Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 1, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor John 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press a 7 fear mongering Over fascism 1find myself writing in response to the article America moves to wards fascism by William Nev Ille free May though it is it is perplexing How Neville could write so much in regard to americas alleged Drift towards fascism and yet say so a weak attempt to find a causal Factor for the recent tragedy in Oklahoma City leads Neville to halfheartedly posit that somehow righting radio talk show the National Rifle Assoc a religious presidential hopeful Pat and ultimately americas patriotism Are re individual culpability never enters the conveniently absent is the fact that All those Neville credits with responsibility condemned and denounced the criminal and cowardly terrorist even More convenient was the absence of remarking that the same society that is credited with producing the criminal lunatics who committed the deed also produced the police the fire the medic and the bystander who All rushed and risked their lives to save a neighbor in one cannot help but deduce that Nevilles Story finds its roots in last novembers elections which ush ered in a Republican majority in both the House and the Pace of change and debate has left the de fenders of the status quo with Little to contribute to the ongoing discus Sions focused on empowering individuals rather that i recently read that shrillness serves As a cover for emptiness in constructive alternatives in Public the same article noted if you cant argue from Circum argue from if you cant do condemn the nothing could More aptly apply to William Nevilles he offers nothing to Public discourse but criticism through i wont mention that his free handed use of the circumstances that led to nazi Germany demeans the significance and lessons of the Dennis Guy Desrochers Winnipeg aboriginals left out we had the Opportunity to attend the Royal assent tour at Swan River on May we would like to comment on the organization of the Royal tour which we found interest ing until the last few it was very disturbing when the introductions took place and the aboriginal people on the tour were completely left they we rent recognized but were expected to perform their Token the music ended Leav ing the hoop dancer with four to six hoops on the floor to Complete his someone made a grave error writing the the aboriginal people were the first inhabitants of this province and be recognized As an important part of our there was some Effort on area organizer Gordon Cowans part to Cor rect the the damage had been and those of us standing near the podium had Al ready Felt the racism and Doree Genaille Swan River a blot on society education for aboriginal children at the hands of govern ment and Public school divisions has been a dismal a blot on so called civilized have a look at the records of the thousands of Indian children who have been enrolled in those schools and count the number of you need a computer to do the these educational past or could not use that record As a recommendation for future rational education performance Indian affairs has paid the High tuition and capital costs for years without hand in a Bill and receive a on the other hand first nations Are resourced by a formula not on education but on Federal budget one for indians and one for non racial now when Indian people Are just beginning to take control of their own lives in education and perform in a More sensible and productive the Powers that be and the self serving unions trample on these i can Only conclude that this whole scene is simply indicative of society historical or Lack of where the lives of Indian Chil Dren might matter to Thomas pegu is to the editor the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters maybe edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at . Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone senseless slashing cheats students the Filmon government maintains the Quality of education in Manitoba will not be adversely affected by cuts in recent events in the Norwood school Divi Sion indicate the Norwood school division has announced the Layoff of More than 50 per cent of teaching this Cut can be attributed directly to the senseless slashing of funding by the Filmon the role of the teaching assistant in the modern school is Indi Spens if we believe that All students Are entitled to be educated in the least restrictive sup port personnel must be in due to reductions in government several students who required a full time teaching Assis Tant this year will have no support next this is not this is teachers in Norwood will be in capable of delivering the same Standard of education for All of their the new direction of Manitoba education is straight Back to the exclusionary practices of the 1950s As opposed to the inclusion of All students in present Day slashing teaching assistants cuts away not the excessive but part of the muscle and Bone of today teachers and remaining teach ing assistants will continue to strive together to provide the Fin est education their difficult task has been made that much More so by the misplaced spending priorities and Lack of vision of the Filmon Winnipeg read your own already How ironic an Antigua control column by Fred Cleverley just be Low a pro gun control cartoon from the Regina was the layout person trying to support the Antigua control lobby the monster militia and the Large Type threatening a police state Are the most prominent Fea Tures on the perhaps the Lay out person and Fred Cleverley should have read the front Page Story of the wounded pizza delivery Man before the editorial Page was sent to Winnipeg against layoffs i am against laying off teachers and eliminating if Manito bans Felt As strongly about Educa Tion As they do about saving the we would have an excellent Educa Tion we need to get our priorities with technology changing As rapidly As it we should be strengthening our educational Stan Dards to keep up with the constantly advancing the government is laying off desperately needed teachers and forcing the teachers left to work twice As hard to control the overcrowded class leaving less time for teach ers to teach the needed this Lowers there Are children in other coun such As who can read before our children even enter Kin unless the people of Manitoba Start demanding better educational All we Are go ing to have left in Manitoba is a great hockey Robin Ochocki Winnipeg the wired world of the so Channel universe raises serious questions on How to control the dark forces already emerging to computer meld poses toxic Nightmare by Stephen Phelps special to the free press the so called 500channel universe has vide philes chomping at the its promised payload is a pressure Hose of delights straining at the ready to a year or two in wired viewers Are already scrambling to re accessorize their entertainment cocoons for the anticipated some of us Are even thinking of adding 10 grand to the just to get our mitts on that monster state theart screen with 600line Resolution and full surround better to trap the of not everyone is going ape at the Prospect of bulk for broadcasters and their the imminence of boo tube overkill is proving an incredible for More than a year the relevant regulators and politicians been struggling to get a jump on the expected its been a rather intensive from ongoing initiatives such As the Federal advisory committee on the information Highway to a major review of new broadcast technology by the Canadian radio television and telecommunications rarely has one sector received so much for that promised More disappointment but what a bust the discussions have what a fluent and voluble on the minutiae of this movable Congress on convergence has been woefully inarticulate on the big most of the talk has settled on the mundane ties of Market share and As the big Telephone and step up the shoving match for dominance in the new wired equally deflating is the Way the same discussions have been playing Pitt Pat with the idea of no less than Ottawa own competitions Bureau is telling anyone who will listen that airwave governance in this age of satellite Bounce is a waste of its a sentiment shared by dizzy at the Prospect of limitless and the savings to flow from Price and Channel More and More Consumers Are calling for a neutered meaning an end to the crts ability to Muddy the airstream with those Damnable Content these Are valid debating Points least in terms of the status but surely there behind the curve on the real after broadcasting As we know it is in the midst of a millennial an upheaval unmatched since analogue to first emerged from the electronic just look at the changes to in Little More than a weve gone from free Over air to to use pay shelling out for specific to pay preview paying for individual a la carte and now with the imminence of High capacity computer networks designed to Zap a la carte selections through Fibre optic Cable at Warp were looking at full bore an arrangement in a few should enable us to queue up our entire viewing Day just like the program jockeys at network but this is Only the a Mere Warmup for that next great turn in the technological gyre when the to and computer finally become this is when Cable to architecture and online computer services effectively turning our beloved idiot Box into that interactive Portal of Sci i the mythical some estimates suggest this seminal event May be As Little As five years Down the at the what it Means ultimately is that every video Cadet with a camcorder and a Little promotional juice will be setting up shop As a production studio and to and broadcasting to All the particulars May be a Little but tomorrows audiences can count on a television scene overrun by a babbling Tower of Niche ferment not unlike the that phenom of a computer network linking some 30 million users heres the As a template for the next big television the As its is sending out some rather scary signals about tomorrows built and ruled by hackers and operating on a level giddily oblivious to the All its anarchic proving a rather Fertile bed for the growth of All across its Brilliant the sickos have been popping up like Springs on a bad rancid righting malevolent smut you name for concerned their presence represents an electro Jab of future an alarming foretaste of the kind of Poison we can expect when to and online computer technology finally tie the the interface of these two technologies threatens to pry open multiple doors on a rather frightening a roman circus of vile spectacle that going tomake the worst of pre digital to look like Cream How bad exactly think of unsupervised you guns zoning out on the rollicking antics of an adult group on something like the participatory smut teenagers tuning into a White supremacist round table on some skinhead version of militant Hothead tapping into the survivalist Channel for the latest dope on homemade pipe or think of sexual deviants incited to pawing fury by crude torture flicks produced and aired out of some the mind but the essence of this Nightmare is substantially there in existing to say that tomorrows television audiences face an environment requiring some hard scrutiny is an this is the biggest Challenge confronting government and Consumers today working up a regulatory Model that anticipates the impending officialdom has already confessed itself at a loss in terms of controlling the excesses on our fledgling internet just wait until the grand fusion with the same technology that has made coleslaw of our copyright our obscenity and hate should have a Field Day with our broadcast in Light of this looming the predominant Tizzy Over Competition protocols seems a bit its especially unsettling to think of Ottawa turning the crts Over to the mobs for were verging on an Era whose lawlessness stands to make a Strong Case for some sort of tomorrows regulator May have to Don some intimidating new for we May need the services of an aggressive someone to ensure Access for All Points of View in the information or something like a consumer Point Man to prevent ruthless operators from tapping our interconnected systems for the kind of Saleable information advertisers would probably kill for medical buying travel habits the Cable that brings information into your Home can also carry information we May need the services of a Caber an online sentry if you to run spot checks on the traffic to discourage the nastier the merely lurid and but the downright shudder any Way you Cut the Miracle of convergence posits a stiff makeover for our the kind of overhaul that would Send a shudder Down the spine of your average civil there Are weighty social and constitutional matters to consider in the evolving next to the matter of a Competition blueprint for the existing carriers suddenly maybe Surprise us our conclave on the merging digital but As things the main actors Are looking More and More like the Lead characters in one of Chekhov Fin de russian aristocratic holdouts ensconced in their country estates while the world around them heaves toward there they lords of Cable and and their ministering fussing Over a so Channel addition to the when theres a zillion More massing out there in cyberspace ready to uncork total its the Romanov fiasco All Over Stephen Phelps writes on cultural doonesbury by Garry Trudeau to fat White House Gramm Hap a won Wung Caus from ;