Hysteria Versus a Sober Analysis of the Facts.

Louis Shalako

The true ideologue is among the most ignorant of men, for he asks no questions, (although they do make a lot of statements), and needs no new information, and wouldn’t entertain an idea if it bit him on the ass. He already has all of his answers, provided to him in the most dichotomous terms, by his father’s dinner table conversation, at or about the age of nine years old.

They never forget, and they never learn anything new.

However, you and I can do better than that—


Freaking Out.


When people freak about Mr. Ford's slashing of proposed increases to ODSP/OW, one must bear in mind these were pre-election promises made by a doomed government.

There is no guarantee that they would have ever been implemented. At one time, the Liberals had proposed a massive shift, where welfare was eliminated and everyone would get, essentially, $749.00/month in subsistence. This would be four hundred less than ODSP clients were already getting, and in fact my own rent is more than that. So it remains to be seen just how far Mr. Ford will go, or how far he even can go, bearing in mind certain realities--e.g. the fact that my landlord is dependent on that disability cheque to the tune of $788.00/month. 

And I can assure you that the landlord is a conservative.

It is true, that I tweeted to former Premier, the Right Honourable Kathleen Wynne, seven or eight days before the election, that there was still time to raise ODSP and OW rates, in an act of simple justice. She admitted on the front page of many media outlets, the very next day, that they couldn’t win the provincial election. There was still some time, they had a majority, and yet they made no move to adopt the suggested changes.

#facts

Okay, read the second last line. Now recall, that I tweeted the new Premier the following question—this was just a few days ago: Doug, what sort of preliminary data were we getting back from the Basic Minimum Income project?

Now. Reading between lines, bearing in mind the Progressive Conservative ideology, it is an easy guess, that the program was fairly successful, in that outcomes were, in general, positive, and with at least some of the promised savings for taxpayers, even though the program took millions in funding. It has also only been going since early 2017—

The cynic in me says this is exactly the kind of information that PCs would prefer not to receive, as it contradicts their ideology, which is that work brings dignity, (more cynic), and the less it pays, the more dignity it brings. (On a dollar-for-dollar basis, this is true on some level. It is a level only ideologues and capitalists can understand, perhaps justify is a better word).

Mr. Ford is not going to pander to his critics, he has all the power. But he will, inevitably, pander to his base, no matter how ignorant and unsophisticated they may be.

Him too.

##Doug_Ford @FordNation #ODSP #OW #Louis

You guys know my attitude towards food banks, they are of course a national disgrace, and there are an estimated 1,000 of the fucking things here in Ontario. However, it is even possible that Canadian journalists also read my posts, and they're not exactly stupid. What they are, is thin on the ground, overworked and underfunded, and with the precarious nature of this particular calling at this particular time, not inclined to rock too many boats when advertisers are, for the most part, business advertisers—business big and small.

The other advertisers are the government, charities, (like fucking food banks and shit like that), as well as a few multinational corporations of a predatory nature.

Perspective: The Harris government slashed OW by 22.5 % back in 1995. Mr. Ford has slashed an increase by 50 %. The Liberals had promised three percent, for three years in a row, the Conservatives have left much doubt about the two years after this one. I don't like the man's policies, but if he follows my advice, we can still improve people's lives (I'm on ODSP) and still save a few taxpayer bucks. This is why I will be tweeting at him every day for the next 100 days.

If you have a concrete, specific suggestion, you can tweet the Premier, #Doug_Ford at @FordNation

No ineffectual do-gooders please.

Together, we can make a difference. Sure beats hysteria.

#hysteria

Doug, I totally agree with the Minister—social services is a patchwork, a mess, a fur-ball.

The question is what to do about it.

The thing is to do it right, with the minimum of pain and disruption to Ontario's most vulnerable citizens.

#Doug_Ford @FordNation #ODSP #OW #Louis

A simple test. If the preliminary data coming from the Province of Ontario's Basic Income pilot (now cancelled), was all-negative, then I have no doubt it would be quickly released by the government. If it was at all amenable to spin, then I suspect some spun version, shall we say more interpretive than hard numbers and facts, would be released at a somewhat later date—this allows them time to do the work of spinning it. But if it was mostly positive, or completely positive, the odds are the government, this government, would have no real incentive to release that data.

#analysis #tests #facts #honesty #interrogations

(Louis is always interrogating the system, ladies and gentlemen. – ed.)

On behalf of the taxpayers of Ontario, who paid for this study, I hereby call upon this government to release this preliminary data.

It will be interesting to see, if the Right Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of this fine province, can get the affected department, in the face of their own soon and imminent demise, to do the work of analysis and digestion of aforesaid data.

Honestly, if we could simplify this bullshit, it would free up a few hundred million for other projects, including poverty reduction. #snork #cynics

…and now you know how I really feel.

END

At the time of this writing, Louis has all kinds of books and stories available for free from Smashwords. He would hate to see anyone miss out—

Thank you for reading.

How to Spot an Ineffectual Do-Gooder. Louis Shalako.

Louis Shalako



How to Spot an Ineffectual Do-Gooder.


The ineffectual do-gooder’s preferred habitat is the front page of your local media outlet.


Their most distinguishing feature is that they are always ‘raising awareness’ of some significant topical issue, and a distinct absence of ideas of exactly what to do about it. They want to hold a candlelight vigil. More than anything, they want a pat on the back and reinforcement of the idea that they are good people, that they love Jesus and they’re just trying to do God’s work for Him, when in reality, these privileged, dull, unimaginative children of the middle class are just looking for a little publicity and a feeling that they are making a difference, when, really they are not—


If I was a Canadian journalist, confronted by yet another ineffectual do-gooder, ever so sincerely trying to raise awareness on the front page of my media outlet, I would have just one question for them:


“On this particular issue, if you could offer one single, concrete, and specific suggestion to address the situation, if you were given the power to take action, what would you do?”


< resounding silence>


“What’s the first thing you would tell the government to do. Right? They have the power to pass laws and fund programs, what would you suggest…? Right?”


<more silence>


And, ladies and gentlemen, if they don't have anything, then they don't get in my newspaper or other media outlet. That's because you're wasting all of our time. As a self-absorbed, egotistical little shit, this shocks you in some small way. But, as an example, 'the opoid crisis' is in the newspapers, on TV news and radio news, at least once a week.


How much fucking higher do you think we will have to 'raise awareness' of this issue, considering the idea or concept of the opioid crisis has well over a 95% 'penetration rate', in terms of public awareness. So, if you get that up to 98%, will something miraculously happen to solve the problem…??? Because that’s the impression I get. The power of positive thinking is useless without positive, by that I mean concrete, specific suggestions. Ideas. What exactly would you have us do? Go downtown and burn a candle on the riverbank with you? All that does is get us in the paper.


You honestly believe it will work—


You honestly believe that somebody, somewhere else—surely not the likes of you, will take concrete and specific actions to address the issue. As long as it’s not you—because you don’t have one, single fucking idea. Just feelings—hopes and dreams—thoughts and fucking prayers.


And you can't—or won't—answer that one either. It's okay, you're in good company. Canadian journalists can't answer it either. No, far better to raise awareness and have no ideas at all. At least that way you can’t fail. That’s because you can’t try. You have nothing to try—nothing at all.


#practical_suggestions #Canadian_journalism

Simply put, you're a bunch of fucking dummies.

A dummy is someone who doesn't have any ideas.

They’re fucking everywhere.

Are you aware, young man, that income levels are closely linked to outcomes in terms of mental health issues?

And that mainstream media and the middle class have forever inextricably linked mental health and addictions as being one and the same issue...??? #fuck_off

Have you ever wondered why they do that? You know, like slandering anyone who ever had a beer or smoked a joint as mentally-ill?

Oh, yeah, and then turning around and slandering anyone with a mental illness as an inveterate substance-abuser?

When the Establishment does that, government, CMHA, corporate media, it is an attempt to make an expensive problem look unsolvable. They’ll drib and drab with food banks, mental-health outreach programs, all of it underfunded because it’s hopeless anyway.

And they’ll never be out of a job, either.

And, if the middle-class, the taxpayers, (the rich, the big corporations, duck their fair share in a multitude of ways, and of course poor people are below the tax threshold on CRA tax tables), think it's a lost cause, why, then, they’re obviously not going to want to spend their tax dollars on it. They’d rather plunk it down on something that works, like roads, bridges and hospitals.

Those are more tangible—you can see them, and they seem real. The average middle class person has no expertise when it comes to solving poverty.

I’ll tell you this much: you have no ideas. No one is going to hand you a big pile of cash, not an effective amount of cash. Because it takes billions, year in and year out. Fifty or sixty grand, some grant money, (but you haven’t even got that far yet, that’s because you have no fucking ideas), buys you a storefront for a few months. It hires one entry-level professional just out of school, for about six months, and it buys a few pens, pencils, an ad in the local paper—who are only too happy to take the taxpayer’s money.

You're all talk and no cock, Boyo.

What impresses me most about you people is how little you know about the people you are ostensibly planning to help.

More.

“It’s difficult to validate, but we do believe that several deaths have been prevented since Naloxone or Narcan kits have become available,” he said.


Yeah, it's a lot like claiming success in suicide prevention, while at the same time, resisting all calls to track ODSP/OW suicide statistics. Because we all know what that would show. It would show that ODSP/OW clients are a high-risk group. They are at-risk. We all know it to be true, even though there are no stats—it is a self-evident truth.  


And we also know that the only solution is time, money, expense, trained people, working at effective programs. That money would have to come from somewhere, probably the taxpayers.


We can’t have that now, can we.


Ideas do not come from ineffectual do-gooders.


#fuck_off

Another one.



...would this, by any chance, have anything to do with the fact that ODSP clients are living thirty-five to forty percent below the poverty line?


Then why not fucking say so.


The funny thing is, he never will, and neither will local radio.


#fuck_off


St. Myles of Yappi.


What’s interesting about the more effectual do-gooders, such as St. Myles of Yappi, is that never, so long as they live, will they bring up the fact that ODSP clients are living thirty-five to forty percent below the poverty line, and that the landlord is taking seventy percent of their disability pension in rent.


Saint Myles will never call for a raise in ODSP/OW rates.

He will never call for a raise in the minimum wage, or rent controls, or an increase in allowable earnings for people on social assistance. In that sense, he is a stooge for the bourgeoisie. But then, they’re the ones donating all the tins of soup, which is of course in their best interest—they don’t want to see the situation coming down to class warfare.

***

Ultimately, an ineffectual do-gooder on the front page of the newspaper is just another damned suck-hole, looking for easy publicity, mostly for no reason at all.

End