By accident at first, and then by design, I was pretty much off the electronic grid this weekend. Minimal to no emails, phone calls, facebook, twitter, or general internet browsing. It started Friday night while playing board games with friends. In a momentary pause in the game, I dug out my phone and went t check my email, when the host asked why I was on my phone during the game. I took a second to think about it, and realized that I didn’t have any good reason for checking. It was reflexive.

As the weekend went along, I discovered the quiet created by being off the electronic grid was giving me a calm peace of mind that had been missing. I’m not bad mouthing the internet (I still love you internet, honest) but I got a lot of thinking done.  Creative thinking, as it turned out, complete with a handful of tiny but meaningful epiphanies.

The first one: compulsively checking my email and social media keeps me distracted and puts me into a reactive frame of mind where I wait for the outside world to give me direction. On the weekend especially, email/social media can be put on pause for the majority of the time.

Second: Common wisdom says writers should read a lot. I never bought into it fully. The giant pile of plot ideas, and narrative elements that occurred to me this weekend as I chewed through a novel has now proven to me that reading the work of other authors is a very good way to fire up my own creativity. (and, BTW, reading and pondering count as work)

Third: having fun lets my brain recharge. I played about 8 hours of boardgames over the weekend (thanks mostly to my very kind wife giving me leave to be frivolous). That’s a little bit more time than I’d prefer to spend on leisure in a 24 hour span, but it did completely erase the built up stress and fatigue from a couple of busy weeks. Did I mention how much I love my wife?

 

 

In city council chambers last night, one of our councillors decided to make her point about being offended by offending the majority of people listening. Councillor Sandy White said the “n-word”. Here’s the newspaper article with the context: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/03/05/london-politician-drops-n-word-bomb

In addition to the understandable outrage that most people responded with, there were 2 interesting semi-defenses of her statement.

1. That she was in the “heat of the moment” and had poor judgement, so we should cut her some slack. The problem with this defense is that Ms. White stated that her daughter told her to use the word for “shock value”. This was a planned offence.

or

2. That the free speech protections we enjoy as a society should excuse Ms. White from criticism or community backlash. This second defense depends upon a common incorrect interpretation of the rights given by free speech.

Our fundamental freedom of speech, protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, means that the government cannot make it illegal to express your opinion (with some exceptions, like hate speech or libel). So Ms. White is absolutely free to use that offensive language without fear of being criminally charged. Her fundamental freedom to speak has not been hampered in any way.

However, just because she can legally say it, does not mean that it was appropriate language to use. Racial slurs have no place in public discourse, and they certainly have no place in the official statements made by our elected officials. In choosing to use such offensive language, Ms. White has violated our community standards, and she has demeaned the office that she holds. You cannot obtain permission to use a racial slur, you cannot justify it by being emotionally upset, and you cannot hold yourself to a lower standard than the people and the community you represent.

When you woke up this morning, did you look at your closet, set aside a particular outfit while saying “and that is what I will wear on May 3rd, 2015”?  I hope not. Making a decision on future behaviour so far removed from the reality of the situation could make for a disastrous outcome.  You don’t know what the weather will be, where you’re going to be that day, what condition the clothes will be in.

And you certainly wouldn’t want to make that wardrobe prediction publicly, especially if you had vocal and unkind critics ready to point out each and every mistake you make. Wear the chosen outfit despite its unsuitability, and they’ll cry “Poor decision-making!” Change you clothes to fit the situation and your detractors will howl “LIAR!”

So, why would anyone running for the Liberal leadership create a detailed policy platform, a full 2 years before the next general election? No matter how well-educated and experienced your campaign policy staff are, there is a wealth of vital governmental information that they cannot have access to.

They also have no idea on who they’ll be working with.The adoption of any policy item depends on support from the majority of MPs, and until you know who you’re working with, it’s foolish to assume that they’ll agree to implement your ideas.

And the most important reason for not releasing a completed policy platform? You need to listen to the people you plan on representing as Prime Minister. Rolling out a fully formed policy platform now means, for the next 2 years, you’re telling Canadians that you have all the answers, and their input isn’t needed.

Don’t get me wrong: Giving the voters a clear idea of the direction your policies will follow is very important. But the voters need to be a part of the policy conversation, not simply the audience.