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The fact that she looked at notes on her hand isn’t the issue; it’s that she was even there in the first place. Sarah Palin’s appearance at the National Tea Party Convention this past weekend has already spawned a flurry of discussion, mostly focusing on the fact that she looked down at one point at a few notes scribbled on her palm. But who cares about that?

At the Guardian’s Comment is Free, Lola Adesioye wondered, “I don’t know if Palin is in it for the people or the publicity. But if there’s one thing you can be sure of, it’s that when opportunity knocks, Sarah Palin goes running. Is this the type of future “leadership” that America wants or needs?”

Presumably, what some of America wants is Sarah Palin, and perhaps she’s what America needs as well. After all, she’s the embodiment of a cultural mythology that refuses to die, and it seems that for a lot of people this is very comforting. Even though most Americans haven’t been a state governor, a vice-presidential candidate, or a commentator for Fox News, her image as “one of us” remains intact because of our culture that forever urges us to expound our own personal greatness to the world. continue »

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There will be protests. That much, at least, is for sure. When the Winter Olympics begin this Friday in Vancouver, they will be unwelcomed by a visible and vocal percentage of the population who have been waiting for this opportunity as much as any of the athletes. And like those in other western democracies who’ve witnessed the disruption of a high-profile event, Canadian authorities are already attempting to control the situation. But how exactly can they do that? And should they?

The buildup to the Vancouver Games has been as much about the protests as it has almost anything else. With every positive story about the Games, there was a negative one that followed, and as the cost of the Olympics has begun to take shape (both monetarily and socially), the opposition has gained momentum. Much of it has grown online, and because of that, the anti-Olympic movement long ago ceased to be simply a Vancouver-based issue. continue »

Image by stu_spivack via Flickr

The latest online attack on Prime Minister Stephen Harper has begun, and it’s from an unlikely source: an onion ring. The Facebook group “Can this Onion Ring get more fans than Stephen Harper?” is now home to over 70,000 members and growing quickly. Its page has become another forum of Harper hatred, with a few people stating that they’d prefer to vote for an onion ring any day rather than Harper. So, the contribution to the national political conversation is clearly going in the right direction…

Anyway, the group is already receiving a bit of media attention here, with CanWest News publishing onion ring-related stories in some of its major daily papers. From the Vancouver Sun:

With hundreds of members joining each minute, the group surpassed the prime minister’s fan count in just two days, garnering more than 63,000 fans by Friday afternoon — which is more than double Harper’s 30,074 fans.

Of course, its rising-star status on social networking websites is not a valid measuring stick for the prime minister’s political popularity.

Well, obviously.

In fact, despite his dip in popularity after proroguing Parliament in late December, it still appears as though Harper will survive. And until either Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff or NDP leader Jack Layton can make a concerted effort to re-frame the Tory-constructed political narrative in the next few weeks – or until one of them turns into an onion ring – Canadians will most likely be apathetically content to stick with Harper post-Olympics. But let’s hope it’s not as predictable as that.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

So why is it, a recent BBC article asked, that people don’t vote for their interests? For much of the developed world, that very question has been asked again and again in the last year as the U.S. has entrenched itself in the quagmire of the health care reform debate. Why, as the BBC asks “are so many American voters enraged by attempts to change a horribly inefficient system that leaves them with premiums they often cannot afford?”

Good question. How is it that those opposed to health care reform have been so successful in convincing people who need it that they don’t? According to George Lakoff, cognitive scientist and author of The Political Mind, it’s all about narratives. In essence, Lakoff argues, the right is more adept at taking advantage of constructed narratives and forcing their opposition to argue not, say, for their own position, but for their position within that narrative. He argues that if reason (in the way it was conceived during the Enlightenment) is literal and based on the “rational structure of reality,” then it

…[C]annot recognize conservative language and concepts at their face value. If conservatives say there is a ‘war on terror,’ those following the neoliberal mode of thought will repeat ‘war on terror’ and argue within the conservative frame. They may argue against conservative policy, but if they stay within the frame, they are activating and reinforcing the frame rather than challenging it and replacing it.

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According to Facebook profile pictures, I’m now friends with David Boreanaz, Kerri Russell, and a pre-nose job Ashlee Simpson, because finding a celebrity who looks like you and posting it as your profile picture is the New Thing on the social networking site. For some reason. Probably because people are bored at work. Or at home. Or just with life in general.

I refused to play along for a while, convincing myself that Facebook is for a photo of you, not a confusing picture of a celebrity in your place. I see enough celebrities during my daily internet perusal – I don’t need them smiling at me, secretly trying to steal my identity while I’m messaging my friends. I can represent myself, thanks. But part of my reluctance to join in has also been because I know that the celebrity I most resemble isn’t a cool one. In fact, he’s barely a celebrity at all. He’s this guy: continue »