Media for the Masses

We don’t care if our leaders are strong – we only want them to look it

By Andrew Cash

With the financial crisis deepening day by day, the pundits are finally framing the election as “Who will be the best leader in a disintegrating economy?”

But I’m doubtful that’s what the discourse is really about. More likely, the real question is: “Who has the best look of leadership?”

Stéphane Dion appears sincere, emotional but ineffectual; Stephen Harper avuncular, measured but oblivious. And Jack Layton? He looks like he’s going to run a half-marathon as soon as he finishes the interview.

So what do we want in a leader anyway?

According to former Jean Chretien strategist Warren Kinsella, “Leadership hinges on portraying strength, certainty and the sense that this leader is someone who is like you. It boils down to 70 per cent appearance, 10 per cent what you actually say and 20 per cent how you say it.”

Generally, experts say the public prefers candidates who broadcast steadfastness but stay cool. “Usually, those who show a lot of emotion tend not to get elected,” says Harold Simpkins, a marketing prof at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business in Montreal.

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Locked and Loaded

Special report: banning handguns in Canada

By Andrew Cash

Cons shooting holes in global gun-control efforts
If you’re wondering whether you’ve missed any gun talk thus far in the federal election, don’t worry. Not a single rhetorical shot’s been fired – yet.

One reason the issue is taking its time is that the Tories have put a muzzle on their gun-loving supporters in hopes of wooing urban voters with a piano-playing, cardiganed teddy bear.

But in rural areas, these Reformers in Tory blue continue to play the gun card, fanning the still seething flames of anger over the Liberal gun registry.

In one Tory election mail-out to the rural Ontario riding of Leeds-Grenville, a friendly-looking farmer is pictured beside the headline “Gun criminal, hmmmm not likely.” The flyer goes on to promise the scrapping of the long gun registry.

This urban-rural mixed message parallels yet another of the Tories’ duelling hypotheses – that it’s possible to crack down on crime and still allow the amassing of private firearms.

They may be law-and-order freaks, but that hasn’t stopped the Stephen Harper government from letting legal laggards off the hook with a general amnesty for anyone whose gun licence has lapsed, thus leaving hundreds of thousands of guns unlicensed and making the registry less accurate.

But there’s such a stockpile of Tory weapon-control transgressions.

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Conversations Under Bridges at the Rivoli, Toronto

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Guns and Kids and a Couple of Benefit Shows

Guns gotta go folks. It’s that simple. I’m for an all out, global ban on the things (though I’m tempted to relax my stance slightly if they were permitted to be used in the service of protecting one’s garbage containers from scavenging and massively over sized raccoons). But whether you agree with me or not few can argue that if used as intended someone’s going to get hurt, likely seriously. Right? I think even Charlton Heston (RIP) would have agreed. But the bogus claim that guns simply protect the good guys from the bad dudes is underscored by the work of two very different groups for whom I am participating in benefit concerts this week and next.

This Thursday May 1 I’ll be at Mitzi’s Sister 1554 Queen West in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto as part of a fund raiser for Soul2Soul, a small inner city program that helps kids who have lost loved ones, often through gun violence, deal with their grief in creative ways. Unfortunately, as happens so often in under serviced areas of the city, the funding for this program is on the chopping block and the very committed group who run it are trying to save it. Good for them. It’s 25 bucks a ticket, Ghostwalk Creek plays at 8:30, I’ll be on at 9:30. Tickets can be had by calling 416.440.0290 ext.13 or you can try your luck at the door.

The following Friday, May 9 I’ll be playing a couple tunes as part of a fund raiser in Ottawa for War Child
This is a world wide org that helps children who are affected by war. According to their stats 1 in 10 soldiers worldwide is a child. Weapons manufacturers have obliged by making machine guns lighter so kids can carry them more easily. (Place expletive here). It’s shaping up to be quite an interesting, eclectic night of music; some classical, some folk and me. It’s at St. Joseph’s Church (151 Laurier ave. East at Cumberland). Show time is 7pm. 10 bucks in advance through maplemusic.com. Tickets are also available at the venue office. $15 at the door.

The event, co-hosted by Catherine Lathem (CTV Ottawa) will also feature the Stellae Boreales ensemble as well as Doreen Taylor-Claxton.

There will also be a silent auction (with an interesting mix of items donated by Sen. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, Ishmael Baeh, Elizabeth May, Max Keeping, and others); and a fair-trade/organic/gourmet intermission café (courtesy of Bridgehead, Culinary Conspiracy, The Table Vegetarian Restaurant, & others)

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Green Buying Binge Doing Us In

Wow, I have a huge, honking new recycling bin. It seems like overkill, coming in just under the size of a Smart Car, and I really can’t tell if my household is up to the challenge of filling this baby on a regular basis.

After chucking in two weeks of recyclables, we’d barely reached the halfway mark at pickup time, a clear indication that we’ve been neglecting our role as citizens, er, I mean, consumers. Obviously, we need to start buying more.

Alas, what started all those years ago as a valiant effort to nudge residents to get with the three Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) has morphed into a fervent consumer campaign that has vanquished “reduce.”

It’s not just evidenced by the new supersize bin, but also by the endless variety of ways we’re encouraged to be “green” while indulging unabated our addiction to shopping.

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Getting Past The Petty

Loath as I am to admit it, music alone won’t change our war-making ways.

That’s why the April 4 all-party (except the governing one) panel kicking off a conference the next day promoting the idea of a Canadian Department of Peace at Friends House on Lowther is such a tonic.

Not only do the 250 mostly veteran anti-war types in the pews at the Church of the Holy Trinity hear the Greens’ Elizabeth May, the NDP’s Olivia Chow and the Libs’ Borys Wrzesnewskyj sing from the same peace page, but the non-partisan collegiality of the event underscores the idea that, if peace-building is ever mainstreamed, humanity will make an evolutionary jump.

Speaking of neanderthals, politics is a blood sport. But when you see Wrzesnewskyj applauding Chow’s moving description of what NDPer Alexa McDonough could do if she were minister of peace, Chow praising May’s support for a federal conflict resolution department, and both May and Chow clearly sympathizing with Wrzesnewskyj as he guardedly describes tensions in the Liberal party over Afghanistan, it tends to stand out.

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Murder = Record Release Show

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