Gas Boycott

A few days ago I was invited into a Facebook group called "Don't Buy Gas on May 15th" (or something like that). I immediately declined the request because the whole campaign is absurd. Now, Global National and Canada.com find the internet campaign worthy of headline news.

The campaign, clearly enough, asked us not to pump gas on May 15th (yesterday) as a way of telling Big Oil (and the government) that gas is too expensive. Well, I have two main beefs with this campaign:

1. What is the point of boycotting gas for one day? I would guess 99% of the population doesn't pump gas everyday, so I would assume a number of people (like me) didn't pump gas on May 15th simply because they didn't need gas. I would also assume that those people who did righteously avoid pumping gas yesterday still drove their vehicles and will probably just fill up today instead. I think the message gets lost when it's effect is simply to increase the number of people who pump gas on another day. The campaign may have hurt sales yesterday, but I bet today has been a boom for gas stations.
2. Gas prices in Canada (and even more so in the US) aren't high! The price of gas in North America is (in relative terms) dirt cheap. We pay more for a bottle of water than for gas! Go to your nearest vending machine and tell me the cost of a 591mL bottle of water. At my college it was $1.75. That works out to over $3 a litre. Have you ever in your life paid that much for gas? I'm guessing no. Also on this point: we, as North Americans are addicted to gas and we use it without thinking. Higher gas prices in Europe and elsewhere lead to the increased popularity of smaller more fuel-efficient vehicles (even diesels are much more popular over seas). Contrast this to the idiot in downtown Toronto who thinks his gas-guzzling super-sized SUV is practical transportation. Give me a break.

My argument: Gas prices should go up! If the government taxed gas and (preferably) Big Oil more, the price of gas would go up. So would government revenue. That would mean more money for mass transit and other environmentally friendly (or at least less harmful) innovations. Increasing the price of gas would also encourage people to find other ways to get around: buy a bike, strap on some walking shoes, take a bus... (Heaven forbid someone might take a bus. How undignified! Well, not really, only if you're richer than you are smart or terribly pretentious.)

Stephen Harper: increase taxes on oil companies.

(I'm laughing hysterically while writing this because there's no way in hell Harper would tax his buddies in Alberta.)

Smashed

I remember getting a great album on cassette when it came out back in 1994, but with the advent of CD players and the breakdown of my old cassette player, the album was essentially lost. I always spoke fondly of it, always extolling its musical genius, but all real memories of it had virtually faded. That recently changed.

This past winter I finally acquired a CD copy of Offspring's Smash. Without really recalling the songs and sounds of the album, I pressed play:

Ahhhhh, it's time to relax, and you know what that means, a glass of wine,
your favourite easy chair, and of course this compact disc playing on your home
stereo. So go on and indulge yourself, that's right, kick off your shoes, put
your feet up, lean back and just enjoy the melodies. After all, music soothes
even the savage beast.

What beauty! The openning track, Time to Relax, calmly invites the listener to sit back and enjoy the music. It is with this track, that my intimate connection with Smash begins. As I listen to the album today, I find more and more similarities between the themes of the songs, and my own views on life.

First, the obvious - Time to Relax. More than anyone else I've met, I love sitting back and enjoying music. When driving anywhere, my most pressing concern is what music to bring. It seems the soothing voice I first heard back in 1994, at age 12, ingrained itself in my psyche.

The next track, Nitro (Youth Energy), talks overtly about living life like there's no tomorrow, but the underlying message is about a generational divide. "Our generation sees the world, not the same as before," and "the official view of the world has changed," are a couple lines that expose this message. I see generational differences in virtually every aspect of life. I think cross-generational communication is important and difficult.

The third track is Bad Habit. This is almost eerie in how much it reflects my life. While I've never so much as held a gun in my life (I'm Canadian, eh), I do suffer from a bit of road rage. "When I go driving I stay in my lane, but getting cut off it makes me insane," is one line that could define my little problem. I am an excellent driver (don't bother complimenting me, I'll take care of that). I take great pride in driving well. Not simply obeying the rules of the road, but knowing how to avoid dangerous situations, knowing how to avoid accidents, knowing how to predict traffic and so on.* I can now trace this quirk back to Smash.

Track four, Gotta Get Away, is a bit of an anomaly. I don't generally find myself to be my own worst enemy, but I do have an internal locus of control, which this song sort of hints at. The subject of the song talks about how his problems in life are his own doing, which suggests an internal locus of control.

Track five, Genocide, is loosely based on what was happening in Rwanda while the Offspring were recording the album. Though the majority of the 800,000 or so murders happened after the album was released, the build-up had started as early as 1990, and the UN was in Rwanda by October 1993. Who knew that 6 years after first hearing this song I'd begin my studies in political science, concentrating on international relations?

Next up is Something to Believe In. "Do you accept what you are told, without even thinking, throw it all and make your own," and "And if you look away, you'll be doing what they say, and if you look alive, you'll be singled out and tried, if you take home anything, let it be your will to think, the more cynical you become, the better off you'll be," encourage listeners to think for
themselves and to look behind the stories being told. I wouldn't call myself a cynic, but I'm certainly not one to automatically accept what I'm told.

Come Out and Play, the first big single for Offspring, talks about gang violence on school campuses. "The kids are strappin' on their way to the classroom, getting weapons with the greatest of ease," was probably the first argument I ever heard about gun control, and the song in general, which does not glamorize violence, is probably why I'm the anti-gun pacifist I am.

Track eight is Self-Esteem. This one's pretty self-explanatory - when it comes to women and crushes, "I'm just a sucker with no self esteem."

It'll Be a Long Time is about war between states, specifically superpowers. Again, no surprise I did the whole polisci/international relations thing at WLU.

Killboy Powerhead is another anomaly. I don't really see any connection with who I am, but I do enjoy the song!

The next track is priceless. What Happened to You is a better explanation than any as to why I am so very anti-drugs:

Before you started tokin' you used to have a brain, But now you don't get even
the simplest of things, I can draw a little picture, Or even use my hands, I try
to explain but you just don't understand, Man you're really losin' it, And
you've really done a lot of junk now, But you keep on abusin' it, What in the
world happened to you?

Track 12, So Alone, talks about how even in a crowd, we're often all alone. It urges people to get along. I guess that's the extent of its influence on me - get along.

Next up is Not the One. I guess this is perhaps why I tend not to concern myself with seniority. I'm not one to look at someone who's been around and give them credit for just that. I always look at what people actually do, rather than how long they've been doing it. I also tend to distrust those in authority. Then there's the distaste I have for people who chastise youth for the clothes they wear, or the music they listen to, or anything really:

I'm not the one who made the world what it is today...we're not the ones who
leave the homeless in the streets at night, we're not the ones who've kept
minorities and women down...We're not the ones whose pollution blackened our
skies, And ruined our streams, We're not the ones who made the nuclear bombs,
That threaten our lives, We're not the ones who let the children starve in
faraway lands.

Blame Offspring and Not the One. I guess this song speaks to my international consciousness as well.

Finally, Smash: "Don't give a shit 'cause I'm not gonna budge, I just want to be who I want to be, Guess that's hard for others to see." Also, I'm not very trendy.

So there you have it, the story of how the Offspring and their album Smash informed who I am today. I can't imagine anyone, anything, or any single influence having so much effect on who I would become, but the evidence is unmistakable. Here I always thought I was my own person, but it turns out I'm just the sociological offspring of Noodles, Dexter, Ron, and Greg.

I guess that's okay, I have no problem with who I am.

*****

* My only accident came when some old lady decided to turn left while I was coming the other way going straight through a green light. If you're from the Sarnia-Lambton area, and you've ever wondered why the intersection at Waterworks and Lakeshore has two hydro poles on the south-east side, just ask me. I can tell you all about that - thanks to that lady.

Miscellaneous Musings

It has been far too long since I last posted an entry here, so I thought I would kill some time with a post indulging some random thoughts. Enjoy!

I finished my program at Lambton College with an A average, which is good for me. Congratulations to everyone else in the program who also finished. I think I may find myself back at school in a few years, but who knows. For now I'm back to the job search. This is my least favourite activity...ever. Here's hoping it doesn't last long.

The Toronto Raptors finished their season last night with a loss to the New Jersey Nets. It was a close game and one of the best I've seen so far in this year's playoffs. I was pretty distraught about the loss. I really thought this Raptors' team was good enough to get past the first round, and certainly good enough to beat the Nets. I won't blame Jose Calderon's picked-off pass into the post for the loss. Had that pass made it through to Chris Bosh, I'd be looking forward to game seven right now, but really, the Raps had long since blown the game. Bosh was dreadful from the field (at least until the last 5 minutes of the game when he finally started to play like Chris Bosh) while Andrea Bargnani seemed to be on fire. The problem was that the Raptors' seemed to stay away from Il Mago (as Bargnani is known). At one point, Bargnani got the ball and forced up a shot probably because he was worried he wouldn't get the ball back. And I can't blame him. He seemed to be the fourth option on the floor in spite of the success he was having when he did get the ball. Unfortunately, the Raps stayed away from the rookie and will be away from the court until the start of next season. Which, I will add, should be a great year!

I read a story in the Sarnia Observer that our fair city is the 57th best place to live in Canada. I guess. Not for me, but for a lot of people - primarily those who are retired or nearing retirement. Message to Mayor Mike Bradley: bringing call centres to the city doesn't exactly qualify as adding good jobs. Maybe I'm just bitter because of my experience looking for work here, but it almost seems like in this city a university education (in anything other than engineering) makes you over-qualified rather than employable. So now I have a college education, maybe that'll help!

This whole Shane Doan controversy (which seems thankfully to be over) is a disgrace. I don't know who initiated this debate among our Parliamentarians, but boy was it a waste of time. Supposedly Doan made a derogatory comment about French Canadian hockey players back in 2005 and as such should forever be banished from captaining a Team Canada. The problem is that the NHL did an investigation into the whole deal and decided Doan was innocent. Whatever genius politician brought up this whole mess needs to be slapped...or perhaps be given a pie in the face as per Canadian tradition. Do your part here.

In the best news all year, Paris Hilton is going to jail. I guess after driving under the influence of alcohol (or whatever designer intoxicant Hollywood's bimbos are using) for the nth time (this time while on probation), a judge has finally sentenced her to prison time. Hopefully this will also keep her out of the news...if only for 45 days...probably not.

For the first time in my life I actually picked up a business magazine today. This edition of Canadian Business seems to be almost entirely filled with human resources news (which works for me since that's the program I just finished). I've read most of it and, as expected, it seems a far cry from my usual political magazines. Instead of the leftist propoganda, it naturally looks right (as in right-wing, not necessarily as in correct). To be honesty, reading this magazine gave me a little more insight into some of the things my BBA and BComm friends say. Maybe I'll read it more often.

Well, that's what's running through my head today. Hope you enjoyed this meaningless self-indulgence.