100,000 people take to the streets

[mbarrick]

Protesting war? Speaking out against American tariffs? Rebelling against taxes? Railing against Orwellian invasions of privacy?

Nope.... jogging. This morning is the "Sun Run" - Vancouver's "We should have one, too!" answer to the Boston Marathon and yet another lame, derivative, colonial attempt at trying to prove we aren't actually the arse end of the crumbled British Empire. I was awakened at 7:30 a.m. by someone saying "Test. One. Two." into a P.A. system repeatedly. By 8 a.m. this was replaced with thumping techno and a screeching cheerleader "inspiring" people with tones of forced excitement, ironically giving the perfect voice to the hollow "passions" of the 21st century.

This is what gets tens of thousands of people out in the street. A sporting event. The only real acts of genuine defiance and spontaneous outrage in this city in recent memory have been over a cancelled rock concert and a lost hockey game. That's what "the people" really care about - their circuses. We'll allow freedoms to be eroded, accept taxation in excess of 50%, and roll over complacently while our soldiers are thanklessly sent to die for (and more often than not, at the hands of) our "partner" in "free trade" that imposes absurd tariffs on our wood, wheat, steel and whatever strikes their fancy.

And as pathetic and decadent as this all may be, let me illustrate with the utmost clarity to those that took offence why the people in the gym across the street are worthy of the derisions I heaped upon them. Here are a couple of regulars (the one of the far left is in at least couple times a day, every day) watching the rest of the city run by outside:

Comments

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

think of how comforting it must be to those in power who spent a great deal of time and energy convincing us that these are the things that really matter in our new world...they have placated us by consistent bombardment of what should be the true value and goals in our lives...the majority idolizes and attempts to emulate movie/tv stars, sports figures, musicians...anyone who can stay in the spotlight for fifteen minutes...how many people do you think can name a great academician, artist or thinker these days...not that many of them haven't been perverted by the lure of money and fame...democracy is dying fast because few people have the time and inclination to participate in electing officials never mind challenging them on their policies...tv decides who most people vote for, as it's the number of times they see a name that often determines who they vote for, rather than the actual policies...and no one makes them accountable to their promises anyway, once in they happily toe the party line rather than representing their own constituents...at least few do...so when do we wake up??? i fear when it is much too late and we have lost a lot of the liberty and freedoms that we laud and hold dear...the only comforting thought is ultimately the people hold the power if they really believe they do...and i'm as guilty as many, there is so much more i could be doing to support my own beliefs...and i've been thinking a lot lately of just how i should go about it...i've made it one of my goals this year...to support causes i believe in by participating and giving my time and effort to them...rather than just talking about them...

sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

[strawberrygrl23.livejournal.com]

Interesting view, I have to say it would never have occurred to me to look at it that way.

I have friends participating in the run. Their reasons for participating vary. I will share a few of the reasons.
-a sense of community, feeling like they are contributing, doing something for a cause outside themselves
-a personal challenge, which I feel will, especially with one of my friends, give her a sorely needed confidence boost and I believe may be the start of her being a more active,participatory person in society. It took a lot of balls for someone in her situation to participate in this event.(I'm proud of her)
-motivation for physical exercise, I asked one of my friends how she managed to get the stamina to train for the event,she replied that an object in motion remains in motion- I think she is right, once you get going in one area of your life other things get moving

I'm sure there are lots of other reasons people participate, but I can't think of how the reasons would do anyone any harm...except perhaps interrupting your sunday morning quiet. I think it is positive when people do things, any things, it may not be an act that changes the world but on an individual basis I can see how it may change someones life. I climbed Grouse moutain once, it was hard. But I did it and came away from it a changed person...I knew I was capable of doing things I never thought I could. I climbed that mountain...It gave me personal strength.

If I can find the motivation (and I hope I do), it'll be me on the street with the rest of the "masses" next year! :) I know completing that challenge would provide me with an energy to feed off of for months!

Re: sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

[valerian.livejournal.com]

My two cents worth:

I figure, do "whatever floats yer boat" - just as long as you (and I mean the in general "you" here) don't try to force me to do it with you. For me, this simple maxim applies to religion and politics especially. I think if someone wants to run 10K bad enough to do it, great - if that is a meaningful accomplishment for them, then they should revel in their ability to have done it. Many people have a hard time motivating themselves to do anything, never mind jog around the city. I'm the sort of person who decides to do something, and then just does it (just so you know that will never include jogging though). This is not easily done by most people I'm told. Neither is it the best way to go about things. But I've been called "gutsy" and "brave" for the crazy things I do, ya know...

So I say "good for you", even though it's totally not my thing. Only because I have been really sick awith the flu, and in general not getting much sleep, I also have to say (*whine*) "do it later in the daaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!"

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I think it's a post-colonial artifact. It's a city in puberty: not quite grown up, not sure what it wants to be, and constantly looking to other cities for examples of how to be an individual, all the while screaming "I'm a grown up now" (i.e. "a world-class city"). Toronto has some of the same problem, but not as bad. Vancouver had a few things that were it's own personality - the bathtub races, the polar bear swim, a unique seedy-side (home of the original "skid row"), the UBC engineers, the begginings of it's own artistic voice and other things that have been been washed out or abandoned in favour of soulless copies of what a "world class city" should do - Indy, Olymics, the Sun Run, the Sydney Opera House Canada Place, and the like.

Vancouver is like a really pretty 16-year old girl who watches too much television.

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are some things along those line, but they are getting washed out. There is the night market in Chinatown in the summer where they close the streets beteen Main and Gore for a street market. There is Kits Days, which goes way back, and features a soap-box derby race, but that "overprotective mother" you speak of just kills things like the Sea Festival, which was a great Vancouver event with a thoroughly local feel (the Nanaimo/Vancouver bathtub race being the highlight). Illuminaires and the Parade of the Dead are great examples of the sort events that lend character. The spontaneous row of street vendors that crop up on Terminal Ave. in front of the Flea Market is another example something of character happening organically. Massive contrived events never compare to those things that start small and spontaneously and grow organically (like the Polar Bear swim). Looking to other cities for ideas is one thing - like our metaphorical teenager having role-models. But slavishly copying events and trying to stir up non-existant excitment is more like said teenager "going goth" after hearing one Manson album in a desperate attempt to fit-in with somebody, anybody...

It's the difference between "Wow, that's really cool. I think I could have some fun doing that." and "Oooh, everybody likes Jane better than me. Maybe if I act like Jane they will like me, too."

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

i miss the sea festival...it was lots of fun...a good time down on the beachfront...

[saturnina.livejournal.com]

Haha - I thought of you as I jogged by your house.

[neverletmedown.livejournal.com]

Nevertheless, it is somewhat of a charity event, so you can't write it off completely.

[neverletmedown.livejournal.com]

... not that you are writing it off, mind you! But that's the one major positive to those 45,000 or so trampling through the streets.