The Hidden Message

            I have been asked many times before why it is that I love fantasy so much. To be honest, I don’t know all the reason – it is simply the only subject that completely captivates my interest. However, there’s one reason that I do know: I love the hidden meanings in the stories.

            To be fair, that extends to a lot of fiction, but fantasy in particular tends to have carte blanche to say whatever it wants. The writers can explore into the depths of morality, use allegorical political and religious situations and even express the odd scientific supposition.

            And no one questions any of it.

            Why? Because it isn't real. No one will ever tell you to watch a fantasy movie or read a fantasy book and tell you it really happened (at least, I hope they wouldn't. If they do, you may want to run away). Anything that is said can easily be brushed off.

            But hidden deep within those stories is an element of truth. The story may be an adventure, but underneath is a brilliant examination or commentary on human nature. What’s more, they usually don’t preach – more often than not, an idea is simply presented as if asking, “Hey, have you ever thought about that this way before?” I think that the inherent creativity in fantasy also encourages the reader and writer alike to think outside the box – something immensely important to our society as a whole.

            Recently I've been reading Colleen a lot of the books I read when I was younger. I'm amazed at how often I've come across phrases or ideas that stuck with me for years when I had no idea where they came from. These books shaped who I am today – not because they told me how to think, but because they presented me with ideas that resonated with me so much that I could never forget them.

            I think that future generations should probably take a cue from this fact, particularly when it comes to teaching. So often, these days, our education teaches what to think, rather than how to think. If we took the fantasy approach, by presenting a story and letting the student decide what is right, people would end up a lot truer to themselves.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Internet Anonymity

            Recently, Canada instated a new law to help prevent internet piracy. This law allows copyright holders to request internet companies to issue warnings to people who have illegally downloaded content. For example, if you were to download a song from your favourite band, the band could have your internet service provider inform you that continuing to download more of their songs could lead to a law suit. Your identity and personal information would remain confidential, but could be made available if legal action is taken (a nice balance between respecting privacy and enforcing copyright laws).

            This got me thinking, as you may have guessed, about the anonymity of people on the internet. In and of itself, the internet has become almost a whole world of its own. People on the internet can be whoever they claim to be and do what they like with few (or no) consequences. This anonymity has many benefits, particularly relating to privacy, but it also has the negative flip side – bullying, scams, viruses, piracy and various illegal activities.

            So, I'm wondering... what would happen if the anonymity of the internet was taken away?

            I'm not saying that I think this should happen, or even that it could – it would require the agreement of the entire world and we all know how likely that is to happen – I'm merely wanting to explore it as a theoretical exercise.

            If every time someone logged into the internet, wherever they went, their real names and faces would be registered. If, every time they interacted with people online, it was with their real names and faces. Would people behave differently?

            Personally, I think they would. The risk of going to illegal download sites or other sites they don’t want people to know they've been on would be greater – and if that is enough incentive to stop them from going, maybe they shouldn't be going there in the first place. People who bully online would no longer be hiding behind false personas. The risk of being banned from a site or online game would be greater if they were getting banned, rather than just the account that they could make a new one of.

Simply by removing anonymity, the internet could become a much friendlier place.

            Of course, there’s always a flip side. The first thing that comes to mind are predators, although they could be tracked by their true identity online as easily as their prey. So, the real problem would become the new generation of hackers specialising in using other peoples’ identities online – possibly an increase in the ease of identity theft. Would it be possible to police such activities? In a world where anonymity on the internet was abolished, would our society have evolved to a point where nothing can be gained from identity theft?

            It’s an interesting thought, really, especially with recent generations who've gotten used to their anonymity online. It really isn't as big a step as we think. Internet service providers already track the websites we go to (even though the information is kept confidential) and there is so much information on the internet that even the basic internet security that we teach isn't always enough.

            As a perfect example, I’ll tell you a story of my own youth. I spent much of my early teens playing massively multi-player online role playing games – particularly one called Runescape. My awareness of internet security was impeccable – bordering on the paranoid. I never gave out my name and the closest I’d come to telling someone where I lived was my province or country. I gave out very few personal details, even to the closest of my online friends.

            One my friends on Runscape was a Dutch woman name Paula who was around the same age as my parents and had kids my age. We became so close that we started referring to her as my Dutch Mom. Still, I didn't give her much information on myself, so you can imagine my surprise when I received a birthday card in the mail from her on my 16^th birthday.

            I’m fairly certain I’d only given her the month of my birthday. As to how she found my address... that came from small, unimportant pieces of information I let drop in casual conversation. She knew my country and province, my first name, a famous hockey player who was born in my city, and that my parents owned (at the time) a driving school (of which there were several in town). With that small amount of information, she’d was able to find me – and that was ten years ago when there was far less information available on the internet.

            So, as I said, we’re already not as anonymous as we think. The question is, would the internet become better/safer or worse with the removal of anonymity? What do you think?

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Is Charlie Freedom?

            I have said many times before that I live under a rock – as such, it takes something really big in the news to find its way to me. Such is the case with the Charlie Hebdo attack this past week.

            For those who haven’t heard of it yet, last Wednesday two gunmen attacked the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo (a weekly satirical newspaper in France), killing twelve people and wounding another eleven. The attack led to a global cry to support free speech.

            On the surface, it is a very simple matter. People were silenced for the ideas they expressed and the world has spoken up saying we’ll stand behind Charlie Hebdo and the right to free speech. I thought it was incredible, at first, until I looked into more facts and the matter became far more complicated.

            As I mentioned earlier, Charlie Hebdo is a satirical paper – more than that, it is a far left-wing one, openly poking fun at all religions and politics, sometimes in very vulgar ways. This particular attack was carried out by a pair of Muslims who saw their Prophet being made fun of in the paper.

            Now, does that justify murder? No, of course not – nothing does. Their religion wasn't the only one being made fun of and none of the others took this sort of drastic action. However, I think that this is a good time to stop and think on what freedom of speech actually means.

            I'veblogged before about freedom and how complicated it actually is, and this situation goes to demonstrate that fact. You see, the freedom to say anything you want doesn't mean you should say it. A big part of freedom is responsibility and the biggest responsibility is respecting other peoples’ freedom. The freedom to think, believe, say and do as they will.

            When you take that freedom of speech and start throwing it in people’s faces, you are expressing your freedom by denying others’ theirs. That is what Charlie Hebdo does, at least as far as I can gather. They make jokes about whatever they can and, when people say they get hurt, they claim “free speech!” This same claim is regularly made all over the internet by people who have hurt others. “I have free speech, so you aren't allowed to get mad at me for what I say, even if I am stomping all over everything you believe.”

            I'm confident that the contents of Charlie Hebdo have never been intended to hurt anyone. Quite the opposite – it’s meant to make people laugh! Words are powerful, though. That’s why people try to ban certain books. We’re taught from childhood that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. It’s a lie. Words hurt – we just tell ourselves that they don’t to try and make them hurt less.

            Humour is all well and good, but why must it come at the expense of others? It’s important to be able to laugh at yourself, but not everyone has been able to acquire that skill. All some people can see are others laughing at them and what they care about. Of course they’re going to retaliate.

            Following the attack, a huge campaign has started: “Je Suis Charlie”, or “I Am Charlie” - the support of free speech. On one level, I completely support it because freedom is so important. At the same time, I cannot condone the content of Charlie Hebdo which, while intended to be funny, can also be inflammatory and insulting – taking freedom of speech to the extreme that spits in the face of others’ freedom.

            Now, there is a simple solution to this sort of conundrum: simply don’t read things that offend you. Is it Charlie Hebdo’s fault that the attackers read their paper? No. That doesn't stop people though – it seems to be in human nature to poke at wounds; to seek out that which causes us pain. We’re drawn like bugs to lamps, with this dread fascination, toward things we know we should keep away from.

            In the end, it doesn't really matter, though, does it? The cards have been played and there are only two possible outcomes: we raise our voices in support of Charlie Hebdo or we are seen to be bowing to the wishes of the attackers – a success for them that will spread the word worldwide that violence can end free speech and more attacks will quickly follow until everyone is afraid to say anything. It’s ironic, really, that this attack has led to the exact opposite of what the attackers intended – partially because we've been left with no other options. We have to stand behind Charlie, or witness the death of freedom.

            So, I guess I don’t have a choice. I am Charlie. I have to be, or I encourage more tragedies.

            I wish that this situation could have been resolved without anyone being hurt or killed. I wish that Charlie Hebdo hadn't become the face of freedom. I wish there was more humour in the world that didn't rely hurting people.

            I wish I lived in a world where I didn't have to support something I don't believe in to support something I do believe in.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

A Geeky New Year

            Welcome to 2015! According to Back to the Future, we get hover boards this year, so we have that to look forward to. For all those sciency people out there, I have two words for you: electro magnets. Make it happen.

            Anyway, Colleen and I had a great New Year’s Eve – we celebrated by staying home and making our way through a geek countdown. What’s a geek countdown, you ask? It’s when we count down from ten geeky movies, shows and games to midnight instead of seconds. The catch is there had to be a numerical value associating the activity with the number of the count.

            Our countdown went like this: We started by watching the episode Blink from Doctor Who (with the 10^th Doctor), then watched an episode of Deep Space 9 (the Trouble with Tribbles crossover episode). Next, we played some Super Mario World (an 8-bit game) followed by the 7^th episode of Firefly (Jaynestown). After that, we watched Star Wars episode 6, Return of the Jedi, the 5^th Element and the Fantastic 4. We finished off by playing a little bit (because we were running out of time) of Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, Portal 2 and the 1^st Little Big Planet.

            Yes, we managed to squeeze that all into one day (all before midnight) and it was a blast. We’re thinking of making it a New Year’s tradition – with different activities, of course. We’ll have more time to plan for next year, so we could get really creative.

            I hope all of you had as great a New Year as we did and that 2015 is fantastic for everyone.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.