It is only through the opposition of ideas that we can learn to be self-critical, to work towards intellectual humility. - Tariq Ramadan
To the uninformed, emotion is more useful than facts. - Harry Tucker
The silent killer of all great men and women of achievement - particularly men, I don't know why, maybe it's the testosterone - I think it's narcissism. Even more than hubris. And for women, too. Narcissism is the killer. - James Woods
I was intrigued today when the Interim Leader of the PC Party of Alberta, Ric McIver, shared this tweet.
I was surprised by this tweet since it was not based on any data and it leveraged a private corporation in making a political statement. The kiosks have been planned by McDonald’s for years, the company brand was leveraged without permission in order to make a political statement and there is no correlation between the number of kiosks installed and the number of jobs lost.
Since I thought the observation was groundless, I tweeted this observation to him:
The PC Party of Alberta does, after all, welcome dissenting opinions as they note on their Statement of Principles page of their website:
So, if we accept that opinions are welcome and that rational dialog, with the give and take associated with it being a cornerstone of democracy, it would be reasonable to assume that my comments would be responded to politely at best or ignored at worst.
Instead, I was blocked by Mr. McIver as he used the classic, ignorant, misinformed technique that small-minded people employ when an opinion comes their way that their brain or their ego can’t process.
When a miscreant trolls someone unfairly or uses language that is disrespectful, foul or threatening, I understand the process of blocking someone (even though it actually does nothing to prevent the blocked person from seeing their tweets anyway).
However, when I see the Interim Leader of a political party (both individual and Party claiming repeatedly to be listening humbly to the people after their sound thumping in the last general election) block someone for asking a question instead of merely ignoring or responding to it, it makes me wonder:
Has the Party actually learned ANYTHING at all from the last election or are its claims of listening to the people merely political drivel?
Are the leaders of the Party good role models for young people or is ignorant, immature behavior from public officials (who are paid by the people) the new model we would like our young people to emulate?
Who knows?
People comfortable with themselves, their capabilities and their opinions would be able to answer such questions.
The rest?
Well … they can go ahead and block me.
The Bottom Line
I’m not a fan of the NDP, their policies or their behavior in Alberta politics.
But if you want to prove yourself worthy of a second chance to be the governing party as the PC Party of Alberta claims they are, then such claims are demonstrated in what they show the people and not in what they tell them.
Rational, intellectual, well-informed people know this.
The rest are not worthy of our time …. or our vote.
However, they are accepting applications for sheep who are waiting for their opinion to be provided for them.
Are you one of them?
How do you know?
In service and servanthood,
Harry
PS Maybe I should share what PC insiders text to me regarding the current leadership of the PC Party of Alberta. I wonder if this would produce the humility necessary to begin listening to the people.
Maybe.
It's hard to predict the behavior or character of leaders when they hide from the people.
In the meantime, let's be proactive in support of Mr. McIver and start a petition to ban ATMs, self-checkout stations in supermarkets, etc.
That should fix everything.
Addendum - Checking the Data
Mr. McIver would have done well to have checked his opinion against McDonald's Canada data, where they indicate that the kiosks are part of a plan to hire 15,000 new employees as noted in this article - McDonald's Canada introduces self-serve ordering.
Unfortunately with reality, it doesn't care what you think or what you would like others to think.
It just exists - conveniently or inconveniently.
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