Last night I attended a great event put on by my good friends Bob LeDrew and Cheryl Gain. Censored Out Loud brought local musicians and writers to a small stage at the Raw Sugar Cafe in Ottawa, where they freely expressed themselves, reading and performing works that, over the years, have come under scrutiny and censorship, and in some cases, where the creators of the works have been jailed or even tortured because of their words. The event was a fundraiser for PEN Canada and is part of Freedom To Read Week, which runs from February 20th – 26th.

The whole event got me thinking a lot about our intellectual freedom as participants in the social Web. Last night reminded me how many people in the world do not have the freedom to write or say what they want. There are a few who will do it any way, and risk the severe punishment. But many people are so fearful of the consequences, that they simply choose to stay silent. Along with many of you, I live in a country where I am free to set up this blog, and proceed to write my thoughts on anything I like. I don’t need to fear persecution or torture or death for my words. In fact, I don’t even think about these things as being a possibility when I write. I just write.

Our intellectual freedom is not something to be taken lightly – and yet, so many of us do just that.

We post things on our blogs, or Twitter, or Facebook, and sometimes, people are very critical. They call us out for the things we’ve said or done. We throw hissy fits over what this person said in a comment, or what that person did or didn’t do on their Twitter feed. We question people’s ethics because of one mis-step. We are quick to point out fault in others, especially those who are successful. Often, our first reaction is to get our backs up – we take their criticisms personally, and get super defensive. The whole thing falls apart, and feelings get hurt.

But for what?

One of the things I love most about social media is that it enables dialogue and discourse. We can have heated debates, passionate conversations, and everyone has the intellectual freedom to make their views known. We are very fortunate indeed that our free society allows for this.

So, when I see folks slamming and bashing each other online, gossiping, and engaging in generally un-constructive critical behaviour, I can’t help but feel we’re missing the point.  I’m not trying to be all self-righteous about this – I am as guilty of some of these things as others.

But when I stop to think about the fact that my fight to free speech and intellectual freedom – the right my Grandfathers fought for – is being used to cut others down, instead of moving conversations and debates forward, and making real change, I am saddened. I’m sad for all of those people who don’t have the same rights we do. I wonder if they had this right, if they would abuse it the way we sometimes do.

Out here on the social Web, most of us are extremely fortunate to have the right to speak freely. It’s not a right we should ever take for granted.

I for one am going to make more effort to respect my right to intellectual freedom. I’m going to make some changes in the way I do things, and the conversations I choose to be part of.

Your thoughts?

Share/Save

On Friday night, a bunch of local Ottawa bloggers got the chance to really get their geek on, thanks to Jen Covert and the National Arts Centre, as the Sci-Fi Spectacular hit the stage. Not only were we treated to a great performance by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, we were part of a select group chosen to attend a backstage meet and greet with none other than George Takei, a.k.a. Mr. Sulu from the orignal Star Trek series.

My brother, Mike Thompson, is just about the biggest Sci-Fi fan you’ll ever meet. Well, until you meet my friend Mark Bell. I have to confess that I am not well versed on the Sci-Fi genre much outside of Star Wars and perhaps Star Trek:TNG, but Mark and Mike really were transported to another world by this performance.

I brought along our new Flip MinoHD camera to capture some of the goings-on of the evening, and my brother edited it together into a great little piece that I think sums up our evening really well. He’s even inserted our tweets from the night throughout the piece.

For anyone who thinks the National Arts Centre is a stuffy old place where only the hoity-toity go, think again. They are doing some really progressive stuff these days, with shows like this and all of their great new media ventures. What I really appreciate is that the NAC is reaching out to us bloggers to help them tell their story. And the consensus is, we’re happy to report that the NAC really is the place to be for arts, culture, and just plain fun in the Nation’s Capital.

So without further ado…ladies and gentlemen….The Sci-Fi Spectacular.

Update – here are some more Sci-Fi Spectacular photos courtesy of my pal @Elkae.

Share/Save

I just had to post some photos of the snow we have here in Ottawa. This past weekend’s storm dumped 56cm (22 inches) of snow on us. We have had 404 cm (13.2 feet) of snow this winter so far, making it the 2nd snowiest winter on record. The snowiest winter on record was in the winter of 1970-71, with 445 cm (14.5 feet) of snow. I was born in the winter of 1970, here in Ottawa, so I don’t really remember it much but my parents sure do!

I thought I’d share some photos I took with my phone this morning. It’s a hell of a lot of snow. We have literally run out of places to put it. And we are getting more at the end of the week.

Looking down our street

It might look like I drove INTO the snowbank, but no, it
was a mini-avalanche. I think the snowbank is trying to eat my car.
Before I cleaned it off, you could only see the front fender.

The green arrow is pointing to my neighbour. You know you are in Canada when you have to shovel your roof.

This is our back yard. The fence on the right side is 6 feet tall. The one at the back is 7 feet tall. This snow has not been touched by us, it’s literally that deep. Somewhere under there is an inground swimming pool. I fear we may never see it again.

Share/Save