September | 2018 | Eric Lahti

I just realized I managed to post absolutely nothing during the month of September. This isn’t because I hate September – I’m actually ambivalent about it – it’s because I’m lazy and didn’t really have anything interesting to say. Also, I figured I had more time. In my mind, it’s still mid-September, not almost October. Some would call that being behind the times, but I prefer to think of it as being fashionably late.

Then, of course, I get that monthly reminder from WATWB High Command, reminding me that there are things in the world that aren’t me and I have to suddenly fast-forward myself to the present day. Anyway, I’d apologize for missing the entire month of September, but let’s face it, this ain’t exactly the most hip-hop-happening blog in the world.

So, in the midst of all the wacky hijinks going on in the world these days, it’s good to see there’s still some stories out there that don’t suck or make you want to carve your brain out with an ice cream scoop.

I’ve always been a proponent of equality. In my eyes, either everyone is equal or everything we’ve built our societies on is a lie. Inequality of any kind chips away at the structure of society and the next thing we know, we’ve got tyrants running all over the land pointing at people and saying, “You know what, all those problems you have? It’s because of those guys over there.” Doubt me? Ask history about all the times equality has broken down and holocausts have happened.

That’s why, every time I see someone treat women as second-class citizens (this post was almost about FGM) or refuse to bake cakes for gay people and hide their bigotry behind religious freedom, I shudder a little. I’m not saying it’s a slippery slope to Nazi 2 – The Electric Boogaloo, but it ain’t exactly helping things, either.

It’s nice to see that not everyone is a bigoted fuckwad, though. For instance, there’s a church in Scarborough that has a digital sign out that’s controlled by a company that refused to post a gay-friendly message. St. Paul’ United Church terminated their contract over the fiasco. Another church in the area has also terminated their contract with the mobile sign provider after the sign provider refused to post a message that basically said “Be cool to your Muslim neighbors”.

Bad press and losing customers has got to sting.

So, it’s beginning to look like the best way to handle bigoted assholes is to stop giving them money. Don’t order the cake, don’t pay for the sign messages, and don’t give them your vote.

Check out the original article here.

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Our lovely and talented hosts this month are:
Eric Lahti, Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Sylvia Stein and Peter Nena

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And now, your moment of Zen.

The normal process for WATWB is to find a news story that shows off good people doing good things, talk about it a bit, and then hand you a link for more information. It’s a good way of doing things and supporting the little bit of good news that’s floating around out there, and it’s always nice to show that world isn’t populated entirely by complete dicks. Surprisingly, it’s not hard to come across something good during a normal week of perusing the news. Take, for instance, this picture of witches protesting racism.

Given the state of the world, you might think it’s a dicey proposition at best to find one positive news story a month, but it’s actually pretty easy. All too often we tend to perseverate on the negative stuff out there and ignore the good stuff, but all that does is harsh our collective mellows and give voice to the assholes of the world. Trust me, the assholes have enough of a voice as it is, don’t give them any help speaking louder.

For all the crazy, racist crap we’ve had this year, we’ve also seen counter-protests dwarf Nazi rallies, bad guys getting locked up, and all manner of folks helping out after the devastating Kerala floods. So, the world’s not all bad, it’s just a little tweaked right now and will eventually work itself out. We sometimes just need a little nudge in the right direction to remind us that it only looks like the world is going to Hell in a handbasket. With that in mind, I’ll remind you of two important things: 1). not everyone is a flaming asshole. Most people are actually pretty good if you give them a chance. And 2). There are still dogs in the world.

So, I’m not going to post a link to an uplifting story, you should be seeking those out on your own if you want to maintain your sanity. Instead, I’m going to show you what I get to come home to every night and remind you that there are plenty of dogs out there and they’re all pretty good critters to have around, even if one of mine is snoring on her chair right now.

So, share ’em up, folks. Drop some dog pics in the comments and brighten someone’s day. Also, I’d like to remind everyone, there are plenty of great dogs out there that needs homes, so check out your local animal shelter and find a furry friend who’ll always be happy see you. Doubly so if you have food.