Quote:
Originally Posted by Snark
Nope, they just have a half-full outlook. For most here, the glass is always half empty. There is also zero respect for the folks trying to run a community of this size... coming from some folks here too young to even have a career yet.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snark
If any of you guys eventually get jobs for a municipality in a technical or decision-making capacity, you're gonna get your eyes opened real wide.
|
I have an degree in urban planning and while I may not have had the long illustrious career that you would respect, I DO have the kind of knowledge that allows me to think critically about municipal politics. Running a large city IS hard. But I look around the world at planning initiatives that have worked in other cities and I wonder why they don't work in London.
You can forgive people's lack of pragmatism by saying that their job is just too hard if you like, but where will that take the world?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snark
Perhaps it's the result of reality-TV, or the dumbed-down news media, attack-dog journalism, or the internet - where anyone's ideas can seem legitimate because it can be seen in print across the world.
|
Reality TV? Dumbed down news media? What does this have to do with anything....??? I'm just as cynical about mainstream media as you but I don't see the connection at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MolsonExport
criticism is an essential component of the democratic process. It is criticism, and the responses thereto, which compel change. Criticism is a part of every job....as a professor, I take it from students, from the reviewers of the journals that I submit my work to, from colleagues, from scholars around the world when presenting my research at international conferences, and from my wife.
From a local/provincial/national standpoint, I would argue that it is unpatriotic NOT to criticize our leaders.
Respect is not automatic. It is not simply achieved. It must be earned, and reforged. The higher the position, the higher should be the standard.
|
Agree, agree, agree. People who don't expect new ideas and progressive leadership from planners and politicians because their jobs are just too hard will get society nowhere.
I might add that maintaining the status quo takes just as much energy as social progress.