oh-sweet-pea
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January 18, 2004 - 10:40 am
yesterday i saw the documentary the corporation. it was pretty affecting and it definitely made me not only think but plan out my own personal measures to act. i'm definitely not much of a political person. in my politics i'm definitely "left" but have never participated in a demonstration or worked against an unjust cause. sure, i worked at adblusters....but i worked in the art department -- and no one was political there. sure, i've made some conscious decisions that can be considered political -- like not ever shopping at walmart . but then again, i live in a metropolitan urban area and there has never been a need or a desire to step foot in one. i was also vegetarian for over 10 years...but it was due to a rebellion against my parents and then stuck around out of stubbornness. but the personal is political, rght?
back to the movie. tho i was pretty familiar with many of the topics the documentary covered and i wasn't really shocked by too much, there was one fact that really did make me want to act: food. i was shocked that in the US bovine growth hormone is allowed in milk. thankfully, BGH was never allowed in Canada (or the UK for that matter)...but it really pissed me off. this is something that causes cancer and people in the biggest country in the world drink it. my friend who will be moving stateside will drink it? yikes!! i mean, i do buy organic milk and organic and free range eggs but i buy my meat and poultry on the cheap. i've been pretty disgusted hearing about the whole mad cow thing and finding out that animals (and farmed salmon) are eating animals as feed. i guess i always figured that animals were receiving grain feed --- vegetarian feed. but i was wrong. so my decision and c's too is to not only buy organic meat and chicken but to also tell our retailers why. sure, it's a pretty fucking small thing to do but i feel like i had to take some control over what i'm eating. it's a small step, but it's mine.
lately i've also been thinking about my friend's decision to move to the states. at christmas all our friends had a discussion about the differences between the us and canada. george bush is scary but canada's new pm is also pretty scary....the tide is definitely streaming to the right everywhere. we all talked about bad neighbourhoods, and k and sergio commented that you can be safe in the city where you live as long as you steer clear of those rough areas. there are areas of the city where people just do not go because of gangs and guns. that fact stuck in my head for a long while. i live just a few blocks away from the poorest, most drug-infested neighbourhood in vancouver and all of canada. but i can walk through it day or night and not feel scared for my life. i would hate not to be able to feel free to go where i wanted in my own city. i'm certainly not bashing the US nor am i feeling patriotic about canada, i'm just trying to sort out some feelings that i've been having. when kyla moves away, i'll be sad, not that she's moving to the states, but that she's moving away.