The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special # 13 -- I Really Like This One

Episode Date: June 12, 2020

Lots of your thoughts about the meaning of what we are going through and how these moments are changing us.

Whoa! What do you think of that music? Should that be the new theme music for The Bridge? Okay, so why new music today on a Friday as we begin The Bridge Daily? I'm Peter Mansbridge. When we've had the other music for so long, for every episode of The Bridge Daily during this whole thing. I really like this. Okay. Okay, but why, Peter? Why that noise?

Okay. Well, as I mentioned, I think, in last night's podcast, I was going to be here in Toronto today. And as a result, I didn't bring the right music with me. So I had to find some other music. And that's the music I've got for today. Different. Definitely different. But you know what? I kind of like it.

We'll see. I'm sure you'll let me know. So here we are on a wonderful Friday, the end of week 13, and it's the weekend special. And you know what that means, your comments and questions and letters. And I mentioned yesterday that I could use a few more this week. Whoa. Floodgates.

Lots of them. Anyway, I think I've selected what I consider to be the best of the bunch for today's Bridge Daily. So let's get at it, keeping in mind that the selection is, in the order of the selection, is totally random. They've been coming in all week, and quite a few last night, I must admit, and including today. I don't read all of the letters, usually maybe one or two near the end. I'll read a full one if it's had some extra impact on me. But for the most part, I read them segments from letters. So let's get started here. First one comes from Rebecca Campbell Martin in Vancouver, British Columbia. I tuned into a web conference earlier this day,

she wrote this a couple of days ago, held by a number of really wonderful professors from the University of California, discussing many of the relevant topics in the news to do with racism, police, the internationalism of the protests, the crumbling concept of nation-states as we know them, the media, etc., and all specifically catalyzed by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Arbery. It made me wonder what your thoughts were on this unique kind of citizen journalism that we're seeing with regards to the videos of their murders, of police brutality, of the protests. How, in your opinion, does this change the landscape of the media? How does this type of documentation interact with the media, and to what extent is it informative before it becomes exploitative?

Certainly seeing such videos has been essential in propelling the rights movement forward, but I think it is also the case that it feeds into a potentially damaging narrative of black lives. That's an interesting point, your last point there, Rebecca. And I think that question is perhaps better posed to a black journalist or a journalist of color, that last portion of your question, in terms of whether it's feeding into a potentially damaging narrative of black lives. If there's one thing that's bothered me a little bit in these last few weeks is that I've seen too many white people talking about elements of this issue

that would be better discussed. The opinions of leaders of people of colour would be more important, to me anyway, than those of people, than white people. Having said that, I'm certainly willing to wade in on the other part of what you're raising, I think the major part of what you're raising in this whole issue of citizen journalism.

Because there's no question that we're going through a period right now that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't had the video of the murder of George Floyd. That video pushed this story, this whole issue, into a whole new area that is forcing change and has forced change. We're in a pivotal moment. I mean, when you think of the things that have happened in the last couple of months, we're passing through a moment of history

that generations to come will be studying. One, on the pandemic, and two, on what's happened as a result of the murder of George Floyd. I use that term murder on this. I know it hasn't been settled in a court, but I can't see any other way of looking at it, and I'm sorry, I'm just not going to. Now, here's what I find.

Here's an interesting quote, Rebecca. Like many people, I assume you know who Will Smith is. Terrific actor. Spokesperson on a number of issues. He was asked, I think it was earlier this week or maybe it was last week, he was asked how he regards this in terms of the issue of racism. Is racism getting worse? And here's what he said. I'm paraphrasing here because I don't have the exact quote.

He says, racism is not getting worse. It's getting filmed. Okay? So what happened to George Floyd? It wasn't something that suddenly happened in 2020. It's been happening. Versions of it have been happening for years, for decades. But the difference now is it's getting filmed.

People are holding their smartphones, and they're filming these things as they happen. And that film makes its way onto the Internet, through social media, through the news media, you know, the regular news media. And the impact is there. And the impact on the face of it is positive. I bow to that last question of yours.

I think it's a really interesting question. I just don't think I'm... I would rather hear others talk about it, because what they say will influence me and how I feel about it. So, good question. Moving on. Andrew Etheridge.

Now Andrew is clearly not a happy person right now. What's your opinion on the future of our country? As a 24-year-old living in rural Quebec, I can't see much of a future for my generations. The only way to prosper now is to be born 100 years ago. Look, I can see how a younger generation can quickly get depressed, given the events of today, given the events of this year so far. It's been a brutal, awful year. And arguably, it's hurting young people the most,

because their dreams of a future are getting dashed in front of them. However, at the same time, they're having this enormous impact in terms of social change. The majority of protesters out there, not just in the U.S., not just in Canada, but around the world, are young people. Young people who, in many cases, are risking themselves because of the pandemic, but they're risking themselves because they believe the need for change for them and their future generations is absolutely imperative. So this isn't a waste of time. This isn't a bad time. This is a time of change.

And you can help be at the forefront of it, whether it's in your community, in your country, or in the world. Things are happening. Are situations tough? I'm sure they are for you, Andrew, and for many like you who look at the job market, look at wage conditions, look at all these things and say, I can't live like this.

Then make change. Stand up and be heard in a responsible, peaceful way and make change because now, more than any heard in a responsible, peaceful way and make change. Because now, more than any time in my life, change is possible. And we're actually seeing change happening. We've been through a lot of different things in the last few years where we were begging for change and it didn't happen. It seemed like it might, but a few days later the topic moved on.

It's not moving on here now. It's on the agenda and it's being forced onto the agenda by young people like you and change is happening. Alex Cianfloni writes his weekly letter where there's a whole list of questions. I'll pick one. Do you believe this pandemic,

along with Canadian female health leaders, Dr. Theresa Tam is the example he uses, will allow women to rise further into the STEM fields, science, technology, engineering, math. Oh, yeah. You know, we're talking about change in that last letter. Think of the change in the last hundred years, the last century,

for women, achieving the vote, achieving a place in the workplace, a gradual rise in their positions within society. Is this yet another, this is a reflection of what has already happened when we see the likes of Dr. Theresa Tam, Dr. Bonnie Henry in British Columbia, and many others. And it will encourage further. Can't help but do that.

And if we can try to encourage more women to run for elected office, that would be a good thing too. Many want to. Many feel tied down by situations at home. I get it. But we need that voice. We need that voice in Parliament.

We need that voice in legislatures. We need that voice. Let me turn off my ringer here. Okay. Thanks, Alex. Rodney Daughtry in Vancouver. One section of Rodney's letter, I mean all sections of it, I found interesting. This is the part that I'm going to read, though.

Today, not only is each individual now getting different individualized content from a given news source, this is a result of the comments we were making the other night about how families who used to always get their news source together, whether it was sitting around the table talking about what was in the newspaper or watching a nightly newscast, now different members of individual families get their sources from different things, Twitter, TikTok, conventional news sources, and they're all kind of informed in a different way. So this is what Rodney was picking up on.

However, so let me just read that line again. Today, not only is each individual now getting different individualized content from a given news source, but the content presented from websites like Facebook and Google is often chosen to maximize the amount of time you spend on the website in the pursuit of the almighty advertising dollar. As Google and Facebook's computer algorithms have dispassionately learned, that content turns out to be content that you likely already agree with or which is tasty or enjoyable for you to consume? Is it any wonder that the world is becoming more polarized and the disinformation and conspiracy theories are flourishing?

Good comment, Rodney. Stephanie Tavitian Guthrie. From the village of Anton Mills in the township of Springwater, Ontario. Wow. That's a mouthful, Stephanie. Stephanie also writes about a number of things. There were a lot of comments about my comments the other night about the New York Times and their

glamorizing situation around Justin Trudeau's hair. And Stephanie, you know, had fun with that too. She was not impressed by the New York Times. But here's her comment that I'm going to highlight. It's on masks. Because I felt in a way that I've been a little preachy on this lately. So here's Stephanie. You are not preaching, and I beg you to continue to remind people to wear their masks.

I have seen too many people this past week not care anymore and just walk around stores without masks. They think we are past the worst of it. That is not the case. The second wave will be worse if we don't stay vigilant. I'm not a health care professional, but I understand the concept of using masks and washing hands to help stop the spread.

So keep preaching and reminding everyone this is a long-term change till we have a vaccine. Schools. As a parent, I'm truly worried about the plans for a return to school in the fall. We live in a small community with a great school with fantastic educators, but it's an old school with portables.

How are we going to do this return with school so full, no room for social distancing and a concerned student and educator population? What if they do rotating schedules? How will we balance work and care on days they are not in school? What does this mean to extracurricular activities? How do teachers fare who have kids? We have far more questions than answers, but I don't think communication has been open enough and parents haven't been engaged in the process. We depend too much on just bureaucrats making these decisions and not engaging all impacted groups. You know, the school issue, Stephanie, is, you know, I get repeatedly from people,

and I get it. You know, I don't want to knock the bureaucrats. Many of those people have kids, too, and they're under huge pressure right now to make decisions on a lot of different fronts as a result of the pandemic. This is one of them. But it's no excuse for not having an open communication process to hear from parents and educators, and hopefully they are doing that. Marco Bodchen from Nanaimo, British Columbia. And I'm reading her letter.

It's very short. I'm reading it mainly because first line, which I've never heard before, but I love it. Hello, Peter, you da bomb. You da bomb? I haven't heard that one before. I know I'm old. I know I'm old. I know I'm kind of like missing the boat on a lot.

I didn't know what TikTok was until, you know, I read it the other day on the broadcast, the podcast. The podcast broadcast. Hello, Peter. You da bomb. I laughed so hard picturing Canadians fascinated about Stephen Harper's hair. Stop me in my tracks. You've got a fine sense of humor. Keep up the great work. Lighten up my day. That's all a result of that New York Times Trudeau thing about how we Canadians

are fascinated. We're just totally fascinated by Justin Trudeau's hair. Thank you, New York Times. Hello, Peter Udebaum. Okay, Margo, if that's what you say. Kevin Chan from Toronto. He's on here too. I have less hair these days. You know why?

Or you know why? But I blame it on my early retirement. I can't blame it on my early retirement. I didn't retire early, and I lost my hair long before I retired. Anyway, says Kevin, I've stopped shaving for the same 13 weeks that you have had your podcast on. So I'm fascinated by what I see in the mirror. You know, Kevin, I'm reading your letter for that line because i think that there are a lot of people who are not fascinated by justin trudeau's hair but they are fascinated by looking in the mirror

because they're seeing somebody who's very different than was in front of that mirror 13 weeks ago. That's men and women and kids. We all look different. And we've got a lifetime experience that's different now. Totally different than just 13 weeks ago. And you capture some of that by staring in the mirror. Val Cormier. Ah, yes, the New York Times, speaking for all Canadians,

as they often do, about our national psyche. Listen, I love the New York Times, but every once in a while they get a little carried away with the way they talk about us. I think yesterday was one of those examples. However, as Val points out, there are other examples when they talk about Canada. What did you think of the New York Times piece on Dr. Henry, says Val Cormier. I think they did a very good job and was proud to forward that to out-of-province and international friends.

Bonnie Henry, of course, the major health official in British Columbia, and she's been fantastic. There's no other word to describe that. From her briefings to her decisions, she's been on the mark. And the New York Times recognized that by doing a pretty solid profile of her. B.D. McMillan. Isn't B.D. the one from White Rock? We've heard from her before. My routine each night is to listen to your podcast,

trying to sort out all that is happening in our world. I was feeling a little bit flat today. Not sure why. When I tuned in and listened to you talk about the New York Times commenting on our Prime Minister's hair, I must admit you had me laughing out loud to myself. Not that it was any contrast to you, only that it gave me a bit of comic relief from the heaviness of the past weeks.

You know, we can all use those moments, right? It has been heavy. Very heavy. Okay, Bernadette Tapper. We heard from her last week. She wrote from Zurich, Switzerland. And she wanted to add a line because she was concerned. She was the one who raised questions about news sourcing

and journalism in general, and she was afraid that people might see that as a major criticism of journalism, when in fact that's not what she intended. As she says today, I assure you that I have not lost faith in our journalism. In fact, I have a great deal of respect and admiration for those in the field that show exemplary integrity in their work. I was accepted to study in Concordia's Department of Journalism five years ago, but reluctantly declined to realize another dream of living and working in Europe, a tough decision, but I'm happy with the outcome. Bernadette's living in Zurich.

It's a tough life, you know. Thank you, Bernadette, for making your position clear about journalism, and Concordia's a great school. I've given guest lectures there and supported journalism at Concordia in the past. So, you know, you never know. Maybe someday you'll still get to go to Concordia,

depending on the path your life takes you. Okay, we're getting down to the last couple. And because they're the last couple, they get a little more time than the others. So Sandra Cronin writes from Toronto. Excuse me. Now here's what Sandra has to say. She obviously likes the podcast. This is her first letter. I like the insight and entertaining commentary you're providing during the COVID-19 pandemic. I enjoy listening to it as I walk my dog and explore my neighborhood. In response to one of your listeners' comments,

I wanted to share with you the multitude of platforms where our family, myself, my husband, my three daughters, ages 13, 15, and 17, gets its news. I tend to watch the news on TV and pick up bits of news as I listen to the radio, your podcast, and through Instagram. My husband follows several news sources throughout the day at work and personally from news apps. My daughters get most of their current event news through social media, including TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat. Because we get our news from such varied sources, it makes for very interesting family discussions. Although I don't agree with my girls spending so much time on their social media platforms,

I fully appreciate that they are much more aware of and interested in current events than I ever was at their ages. They often have a different perspective on issues that I may not have thought about. The immediate nature of social media, and because they seem tethered to them, gives them a more real-time feed of the news, so that they often learn about things way before their parents do. I'm glad they have a platform that engages them and gives them reason to think about things in the world around them. So again, very interesting family discussions

that I hope we continue to have. You know, I totally get it. And I can see the picture you paint of the five of you sitting around the dinner table and talking about the day's events and the way everybody's perspective is a little bit different, shaped by the different sources they have. It is a different era than the one that existed not that long ago, 10, 15, 20 years ago,

where most families kind of heard the news the same way, from the same platform. So this is different, and it leads to invigorating discussions. It also leads to, hopefully, a good discussion about news sourcing and what to rely on, what to believe in, what has credibility, what doesn't have credibility. So, Sandra, good for you. You know, because you're not going to have those discussions.

I don't want to get you down here. But being able to sit around the table with a 13-, 15-, and 17-year-old, they're edging closer and closer to moving on to university, to college, to whatever. And they won't be home every night. And I say that because I've witnessed what's happened to our family discussions, which have always been invigorating, to say the least. And, you know, our son's now in fourth year at university. And so he's not home as much.

He's been home a lot during the pandemic. First couple of months, for sure. And it was great because every night we'd have discussions, and we'd do kind of family-to-family Zoom calls with others. But now as he's edging back towards, I mean, he does have a summer job. He's had a job all along, but he needs to be more involved on location with his job now that things are opening up a little bit, a little bit. So he's in Toronto most of the time, and we're in Stratford.

So you miss that. And the day will come where you'll miss it too, Sandra, because they're getting older. so enjoy these moments when you got them and you sure got them right now alright the last letter comes from Sherwood Park Alberta from Aaron Conser

alright these last two weeks have felt... Let me try that again. These last two weeks have felt so heavy with so many different things. My husband and I made the decision to send our daughters to daycare, now that it's open again. And while all the evidence shows how low of a risk it is for our town, I still feel concern for my children and my family. I've read that some experts are predicting

a wave of mental health challenges when our quarantine has finally ended. It's been so hard trying to raise our girls while trying to work and struggling with both. My husband just found out this week that he will be working from home until the new year. And while we are both lucky enough to have been working through the pandemic and have had an easier time financially than a lot of other Canadians, it's the isolation and the unknown that weighs so heavily now. I watch my family and want to give them everything I can to help them through this, but I sometimes need a reminder to look after myself as well. I think for the next year we should all focus on our mental health because I think it will take a long time for all of us to recover from this time in quarantine. There is still so much societal

pressure to be mentally strong and to not ask for help, but I'm hoping that at least my generation can be the one to break that chain and seek counselling more openly and without shame. Maybe it's because I'll be turning 40 next year or because we'll be sending our oldest daughter to kindergarten in the fall but I want to be able to give my family the best version of myself that I can There's a lot of change coming in the future that these last few months have started and I want to continue that change with myself. This is the time to make the big changes

and create the society we want our children to inherit from us. Wow. Wow, Aaron, that's such a great letter. And so on the mark. And so in the moment. I mean, we are making big changes. And we are trying to create a society

that we want our children to inherit from us. But change isn't easy. And it has a toll on all of us. But it's important. And it's through thoughts like yours that encourage us all. You know, this moment we're going through is going to have such an impact on the world that comes out of it. Whether it's a result of the pandemic, whether it's a result of

the international relationships that have been, in some cases, made more solid because of the pandemic, and in other cases clearly have not. In terms of a good outcome to that relationship. And obviously, the overwhelming story of the last two to three weeks,

the changes that are taking place as a result of the murder of George Floyd. We don't know where all this is going to lead. But we can hope, with the kind of thinking that I'm seeing in Aaron's letter, that we're up to it. We know that we want to make change.

And we're just looking for the right path to accomplish that. This is why I've loved Fridays all along. Because I love your letters. You know? Some are funny. Some are emotional. Some are so constructive. Some, most if not all, are so thoughtful.

You know, you can get waylaid in the world we live in of high technology and communication by the garbage that you see in some areas of social media. This isn't one of them. This is all great stuff. So important. I will take issue with you on one thing you say, Aaron. Well, you don't really say it, but you kind of imply it.

When you say, I guess I'll be turning 40 next year. Now, you make that sound like, oh, my God, I'm going to be 40. Believe me, Aaron. 40 is when the fun starts. Okay? You're heading into the best years on so many fronts. I wish I was back thinking about turning 40 next year.

You don't worry about it. It's going to be, it's going to be a good time, and you're going to enjoy it. Just as I have enjoyed week 13, the weekend special. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Oh, listen, should we go out on that same music? Rock me gently? You got to love it.

You know what? Did you see that thing? Admitting that I follow Twitter as well. Did you see that thing on Twitter this week that has the thing about, you know, only pick your top five bands? And they show all these bands from the, you know, 60s and 70s. There's a whole list of them. Lots of them, I don't know, 20 or 30.

And you can pick just five. Right? And if you haven't seen it, go to my Twitter account. And just go back on a couple of my tweets and you'll see it there um anyway i looked at the list and you know i wasn't gonna do it i wasn't gonna have to like fall you know put down my favorite five but i have this thing you see when when i was a kid in the early 60s when the beatles came out Everybody wanted to love the Beatles, and I loved the Beatles. And one of my favorite interviews I've ever done was with Ringo Starr.

What a great guy. But when I was, whatever I was at the time, 15, I thought, you know the band that's really going to make it? The Dave Clark Five. Bits and pieces, glad all over. You know, all those great songs. Great dancing songs. The Dave Clark Five didn't make it.

Dave Clark actually did. He became a really big record producer. I think he still is um but the dave clark five was not on the list so i tweeted i'm really disappointed with this list where's dave clark five and it was supposed to be a joke. People are like taking it seriously. There's a lot of other Dave Clark Five fans out there, obviously. But other people had. My favorite was, Tommy Hunter's not on the list either.

Anyway, I digress. Listen, I hope you have a great weekend, a terrific weekend. And we'll be back at it again, obviously, next week with week 14. I'm still trying to decide. Some days I feel like there's not enough to talk about. And often when I think that and I sit down and get in front of the microphone, and the next thing I know, I'm at 25 minutes of things that there's nothing to talk about. Anyway, we're going to close out this edition of the Bridge Daily, the weekend special for week 13.

We're going to close it out with the same music we started the broadcast with, the podcast with and you know maybe next week we'll get back to our normal music although I've kind of liked this it was like a real pick me up reminded me of my old days as a disc jockey in Churchill, Manitoba the Twin Town temperature here

is like minus 45 in Churchill and Fort Churchill those are The Twin Town temperature here is like minus 45. In Churchill and Fort Churchill. Those are the Twin Towns. Anyway, enough already. Have a great weekend. I'll talk to you again on Monday night. I'll sign you out with our fancy new music bye for now

I'm playing the air drums here I'm really good at the air drums here. I'm really good at the air drums. We'll see you next time. you