Category Archives: Lifestyle

Negligible 9/11 Impact Our Greatest Success

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By Jason Menard

Ten years ago, terrorists tried to change the world. Today I can say that – for most of us – their efforts were a failure, as we have come through relatively unscathed.

Ten years ago today, a group of radical terrorists commandeered four planes: two of which were steered into – and ultimately brought down – the twin towers of the World Trade Center; one was flown into the Pentagon; and the other was brought down in a field near Shanksville, PA, by civilian passengers before it could reach its intended destination. Continue reading →

Internet Anonymity and Cowardice a Weighty Issue

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By Jason Menard

Internet anonymity is normally a wonderful thing: it allows whistle blowers to expose corporate evils and it enables people to share their true feelings without fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, that anonymity also affords cowards a set of cojones they wouldn’t otherwise have.

On the Internet that anonymity also seems to exponentially amplify the cruelty and insensitivity that people have. It’s not a new phenomenon, but recent on-line comments and having a nine-year-old daughter have combined to make me more aware of the impact of this behaviour. Continue reading →

Bieber Vid Critics Put the Hip in Hypocrisy

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By Jason Menard,

Maybe I’m mellowing with age or maybe I don’t find the sport in shooting fish in a barrel, but I find that I’m more disgusted by the behaviour of the mockers than the mockees. Interestingly, it’s a video about some people’s complete lack of perspective that’s solidified my perspective – and it proves that in some people’s desperation to appear hip, they’re oblivious to their own hypocrisy.

This YouTube video of a bunch of Mexican girls going into histrionics over the fact that a Justin Bieber concert sold out has already started making the rounds. And, without fail, the critics came out with all guns blazing. Continue reading →

Freedom Debate Questions Internet’s Role – a Right or a Really Handy Tool?

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By Jason Menard,

In just a few short years, the Internet has become an integral part of our lives – so much so that some of us wouldn’t know what to do without it. But in taking for granted the value of the Internet, have we also taken for granted that the Internet is something that we all have the right to access?

That debate is occurring at this very moment on two fronts: in England where there’s a movement to implement measures that would allow the government to effectively block certain people’s access to social media (specifically suspected rioters) during an emergency; and in the United States, where the San Francisco transit authority shut down wireless networks to try to minimize potential violence following a fatal shooting by one of its officers. Continue reading →

Anonymous Wasting Potential, Power Through Collateral Damage of Innocents

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By Jason Menard

For an organization whose name reflects its desire to remain unidentified by the masses, Anonymous certainly seems to have no problem compromising the anonymity of the very people whose support it should be coveting. It’s not just the image of Guy Fawkes that Anonymous has assumed to represent itself — it’s also Fawkes’ disregard for the value of innocent bystanders.

Through their behaviour, Anonymous that it is far from the altruistic defenders of the Internet they’d like you to believe. Instead, they’re little more than extremely smart cyber bullies who think nothing of the collateral damage caused by their hacktivism. Continue reading →