Every now and then I realize just how much I don't know about the world.
Because of my World of Warcraft playing, I know people who live very far away from me. I've played with people who live in Australia, Thailand, Germany, parts of South America, Canada and all across the United States.
After logging in and chatting with people every day for months, conversations move past game-play or idol chit-chat. There are a number of people that I know a great deal about having never met them, seen their faces or even knowing their real names. In game, people become identified by their "main" character. My name is Beroth. Even after switching to a new main character, I'm still Beroth. But, as usual, I digress...
One of these international friends is a guy we call Karthis. Karthis lives in Canada. He and I share a lot of the same passions including politics. We like to chat about stuff a lot including politics. Through these conversations, we've learned that we are not speaking the same language.
I've always liked to consider myself a man of broad, general knowledge. I knew that my understanding of the Canadian Parliamentarian system was limited, but I had no idea just how limited. Even the lingo throws me. Perhaps it's my "American" hubris, but I've had this image of Canada as being more like the 51st state. Yes, I know how that sounded. Karthis' reaction has been similar to mine, although I think he understands more about our politics than I of his. The big issue is terminology. Political parties, ideologies, stances on various issues don't appear to fit into the traditional framework we put on our Republicans and Democrats.
As far as I can tell, Karthis is small government, fiscal conservative but with fairly liberal social viewpoints. His read on me is that I'm a left-leaning centrist. That's generally accurate.
After today's big issue with Parliament, Karthis sent me a link to his favorite political blog, Macleans.ca.
He warned me that the writing would be "somewhat off-the-cuff, but hits on a lot of issues we're struggling through right now." I'll be honest, I'm going to be doing a lot of Wikipedia searches to get through the most resent post. But, I'm trying. It's an opportunity to learn something about a friend, my neighbors to the north and broaden my understanding of the different forms of democracy in this world.
Now, the challenge is for me to send him something. What should it be? Do I simply send him to the NYT OpEd section where I get most of my political commentary? Do I go all out (and show my party loyalty at it's most extreme) and send him the link to Daily Kos? Perhaps I really try and freak him out by sending him to The Huffington Post. Do I explain that I can't stand watching Fox News and get generally frustrated with any news shows. OK, I admit liking Keith Olberman, but he's more for the entertainment factor.
The truth is that I start with the NYT. I skim Daily Kos and then use google new feeds to find interesting stories. When possible I watch PBS to watch the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer. I then look for the BBC new service. It gives me a lot of news about us from the outside world's prospective. And, I eventually catch Keith's show on the iPod over breakfast the next morning.
Any way, the change for you, dear readers, is to learn something about something you "thought" you knew but really don't. Let me know how it goes.
No, leave me alone so I can decipher this blog his sent me.
3 comments:
I don't have any other sites to offer you. I don't believe that Daily Kos is anywhere near the extreme left of the spectrum. You want to see extreme left check out "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet. Those guys are nuts.
The site he sent you to looks like a magazine site with a 'blog' thrown in for good measure. Same thing that Newsweek, U.S News and World Report, and Time are doing these days.
It's very "old-media trying to do new-media". I'd send him to a few significant posts at Kos and stop trying to be centrist. The center doesn't always mean you are more enlightened it might mean that you aren't willing to ruffle feathers.
Bi-partisanship is a nice concept but it is going to take a few years of Democrat majority rule to fix the mess that Republican majority rule created.
Elections have consequences.
@ Nothing Knew - You keep telling me to stop being "centrist." Are you worried that I'm using "their" definition of the middle? Because I'm not.
The middle may need some redefining before all is said and done. It might take a swing of the pendulum to get things back to where they need to be.
That said, I will continue to contend that balance in ALL things is good.
Karthis here. =)
The article I sent to you was by Paul Wells, who hosts his blog on the Macleans' site. Macleans is a weekly Canadian news magazine, and pretty much one of our cultural icons.
Wells, obviously, is also an author for the magazine, but was far ahead of the rest of the Canadian MSM in diving into the blog scene. (He's been at it for YEARS - certainly before blogging became an activity that the masses had heard about, let alone experienced).
It's probably just a sign that I'm too tuned into my own country's politics that I find longish articles like that easy to understand and enjoyable - all of the lingo is second nature to me.
(Aside: I ran one of the early successful Conservative/centrist blogs in Canada - even won a mention in a few of the early Canadian blog awards. I was on TV with my blog once, and my blog was even depicted on CNN once during the Gomery affair. I kind of miss running 'Bound by Gravity' some days.... especially in these rather exciting political time.
Links, cause they bring back memories:
http://barkingmadly.blogspot.com/2005/11/bound-by-gravity.html
http://myblahg.com/?p=322
)
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