Discrimination: Alive in 21st Century North America

More than ever before
Rahman Mohamed
Updated 5 March 2017

Prejudice: judgement based on a single aspect; considering someone to act and behave in a certain way because of a certain quality. Discrimination: dividing a group of people into multiple groups using prejudice.  Ableism: creating an us and them using disability, a prejudgement of persons with disability second-class to “normal” people or people without a visible disability is a relatively new form of discrimination.  North America has battled discrimination since the landing of the Europeans.  Aboriginals, Indigenous persons, Inuit, and others were classified as second-class.  Although it as made strong gains in attempts to silence discrimination it is still alive in North America, both within society and among social leaders in Canada and United States. Continue reading

The Freeze: A Sequel to the Big Chill

Hopefully not something that will effect a lake near you
Rahman Mohamed

3 years earlier in Canada (2014) the Conservative government under Stephen Harper produced what was known as “The Big Chill“.  In this picture, one that was a hit at the box office of Canadians and reviewed across the media landscape, the story was based on scientists who worked under the government being told “Don’t tweet, post or talk to the media about your work.  That’s an order”.

Justin Trudeau was elected as Prime Minister in November 2015; cold was entering the environment in the Great White North when he was elected, but in less than a week the “Science Frost” appeared; on November 8 CBC reported that a short story by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had premiered on screens: “Scientists’ and Government Ministers’ Lips Unsealed“. This new picture was an immediate hit.  In fact, it was so popular that a scientist’s post was reported to be going viral.  After its unexpected premier and a steady run in the box offices “The Big Chill” seemed to have run its course.

It has just been learned that what appears to a sequel to “The Big Chill” is slowly appearing on screens in the United States.  Viewers say that President of the United States of America Donald Trump is tremendous in playing the role of the evil villain, the anti-science silencer in addition to Lead Producer and Director.

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Friday the 13th

Good or bad?  The Academics decide
Rahman Mohamed

According to the Gregorian calendar, used internationally, the 13th day of two months falls on a Friday.  2017: January, Friday the 13th and October, Friday the 13th.  Legend has it that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky.  The fact: with varying results, Friday the 13th has has been proven to be both lucky and unlucky in studies by academics (aka people who are just as sane as you or I but “just a bit smarter”). Continue reading