January 9, 2011
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Speaking Truthiness to Power
I was at my co-op counselor's office a couple weeks ago, and when she asked what type of work I was looking for I cut her off before she could finish.
"Non-profit. Definitely nothing commercial."
Once upon a time, I would have thought that that was enough to protect myself from becoming a pawn for Big Corporate, but working in the non-profit sector has taught me a substantial amount about how censorship and oppression really works.
I wanted to report on the relationship between Sustainable SFU and our university administration. My friend, a Sustainable exec, said No straight off the bat. The admin basically wants to stall for as long as it can on environmental reform because it knows that students typically become involved in the campus community at around their third year of study. If it can hold out for just a year or two more we'll graduate, leaving it free to do nothing at all. And yet, Sustainable SFU will say nothing negative about them, lest they refuse to cooperate entirely.
I also make radio documentaries for the local museum. Because the museum doesn't get enough public funding, it is forced to accept corporate dollars. I didn't understand at first why all the exhibits were about "The History of Technology", until I realized our public museum was doing profiles on local tech companies and "their contributions to our community". The rash of public spending cuts in BC have caused the province to become increasingly privatized - the museum has gone from being a city historian to a corporate archiver, a for-rent ad service that relies on this ass-kissery to survive.
And finally, I love the CBC, despite everything. Despite laying off journalists and replacing intellectual talk with swishy animation during the news. Despite them producing the crappiest quality television next to MTV. Despite their focus on branding and celebrity creation over depth of content. I love the CBC despite its hierarchal, corporate structure and its exclusion of citizen opinion and participation. I love the CBC, but the lack of government funding has it groveling for more audience, which results in lowest common denominator productions.
I want to bring these unethical business practices to light, but I don't want to lose my jobs ([Bomberman] has had trouble finding work because employers don't like that he used to be a Free Tibet activist. We are in Canada!). And what's more, we have to keep playing nice if we ever hope to achieve cooperation. We can't offend the university administration, and attacks on public museums and broadcasters will be interpreted not as "they can't do what they are meant to because they lack funding," but as "public services suck anyway so why not cut them altogether".
I resent how my friends say I'm innocent and sheltered because I can't make rape/homo/"that's what she said" jokes. But they have no idea about anything else, and what's more, they don't want to.
Comments (7)
we have stuff just like that going on here too, definitely with our public broadcasting. oh, NPR. of course i still love you, what choice do i have? FOX? CNN? sigh. we're as immersed in corporate culture as a fish is immersed in water. i've been watching this tsunami in slow motion my entire adult life, and trying in my way to stop it...but. well, as you can see, what we have down here is not exactly a well-placed backlash against corporations - what we have is a misguided tea party yelling "BIG GOVERNMENT IS OUT OF CONTROL". ha. the government may be big and out of control, but the real problem is that it's no longer OUR government; at best, it's the legitimacy-lending puppet of a much larger entity.
great title. keep the real truth coming, alex.
Ne peux-tu pas changer le modèle de ta page Xanga ;; Il est difficile de comprendre quand il manque des fragments de phrases . La publicité est mal placée ;
Moi aussi j' ai travaillé dans le secteur non commercial ( j' étais dans l' enseignement public ) mais il faut bien que d 'autres produisent des richesses pour faire vivre le pays .
Amitié
Michel
Interesting tidbit about the museum issue. I remember working on public-private contracting policy when I was with the federal gov, and we were using BC's privatizing antics as models of success. Obviously these details didn't make it into the reports went through, but thankfully my analysis was also based on game theory and not just reports (many of which were written by industry proponents). Game theory basically said hell no to the idea. =/
Remember that being Canadian also means non-confrontational. Activism is inherently confrontational (or... you could practice the more subtle form of activism), but having said that, perhaps it makes sense why activism isn't that fondly looked upon here.
@AzureRecollections - Wow. I just realized we can make a comparison between Canadian "non-confrontation" and the Chinese obsession with maintaining "Harmony". Both ideas discourage dissenting opinions and encourage conformity.
I'll bet Toronto is about to become a lot more private with Rob Ford in power
@kaiori - Hm, I never thought about it that way, but they seem to be one and the same thing. Canadians are non-confrontational because they prefer harmony over conflict... even if conflict is sometimes a requisite for positive change.
Luckily I'm in Mississauga and not Toronto
although I'm willing to give Ford a chance. Toronto is pretty screwed up already as it is. There are certainly examples where private industries do a fine job, but it all comes down to people. One great example is the London Tube. Two companies contracted to do the same thing on different sections.... one did a spectacular job, the other was mismanaged and everything shot to hell.
@AzureRecollections - haha yes I'm opposed only to privatization, not private industry. Just a footnote
@kaiori - ah, mkay!