital once declared that they would not be supporting cystic fibrosis charities because CF was a disease that affected mainly white men.

That was the point where we stopped paying attention to those morons forever. Sorry we didn't put that in a memo for the rest of Canada.

flakeloaf fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Nov 22, 2015

# ? Nov 22, 2015 02:24

twistedmentat: Nov 21, 2003; Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

When my sister was in University she was in student goverment, and one of the other members tried to get all non-vegan foods removed from campus, and bringing them on campus. Obviously it failed, but not by much. The member that brought it claimed that it was defeated by the "Murder industry".

And I loving hate hearing that story, not because of how stupid it is, but its just another stupid thing that the Anti-SJ crowd will use to go "see, SJW are ruining everything! They take away yoga next they'll take away UFC and video games!".

# ? Nov 22, 2015 02:34

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

Ikantski posted:

Why are yoga instructors calling people social justice warriors? Cause it's 2015.

That's bad, but so was the playwright who cancelled his play inspired by his self discovery trip in China where he fell in love with Peking Opera and spent four years creating a play only for it to be cancelled after people became upset by the posters without ever seeing the damned thing haha.

I listened to an interview with this guy as well as the main opponent who worked towards getting it shut down, and the rationale put forth by the young woman who wanted it removed was staggeringly foolish ("The poster doesn't tell the viewer about the history or traditions of Peking Opera" level poo poo).

It was amazing because the writer was so apologetic and eager to please the angry Twitter people, I guess so that he could have a career after this all blew over?

# ? Nov 22, 2015 02:35

ocrumsprug: Sep 23, 2010; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

I am bit confused about the positive career aspect of student government involvement, as I cannot think of something worse to put on your resume.

# ? Nov 22, 2015 02:43

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# ? May 13, 2024 21:51

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

In Grade 7 my friend Mark and I created the Russian Slap Fight Club

It lasted one day and resulted in a few very sore jaws, but I feel it would be pretty much on par with Student Government

# ? Nov 22, 2015 02:46

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