artsforum.ca

On August 23, 2021

© By John Arkelian

It is deeply imbued in the human psyche to regard those we perceive as “the other” in negative terms:  it gives us licence to treat them with indifference, suspicion, and active hostility.  Our capacity (some would say, our need) for subdividing ourselves into “us” and “them” is relentless.  It hardly matters what identifying marker or trait ‘justifies’ the distinction – race, religion, nationality, language, and culture are the usual suspects, but, in fact, any excuse will do.  Indeed, if none of the usual grounds for discriminating avail, we are as apt to latch onto eye color or simply living on the ‘wrong side of the street’ as a basis for erecting the impassable border between “us” and “them.”  Once we have identified the “the other,” it is all too easy for us to neglect them, marginalize them, dispossess them, ascribe sinister intent to them, fear them, hate them, oppress them, enslave them, or kill them.  Maybe our innate ability to dehumanize (and/or demonize) select members of our own species is a relic of early Man’s tribal roots.  But, truth-be-told, it’s all too common for us to embrace the urge to identify some of us as “other” rather than to resist that urge.  As deplorable as it is to face, there is something deeply inhumane in our psyche which gives us permission to relish hostility toward others once the bolted door to our darkest impulses is flung open.  The Holocaust and the genocide against Rwandan Tutsis are revolting milestones in the human capacity to enthusiastically embrace the opportunity to hate and harm the conveniently designated other.  The intractable conflict in the Middle East, which pits Jews against Arabs, is a microcosm of the “us” versus “them” dynamic.

See our look at the causes, history, and possible cures for what ails the Middle East:  “Apocalypse in Slow Motion: A Brief History of An Intractable Conflict” at: https://artsforum.ca/ideas/the-wide-world

On June 25, 2021

© By John Arkelian

“Oh!  But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone…  a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!  Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire…”

What was true of Ebenezer Scrooge goes in spades for Canada’s under-regulated banks, with their insatiable propensity for assailing their hapless customers with grossly unreasonable ‘fees’ (which they are wont to characterize as ‘service’ charges).  Canadian banks make billions in profits.  (Yes, that’s billions.)  Unlike so many of us, they don’t seem to have been bothered financially by the pandemic.  But, they seem to figure that anytime is a good time to gouge their customers with unwarranted and/or predatory fees.  Consider this recent egregious example:  Scotiabank has just started charging its customers ($2.25 per month) for the ‘privilege’ of receiving paper statements.  That charge is unjustified, and it shows utter contempt for their customers.  Every account-holder has an absolute right to know what is going on in their account.  And they have the right to be so informed without being charged for it.  Doubtless, many of their customers are able and inclined to do their banking online and are therefore content to dispense with paper statements.  But, it is wrong of Scotiabank to penalize those who cannot do their banking online or who simply do not feel comfortable doing so – and that often means seniors, which also makes their unwarranted new ‘service charge’ a case of age discrimination.

Scotiabank, like the rest of their shameless ilk among this country’s ‘take what you can, as often as you can’ would-be financial privateers, clearly needs stringent oversight and much stricter regulation by government to restrain them from putting their grasping hand into their customers’ pockets.  How much profit is enough?  Evidently, billions a year don’t suffice.  When is enough, enough?  Never, in the crass judgment of the big banks.  Society needs to take such judgments into its own hands.  Yet, our elected representatives do nothing to protect the public interest.  For proposals on meaningful bank regulation, see “The Polity and Us” at https://artsforum.ca/ideas/regional-perspectives

On February 17, 2021

© By John Arkelian

On February 16, 2021, the CBC-TV satire series “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” had an appalling entry from the corporate hall of shame, which, to date, we have not seen referenced on the mainstream news.  It seems that Bell Media, which runs a national telephone service and a bunch of television stations, has laid-off 210 of its employees.  With a reported $5 billion in liquid assets, it’s hard to imagine Bell Media credibly claiming to be impecunious.  Worst of all, that same oversized corporation was the recipient of $122 million in wage subsidies from the federal government.  Instead of keeping their staff employed during the protracted global pandemic, it seems that Bell Media preferred to hike dividends for their shareholders.  Was the federal wage subsidy a grant or a loan?  Either way, it should be immediately clawed back by the federal government – with penalties.