April Update
Happy April everyone! It's April Fools Day, which I am using an excuse to write ONE political thing. If you dislike me sharing this, you can pretend I'm joking! Woo!
Canadian readers, I hope you’re enjoying the price increases on everything! At least Haus of Fog has a large collection of curated articles and films, giving you at least 5 hours of free entertainment (20 if you read really slowly!). My biggest concern at the moment though is the seemingly imminent new censorship bill.
International readers, give Bill C-63 a Google if you're bored. It's a bill that hides behind the idea of protecting the children, but in actuality will give individuals the ability to file anonymous human rights complaints for (vaguely defined) hateful content. Although Canada already has hate speech laws, if found Canadians are found guilty of breaking these newly proposed laws, then Canadians can also be penalized with fines up to $50k or life in prison. Feel free to read the bill here: https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-63/first-reading
If there's one thing that I am consistently vocal about, it's that I am very much pro-free speech and anti-government censorship. Those things should be something that all Canadians/humans are guaranteed to, regardless of your political views. If someone's an asshole, wouldn't you prefer they were vocal about it so you could avoid them? I drastically prefer that to sneaky phonies.
Regardless of your political views, there is no denying that any type of censorship has a chilling effect on artistic expression. Although, some could argue that being put into a box can in fact encourage creativity. It forces us to use metaphors and allegories. Take for example, the struggle that I faced today trying to get my toddler into his car seat. It took over fifteen minutes as he insisted on climbing everywhere, rather than sitting still. I didn't yell and I didn't act out. One, because I'm trying to not be a shitty mom, and two, because trying to argue with someone that refuses to listen to you is a losing battle. Sometimes the best way to solve problems with unruly tyrants is to stay measured and calm and wait them out. Eventually they'll get tired, or voted out in 2025.
Anyway, this will be the only political thing that I discuss. Partially out of fear of that $50k fine (I'm an indie writer, that might as well be one trillion dollars), but also because I really want you to like me. <3
Ashley