The Question: “Raising awareness about cat welfare is a good look for your husband’s upcoming campaign strategy. Don’t you think supporting government action on missing and murdered indigenous women in this country would be a better look?”
Sporting black cat ears, Laureen Harper dismissed the young woman’s question saying “We’re raising money for animals tonight. If you’d like to donate to animals, we’d love to take your money.” and added “That’s a great cause, perhaps another night. Tonight we’re here for homeless cats!”
“According to StatsCan, Indigenous women and girls are three and a half times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women — and seven times more likely to be murdered. The response from Mrs. Harper is just one example of the value colonial governments place on the lives of Indigenous women and that we cannot rely on colonial law and order approaches to change the realities of MMIW.
“As a white woman I recognize that this is not just an Indigenous issue. We should all be horrified by this epidemic of racist sexual violence. The United Nations, Canada’s own premiers and people across the country are demanding more action on the issue. Yet this government is failing to act.” said King.”
30 comments
April 30, 2014 at 6:06 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
The neurological/psychological studies are coming in now in droves A conservative brain is different than a liberal brain. They are more focused on fear and disgusted. Since many if not most conservative men have a fear and disgust for women, that should tell you something. Conservative women have been brainwashed to have a disgust for their own gender.
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April 30, 2014 at 6:06 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
Correction: fear and disgust
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April 30, 2014 at 10:47 am
The Arbourist
@NN
I’m guessing you are familiar with George Lakoff’s work? :)
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April 30, 2014 at 11:26 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
I am. His empirical observations are pretty much being confirmed by brain scans now.
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April 30, 2014 at 5:54 pm
jasonjshaw
Please let the next election bring a minority government with the Conservatives on the low end of the seat tallies!
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April 30, 2014 at 10:42 pm
House Mouse Queen
Yeah, how about Harper’s wife comes to Coast Salish territory and house some people. We’ll take the cats as pets. Seriously, two problems solved. We need housing here for people badly. We lost the Olympic Village. We were supposed to keep that but it went private.
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May 1, 2014 at 9:51 pm
bleatmop
This is just a case of why do you care about X when you should be worried about Y. It’s a fallacy. Conservatives do it all the time. I.E. Why do you care about religious intrusion into government when there are children starving in Africa.
Mrs. Harper was lending her gravitas to an event for cats that night and you know what, there is nothing wrong with that. People are allowed to be concerned about cats AND people at the same time. I’m guess that this was neither A) a governmental event or B) an event that was directly competing with another event that night that was working to prevent the violence against aboriginal women. If Mrs. Harper had refused to go to an event to end violence against women in favor of this one then I think you might have a point that she is putting cats before people.
What I do see is someone hijacking an event with there pet project to attack a politicians wife in a proxy attack on the politician himself. I also see Mrs. Harper agreeing that violence against aboriginal women is an important topic and perhaps she could fund raise for it another night. Perhaps the young lady should be working to build herself and her cause up instead of trying to tear others down. Maybe even, you know, eventually make her own even and perhaps even *gasp* invite Mrs. Harper to help fund-raise for her at the event. It just might do something to actually work toward a solution to her goals as opposed to scoring cheap political points.
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May 3, 2014 at 8:44 am
The Arbourist
Agreed Bleatmop. Reason number 842349032 why politics suck. Picking the right battle at the right time is so important, this was a case of not really the right timing for getting the message across.
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May 3, 2014 at 8:03 pm
VR Kaine
Arb and Bleatmop, I agree and glad you raise the points that you do. Just because someone’s raising awareness for animals doesn’t mean they put them always above people (although there are many reasons why we sometimes should!)
And Bleatmop, excellent point that perhaps she should have used her 15 seconds here to ask Mrs. Harper before/afterwards if she would help raise awareness/funds for her cause and getting her answer on camera.
To the person commenting on Conservative vs. Liberal brains, we see these so-called “studies” all the time. I do think there’s merit in the nature vs. nurture side of the question, concerning confirmation bias and the Internet promoting more fear, but beyond that I don’t pay them much mind. I think as a species we need to be willing to learn and willing to change, and you can find that (or a lack of it) on both sides without getting into the mud of politics.
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May 4, 2014 at 5:24 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
“I think as a species we need to be willing to learn and willing to change, and you can find that (or a lack of it) on both sides without getting into the mud of politics.”
These ‘so-called’ studies have been peer-reviewed, and you’re missing the bigger picture if focused on the ‘mud of politics.’ The point is that people who have increased gray matter volume (primarily conservatives, including religious conservatives) are NOT so willing to learn and willing to change.
It doesn’t take a neuroscientist to figure that one out.
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May 4, 2014 at 3:41 pm
VR Kaine
“The point is that people who have increased gray matter volume (primarily conservatives, including religious conservatives) are NOT so willing to learn and willing to change.”
So sure are you, and why, because a half-joking study that didn’t study the nature vs. nurture aspect of that argument did find larger brain parts in the different groups yet couldn’t say whether the larger brain parts of political opinions came first? (Assume you’re talking the UCL/BBC4 Study?)
There’s a simlar study on London Cabbies’ and their hippocampuses being abnormally large. Guess cab driving is the job that all enlarged hippocampus people flock to, or could it be the other way around – that it grows the more they use it? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/london-taxi-memory/ On that basis I don’t disagree with your references to the studies, but I do disagree to you seeming to cling to them so dearly as absolute fact. and furthermore, immediately stereotyping and dismissing opposing views to yours on the basis of some study you probably have very little clue about.
https://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/09/07/your-brain-on-politics-the-cognitive-neuroscience-of-liberals-and-conservatives/
Here’s where I sit on the issue: there’s just as much danger in someone being irrationally optimistic as there is in someone being irrationally fearful, so who gives a crap at the end of the day if they’re both so pig-headed they automatically dismiss the other side for being opposite to them?
Furthermore, for a side claiming to be more open and creative as far as “grey matter” is concerned, your comments appear to be just as closed-minded, stereotypical, and fearful just the same.
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May 4, 2014 at 4:22 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
“Here’s where I sit on the issue: there’s just as much danger in someone being irrationally optimistic as there is in someone being irrationally fearful,”
This I agree with you on. The rest is conjecture on your limited understanding of my views of where I stand in the grand scheme of things. I have indicated on other blog postings (just recently) that one can be too trusting to the point of being apathetic, and liberals are notorious for that. So please — don’t make assumptions based on a couple of comments. I am fully vested in the nature vs nurture aspect. And my background is in brainwave training. I have worked with people to help them curtail their fears. 90 percent of the clients I worked with were religious conservatives.
I recommend reading Peace Among Primates by Robert Sapolsky. Nature and nurture are intertwined. Gene expression is intertwined with the environment. As Sopolsky stated: “Humans may be hard-wired to get edgy around the Other, but our views on who falls into that category are decidedly malleable.” So I am not suggesting people can’t change or atrophy neural networks in the right amygdala. I’ve seen it in my own line of work.
Are you from the U.S., and do you live in the Bible Belt — where so many people live in fear of the Other? I am not generalizing. Guns everywhere. The state I live in, which is a Red state, is listed in the 10 ten of the most violent states in the country. 8 of the 10 most violent states are Red states. Big fat amygdalas.
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May 5, 2014 at 12:11 pm
VR Kaine
@Neuronotes:
“So please — don’t make assumptions based on a couple of comments.” A fair enough position to take on both sides, however an unqualified/unsourced statement such as “Conservative women have been brainwashed to have a disgust for their own gender” is quite a sweeping assumption/generalization in itself, wouldn’t you say? ;)
Nonetheless, you make the point that you believe people can change no matter where they start from, so let’s leave it at that.
Last, your question about my residency: I reside in both Canada and the US. While not in the Bible Belt, I lived there for a number of years and experienced first-hand what you mention in regards to a fear-based culture. Thankfully, the majority of Americans I know are not a whole lot different from us Canadians in many respects. Even those who are very religious in the south that I know – they may hold strong regilous opinions for themselves and their family but they have never pushed it on me – the things we have in common are food, family, sports, and business. They also have not ever waved AR-15’s or Colt .45’s around in my presence shootin’ at the floor and yelling, “Yee haw!” or “Watch out for the Commies!” either, so that’s good. :)
Either way, I find the US to be largely a fear-based culture which underlies much of the gun ownership/gun violence that I come across. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t see it changing much over the next few decades. Nothing much really changed after Giffords, Sandy Hook, Aurora, etc. and while America continues to have an enemy and staunch Constitutionalists I don’t think much ever will.
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May 5, 2014 at 12:24 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
@VR Kaine — I visited Vancouver, BC while my brother-in-law was doing postdoc work at UBC. I was there for about 3 months. It was beautiful and the vibe was completely different than what I was used to here in the South.
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May 5, 2014 at 12:53 pm
VR Kaine
Beautiful place! Glad you enjoyed it. Where in the South are you?
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May 5, 2014 at 1:43 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
I’m currently in South Carolina. South Carolina once again has been ranked the worst in the nation when it comes to men killing women — double the national average. We are a dark red conservative state, and the 5 most religious state in the union. Big, fat right amydalas here.
http://www.thestate.com/2013/09/25/3001145/south-carolina-worst-in-country.html
I’ve been here since late 2001, but do not plan to stay here much longer. I can’t wait to move away from the South. Many people love it here. That’s fine if you love living in a region (the bible belt) with the highest murder rate, highest infant mortality rate, highest poverty, lowest education rate, highest teen pregnancy rates, highest obesity rates, most fundamentally religious, highest divorce, highest domestic homicide, highest sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS), highest gun ownership and on and on.
But for a female atheist, this is hostile territory. ;) I deconverted about 10 years ago. There is a lot of beauty in the South, and not everyone here is hostile, of course. A change of scenery will do me good.
What part of Canada do you live in?
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May 6, 2014 at 11:06 am
The Arbourist
@NN
I reside in Edmonton, Alberta. Nice city, long winters :/ Good cultural scene, but nothing on the scale of a Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal.
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May 6, 2014 at 11:08 am
VR Kaine
“But for a female atheist, this is hostile territory.”
Yes, I can imagine how it would be! I was in Georgia and N. Carolina for quite a period of time and both were eye-openers in many respects. I agree – beautiful scenery, but unfortunate in terms of the gun culture, racism, etc.. I do miss the backyard cookouts, however!!!
To me if many of the people read other books as much as they read the bible (books like the one Arb quotes in her Domestic Violence post) they’d be much better off. Freedom has to be matched with Education and I think they miss out on a lot of Education in America for a number of reasons under the system they have. Plus, just by being born they’re taught that they’re already #1 in the world?! Otherwise, “freedom” isn’t really freedom at all. “Free with our hands but in a prison in our heads” sort of thing. I’m generalizing here, but I found a lot fhat sort of thinking in the rural south.
I’m currently in Nevada (Las Vegas), been here about 4 years now. Unemployment remains high, but the communities are good, there’s a lot of healthy people out here and healthy venues (contrary to “The Strip”) and since I think only 3% are actually native Las Vegans, there’s quite a bit of tolerance and diversity here as well. By most accounts it’s a very “free” state and the weather is fantastic, so I’m content here for the moment so long as there’s a pool close by. I’d prefer to be more by the ocean, but for now, this is my second home.
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May 6, 2014 at 11:13 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
@ Arbourist, I wouldn’t mind long winters. I was recently having a talk with my daughter about moving out of the country, but didn’t want to be too far away from my family. I have a place to live in Denmark, but I’d have to learn the language (which is quite difficult) before I could get a job there. I love the culture there, though. My best friend is from Denmark.
Anyway, we discussed us both moving to Canada. Canada is listed in the top most peaceful countries in the world. That’s my kind of country to live in. And I would still be close enough to my family. Someday, I just may move to Canada.
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May 6, 2014 at 11:29 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
@VR Kaine
I’ve been to Las Vegas several times when I was a kid, and I adore the majestic Sierra’s. Been to Tahoo many times, too. Half my family lives in California, a few in Oregon. I spent the first ten years of my life there (CA), and have been back to visit many times.
I have also been to northern Nevada during the summer, and it’s breathtaking. Glad you are happy in LV. I crave being around like-minded people and/or more open-minded people. The only real intellectual stimulation I get is from people I meet on the internet. Some are even from the South who are in the same boat as me. The Internet has been my lifeline, so to speak.
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May 6, 2014 at 2:41 pm
VR Kaine
Neuronotes,
Well I’m sure you’d be quite welcome either here or back home in Canada. As for Canada, you’d love it. I’m an Alberta boy, so for as much as the winters can get nasty in Alberta, Calgary offers a more moderate winter and the majestic mountain views continue to inspire. :) I find Edmonton even more peaceful and laid back, even though visually there’s not as much to offer.
And if it wasn’t for a few words we also speak pretty much the same language as Americans, too, so that helps – no needing Danish here! Just change your “ou’s” to “oo’s” (as in “about->aboot” and you’ll fit right in! :)
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May 6, 2014 at 3:26 pm
The Arbourist
@Vern
Dissing E-town?!:?!? You are sooooooo banned. :)
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May 6, 2014 at 3:37 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
VR — thanks for the welcome.
“Calgary offers a more moderate winter and the majestic mountain views”
That’s what I’m talking about. I can get a little weepy when I seen majestic mountains. I guess I have a big, fat left amagdala (positive emotions). ;) I’m living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, less than an hour outside of Asheville, NC, and it’s spectacular in the Autumn.
“no needing Danish here! Just change your “ou’s” to “oo’s” (as in “about->aboot” and you’ll fit right in! ”
LOL — I think I can work with that. My grandparents (now deceased), are originally from Montreal and moved to the States when my dad was little. My grandfather’s 1st cousin was Maurice Richard. Small world, eh?
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May 7, 2014 at 1:21 am
bleatmop
In response in general to this thread –
Vern + Arb about the original thread: I totally agree that politics suck. To me, this seems more like an astroturfed LPC/NDP attack on the CPC. Canada’s aboriginal people should be even more aware than the average Canadian that the LPC has no better of a track record in relations with them than the CPC (and their predecessors) do. Scoring cheap political points against one party like this video does serves no purpose for the aboriginal people because one political party is just as bad as the other for them. Pissing off the party in power only makes the job of helping the situation harder, therefore I suspect that she is a shill for one of the opposition parties.
About the brain differences – I used to be a hardcore conservative and a Blogging Tory. Now I am not. So take that for what it is worth. Also, I’m always wary of taking what people, or even the media, say about a particular study with a grain of salt. I often find when I read the actual study that the authors say in their conclusion is precisely the opposite of what people are saying about the study. I also find that actual scientific literacy (present company excluded) out there in the blogosphere is actually quite low and that people tend to parrot talking points by other people far too frequently.
Neur – If I understand correctly, you have Dainish roots or are from there? If so, that is cool and something we share in common. My mothers parents come from southern Saskatchewan where there are many Danish people. My grandfather died when I was young, but I always remember he had some (I’m told) Danish writings on the stuff he made. Land may yer lum reek or something (it’s been decades and I can’t really remember). Also, listen to Vern about Edmonton but not Calgary. They are both concrete jungles that I would never choose to live in. Then again, I live in very small town rural Alberta, so I may be biased. :)
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May 7, 2014 at 5:48 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
@bleatmop
I used to be a conservative, too. I think the studies showing increased gray matter volume in conservatives are correct. Monkey see, monkey do. I don’t, however, concur with a couple of studies that say it’s probably in the genes, with the assumption that we are destine to be one way or the other. I used to be conservative too. I believe in the power of neuroplasticity. We both are prime examples of that.
I don’t have Danish roots, but I know a lot about the culture, as my best friend lives in Viborg, Denmark. We’ve been Skyping on a daily basis since 2008. I have tried to learn the language, but having a potato in my mouth is uncomfortable. ;)
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May 7, 2014 at 5:51 am
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
@Bleatmop — I meant to write: increased gray matter volume in the right amygdala.
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May 7, 2014 at 8:42 am
VR Kaine
@Arb,
Oops – I forgot … THE MALL!!! ;) (Actually Heritage Days is my favorite thing about Edmonton). Hey – born and raised, plus the front-end work needed every year because of the potholes? I get to diss. :)
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May 7, 2014 at 8:47 am
VR Kaine
@ Bleatmop,
Concrete jungles for sure but I actually lived out near Cochrane, so got to avoid it in Calgary but either way one has to admit the view of the mountains from almost anywhere in Calgary is worth it. I worked up in the NE for awhile yet lived in the SW, and seeing those mountains even in the NE wiped the day away.
While in Edmonton I was actually NW living near Bon Accord, so I’ve got some Alberta “rural town” in me, too.
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May 7, 2014 at 8:08 pm
bleatmop
Neur – Potato mouth warble garble glurb
Vern – I live in a small town about the size of Bon Accord, just a lot farther away from the city. It is paradise in the small towns though I think :) Quiet nights, good friends and a strong sense of community.
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May 7, 2014 at 9:43 pm
VR Kaine
I miss the nights out there in the country. Saw a lot of meteors, stars super-bright and yes, very, very quiet. Was nice for a young astronomy buff.
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