4TheRcrd Mag.

I’m talking about a revolution. Vancouver is facing the most horrible and violent Dark Age a city has ever faced. As the sun shines on your face in the local coffee shop, you may just turn the page on this article. Well done says Gordon Campbell, well done say the Bush family. The government we live in is based on many complex documents that, if condensed, read “Keep the people frightened and ignorant and the rich will flourish from the pains of the poor.” The Rockefellers of the world are in no way stupid. They are in no way ignorant in the workings of a capitalist society. The Rockefellers do lack a serious education in humanity and caring for others, but that’s best saved for another article. The problem with the rich and educated is that they lack simple mathematics. Simple mathematics meaning the “lower class” outnumbers the rich and the government. I am sincerely frightened at the state of Vancouver and the future it will see if we don’t respect the working class and acknowledge our supremacy over the wealthy, honour our socialist endeavours and the voting public, and break out of the media-imposed cycle of ignorance.

“Working class hero,” by John Lennon, means something to me (Kudos if you caught the lyric there.) Mr. Lennon wasn’t talking about a blue collar human doing something out of the ordinary. It’s not that complicated. Being a working class person, you have all the power in the world. You are part of a nation that is known as one of the greatest countries in the world! If there were no working class, this country would not exist. It could not exist. Canada was founded by hardworking, free people. Settlers came here with a dream of a new land. A land we, the people of Canada, could own. A land we, the people of Canada, could guide with democracy and freedom. That’s what they taught me in school. In all honesty, that’s a complete lie. Canada was founded on slavery, lies and a bunch of rich people who wanted to make money and claim power over others. Ouch! It hurt to write that. Why do we get lied to at the time in life when we are developing the most? Why is the main subject in school “how to be ignorant to a past that is once again repeating?” It is not an accident. If we paid attention to half the wheeling and dealing the BC government does behind our back we’d be very ill. Maybe ill is an OK feeling to experience, considering the ongoing privatization of our publicly owned “socialist endeavours.”

I hope some of you remember how the word socialism has been tainted and twisted throughout our history. Remember the “Evil” communists and their socialist ways. Do you watch the American news when they trash talk Canada’s “socialist” healthcare system? I wonder how an American government official would feel if he had to choose which of his two sick children to save because he could only afford to save one. Wait a second; he’s rich. He won’t have to make that decision; he’ll leave that kind of choice to the overwhelming majority of working class people.

Canada is a great country. It is not, however, great because of it’s wealthy. Many wealthy people in Canada have helped the country along for better or for worse, but Canada is founded on the people. All of us! Canada is made up of people from all areas of the globe and the vast majority of Canadians are working-class. Our healthcare, our resource management and our social class structure are not in need of a retrofit! We are experiencing negative change in all of these departments of BC. It’s not because the government is under-educated. It’s because our elected government officials are greedy capitalists, born into a greed-fed capitalist society we brought from Britain, and currently borrow aspects of dirty capitalism from the USA.

Dirty Capitalism is by my definition, “A Society based on acquiring wealth at any cost, without consideration of other people or your greed’s effect on society.” Socialism is not the answer to all of Canada’s problems, but using socialist ideals wisely is part of the solution. Caring for people other than yourself is a concept the BC government has a hard time doing. I thought that a member of the legislative assembly was voted in, by the people, to voice their constituencies’ opinion? It would be a lot easier to speak with the people who voted for you if you got out of your expensive cars and mansions, turned off your big screen TV did your job! Our MLA’s are not geniuses. They may have intentions of being good people, but get lost along the way. Also, greed is a constant temptation due to the endorsements given by big business. Another issue is that big business owns the media and the media tells us how to be. The TV tells us what to love and what to hate, what to respect and what to belittle, but rarely what actions to take in life to improve it. Unless you count add for anti-depressants… I don’t.

Are you happy with your life? I’m not. I’m not happy with your life. I had to giggle a bit at the ludicrous nature of what I just said. However, it’s true. I don’t like to see you picking cans out of the garbage to buy a happy meal at McDonalds. I want you to pick cans out of the garbage because it’s what you want to do to help the environment. I don’t like you working three minimum wage jobs so you can sleep in an illegal bachelor suite with no kitchen and a rodent infestation. I am not happy with your life in Kitsilano and your new Urban Barn dinning room set. I am not happy with your beach stroll in Gordon Campbell’s constituency as you enjoy a latte while walking past litter and thinking about America’s Next Top Model. I am not happy that the rich spit on the poor and I am not happy that you think John Lennon is a musician and not a revolutionary.

I don’t think we understand that the media tell us what we know. If we knew a way to be happy without money, TV would certainly tell us otherwise. The television is not the only source of media that advertises; that teaches us how to be ignorant and enjoy being slaves to a small group of rich people. Corporate media is the number one educator in the known universe. The majority of programming available is made so you don’t even have to know how to read.

We are force-fed lies that are presented as truth at an alarming speed, so as to prevent critical thoughts regarding what we hear. As soon as one thirty-second ad is finished, here comes the next one. If you notice something about advertising, one ad will never contradict the next. If any sort of critical thinking can occur between the lies, presented by media, we may discover that we just wasted a portion of our lives to learn that shampoo “A” makes our hair shiner and Mouthwash “B” will allow me to have sexual relationships with bulimic models addicted to hard drugs. I understand I’ve used a stereotype, but no more so than the media.

When is the last time you’ve seen a television program featuring an average weight female in America. God forbid they put someone on TV that doesn’t have perfect teeth and the latest fashion. What would an overweight guy in frumpy no-name clothes know? Maybe if you call him Michael Moore, would that change anything? Or maybe you’ve been trained so well that it doesn’t. Many people consciously associate a person’s image with their intelligence. Most of us sub-consciously do the same. In my defence, “I was raised on TV like so many of you I see before me,” (The Tragically Hip). I believe in non-violence and I don’t like the word “hate.” If there is one thing I feel is OK to hate, it’s the TV that attempts to program us with corporate logos and morals based on a capitalist debt cycle.

To conclude this document, I am not a genius. God (pick whichever “god” you like) has not sent me to save anyone. I don’t have all the answers. The reason I write articles like this, is you. I genuinely care about human kind and more specifically Canadians. Canada is a microcosm of the world and Vancouver a microcosm of Canada. We come from the farthest reaches of the globe and we end up here. We come from backgrounds that include war, genocide, slavery and religious persecution. Along with the pain and hatred, Canadians bring love, hope, freedom and understanding to our country. We may have started Canada with images of an failing monarchy, that over the course of the last one hundred and forty one years has become a country on the verge of corporate-fascist rule, but we can change. You and me, the working class heroes. We make the world change. Our actions dictate the direction of the world, not a government that works with big business to enslave “free” people with jobs they hate and overwhelming debt. I sincerely ask the Municipal Government, the BC government, the Canadian Government, the American government and most importantly our world’s Corporate Government, to work for the people not against us. We are angry, we have been abused and our bite is far worse than any words in this document. Change now, or we will change you. If there’s one thing to have faith in on this world, have faith in yourself. You can change the world.

Working Class Hero

By John Lennon

As soon as you’re born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you’re clever and they despise a fool
Till you’re so fucking crazy you cant follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they’ve tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you cant really function you’re so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you’re so clever and classless and free
But you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There’s room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

IMAGE CREDIT.