Jason Najum's Blog, page 3
February 14, 2013
Cover your freakin mouth – a public service rant
I am wedged against the wall, face wincing, desperately looking for refuge. My head is lowered and my shoulders are hunched, contorting myself as much as humanly possible, trying to avoid the looming menace. My toes are curled, that’s how stressed this is making me. Nearly every fibre of my being is preoccupied with this lingering threat and I have had enough. Enough, I say.
You. Sitting there oblivious. You disgust me. I rank you among the lowest of society’s creatures, lower than the corrupt...
January 19, 2013
December 20, 2012
The Holiday Spirit
This article is featured in the Montreal Gazette opinion section, click here
The holiday season is upon us. Outside the temperature drops below zero and snow gathers on the ground. In the streets peoplebundleup and tuck their hands in their pockets. Festive music plays and red and white lights shine bright.
The days inch closer to the holidays, and plans are being made and schedules are being set. I’m replying to Christmas party invites. And going shopping for gifts. And organizing who I’ll vis...
November 22, 2012
True support for the Middle East conflict
Once more we return to where we once were.
“Israel has a right to defend itself” declare the supporters of Israel. “The Israelis are oppressing the Palestinian people” cry the supporters of the Palestinians. One side pointing fingers, the other pointing them right back. Over and over the same accusations anddefensesare repeated. It’s getting more than a bit old.
A spark ignites in the region, people on both sides lose their lives, their homes, their sense of security – and immediately thecheerl...
November 6, 2012
The U.S. presidential election: why we care
The election for President of the United States of America is upon us. Across Canadian airwaves, around dinner tables, and throughout our newspapers, the U.S. election has received not only wide coverage but often in-depth analysis. Thisreoccurringphenomenabegs a simple but elusive question – why do we care? Why, with so many pressing issues of our own, do we consistently turn so much of our attention to a political process that has next to nothing to do with us?
You could say that since the U...
September 11, 2012
9/11
September 11th. 9/11. Every year the same feelings return.
All around are the clear signs of what it is I should be feeling; but for me it is never that simple, is always a disturbing mix of conflicting emotions.
It’s part flashback. The surreal movie-like scenes. Me sitting at my desk as the 2nd tower collapsed. People caught in that unimaginable dilemma and jumping from a burning building.
Part remembrance. The emergency workers running towards the disaster and not from it. People frantically...
July 19, 2012
Going…going…gone? (TSN990 and what really matters)
How much is too much?
Does more always equal better?
Do we need to review our definition of value?
These are some of the questions that arise when I sit down long enough with the “big” questions. As you dig down beneath the surface of an issue, getting underneath the common arguments, reducing the points down to their purest form – you often end up with these sort of existential questions.
Problem is that when you’re dealing with an issue that is seemingly straightforward and black and white, the...
June 28, 2012
Ohh Canada
Like most young Canadians I know little of our past.
Sure I remember the Plains of Abraham, and Sir John A. Macdonald, and some other random bits from grade 10 history. But to be honest, that’s about it. (and I had to Wikipedia those to refresh my memory). I could give you a pretty decent summary of the major events of WWII, yet know next to nothing of the role our country played. I have spent countless hours watching and reading about America’s Revolutionary War but have no idea how our own n...
June 21, 2012
I used to love her, but I had to kill her (lament for American politics)
For a long time I was addicted.
It started with CNN. Was sorta like training wheels, an “Intro to Cable News” 100-level beginner’s course that covered all the basics without getting too specific. The major subjects were there, always with the right graphics and flashing lights, but after a few years the Best Political Team On Television justwouldn’tcut it anymore. The waving flags and constant Breaking News exaggerations began to lose theirluster. I kept going back for more and kept leaving di...
June 14, 2012
Quebec student protests – take the detour and be thankful
Tolerate the road closures and delays to your schedule. Endure the demonstrations and banging of pots. See past the muddled message and unfocused anger.
Because there is something very important behind these never-ending protests, something that is getting lost in all this right or wrong, us vs them.
The same thing happened during the Occupy protests. Hundreds of thousands in cities around the globe committing themselves to weeks out in the cold in order to say, out loud and to the world, that...
