hey caspian...i never even noticed that you were in newfoundland...which is funny because thats why i suggested the introduce yourself thread and you wrote it in there and i never noticed

sorry about that...i didnt even realize that you were canadian let alone IN canada still

a good friend of mine is in St.John's a lot because he works on the Algoma oil tankers

The Conservatives won a majority government.
The NDP made historic gains, and won over 100 seats in parliament. They will be the official opposition.
The Green Party of Canada won a seat for the first time ever.

and 2 out of the 4 main party leaders didnt even win in their riding (Gilles Duceppe for Bloc Quebecois and Michael Ignatieff for the Liberals)

I found that amazing

that and the NDP taking 3 times as many seats in the House as the Liberals is unheard of

I know that all of it was predicted in the polls just over a week ago, but I don't know if anyone seriously thought it would happen

also, in the riding that I live in the conservative MP took a whopping 50.9% of the votes

One dead in a tornado in NZ looks like the states don't get to have all the fun. It was in my old neighbourhood too, the old hardware store got destroyed.

quote:

Originally posted by Domitella:
Heh.

D'you know, I thought the exact same thing. It's embarrassing when you look at a baying mob and can't tell if they are on your side or theirs.

It's even more embarassing for those of us who live here.

quote:

Originally posted by Caspian:
The Conservatives won a majority government.
The NDP made historic gains, and won over 100 seats in parliament. They will be the official opposition.
The Green Party of Canada won a seat for the first time ever.

though the greens took a hit nationwide by concentrating on getting May in gov't

... which was clearly a smart move. Until there is electoral reform (which I think there should be), popular vote is almost irrelevant.

quote:

Originally posted by Hive:

quote:

Originally posted by Domitella:
Heh.

D'you know, I thought the exact same thing. It's embarrassing when you look at a baying mob and can't tell if they are on your side or theirs.

Yeah, I was headachy and unable to provide useful comment but that was my thought too. I also find it creepy? unsettling? disturbing? to see people celebrating a death, even of someone awful, as if it's Christmas.

One BBC commentator said "This is not a country that does quiet satisfaction"

No, unfortunately, nor do we do somber reflection. Sometimes I'm so ashamed of where I live.

A really good sentiment is actually a hoax instigated by Penn Gillette

(About the MLK Jr quote that made the rounds on Facebook that was mis-attributed: "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.")

And every time I turn on the telly it keeps yammering at me, 'Every American is dancing in the streets shouting U!S!A! and if you're not doing that, you're an unpatriotic scumbag!!!'

sigh

You know, in the past 10 years I've become more and more ok with being called "unpatriotic". I'll take it as a compliment, considering the source.

I think they actually mean "un-nationalistic".

And I'm incredibly okay with that.

Maybe I'm watching the wrong news channels, but for the most part I've seen anchors watching the celebrations slackjawed. Not critical of the people who're doing it, necessarily, but not jingoistic about it either.

IF:
People are people;
AND:
Mob mentality is a true phenomenon;
THEN:
When faced with similar stimuli, mobs "here" will react the same as mobs "there".

People aren't people, for the most part. Certain things will make people react the same, but that tends to be the Big Things - fear, sex etc. One thing you learn when you study history is that people really do change. One of my lecturers, Tony Claydon, said that he'd been studying the same period his whole career but the people of that period still shocked him now and again with how different they were from people today. Similarly, the Romans really were just *different*. Relating to a Roman is like trying to relate to an insect sometimes.

But you are correct that you see similar mob behaviours forming wherever you go. You just hope that people would have a little more...decorum. It's like with the Outpouring of Grief when Dianna died seems embarrassing and silly and unBritish now, but at the time a lot of people were whipped up in it.

Oh, I totally disagree. According to one of the greatest philosophers of our time:

quote:

People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully

So we're different colours
And we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me
Though I've done nothing wrong
I've never ever met you so what could I have done

Now you're punching
And you're kicking
And you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far it hasn't surfaced
But I'm sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel
From your head to your fists

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

(Please tell me you saw that coming.)

Um. I have no idea what that is?

But it's not really talking about what I'm talking about in any case - kinda the opposite