Current Events: What in the World is Happening?

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Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. I hold no designations in politics, economics or medicine. I am retired from the mental health field and I am a humanitarian and speak from that viewpoint only. Whether you agree or not, at least I hope it makes you think. Today I look at some of the latest social media scandals. Honestly, they were so out of this world that I wonder if they aren’t fake…and still wonder…even though I found them on various news agencies. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!

My first shock was that Lisa LaFlamme was let go from CTV and apparently under strange circumstances. https://globalnews.ca/news/9061227/li... and now the finger pointing commences with everything from dirty laundry from CTV brass, to bad work environment with the complaints going both ways to simple cost cutting. Now, the predictable we must look into the case so it isn’t repeated stage comes https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/.... No matter what the cause, she did have an audience who appreciated her integrity as a newswoman. I honestly couldn’t believe it when I saw it and looked it up multiple times because I thought it was some kind of fake news. However, at the same time, I’ve seen time and again that if someone dares to open their mouth in a company or not agree with something, when it comes to the chopping block and the all holy dollar, well…we know who is gone. It seems nowadays the work world definition of company loyalty might be just that. Be loyal to the company end of story. The rest is immaterial. Some people aren’t able to cheapen themselves for a dollar. Some people want the world to be a better place. Some people tend to be honest. I believe they are most often called unemployed though it is not the case for all unemployed, of course. Is this the case with Ms. LaFlamme? Was it a case of sexism or ageism? Was it a case of egos? I guess time and the ever evolving social media, and news will tell.

The next case that totally took my breath away. I still am not sure it isn’t fake news of some sort. It doesn’t make sense and I have looked it up multiple times. I tried over and over with the words fake news to try to find something that said it wasn’t the case. I can’t. More offensive, though, is some news media are using pictures of Wayne Gretzky and Joey Moss together in their scandalous story. That broke my heart. He had a good career because of Wayne Gretzky. I don’t think anyone in Canada wants to think of Wayne Gretzky, the Great One to a lot of Hockey fans, as being involved with something questionable. https://nypost.com/2022/08/16/wayne-g.... Is this a case of someone looking to make a buck off the Great One? Does it have substance? Nothing seems to appear from the Great One with regard to this lawsuit as of yet. Is it frivolous? Does it have merit? Is there someone going to be facing a huge defamation law suit at the other end of this? Again only time will tell. To me it is kind of low to drag the deceased Joey Moss into the middle of it. He didn’t hurt anyone and he certainly didn’t advertise the gum. You see, Joey Moss showed the world that he could do a job and do a good job of it. He showed people that a disability didn’t mean inability. So, dragging Joey Moss into this is a slap in the face to the people with disabilities trying to make a living and grow and learn. Stop doing that. It isn’t his job to whitewash stuff or to do whatever sick twisted thing people want to make of this strange and weird scandal. I hope that it turns out that there is nothing seedy about the whole thing and someone is just taking advantage of Mr. Gretzky’s name. Sadly one never knows in this topsy turvy world.

I think that sometimes in celebrity and politics and other larger institutions, the lines become blurred so easily. People can get themselves in trouble. Just because one is a celebrity, it doesn’t mean that they are great at business. It also doesn’t mean that they are equipped to make informed choices in all things. Some are, but some are just as likely to surround themselves with good and valuable advisors who keep them from making blunders that, can result in law suits, and ruin their lives.

I found a quote that I think is good. As Bruce Willis has said, “I've always had confidence. Before I was famous, that confidence got me into trouble. After I got famous, it just got me into more trouble.” This is the double edged sword that is celebrity. For example, if there is someone doing something who is an average person, they might be disciplined. If they mess up, if they do something wrong, there may be a bit of scandal, but it is soon over or it goes to the legal system and, unless completely traumatizing to a large group, it is forgotten. If traumatizing, it resurfaces and there is an enquiry into it. On the other hand, when someone in a position of any sort of power makes a mistake or does something they should never have done, this hits the media. People are interested in what it is that they did, why they did it, and is it really terrible? People become polarized. It makes a huge splash in the media circus that is social media. But, even in these cases, it either goes to court or not and eventually it goes the same way as other scandals. It either resolves or it doesn’t. Eventually, for the ‘famous’ it goes on the list of “do remember when”… or “Do you remember so and so who did…” They become a cautionary tale of sorts. Not the kind of celebrity anyone wants to have.

As Fernando Pessoa is credited with saying, “Every man who deserves to be famous knows it is not worth the trouble.” I can see where this idea comes from. Even well-loved celebrities, like Wayne Gretzky can fall victim to the wiles of the celebrity life. Just a small town Canadian boy with talent who made it to the big hockey leagues. Will he be just another cautionary tale? Will he make a counter-suit for defamation? Is the whole thing just going to boil over? Is it worth his time to even consider this whole thing? It’s always confusing and hard to say. I guess time will tell. It truly is sad for this Canadian to see this sort of thing blowing up. When you see a celebrity that made good from little old Canada and then see them blown all over the internet for something that they suggest could be dishonest, it’s heart breaking. It’s downright Un-Canadian. For people outside of Canada to misuse pictures of a man whom Gretzky had given his big break in hockey, that is also heart breaking. In some ways, I feel bad for feeling glad that his protégé didn’t live to see his benefactor be dragged into the mud. Then I made a mistake of reading an ingredient and checking it out. https://brobible.com/sports/article/w... states that apparently one ingredient in this gum is ‘Garcinia Cambogia’ which can be, according to the National Library of Medicine, dangerous for the liver. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... . I’m not familiar with the product but the article makes it somewhat concerning for those partaking. For some reason, the more I delve into this, the worse it looks. I think I’m going to just step back on looking further into the situation as it just feels worse and worse.

So, my simple look up of an ingredient led me (assuming the article is true and accurate) to finding out that it is part of the ever money making ‘supplement’ arena. I have opened a whole other kettle of fish on this. First, on supplements, there is no standardization as of yet and those who try to sell it are always on the look out to make sure that it does not happen. Citing freedom and cost increase among other arguments. You see, standardization would mean having to have certain amount of ingredients and follow some other procedures that might make them cost more, but also help create more informed usage. The supplement you buy would have to say how much of the ingredient is in it and actually have it. People aren’t going to stop using them…because there is always someone telling them this one or that one is good. They make extravagant promises for its use. Being standardized might put some reigning in on them. So, there is no way of knowing what you are taking or how much as they have done work on that and found it differed between brands etc. There is an ever existing market of people trying to sell one on the latest ‘miracle cures’. Is it a ‘miracle cure’? In the case of Garcinia Cambogia, then there is question of it being a ‘miracle cure’ (see the National Library of Medicine article on it above). Another problem we find is that people think it is all natural so it is safe. This is not necessarily the case. People generally think that it means it is safe. It does not necessarily make it totally safe. However, at the same time there are people who are studying the various ‘miracle cures’. Sadly, in the case of this ‘miracle cure’, it has potentially dangerous side effects and there is little research on what is safe and what isn’t. Just because it is natural doesn’t mean it is safer than medication or doctor intervention. I often say, hemlock is all natural, it doesn’t make it safe. I used to add, ask Socrates, but apparently that has currently come into question…they think it wasn’t hemlock that he drank history is an ever changing landscape as we test the veracity of its statements (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19240...). Apparently, historians have started to say otherwise; that it might have been propaganda. So, I just stick with hemlock is all natural, but I wouldn’t recommend you drink it…it’s still a proven poison. So, this triggers yet another of my pet peeves blasé attitudes toward natural alternatives. People who are desperate to lose weight, in the example discussed here with the gum, are taking stuff without fully understanding the nature of the supplement. Even a cursory look at the Mayo clinic mentions liver issues with some diet supplements https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-li... . Some think it is natural and so they try to sell people on it. It’s not just this one. There are many different ones that all have potential for side effects and some can cause problems for a developing fetus. Further there are people that think if a little is good a lot is better. I’ve had members of the family rushed to hospital because this was a good cure for X. Certainly they thought it was, they were convinced X would not allow the issue to continue to happen. However, falling on your face and being brought to emergency is also not the cure you want and it is doubtful if it helped the condition in question. Please, with regard to supplements, ask your pharmacist or check official sites like the Mayo clinic who will tell you the good, the bad and what information they have for potential side effects and unwanted affects. Some supplements also don’t play well with others and don’t mix well with some medications. Don’t rely on Facebook as your research tool with supplements. I always say that supplements are the precursors to our current medications. They need to be respected just as medications are respected.

So, what have we learned from these things? First Celebrity is not something that makes one immune to the vicissitudes of life. It doesn’t make you immune from things going wrong. It doesn’t make you immune from poor endings nor from making poor choices. It doesn’t make them immune from having a bad workplace. All it does is makes you money, gives you photo opportunities…which is part of the job for a lot of celebrity at least at certain functions. If you fall, you fall further and potentially harder. People sit and wait for you to make a mistake to catch the drama. Everyone knows who you are which can make going out anywhere difficult. It’s not an easy life. Though many try to attain it, few succeed. This is one of those situations where it is always good to have a backup plan or to have a secondary career choice.

I have to admit that watching the news and other stuff online especially lately, makes me feel that I’m happy enough that I’m a poor little nobody in the middle of Atlantic Canada. I can be honest. People who don’t like it don’t have to follow me. People who dislike me can block me. The Government, whether or not they like it has someone that will give them honest feedback and they don’t pay for it…because why would they? I sometimes say some things they don’t want to hear all that much. I can try to improve the location where I live and perhaps entertain some with my pictures, writing, blogs and podcasts which I hope gives back to the area that I live in. Generally, I think it is very important, whether or not people appreciate it, to present honest thoughts and honest actions. To back up what you say. If we want a better world, then we have to be better people. If we want to move ahead, then we have to be willing to look at where we are, where we’ve been, what is wrong and what needs changing. Most importantly, we have to be willing to make the changes. If we are not honest about ourselves, then how can we be honest with others? If we are being endangered, then we need to consider where we need to be and do we need to change something. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope it makes you think.

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