Sunday, January 6, 2013

The NHL Strike is Over, and a Dash of Context

It appears that the NHL strike is nearing and end. A draft agreement is in the hands of the interested parties; seeking only their approval. Once signed, an abbreviated training camp, followed by a shortened season will be there for all fans to enjoy. I like hockey; it's not the centre of my life but i do like listening to the games, and truly hope it will be Toronto's year.

I won't spend a lot of time wondering if the strike was worth it. Millionaires fighting billionaires, I didn't care. If asked I'd say paying people millions to play hockey was foolish. In the next breath would follow, $200 seats, $20 beer and a hot dog and a Toronto Maple Leaf jersey upwards to $250 is equally unreal. The ridiculous follows the absurd. It is however what comes from of living in a free market country, I shrug my shoulders, if I don't want to pay I won't go to games or but the clothing.

You know what else happened during the strike. The Harper government voted down Bill C-398. A piece of legislation that would have made it easier to get life saving drugs to those in need in poor countries. Why did Harper do that? Was it too rigid an ideology? Maybe it was because they are engaged in trade  negotiations with Europe that involve pharmaceutics patents and didn't want to send mixed messages. The outcome is not mixed, some that might have lived thanks to this C-398, will now die.

The papers will be filled in the next few days with commentary on the NHL strike, this content will push other content aside, old news for new. Like the Gang Rape and death of an Indian women Delhi and it's follow on protests. I'll quote a statistic I found, a woman is raped in India every 21 minutes. Horrible isn't it? The social stigma attached to rape is almost as debilitating as the rape itself. So much that it is not reported in the numbers that it must be occurring. Victims are made to feel it's their fault, face pressure from the police: the people there to help you, to press charges. Even when reported, the conviction rate is 26%.  Now before we begin to preen ourselves here in the West, on how we handle the issue of rape let's revisit some commentary on the act. The God intended rape; you haven't been raped if you get pregnant or the vile notion put forth by a Judge, that if the victim's body shows no sign injury, can't be rape. I make no assertion that the level of violence faced by women in India is equaled here in Canada; I simply wish to indicate the attitude that a women is somehow complicit in her assault is alive and well in some corners of our community.

In Canada there was an attempt by members of the Harper Government to open a window into Women's Reproductive Rights; and this stealthy little motion M-408 on sex selective abortion; in order to close a door on a women's right to chose. While not disgusting to the same degree as revealed in the proceeding paragraph, it is an indication of how precarious the notion of security of person can be for women.

So we'll get together with our friends for a launch party and celebrate the salvaging of the NHL season and try not to think of the 26 deaths in Newton CT; or the NRA response; more guns mean more safety. Both of which have already moved down the page, be it paper or electronic.

A news broadcast can quickly overwhelm a normal person, and deliver a weeks worth of pain and anger in thirty minute; so I don't begrudge anyone their entertainment. I'm not trying to scold people for being happy their favourite game is back, or tell them that any celebration is out of order. It's just that hockey is a game and in the scheme of things less important than it would appear to be.

Go Toronto Maple Leafs, it's our year.










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