By: Ish Theilheimer, Publisher, Straight Goods
From the You Know The Internet Has Taken Over When... department. I went to visit my neighbour Pat who cuts and sells a lot of firewood. Mike, a logger who works with him, has had the Internet in the household for about six months and he's not so sure it's a good idea. "I never see anything except the back of my wife," he says. Reason? She's on-line full-time playing euchre and chatting with friends. "Used to be at night we'd watch TV together. Now I can't get her off the %^&*@ computer," he sighs.
Lillis, President of the Lionettes, has a similar problem with the technology. She's got a lot of calls to make, in and out, but her phone line's a write-off in the evening thanks to her daughter's Web use. Call during the day, she says, but don't send e-mail because Lillis isn't there yet.
From the Pardon My E-Mail Department. You know how some e-mails are so popular you get them over and over again, such as the Hunger Site, or Dress-Up Jesus, or that erroneous Afhanistani women one from last year. Here's a new variant. Last week activist and author Naomi Klein sent a DRAFT petition to several friends on the subject of police presence at the FTAA summit. A lot of those friends, not realizing it was draft, started forwarding it like crazy. Straight Goods received several copies so we posted it our site and told the world. Poor Naomi! Sounds like she got a lot of email.
"What you have experienced is a rather amazing phenomenon!" reports her assistant Chris Magil. It seems the letter was drafted and circulated "to high-profile Canadians in the arts and media, enlisting their help as well-known Canadians, to draw attention to concerns about the increased police presence in Quebec City... to dispel the faulty impression that only grassroots activists were concerned about the police build-up because it threatened their implied troublemaking tendencies!"
The trouble was that what was sent out sounded like it was asking people to circulate the letter and send e-mail directly to Naomi, currently one of the world's hottest authors. "From an initial mailing to less than fifty people, this letter (and Naomi's personal email address!) has spiraled outwards, drawing responses from Canadians from Halifax to Thetis Island, BC!!" It was all quite overwhelming, as anyone who's ever got too much e-mail can imagine.
If you want to sign on to the petition, send your coordinates to feedback@straightgoods.com and we'll forward them, when the originators have their plan worked out.
The FTAA is the issue of the hour on the Internet and the news in Canada. Some may feel Straight Goods is spending too much time and attention on it. Our mandate is to help you save money, protect rights and untangle spin. We believe FTAA will cost consumers, workers and taxpayers money and deprive citizens of rights. It's being promoted by non-stop corporate spin of the most expensive variety. That's why we're spending a lot of time on it. We think it can be stopped, and we agree with researcher Marc Lee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) who told the Parliament Hill teach-in April 1: "This is by no means a done deal and I think we're gonna win it. There's a rising tide of opposition."
The most fun FTAA site by a long shot is run by a group called Media Aware. Here's a clip: "In this crazy world full of jibba jabba, remember how Mr. T would tell it like it is? Lawrence Tero (known to the world as Mr. T) did more than just pity the fool who didn't go to school. He is still an interesting point of departure for discussions about pop culture, roots, and the strange obsession with Mr. T vs. everything on the Internet. And he's got a bad attitude about the coming Summit of the Americas from April 20-22, 2001 in Quebec City." Worth checking out.
Straight Goods is setting up a Summit Bureau in Quebec City. Mel Watkins and I will be on hand all week long to cover the events outside The Big Wall which Web artist Jim Kempkes so brilliantly spoofs on our site this week. You can expect, by the way, to hear Straight Goods reports on CBC radio affiliates (ask your local station if they'll be carrying them). And we're working on financing for a post-Summit, Web-enabled instant book to document the debate and the amazing amount of research and journalism going on. Stay tuned for details.
If you can contribute to Straight Goods' coverage of the Summit - inside or outside the wall - please contact our summit bureau: summitnews@straightgoods.com. Please let us know if you can file stories, info or pix for Straight Goods.
Finally, thanks to everyone who has supported the Straight Goods Spring Drive to Survive so far. We haven't raised as much as we set out to - which probably means a Summer Drive to Survive in the offing! But our loyal readers have certainly contributed a lot so far - over $12,000 from more than 200 people in the past two weeks. It's pretty impressive.
Thanks again. We'll try to keep delivering the goods.
The Straight Goods Report is a new weekly column being distributed to newspapers, web 'zines and portals, and radio stations all over Canada. You need not ask permission to reproduce it in your print or web publication, but please include our URL and let us know where you are posting it.
- Ish Theilheimer
- Killaloe, Ontario
- April 09, 2001
- ish@straightgoods.com
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