(no subject)

[onefixedstar]

I saw a fascinating commercial tonight for a bracelet. The bracelet being advertised is no ordinary bracelet, it's a very special bracelet with an amazing, secret power. The commercial followed the common routine of trotting out businesspeople, seniors, and athletes to extoll the wonders of the bracelet. The fascinating part was that not one of them even hinted at what the bracelet actually does. One athlete wore it for two marathons, while another considers it invaluable in his training routine, but there was no indication if it was intended to boost speed, raise endurance, protect against injury, or simply provide them with a way to glint sun into the eyes of their opponents. The businesswoman and the senior both testified that the bracelet is amazing. They never said why. Nowhere in the commercial were any claims made, and yet they expected to sell these things for $30 with a 30-day money back guarantee. All the better not to be charged with false advertising, of course, but I have to wonder who buys these things.

On the election front, I met my local Conservative candidate tonight. She's a black woman, which impresses me (and that's really all I can say about her since I talked to her for a total of fifteen seconds). I won't be voting for her, of course, because there is absolutely no way I'm voting for the Conservative platform and in Canadian elections, it's the platform that matters, not the candidate. Nonetheless, I was glad to see her running. They may have removed progressive from the name, but apparently it hasn't completely disappeared from the party.

Comments

[rinjava.livejournal.com]

Progressive may be long gone, but tokenism is alive and well.

And it's not party specific either - see the young Sikh candidate running for the Liberals. She must get awfully tired standing behind Paul Martin everywhere he goes...

[onefixedstar.livejournal.com]

We once discussed in theory class how feminism ever succeeded given how competely oppressed women were. One theory is that men began to share power as a way of accomplishing other goals, and this small trickle down was leveraged by women for greater power. I tend to view token candidates in a similar light--the party lets them in for their own reasons, but once there, the candidates may have the power to act if they choose to.

But you're right of course--they were brought in as tokens. And I very much doubt the local Conservative candidates has much of a chance of winning.

[sunir.livejournal.com]

Maybe, but the Reform party once boasted they had the most multicultural caucus in Parliament, and I don't doubt it that much given the monocultural Parliament we have.

If you're interested in false advertising, The case of Alexandra Polier is more interesting and important than the Q-Ray, and if you read it to the end you will understand how deeply limited the current state of women in politics is.

[onefixedstar.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to Polier's story. It's disturbing but not especially surprising. Quite honestly, though, I don't think the story demonstrtates the deeply limited state of women in politics so much as the deeply limited state of women in almost all public realms. During the above mentioned gender segment of my theory class, every woman in the course was able to rhyme off a litany of examples of sexism and discrimination that we and our friends had experienced in the workplace, much to the shock and dismay of our female professor.

(It's good to see you around, but I'm a little surprised to find you here. Voluntarily stabbing yourself in the face?)

[sunir.livejournal.com]

Well, I have another assignment related to LiveJournal, but I do keep a tab on LJ now and then. I'm just really busy at the moment, except today when I did nothing. (well, I had work to do, except I didn't do it.)

I really have to remove some things from my watch list since it's flooded with noise.