cktimes.ca Archives for Notes from a Garage


Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

On throwing up, Vice City and meeting some great people!

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

As most people who read this space regularly already know, I'm not much of a fan of the modern media. I watch very little TV and seldom read a newspaper. Back in the late 1980's, I came to the realization that I didn't need all the negative junk that the media was feeding me. I didn't need a constant and steady diet of sex, violence, profanity and on and on. So, I switched myself off. This winter, though, I've found myself in front of the TV again a few times and, man, how things have changed over the last 15 years. First, and I know I've mentioned this before, the new style of camerawork used for nearly all productions involves the constant flashing of images at the viewer at a very fast pace. I've guessed that images are generally flashed in our direction every three to five seconds. Now, I believe that some marketing guru somewhere has developed this wonderful technique in a quite deliberate attempt to get us to consume more stuff – which is what we have to do to keep the economy rolling. The problem I have is that I have what older people refer to as a "weak stomach". In other words, I tend to get something akin to motion sickness fairly easily. The result of the images flashing at about the speed of light on my TV screen is that I have a strong urge to throw up. I get dizzy and nauseous trying to watch TV these days. Movies in the theatre have exactly the same effect. When I went to see the last Lord of the Rings movie, I had to sit right at the back of the theatre, and, even then, had to close my eyes once in while when the world started to whirl. Is anybody else noticing this rather strange phenomenon? My wife made an astute observation about this the other night. She thinks that if the images start flashing much more quickly, they'll start to blur back into each other and produce the same type of image we used to see back in about the 1920's. Strange, but true.

Also in the strange but true category, how about this one? I've got two movies in my hands. I take a look at the ratings on the back of both of them. One is rated PG13 – it is described as having violence, sexual content, mature themes, drug content and about three other nasty things. Remember, this is rated as PG13. Then, I check the other one. It's rated R – it is described as having violence and sexual content and that's it. Now, to me, the first movie looks much, much worse than the second. Then why is it rated PG13 while the seemingly less offensive movie is rated R? How can this happen? You simply can't get away from the filth in the modern media – and I'm no prude – I can take it. But I'm not sure it's necessary to have oodles of sex, violence and language in pretty well every movie and TV show that's available these days. Do you know there's a TV channel out there that's devoted to nothing but sex? It's true. I've said this before and I'll say it again – we're living through the decline of the American Empire and when any great empire sinks into decline, its society becomes filled with excesses of all kinds and morality goes out the window. In effect, we are fiddling while America burns. If you don't believe what I'm saying, check out a video game called Vice City. This is really neat stuff – a video game that teaches people to steal, murder and generally have fun doing a variety of morally depraved things. When I was first exposed to Vice City, I suggested it be used in schools in the inner cities to help with life training – a perverse comment, but not nearly as perverse as the game itself. Take a look around, folks. I'm afraid it's the Soddom and Gomorah (sp.) thing.

Sorry to get ranting so, but sometimes I just feel the need. I'm working hard to make cktimes a positive alternative to the mainstream media, but there are times when it's tough to be positive. That's because I feel we're getting bad advice on where we should be going in life. We should be working hard to make a positive difference in the world – and that's why I've so enjoyed doing the cktimes project. Most of the people I've been meeting in my travels have been those very people who are trying to make a positive difference in their communities. People like Barry and Judy Puskas. These fine Wallaceburg folks were on a vacation in Mexico when they discovered children in need at a local orphanage. Well, they came back to Canada determined to make a difference and that's exactly what they've done. They've selflessly raised money and helped out those kids and made some lives better as the result. And it's not just the kids whose lives have been improved – it's also been Barry and Judy and everyone else who's helped in their fundraising efforts – all of those people have been made better people – that's how it works. One little act of kindness can go a long way. Remember, life may not be fair, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't struggle to try to make it fair. It's the least we can do.

Thanks for tuning into cktimes again this week. The number of visitors to the site continues to exceed my expectations and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I will continue to work hard to try to bring you a great local product that should help keep you in touch with the community around you.

Take care 'til next week.....and remember, "Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may.



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.