[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[crazy canuck]

Also, CC, the situation is much to my chagrin as I've always been somewhat nervous of making mistakes in other languages and would love if there were places here where I had know other option and had to ignore my fears.

Meh, I make all kinds of mistakes when I am travelling.  People seem to think it is charming rather than offensive.

[garbon]

Virtually everyone here communicates in one language. English.

I also specified here as it certainly has been useful, even knowing the small bits I know of French and German, when elsewhere.

If you want to life your life according to what goes on Languish fill your boots but I would also say that is not advisable.

By "here", I mean in the US.

[garbon]

Also, CC, the situation is much to my chagrin as I've always been somewhat nervous of making mistakes in other languages and would love if there were places here where I had know other option and had to ignore my fears.

Meh, I make all kinds of mistakes when I am travelling.  People seem to think it is charming rather than offensive.

That's wonderful. I am not so uninhibited which is my personal failing.

[Malthus]

The CRTC has ruled that three channels offering porn are not providing enough "Canadian content".

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/05/your-porn-is-not-canadian-enough-crtc-warns-erotica-channels/

Jacob, I think already brought this important news to our attention in another thread.

News of this signifcance cannot be confined to only one thread.

[crazy canuck]

Also, CC, the situation is much to my chagrin as I've always been somewhat nervous of making mistakes in other languages and would love if there were places here where I had know other option and had to ignore my fears.

Meh, I make all kinds of mistakes when I am travelling.  People seem to think it is charming rather than offensive.

That's wonderful. I am not so uninhibited which is my personal failing.

Well, I also normally have the benefit of having someone from my family, who are all much more fluent than I, to bail me out if I get into too much difficulty.

[Jacob]

That's wonderful. I am not so uninhibited which is my personal failing.

I used to feel like that as well. I've found that as I get older, I'm less concerned about looking ridiculous.

In general, if you go at it with a smile, a friendly attitude, and an acceptance that you're fucking up and probably looking silly but you just don't care, people will react positively like 99% of the time. And if they don't, well you know, fuck 'em.

I speak a bit of Japanese, a bit of Spanish, and bit of French, and I've gotten along splendidly in countries with those languages with the above attitude and a simple phrase book. I'm working on Chinese too. It's actually pretty fun.

[crazy canuck]

The CRTC has ruled that three channels offering porn are not providing enough "Canadian content".

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/05/your-porn-is-not-canadian-enough-crtc-warns-erotica-channels/

Jacob, I think already brought this important news to our attention in another thread.

News of this signifcance cannot be confined to only one thread.

I like this piece on it in the Globe

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/kate-taylor-crtcs-porn-channel-move-highlights-serious-questions-about-broadcasting-rules/article17342047/

....

It's yet more ammunition for those who mock the CRTC and question why it needs to even exist. You could say the regulator brought this one on itself when it decided to license porn channels a decade ago, and required them to contribute to Canadian broadcasting the same way every licensee does. But the sheer silliness of requiring Canadian content in adult movies isn't merely a dirty joke at the CRTC's expense: It exposes serious questions about the effectiveness of the regulatory system.

They say tough cases don't make good law, and making the case that pornography contributes to Canadian broadcasting is certainly a tough one. If Canadian content regulations are merely in place to nurture a financially healthy industry – which is one of the objectives of the Broadcasting Act – then you could argue that a porn shoot hires lighting technicians and camera operators just like any other TV production and, hey, jobs are jobs.

But in a land awash in American programming, Canadian content regulations have a larger purpose, to reserve some portion of cultural space for domestic product so that Canadians occasionally see Canada and Canadians on TV. Adult movies may be culture in the broadest definition of the term, but they don't have much redeeming social value. Unlike sitcoms or dramas, which are potentially filled with meaning that contributes to a social conversation, porn is a generic product whose national origins are as unimportant as those of a light bulb or a vibrator.

Beyond that, however, lies a nastier question about all Canadian broadcasting: How effectively can you ever compel commercial interests to advance public policy objectives? Lots of anodyne specialty channels featuring comedy, cooking and cartoons as well as the main commercial networks themselves have to meet more onerous programming requirements than the AOV trio and it is often not in their best business interests to do so. Depending on their niche, they can usually buy American content more cheaply than they can produce Canadian, and they rarely show much enthusiasm for their obligations, squirming around the regulations in one inventive way or another. Commercial Canadian broadcaster is something of an oxymoron; one of the reasons Canada needs a powerful public broadcaster is so that at least one institution can operate free of that contradiction and dedicate itself to Canadian programming.

As for the pornographers, it's probably just easier to charge them higher licence fees than to bother counting Canadian crotch shots.

[Jacob]

I guess it presupposes that the nurturing and blossoming of the Canadian porn industry is not a good in and of itself, eh?

[crazy canuck]

 

[Josephus]

I read either in that article or another that Montreal's porn industry is third in the world behind L.A. and Amsterdam.

[Jacob]

I read either in that article or another that Montreal's porn industry is third in the world behind L.A. and Amsterdam.

Wouldn't be surprised. We've got a bit of it going here in Vancouver as well.

[viper37]

As it is right now I dont know anywhere in the world where it would be advisable to live your life knowing only one language. 

Most Canadians only speak one language.

But if you were to restrict yourself in that way the language anyone in the world would probably choose is English.

You make it sound like it's a practical choice, made purely for financial considerations.

[viper37]

About the porn, that's just as silly as the rest of Canadian content requirements for channel.  If Canadians are proud of their culture, they'll ask for their own programming.

[Grey Fox]

About the porn, that's just as silly as the rest of Canadian content requirements for channel.  If Canadians are proud of their culture, they'll ask for their own programming.

   


*sigh*

[crazy canuck]

As it is right now I dont know anywhere in the world where it would be advisable to live your life knowing only one language. 

Most Canadians only speak one language.

But if you were to restrict yourself in that way the language anyone in the world would probably choose is English.

You make it sound like it's a practical choice, made purely for financial considerations.

First, just because most people do something does not make it advisable.

Second, you sound surprised that English is the most obvious practical choice.  Its not just for financial reasons.  If I had to choose only one Language to speak, I can optimize my chances of communicating with the largest number of people with whom I might with to interact by speaking English.