The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Ringo at 80 -- I Know It's Off Topic, But It's Worth Celebrating!

Episode Date: July 7, 2020

Aside from Ringo, more thoughts o n the dilemma of back to school.

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily here we are tuesday of week 17 since we started these daily podcasts as a result of COVID-19. It's stretched at times into other things, as you well know, but COVID-19 has been kind of the theme that runs through the podcast. Well, today, let me start by telling you that when you reach my advanced age, you tend not to, you know, particularly look forward to birthdays. But I, you know, they don't really bother me, birthdays. I sort of get by with them. And I did yesterday when I hit the big 7-2.

And one of the ways I get through my birthday is I always know that the next day is the birthday of one of my favorite people. Has been since the early 60s when I first saw him and his three buddies from Liverpool on the Ed Sullivan Show, singing all the great hits of the early Beatles. And that was Sir Richard Starkey, as he is properly called today, after being knighted by the Queen some time ago, a few years ago. Richard Starkey. We know him, of course, as Ringo Starr. And today is his birthday.

And today he turned 80. Ringo Starr. The Beatle. 80 years old. Well, congratulations, Ringo. Makes me feel good at 72. I met Ringo a few years ago in Los Angeles. Got to spend, I don't know, somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour with him

in a bookstore in Los Angeles. He had a new record coming out, and we used that as an excuse to get together and have a chat, do a one-on-one, my broadcast one-on-one back in the day. And we had a great time. And it's interesting to think back on it now because Ringo had this thing back then and had this thing for some time

where he didn't shake hands. He was worried about the transmission of germs. So for him, an elbow bump was a big deal but if you stuck your hand out to shake his hand he'd beg off and he'd instead offer his elbow I'll tell you what else struck me that day meeting him he was, listen, he was selling an album

so obviously he'd want to be nice but I've been in that position with authors what else struck me that day meeting him. He was, listen, he was selling an album, so obviously he'd want to be nice, but I've been in that position with authors and recording people who can be a real pain in the ass when they're trying to get you to get them publicity. But Ringo Starr was not like that. He was terrific. He was funny, and he was was not like that. He was terrific. He was funny, and he was kind of like available for us to chat with, and we got along actually so well in our interview

that at the end when we were finally saying goodbye, he stuck his hand out as if to shake hands, and I went, elbow? And he went, oh, yeah, elbow. So anyway, we had a good time. And I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of finally spending a little time with a beetle. And so thinking today of that day, and that's the picture on the cover art today

for the podcast, is a moment during that interview where we posed for a picture. And it was a great moment. For me, I'm sure for him, I'm sure he's got the picture posted on any number of different things at his house. There I am with Peter Mansbridge from Canada. Right. Okay, let's bring you up to date on a couple of things. One of which I, well, both of which I guess I could have mentioned yesterday, but we got a little squeeze for time.

A number of people wrote and said, how serious are you taking the Kanye West thing? I'm not taking it very seriously. He's obviously got a new album coming out. He wants his name out there. He's not going to run for president of the United States. If he is, he'll be embarrassed. You know, I agree with those who say it's for entertainment value only.

If you're seriously going to run for President of the United States, you'd have to get in the game a long time ago. Not now. And the other thing is, and this is of interest only because of the restrictions placed on it, the Louvre has reopened this week. And that's a big deal. It was closed for four months, as were many famous places in Europe. But it's reopened. But you have to make a reservation if you're going to go tour it. And you have to wear a face mask.

Good for them. You know, I'm telling you, I do not have any sympathy or understanding for those who are making the argument against face masks. Wear a face mask. Do it for your friends. Do it for your relatives. Do it for your grandparents. Do it. And do it for your friends. Do it for your relatives. Do it for your grandparents. Do it.

And do it for yourself. Anyway, face masks and reservations required at the Louvre. And you know what? If for some reason you're in Europe and you have that opportunity, you know, you may never get a better chance to see the Louvre and actually not be trampled down by other tourists because those restrictions will cut the flow in there and could make it a pleasant experience for those who love art.

Now, if this, hey, a number of things have moved me over these past four months. now if there's hey a number of things have moved me over these past four months in terms of the things you've written to me about and the letters that have struck home most have been the heartfelt emotional letters I've received mainly from mothers but, mainly from mothers,

but not exclusively from mothers, right across the country, who are away from their jobs, not allowed to go to work because of restrictions on, restrictions on COVID-19. So they're at home working from home, but they're also, because their kids can't go to school, have been trying to organize their kids, whether they've been at daycare or grade school, or in some cases, kids at university and college. And what I've seen in these letters, we kind of hinted at it

yesterday, was initially, initially was, hey, this is great. You know, I get to spend the day with my kids and I'm working and I'm productive and blah, blah, blah. That didn't last long. And instead, what's happened is it's been an incredible strain for a lot of people. For mothers and fathers who are in this situation. And it has been an issue that's, you know, raised the issues of mental health. And some of the mothers I've talked to are saying, I have to have a break. I've got to take a break. And so they're also on the sidelines of this,

and sometimes not just the sidelines, of this whole debate about school and whether schools should reopen, whether in some cases schools are reopening, and others they haven't made the decision, and how this all fits into this issue of their own health. So I noticed a couple of things here, and this may give us a hint of what may be going on in the background here in Canada, in some of the provinces.

And it was a couple of pieces that were in the American media in the last 48 hours. And there is a, you know, there's a similarity to some of these concerns. But let me give you a hint here. Public continues to be concerned about the reopening of K-12, so kindergarten to 12. As a political pro-poll finds that 54% of American voters said they are somewhat or very uncomfortable

with reopening K-12 schools for the beginning of the coming school year. Politically, promises and demands to reopen schools are running at odds with the extensive logistical challenges districts and schools face to safely reopen, while the predicted cost of safely reopening schools remains daunting. Now, I've got to tell you, as one who's followed this debate, I had not realized the kind of money we're talking about that would be needed to safely reopen schools. And so these numbers are American numbers,

so what we normally do is kind of divide by 10 to come up with an equivalent number for Canada. That's not always fair or accurate, but it's a general way you go about these things. Let me give you some of these numbers. The Council of Chief State School Officers estimates the cost at reopening K-12 across the United States at $245 billion. That's to safely reopen them. Concerns of substantial learning loss continue to weigh heavily on educators and parents,

especially one compounded by unequal access to online learning. To combat the digital divide, the National PTA, the Parent Teachers Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation have started the Every Student Connected Initiative. Remember, these are all American initiatives. To increase connectivity between students and education. While post-secondary education also has its share of logistical challenges reopening, they face a different problem as the pandemic puts the tuition-based funding model in peril. Another number here. The Center for American Progress and the Brookings Institution explored how state budget cuts and shortfalls, tuition refunds from the spring 2020 semester, pandemic-related costs, fall tuition and enrollment shortfalls, and other issues create a perfect fiscal storm for universities. The Wall Street Journal notes that colleges take in over $600 billion a year,

equivalent to the combined annual revenue of tech firms Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, and Twitter. Can you believe that? The Wall Street Journal notes that colleges take in over $600 billion a year. And as the WSJ says, that's equivalent to the combined annual revenue. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, and Twitter. Harvard University announced they will open their campus dorms to freshmen in the fall, but upperclassmen will need to seek approval to come on campus. They will, however, be charging full tuition rates,

regardless of whether you're doing in-class learning or virtual learning. I know this is an issue for some university students in Canada because it's different, seemingly different than most universities. I know this is an issue for some university students in Canada. Because it's different, it's seemingly different at most universities. And some students are really getting upset that they're going to be paying full tuition and maybe taking online classes. They may be renting an apartment in the community of the university they're attending while taking online classes when they could have been at home taking online classes from there.

So this is tough all around. It's tough on the students. It's tough on the profs. It's tough on the universities. But's tough on the profs. It's tough on the universities. But in the States, look at those numbers. We are talking about a lot of money. So I wanted to bring that up and throw that out there because I know there have been a couple of things,

I've seen them today, different issues surrounding Canadian debates on the whole reopening of schools issue, and there's a lot of conflict within the different organizations as to who's got the right approach to this. It is a tough one. Here we are in the beginning of July, still basically the first week of July, but big decisions have to be made and are being made about what's going to happen with kids for August and September in terms of going back to school and what's going to happen with kids for August and September in terms of going back to school

and what's going to be happening for the parents of those kids, especially those parents who are juggling two things, their own jobs, operating from home, and what's best for their kids. You know, we haven't seen a generation confronted with this issue before in our time. In March, when we thought we might be looking at two, three, maybe four weeks, people kind of said we can deal with it. It's been four months.

Is it going to be another six months, eight months, a year, two years? If it is, a lot of people are going to need a lot of help. All right. Let me end on on something different. One of the concerns that we started having, belatedly, in 2016 was that social media was being manipulated, especially Facebook, manipulated to try and impact the U.S. election.

And was being manipulated from overseas, and especially by the U.S. election and was being manipulated from overseas, and especially by the Russians. And during the campaign, people sort of said, well, yeah, maybe there's a bit of misinformation out there, but we can handle it, we'll deal with it. Well, actually, there was a lot, and we weren't able to handle it or deal with it. And a lot of people were shocked afterwards when they found out just how extensive

organized misinformation was across social media. So, obviously, people want to know, what's it like now? What are we looking at as we approach another major election in the United States with the presidential election, some Senate races and the House races for this November? We're in July. It's really close now. The conventions are coming up in the next few weeks, both the Democrats and the Republicans.

Who knows what they'll be like? They're probably going to be virtual. The Republicans still claiming they're going to have one in Florida. Really? Really? You got a look at Florida lately there, pal? Anyway, then we're into Labor Day, and bang. From Labor Day until Election Day, it's just a couple of months. And that's the real campaign.

That used to be that saying. There's lots of run-up to U.S. election, but it doesn't really start as a campaign until after Labor Day. I'm not sure. I think we're in it now. All right. The Seattle Times has a story this week exploring the perfect storm of online misinformation that is a global pandemic and an election year. The academics interviewed by the Seattle Times have not seen evidence of outside actors peddling misinformation

like the Russians in 2016. They do say, though, that the levels of misinformation activity make 2016 look quaint. While the articles argue for individuals to fact-check where they see errors and not to assume the worst of the people posting them, it is ultimately the social media companies who have the biggest role to play. And that's what the argument has been for at least the last five years. Are the social media companies media companies in the true sense of the word?

The same way the Globe and Mail, the CBC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, you name it. Are they the same as that, where they've got to be accountable for what they actually put on the air or put in print or put online? Or can they just say, hey, we're just a content company, we don't care, we can run whatever we want? Well, we've seen that argument play out for five years. We've seen some sort of minor tinkering going

on. We've seen Twitter going, oh, no, you can't say that. Slap your wrist. Facebook trying to pretend that it's really monitoring situation. Well, Seattle Times mentions, hey, we may not see the Russians

obviously doing what they did last time, although everybody believes they are, but the Seattle Times investigation points to academics saying they haven't seen it quite yet, but they're seeing all kinds of other actors at play in the misinformation game. And while they warn us that we have a responsibility here, we've got to look carefully at what we're reading, see where it came from, and see whether there's

any reason we should have confidence in what's written there. And that's good. That should always be the case. But so should the social media companies have some obligation to be accountable for what they pump out. As always, your thoughts on any of these topics are always welcome and contribute to our Friday podcast, which is the weekend special, which is your thoughts and questions and comments. So keep them coming. That's all we got for you on this Tuesday.

Send your letters to themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com, themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com. And tonight or tomorrow morning, whenever it is you listen to this podcast, don't forget to wish Ringo a happy birthday. This has been the Bridge Daily. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you again this time tomorrow. Thank you.