oh boy

today i went to a town hall meeting in nanaimo with canada’s prime minister, justin trudeau. it was pretty neat. i’ve got a lot of thoughts on it.

first, although i think trudeau has really fucked us over on a few extremely serious fronts (like promising electoral reform and then doing an about face on the topic), i think it’s great that he goes places where anyone can put their hand up and ask our prime minister any question they want. there are a lot of countries in the world where that would be a laughable, absurd notion, but i think it allows people a chance to really connect with our leader and ask him tough questions, which every good leader should be able to answer. i love it and i hope that future PM’s continue with it.

he’s typical political scum but i like the town hall thing.

next, this particular town hall took place on the campus of vancouver island university, which may have accounted for why so many college kids were there. man, were they fucking annoying. not all of them of course but a good number of them, for sure. i was (miserably) seated next to four or five of them and they were so odd — awkward, gangly bodies; overly enthusiastic about everything (“joel! joel! like, fucking, dude! joel’s here! joel, i am so pumped that you’re here!”); mocking people they disagreed with (namely, most of the people who were unhappy with trudeau) and jumping up and trying to start multiple standing ovations when people said things they agreed with; ill-fitting dress pants, muddy sneakers, and a buttoned shirt tucked in at the front but perpetually hanging out the back…yuck. they were so intensely dislikable. i bet their mothers can’t even stand them at this point in their hideous, arrogant, annoying lives.

there were other people there i disliked. there were a lot of angry people yelling about their disapproval of the kinder morgan pipeline, which trudeau is insisting will be built, and some of those angry people were eventually escorted out by police. i understand the strong feelings those people have about such issues but being a belligerent asshole doesn’t convince anyone to listen to you. you could have the soundest argument in the world but the ‘angry yelling’ approach turns everyone off instantly so it would go unheard, making your efforts a complete waste of energy. even worse, it reflects poorly on other people who share your view, and on the movement as a whole. it paints a picture of everyone who is opposed to the kinder morgan pipeline being a belligerent asshole, which undermines the movement. very stupid.

but i also thought the people reacting to the belligerent assholes sucked too. there were lots of people shouting “shut up” and “losers” in response, which is just as bad. the whole place descended into a circus-like atmosphere because of everyone trying to shout over each other. it was chaotic. it reminded me of when a big fight would break out at junior high school and a crowd would go nuts, basically screaming for blood. i was so disappointed to see how quickly and easily seemingly good, normal people interested in politics got worked into a frenzy and turned really fucking stupid. god, people suck.

on a lighter note, i saw a lot of people wearing glasses like these:

i’ve never noticed this being a trend before so maybe it’s new, or maybe it’s just a certain group of people i don’t hang out with normally really likes them. either way, i wasn’t a big fan of the style. a little too art chic for me.

something i liked about the event was hearing all the concerns that random canadians have. there are just a few issues i care about a lot, and the rest doesn’t mean much to me at all, so it was surprisingly eye-opening to see people whose biggest concerns were things i’ve never even considered. that was probably the most valuable aspect of the experience for me.

i think that was everything worth noting from the day. oh, i almost got to ask trudeau a question. i had my hand up and he pointed in my direction and said “you, sir” but it was for the guy sitting directly behind me. so close! i was going to ask him about his bullshit rationale for his 180 on electoral reform. i wasn’t sore though because the guy behind me was great. he was very respectful, mentioned some excellent pertinent facts, and asked a tough, thoughtful question, which is all a person can hope for when someone has the opportunity to ask the prime minister a question.

well done, guy behind me.