Category: Politics | Page 77 | Just Right Media

533 – America’s great “wreckoning” | Salim Mansur

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Nov 302017

Added to the wreckage of celebrity personalities facing public moral outrage over past alleged sexual improprieties, NBC News announced on November 29 its termination of Matt Lauer, citing similar improprieties for its response to a single complaint.

It is therefore fitting that our discussion today includes some reflections on America’s Great Sexual “Wreckoning” – our own term derived from the wreckage of celebrities and high profile personalities who seem to have exhibited very little “self awareness” about the inappropriateness of certain sexual conduct.

That discussion with Western University Associate Professor of Political Science, Salim Mansur, begins with a greater reckoning – a “Great Reckoning” that is already underway and is being favorably influenced by the world leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The significance of Trump’s recent Asian tour and of major revolutionary developments in Saudi Arabia has been clouded by media distractions concerning domestic sexual improprieties by local celebrities. This may be more than coincidence, for sexuality too plays a significant role in the wider politics of world affairs. Continue reading »

531 – Capitalism: The best thing… including sliced bread

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Nov 162017

Disturbing poll results (conducted by YouGov) released by Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation have revealed that, as a group, more millennials prefer to live in a socialist country rather than in a capitalist one.

The declining rate of support for capitalism becomes glaringly visible along age demographics (matures: 78%; baby boomers: 66%; gen xers: 57%; millennials: 42%).

The surprising exception to the trend was found among the youngest demographic, “generation Z” whose preference to live in a capitalist society polled at 67%. While that bodes well in terms of changing future attitudes, the simple desire to live under capitalism will not make it so. The world is replete with citizens who desperately wish to live under conditions of freedom, yet that reality eludes them.

Blinded to what philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand boldly proclaimed as “the unknown ideal,” the failure to comprehend the true nature of Capitalism – as a moral system – has been the primary cause of capitalism’s decline in public acceptance. Continue reading »

530 – The dismissal of consent – From prostitution to immigration

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Nov 092017

When people of “like minds” find themselves opposed to each other on certain specific issues, there is usually a fundamental principle or concept either missing from the debate or being misrepresented / misunderstood.

Recently, two seemingly unrelated issues have offered evidence of this epistemological dilemma: (1) prostitution, and (2) immigration.

On the prostitution front, the recent murder of sex worker Josie Glenn in London, Ontario, has renewed the local debate about prostitution and the sex trade. On one side of the debate are anti-sex feminists, as represented by Megan Walker of the London Abused Women’s Center. On the other side are pro-sex feminists as well as the women who work as sex workers (as represented by Safe Space).

Is prostitution best defined simply as “sex for money” or as something that is “intrinsically violent”? Are these views of prostitution contradictory or are they simply differing perspectives on the same activity? It’s an unusual divide: feminist against feminist; women against women. Continue reading »

527 – Hate is all that’s Left

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Oct 192017

Believing that those on the Left are merely people of good will with opposing or differing opinions on the role of government, many are falsely led to believe that the Left is interested in an honest political debate and democratic consensus.

But this is simply not so.

The Left hates freedom, hates capitalism, hates Western values, and of course, hates everything that’s Just Right.

For the political Left, hate is, and always has been, the prime motivator. For the Left, violence is an acceptable means of “expressing free speech.” For the Left, principles don’t matter. For the Left, “When persuasion fails, just use force.” Continue reading »

526 – U.N.conscionable / Disappointing discovery

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Oct 122017

The debut of the latest Star Trek series, Discovery, has certainly produced some highly polarized views. It has even generated some controversies that may have more to do with Donald Trump’s “America First” policies than with Discovery’s story itself.

It’s difficult to deny that the strongest reactions to Discovery have been the negative ones – those from fans disappointed with what they saw in the series’ first three episodes – we included. It’s also difficult to deny that whether or not Star Trek Discovery is great entertainment depends upon the eye of the beholder.

But a greater question has arisen, one concerning the Law of Identity: Does Discovery “pass the Star Trek smell test”? Is it “Star Trek”? Are there any objective ways to decide? Does it even matter? Or is this simply another matter to be settled by the “eye of the beholder”?

As a barometer of the times in which its stories were broadcast, the world of Star Trek itself has become increasingly transformed from one of individual rights and individual identity (the hallmarks of a free society) to one of group rights and group identities, with all of the implications that each suggests. Continue reading »

525 – Guest: Richard Raycraft – Journey into journalism

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Oct 052017

“I’m only twenty-five years old, and I don’t know anything about anything,” wisely chides our in-studio guest, Richard Raycraft.

That’s exactly why, as CHRW Radio’s (94.9 FM in London Ontario) News and Spoken Word Director who has a personal passion for the integrity of journalism, Richard likes to ask questions.

Having just completed a CBC radio documentary that has earned him acclaim, its subject matter is one in which Richard shares an additional passion beyond journalism: fighting against ISIS.

What would inspire someone like Richard to want to fight ISIS by joining a foreign militia? What was it that inspired two other young Canadians to do the same – and to lose their lives in the process? The answers to both questions are what merged as the theme of Richard’s documentary. Continue reading »

524 – Freedom of speech in systemic silence

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Sep 282017

“Hello darkness, my old friend…”

Though not yet law, Canada’s Motion 103 (M-103) (against “Islamophobia” and “systemic racism”) has an intent, warns Salim Mansur, Western University’s associate professor of political science.

“I would go as far as to say that in Canada we do not have free speech,” he laments. “What we have is regulated speech.

“In fact, in all of the Western nations except the United States, there is no free speech. There is regulated speech. It’s only in the United States that we come closest to the ideal of free speech because of the First Amendment.” Continue reading »