Hello everyone!
Issue four! I’m in the home stretch now. It has been quite a crazy weekend, but I’m quite excited for the 30th Anniversary Issue. We’ve got some pretty awesome history that we should all be proud of. I know I am. However, I am a bit biased on that point, so go check it out yourselves.
While putting the issue together we received some blurbs from the old Editors-in-Chief regarding the production week process. I found it hilarious that despite never having met any of these people, I find humour in the quirks that come with the responsibility of The Iron Warrior. I also found some pretty big changes. For example, it now takes significantly longer to put together an issue than it used to, the 12-hour time period stated by Gabriel Chan is no longer accurate. James Schofield’s feelings for the Letter from the Editor generally resonate quite well with my feelings towards the three columns I am now filling. However, every once in a while I have no problem filling the space. Reading John Olaveson’s comment about the couch in The Iron Warrior office makes me wonder if he is privy to some special knowledge that failed to transfer through the years. Yes, we still have a couch. With any luck, it’s not the one he was referring to. I hope that in ten or twenty years I’ll get an e-mail asking me to relive the past few months. It’s been a crazy, busy term, but a fun one for sure.
Now, in the past few months I’ve heard significant amount of buzz about discrimination, stereotypes and symbols or actions of support for minority groups. You’ve surely heard about the wear purple in memory of the LGBT youths who committed suicide. There are also many other cases where discrimination made front page news. There is the Montréal École Polytechnique Massacre that shook the Canadian headlines in 1989. I also recently watched a movie called School Ties which highlights discrimination based on unfair stereotypes. If you haven’t heard of any of these things at least look into the Maclean’s “Too Asian” article. It raises a good deal of discussion about the Asian population in Canadian universities. Now I agree with some points in the article, however, there are also many deviations from the stereotypes that the article is based on. I won’t elaborate on this point since there is another article in this issue that discusses the Maclean’s article, so go check it out.
I strongly disagree with discrimination to the point of causing depression, let alone suicide, as was recently the case for several LGBT teenagers. Some stereotypes are justified as cultural or religious differences, but taking them way out of proportion, and bullying and picking on someone doesn’t make sense. How would you identify the difference between someone who is homosexual to heterosexual? Beyond sexual preference, there are absolutely no physical differences there. Now I admit that if a guy started hitting on me and asked me out, I would feel incredibly awkward, but there would be no change in my opinion of him. I might avoid him for a while like I would a girl who expresses an unreciprocated interest in me. Are those two situations any different?
The École Polytechnique Massacre brought a whole new light to women in engineering in Canada. Is there a way to justify what happened that day? Fourteen dead women, ten injured women and four injured men. This was a result of a man who felt that he was wronged by feminists and that they were the cause of all his problems. His solution was to kill himself and make the world a better place by taking down some feminists along with him. Now maybe a feminist did wrong him, but that does not mean that all feminists are evil and out to get him.
The École Polytechnique Massacre comes up in my head every time someone questions the existence of clubs like Women in Engineering. I’ve heard many people make fun of this group, both men and women, as they do not understand the history behind the issue. However, I hope that people realize the severity of the history behind this and stop making fun of these organizations.
In the movie School Ties, a high school quarterback was scouted for a Catholic private high school football team. The school board recruited him as he would allow them to win their football game against their main competition. (Please note that this movie is set in a time and place where football was a huge deal.) The quarterback joined the school however he avoided telling anyone that he was Jewish. He fit in just fine with the rest of the guys. Then, all of a sudden, someone leaked the fact that he is Jewish and everything went sour for him. His girlfriend immediately started avoiding and ignoring him, his teammates no longer respected him and people started picking on him for his religion. I am not going to give away the end of the movie but it has a relatively positive ending. This is enough to illustrate the point. The teammates and classmates did not notice his so-called difference until it was pointed out. Would you notice the difference? What makes someone of a different religion or a different culture different? And does it really affect the relationship you have with them?
We all know it’s an issue, yet it remains so prevalent in our society. Why? Why can we not just accept our differences and take them as positive features of our Canadian culture. Now, I am not the most culturally aware person out there, but I do my best to learn and understand differences. I am proud to be Canadian and proud to be part of the mosaic we use as a symbol of our multiculturalism. My taste buds’ favourite part is the Canadian culture has got to be Cabane a Sucre, or Maple Toffee as you call it in English, or just maple syrup in general.
Enjoy your week!
Roy Lee
Leave a Reply