Tag: opinions

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Opinions

Death of the theme party

Avery Monette/THE CONCORDIAN @yrev.a

Please let me wear my regular clothes again

Picture this: it’s a Friday night, and you’re either hunched over a computer trying to squeeze out the last bit of academic energy you have left in you, or anxiously procrastinating. The weekend is near and you’re ready for a night on the town — you deserve one, after all. But you’ve been so caught up in the academic haze that you forgot to make plans. 

You eagerly ask your roommates what they have planned. One has opted to spend the night with their significant other watching the 2006 critical flop (yet still beloved) film Aquamarine; the other has a date. Before admitting defeat, you rapidly fire off “what’s the move” texts to anyone you’ve ever had a remotely good time with — and some you’re willing to give a second chance to. 

It’s growing late and you’re about to give up when your cracked iPhone buzzes with hope. With a racing heart, you check your messages. 

“We’re going to so-and-so’s party on St. Dennis, you can totally come,” one of the fun friends has informed you. You run to the closet to pick out your best threads. When the phone buzzes for a second time, the text says: “It’s pirate-themed. See you there <3.” With a sinking heart, you hang your brand new navy blue Uniqlo chore coat back in your closet. Panic sets in. Do you wear an eye-patch? A funny hat? Do you need a parrot? 

This is the third week in a row you’ve been underprepared for a theme party. Time and time again you’ve been asked to dress for different themes, like goth, 90s night, like characters from the movie Midsommar, all in white, all in brown and one time even just like someone named John. 

You try to participate, but between the price of beer and the snack you know you’ll need on the way home, your budget is tight. How can you justify a whole new outfit that you will never wear again for solely this one night? 

You consider not going at all, but reluctantly, you grab a torn shirt, your roommate’s funky old striped pants and a bandana. You look nothing like a pirate. You’re dressed closer to Johnny Depp in real life than Jack Sparrow and you feel ridiculous. It’s not fashionable, not flattering and not fun. But dammit if you aren’t participating because parties have rules and you have to play by them. 

On your way, you stop at the depanneur to get the standard six pack of whatever beer is under ten dollars. The man behind the counter gives you a look of confusion and modest judgment. “Nice pants,” he says politely. But you know he doesn’t mean it.

You arrive at the party and see that, once again, everyone is outperforming you. 

People have eyepatches, fake parrots, and one person seems to have an eerily convincing peg leg (you do your best not to look directly at it). As you dodge questions about why you’re wearing a torn up dress shirt in an attempt to masquerade as a pirate, a sense of shame begins to creep in followed by resentment. Three weeks in a row, you’ve tried to look the best you could and tried to conform to the theme, but sadly, you just can’t keep up anymore. 

The TikTok-i-fication of your nights out has started to ruin the fun of it. With bring-your-own-cup parties and “summertime in the winter” parties, nobody had to feel left out. But, now it seems as though each week your friends try to outdo each other with a more convoluted and ill-conceived trendy theme that they saw a group of influencers attempt online. 

You and a group of other underperforming partygoers gather in the shadows, avoiding snide remarks. After a couple of hours, people begin to filter out and you decide to join. On the way home, you stop at A&W and chat with your friends recounting the night’s shenanigans. An appropriate amount of time passes and you turn to leave.

“Next week at my house: clown theme!” someone shouts as you begin to walk away. 

You bow your head in defeat. “Tonight might as well have been clown-themed,” you think to yourself. 

On the way home, you accept your fate and begin to brainstorm where to buy a red nose as the bag of buddy burgers grows colder in your hands.

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Opinions

Hogwarts Legacy: it’s okay to let the fantasy go

Amelia Hart/THE CONCORDIAN

A video game or an attempt at reparations?

Although the magical world she created seemed utopic, J.K. Rowling’s world-famous book series has been tainted by her history of transphobic views.

However, the Harry Potter franchise continues to bring in revenue today, from an amusement park in Florida to a studio tour in Watford, U.K., with Rowling ultimately earning royalties on anything branded with the official Harry Potter name.

Ever since she first started showing her true colours online, fans around the world started to take differing stances. From tossing her books to boycotting any new project of hers, or still supporting the author, the public was divided — but it definitely opened up a conversation on separating the art from the artist.

Hogwarts Legacy, “an immersive, open-world action RPG set in the world first introduced in the Harry Potter books,” launched at the beginning of the month.

And although Warner Bros. stated that Rowling was not involved in the project, the author will still profit off the new video game because of the Harry Potter brand being attached to it.

In a world that feels ever-changing, with Gen Z being more and more involved in politics and social issues, the launch of the game could not go without controversy.

Discussions around the ethics of purchasing or playing the game were everywhere online, leading the game creators to include a trans character, Sirona Ryan, in the story.

According to different sources who worked on developing the game, the character was only added as a response to critics.

They really thought that adding a trans character would eliminate the association of Harry Potter with transphobia and suddenly “excuse” Rowling’s own transphobia.

But if they are so adamant that she is not involved with the project, then why feel the need to do damage control? Because, in a way, Rowling’s continued success with the Harry Potter franchise makes her believe that many hold the same views as her — and that’s what makes supporting the brand problematic.

In a way, it makes sense that Warner Bros. would still go ahead with the launch. At the end of the day, they know that the people ready to boycott the game would not have purchased it regardless.

Their target audience is the older millennials, who grew up with the franchise and therefore have more attachment to it. They are the ones still purchasing official branded merchandise and that, whether they like it or not, supports Rowling in the process.

As a zillenial, someone that identifies with both Gen Z and millennials, when it comes to popular culture I sometimes fall in the middle of intergenerational conflicts. But this one is more than that.

I understand the sentimental attachment to the franchise as the Harry Potter books are what fuelled my love of reading. However, I just can’t help but pass on the message to the ones who can’t let go: it’s okay, you can let it go.

It is time for our society to tell, read and embrace new stories. More importantly, saying goodbye to the franchise and no longer supporting projects that are connected to it also means taking a stance on what we believe in. It’s protecting our friends, sisters, brothers, parents, partners, and neighbours of the trans community from harm. It is dreadful to have to explain to fans why this is more important than them virtually living out their fantasy of attending Hogwarts.

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Why are love languages so important all of a sudden?

Amelia Hart/THE CONCORDIAN

And people might not even be using them right

When counselor Gary Chapman wrote a book on his theory of the five love languages, he probably didn’t think that, years later, people would be saying that avocado toast is their love language.

Initially, Chapman came up with a pretty simple concept: “Different people with different personalities give and receive love in different ways.”

The Love Language Quiz is an online questionnaire you can use to find out how you and your partner prefer to receive love. Ultimately, love language compatibility is not as important as it is to understand how your partner feels loved. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, it sounds good in theory and practice. However, people have been talking about love languages in a very self-focused way. Today, the love language test is being used more as a personality test than a tool to help relationships.

People are listing their love language on their dating profile just as they would their astrological sign and personality traits. But at the end of the day, the love languages were meant as a way to guide your relationship, not base it off of that.

Are people really going to start using this as an excuse for incompatibility?

It’s also important to note that Chapman’s book was published in 1995. Not to sound too old and wise, but things have changed since then. The way we talk about relationships has changed. So, should we even rely on them at all?

Couples can now use the languages for scorekeeping. After all, aren’t most arguments started because someone feels like they are the ones doing more in the relationship?

Not only that, love languages can change and evolve over time. Don’t we all need physical touch at one moment, and quality time at another?

As long as we communicate what we need at that specific time, our relationships would be just fine. We shouldn’t need a quiz to do that work for us and then blame our incompatibility on that when our relationships don’t work out.

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Celebrities are now naming their babies after iconic Quebec swear words

Because Elon Musk’s experiment of a baby name was not enough

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen named their newborn baby Esti and Quebecers are the only ones laughing because the rest of the world obviously does not know the iconic Quebecois swear word.

The newborn’s full name is Esti Maxine Stephens, which makes it even funnier if you separate the first two names with a comma.

The couple’s baby is quite literally a legend (pun unintended) and they don’t even know about it.

An infamous swear word in Quebec culture, “esti” finds its origins in catholic liturgy. And now it’s a name, apparently.

The name Esti is the short form of Esther or Estelle that means “star.” Maybe Teigen and Legend were going for a subtle celestial hint to her sister Luna? At least for baby Esti, we’re the only ones laughing.

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott named their baby Aire, a direct Arabic translation of “penis” or “my penis” that is often used as a profanity. But again, what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you.

Regardless, it’s pretty sad that the competition for the most original celebrity baby name has led us here. It’s safe to say that, in this case, ignorance is bliss for little Aire and little Esti.

Consider Elon Musk and Grimes’ baby X Æ A-12 Musk, which sounds bad in every language. When you need to explain your baby’s name because it looks like a serial number, I don’t see how you could ever think it was a good idea.

According to Musk, the name is pronounced X Ash Archangel Twelve, with the last part of the name being his own contribution. A-12 is the precursor to the SR-71, the coolest plane ever in Musk’s eyes.

However, according to California regulations, names can only contain the 26 letters of the alphabet for characters, which made the couple change their baby’s name to X Æ A-Xii.

This makes Esti and Aire sound like perfectly fine names, even knowing what they mean.

Swear words and genitalia aside, it looks like we have come to a generation where robots are named Sophia and humans are named X Æ A-Xii.

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Battle of the books

Henry Richa/THE CONCORDIAN @hhenryricha

Answering the question, if books are better than ebooks

Let me start off by stating this: I love books.

With eReaders like Kindles and Kobos, and subscriptions like Kindle Unlimited, there seems to be a reason for people to choose ebooks over physical books. Over the last few years, I have been told by many people that digital is the way to go now that reading print books is a thing of the past.

But for me, the physical book will always be better than the ebook. Here are my top three reasons why. 

(I’ve excluded audiobooks from this conversation because that is an entirely different experience.) 

1. When I hold a book in my hand, it is an entire experience. I can run my hands across the cover and feel the texture. I get to feel the pages against my skin and I feel like I am fully part of the experience of the book. Sometimes the covers have different textures and that makes the reading more of a sensory experience. I get to turn each page and get the genuine excitement of seeing the words on the next page. 

2. The smell of the book. Books have their own smells, and that makes the reading even better. An ebook doesn’t have that. It’s just a piece of plastic with words on it. It feels like I am just scrolling on my phone. Why would I want reading a book to feel like reading a text message? I want to hold the book close to my face and experience the different scents and moments. 

3. The impracticality of the sizes of books is such a part of the journey for me as a reader. It makes choosing what books I am reading more of a challenge. Can I carry it with me? Does it fit in my bag? It makes me think through what book I can make my main book. And the challenge of making the books fit into my purse makes reading even more exciting. I am someone who reads three books at a time, so getting the physical change that accompanies each book helps distinguish the stories. For me, it’s part of the process. 

Even when it comes to textbooks for class, I will always opt for a physical copy of the book. Again, I just need that experience of having the physical book in front of me to really get immersed.

I can only hope that people are wrong about physical books being a thing of the past. I will say, there is a trend of a lot of indie/self-published books that are only available in digital formats, and that truly is a bummer. Maybe someday they will decide to publish physical copies of their books so I can read them too.

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Stop saying people look better without makeup

Carleen Loney/THE CONCORDIAN @shloneys

It’s not the compliment you think it is.

If you’re a heavy makeup wearer too, you’ve probably been told this before: “You look better without makeup,” or even “why all this foundation? You have beautiful skin!” No shit, Sherlock. That’s because I’m also interested in skincare.

Even though that’s what I wish I could answer on the daily, most of the time, I have to be polite and just take the “compliment.”

But is it really a compliment?

Let’s start from the very beginning: beauty standards. The expectation for women to look a certain way starts young. As soon as we get some sort of awareness of our assigned gender role, we immediately admire “pretty” princesses and our version of playing becomes giving a makeover to anyone that dares to say yes.

It’s not hard to see: women and girls are taught at a young age that beauty matters. From the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz to Ursula from The Little Mermaid, we are taught that ugly equals bad.

Then, in our pre-teen years, we already get influenced by the very clever marketing of the beauty industry that preys on our insecurities.

So, naturally, makeup piques our interest. Some stick with it until adulthood, some experiment and decide it’s not for them. That’s okay.

Even though I’ve come to terms with it, it’s still sometimes hard for me to admit it: I cannot deny that my interest in makeup does stem from patriarchal ideas.

This is why when a man, out of all people, wants to imply that “I’d look better without all that makeup,” it drives me insane.

And I say that not to generalize, but because I genuinely only ever get that from men, when other women will actually compliment my makeup skills.

For people who don’t understand, I’ll put it simply: it’s rude. I put effort into something to then be told that you wish I hadn’t. Why? Because it doesn’t serve you in the way you want it to, assuming it was supposed to when it certainly wasn’t?

That’s without considering the fact that women throughout their entire lives have been told what to do, what to wear, what to say and how to act just to benefit men in society.

Even though the saying might come from good intentions, let’s not forget that nobody owes you a positive response when you make an unsolicited comment about their physique.

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Rethinking stereotypes about Arabs for a brighter future

sundaeghost- Wednesday Laplante

Let us start over!

American writer Walter Lippman once said that “the subtlest and most pervasive of all influences are those which create and maintain the repertory of stereotypes. We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we experience them. And those preconceptions, unless education has made us acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception.” 

We are all born equal. It is stereotypes, however, that make us think in an “us” versus “them” mentality as we start grouping all people who do not look like us into one category. Stereotypes then lead us to ignore all differences between people within these categories. Being from the Middle East, I am automatically thrown into the “Arabs” group. 

“You don’t look Arab! How do you speak three languages? Did you live in a desert? Did you come here to escape some war?” As a Lebanese woman studying in a foreign country, I’ve been asked to answer these questions on several occasions. Stereotypical opinions about Arabs have long been shaped by the Western media and their personal view of the Middle East. 

Edward Said, a Palestinian academic, was one of the first people to research orientalism and how the West views the rest. In an adaptation of his book Orientalism, Said talks about “the constant sort of disparity [he] felt between what my [his] experience of being an Arab was, and the representations of that that one saw in art.”

I like to believe that the world has evolved and people are more educated today, but the truth is we still have a long way to go.

That is not to say that the Arab world does not have its own set of problems. Being part of the LGBTQIA+ community is still prohibited in most Arab countries. Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan are the only three countries in the Middle East that do not criminalize homosexual relations.

I find that Lebanon’s case on this matter is particular. Even though homosexuality is criminalized, there is a still a big LGBTQIA+ community in the country. Compared to its neighbours, Beirut is “secretly” progressive. 

This week’s opening of the World Cup, however, set us back in time once again. With fans coming to support the players from different countries and  backgrounds, they were met with the reality of Qatar’s laws and culture. Qatar’s penal code criminalizes homosexuality, and LGBTQIA+ members could face imprisonment. 

Instead of being proud that an Arab country is hosting the World Cup for the first time in history, I cannot help but feel disappointed about these laws still existing today. 

The BBC decided not to broadcast the World Cup opening ceremony to express their opinion on the matter. While the World Cup is one of those events that should be uniting all countries together, it is creating even more prejudice and hatred towards Arabs. 

It is important to understand that not all Arab countries are the same and that no two people are the same. Even within the same family, views could differ. If we treat people as individuals and not collective entities we can start creating new narratives.

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Stop posting your Shein hauls

HENRY RICHA/The Concordian

The rise of Shein through TikTok and its place in fast fashion today

From try-on hauls to unpacking videos, Shein has been fast fashion’s latest social media star. During the pandemic, Shein had a major rise in popularity as everyone looked for affordable places to shop online, and TikTok is to thank for that.

Seemingly overnight, the app was flooded with videos highlighting customers’ recent hauls from the cheap clothing site. Not only that, it also became oh so meme-worthy, with people posting videos of strange items they found on the site (fried chicken necklace, anyone?) and cringy product reviews.

On TikTok, the hashtag “#shein” currently has an accumulated 44.4 BILLION views, to give you an idea of just how massively popular it is.

As a brand, Shein is problematic to begin with, and that’s without delving into the complexity of Shein’s treatment of workers. It identifies itself as a “real time” fashion company, meaning instead of the average three week process brands like H&M and Zara use to release new items, Shein takes five to seven days. Because of this shorter rollout period, they also use cheap fabrics and their clothing is known for its low quality, which contributes to consumers regularly buying clothing in bulk from the site. 

Shein’s massive popularity has made over-consumption trendy. Shein’s popularity has also brought with it a deeper discussion on fast fashion. Can fast fashion be ethical? Should we be buying from sites like Shein at all? Is fast fashion even avoidable? Questions like these have been at the forefront of debates on fast fashion. 

Personally, I don’t believe fast fashion is truly avoidable in today’s world. Unfortunately, we live in a capitalist-run society, which is to say that mass consumption is all consuming and, frankly, we’re all broke and tired.

The average person can’t afford (and I mean, literally, financially afford) to completely avoid fast fashion. Even somewhat affordable mainstream clothing stores contribute to the problem by promoting mass consumption: Zara, H&M, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, etc. Not to mention how all these brands are problematic in their own right in terms of mass consumption, labour,environment, etc.. . Even thrift shops end up with these labels continuously cycling through their racks.

There’s hardly anywhere for an average working-class person to turn to where they can buy clothing that’s affordable and ethical. With online shopping becoming the norm and wiping out brick and mortar stores, the fast fashion issue has only worsened. 

Online stores and social media have given a new life to “haul” content online. More and more frequently, people are over-purchasing large amounts of clothing they don’t need on a regular basis for social media content.

Shein’s insane popularity on TikTok has cemented the over-consumption of fast fashion as a trend. It’s become the latest environment-killing, cheap, and easy form of content available to influencers or wannabe influencers trying to grow a following.

Influencers. Ugh. Influencers have glorified haul content and inspire others to copy these same behaviours. Now this isn’t to say that all influencers are awful and want to see the world burn, just that they should be more conscious of how they use their platform. If influencers were to entirely stop posting content that promotes regularly buying clothing in bulk, there’d be a massive drop in the amount of people doing exactly that. The spheres of beauty and fashion have influencers at their core, audiences (quite literally) “follow” their example. 

So stop posting your Shein hauls. Firstly, nobody truly cares about the seven shirts you got for $30. Secondly, you’re feeding into an already problematic company that is one of the largest modern contributors to fast fashion and, by extension, climate change.

This isn’t to shame anyone who’s bought from Shein or similar sites. Like I said, we’re all broke and tired, I’ve been there myself. It’s just to say buy what you need, when you need, not in excess.

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What Nikita Dragun’s placement in a male jail unit can teach us about Canada’s trans inmates’ safety

Graphic by JAMES FAY @jamesfaydraws // The Concordian

Our institutions need to do better

Influencer Nikita Dragun was arrested at the beginning of the month at the Goodtime Hotel in Miami, Florida for felony battery on a police officer, and disorderly conduct.

According to hotel security guards, Dragun had allegedly been “causing a disturbance” and “walking around the pool area unclothed.” Afterwards, “Dragun flung an open water bottle toward the officers and the hotel staff, wetting one of the officers.”

When she appeared in a bond court video the following day, it was revealed that she had been kept in a men’s unit. In the video, Dragun asks judge Mindy Glazer, “Do I have to stay here in the men’s unit, still?”

It has obviously sparked a number of negative reactions on social media. However, what follows is even more shocking.

In the court video the judge seems to be writing something down, hearing but not really listening to Dragun’s request — or at least showing very little interest. Glazer then proceeds to say, “Yeah, I don’t make the rules up there but, they should make a proper accommodation for you.”

What does that mean? There shouldn’t be any accommodations, just put her in a women’s unit. The way it’s phrased also makes me furious. Is Dragun’s right to be in a jail that houses inmates of the same gender as her really an “accommodation?” Because we all know it would not be an accommodation if the inmate was cisgender. It would simply be their right.

According to Florida law, transgender inmates’ housing situations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. A “transgender committee” made of medical and mental health professionals meet with the inmate to evaluate and make recommendations to the state as to where the person should be housed. These are however only recommendations, and it shows that transgender people’s rights are not fully protected in those cases.

Transgender inmates are over-represented as victims of many forms of abuse in prison. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, they are ten times more likely to be sexually assaulted in prison.

If this is what happens to a popular figure in the US, imagine what can happen to any other trans person in our own country.

In January 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised trans inmates that they would be housed based on their gender identity, stating that “trans rights are human rights.”

Up until then, Correctional Service Canada (CSC), which governs the federal penitentiary system, had a clear policy regarding the placement of inmates according to their gender assigned at birth.

According to a report on trans prisoners’ safety, “the CSC policy dictated that trans prisoners be assigned to either men’s or women’s penitentiaries based on their pre-operative sex. Consequently, trans women who had not undergone gender affirmation surgery were forced to live in men’s prisons instead of with the gender they identify with. This CSC policy has led to extreme difficulties for these women, who are often subjected to sexual harassment and assault.”

The day following Trudeau’s speech, the CSC stated that they would “consider” inmate placement based around gender identity and expression rather than gender assigned at birth.

Adopted in June of that same year, Bill C-16, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, protects transgender individuals against gender discrimination. The Bill amended section 3(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act and added “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the prohibited grounds of discrimination.

The Bill also amended the Criminal Code “to extend the protection against hate propaganda set out in that Act to any section of the public that is distinguished by gender identity or expression.” The amendment prevents the federal government from discriminating on the basis of gender, including in its prisons.

Then, in December 2017, the CSC adopted an interim policy to “accommodate based on gender identity or expression, regardless of the person’s anatomy (i.e. sex) or the gender marker on identification documents.” Included in the policy is the right of the inmate to be addressed by staff with the correct pronouns and, if a strip search were to be performed on them, the right to choose whether it be conducted by a male or female staff member.

This sounds really good and progressive in theory. But I have a hard time imagining an institution like the prison — that is founded on militarism, punishment, humiliation, racism and discrimination — to completely change its course of operating because they truly believe that trans lives matter.

My research proved me right on that point. In the 2019 case of Boulachanis v. Canada (Attorney General), the applicant had requested to be transferred from a male institution to a female institution after identifying as a woman. The CSC refused her request on the basis that the inmate would “pose too great a risk, in particular a risk of escape, to be placed in a women’s institution.” Although Justice Grammond of the Federal Court granted her the transfer and recognized that “keeping her in a men’s institution is discriminatory,” violating the interim policy, it is important to highlight how he got to that conclusion.

After clearly stating that Boulachanis is legally a woman, Justice Grammond then questioned whether she should be treated as one: “Stripped to its essentials, the issue is to determine whether Ms. Boulachanis should be treated as a man or as a woman.”

Blatant heteronormativity aside — if Boulachanis is a woman, why are we questioning her right to not only be seen as one, but also be treated as one by the law?

Probably for the same reason that Nikita Dragun was put in a male unit in Florida. It doesn’t matter what Bills, promises or policies they establish on paper, our institutions, governments and society still fail to protect transgender people.

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Hear me out Opinions

Hear Me Out: Stop saying you were born in the wrong decade

JAMES FAY/The Concordian @jamesfaydraws

“Life was so much simpler” is a myth, I promise

If you never said it yourself, you probably heard someone say it at some point: “I was born in the wrong decade.”

The feeling seems more popular than ever now that archival footage has found its way on TikTok and you can see videos like “what was life like in the ’70s” filled with comments saying they were born in the wrong generation.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with thinking that our present time sucks. Between a pandemic, a war and a scary political landscape, it seems not much good has come out of this decade so far.

Not to mention the easy argument of technology and social media. “Wouldn’t it be so much easier in a time when social media wasn’t around?”

But what’s so wrong about technology? It is responsible for great innovations in science and medicine which makes it so that most minor injuries, infections or diseases are treatable and curable.

You’re probably sick of what’s going on with the world right now and yearn for a time you’ve only heard about in stories from older family members or through film.

Does that mean we should go back in time? Like, to a time when women couldn’t vote? Or when racial segregation was instilled in every institution?

No. I’ll tell you now, what you saw on Bewitched, Happy Days and The Brady Bunch is not what living in the ’60s and ’70s was like for everyone.

I’m sick of the romanticization of some founding decades of the 20th century. It’s one thing to talk about the fashion or the history, but to say you wish to have been born at that time just comes from a place of privilege.

From what I understand, the sentiment comes from either of two thought processes: “I like the good parts and never thought through the bad parts” or “I thought about the bad parts and I realized I wouldn’t be affected.”

You might like the music, fashion, or aesthetics of a different time, but you were not born in the wrong decade.

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Innocent man arrested without motive?

CARLEEN LONEY/The Concordian @shloneys

Calling the police into question and their ability to do their job right

A man named Brice Dossa was handcuffed by Montreal police on Thursday, Nov. 3 in the parking lot of Montreal’s Central Market. Police suspected him of stealing a vehicle which was later proven to be his own. The plainclothes Detectives who specialise in car thefts, however, were unable to release Dossa immediately because they had misplaced the keys to their handcuffs and needed backup officers at the scene to release Dossa.

In a video that has since gone viral, Dossa is seen asking officers if he was arrested because he’s Black. While the two officers deny that this unjustified arrest has anything to do with race, many on social media are concerned that this is just another case of racial profiling.

If not, why was the man suspected of car theft and arrested for it by police, prior to the officers verifying who the vehicle belonged to?

In the questionable sequence of events which led up to Dossa’s wrongful arrest, the unfortunate historical trend in which the Black community is faced with unwarranted and unjust policing has, yet again, resurfaced in the headlines.

The video segment of the arrest is truly abhorrent. It calls into question these cops’ ability to perform their duties. 

One major inconsistency in the officers’ discretion was that the car theft under investigation on Nov. 3 involved a vehicle which was reported to have visible signs of damage. However, CBC independently confirmed that Dossa’s car showed no traces of such damage. Yet, when Dossa arrived at the scene where the police were still examining his vehicle for evidence, they promptly arrested him.

Dossa claims he is left traumatized by the experience, which could easily have been avoided with proper due diligence from the police. This puts into question whether law enforcement can ensure equal treatment for all. 

Ironically, this event comes shortly after the Quebec Superior Court ruled in a racial profiling case that police could no longer pull over drivers without a valid reason, as it constitutes a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom. Officers who are not dutifully impartial in service to the law might finally incur sanctions when these newly-established regulations become viable six months from now.

Meanwhile, instances of police brutality and racial profiling frequently continue to make headlines, yet our premier continues to deny the existence of systemic racism and bias. 

As he claimed in 2020, when addressing protests in response to George Floyd’s murder, “I think that there is some discrimination in Quebec, but there’s no systemic discrimination.” More recently, during the last electoral campaign, Legault again reiterated his stance that systemic racism does not exist. 

It is appalling that the government or law enforcement institutions in this province refuse to acknowledge the pernicious consequences of systemic racism. The foundation for such beliefs — and the inaction that follows — normalizes and legitimizes the abuse of power by the state in ways that undermine democracy, justice and equality for all citizens.

Following Dossa’s wrongful arrest, new policies need to not only be incorporated within the practices of law enforcement, but also should be made effectively operational.  Let’s hope that the recent decision ruled by the Quebec Superior Court will yield change in the years to come, so that everyone is guaranteed equal freedom and safety.

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Hear me out Opinions

Hear Me Out: Coffee isn’t that good — you’re just addicted to caffeine

JAMES FAY/The Concordian @jamesfaydraws

I get it though, coffee is such a mood

Describe your perfect morning.

For me, it would be waking up to light rays of sun hitting my face, my body all wrapped up in a fluffy duvet, to the smell of warm coffee.

Now this might not be what you would answer, but does your perfect morning ritual include coffee?

For the longest time, I didn’t drink coffee. I just never liked the taste.

Now, approaching 26, I can say I’m an avid coffee drinker, but only for a year or so. And let’s be real, if you pour me a cup of coffee, I probably wouldn’t drink it.

My coffee is not even considered coffee for certain people. *cough, cough* Hi, dad.

I like my coffee with a good amount of flavoured creamer and oat milk.

With that being said, I use a coffee face mask religiously and my favourite candle is called Paris Cafe. So, I get it.

For me, there’s also something about getting hot coffee on a cold morning. Which is why I started to wonder if what I liked was really the coffee or if any hot beverage would suffice.

Coffee is different though, and there’s a reason why it’s the drink of choice for most adults in the morning. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that helps reduce sleepiness, which makes it the most consumed psycho-active drug in the world.

Ever since the late 17th century, caffeine dominated popular consumption which corresponds to a rise in the capitalist economy.

Today, with our lives being defined by our work and productivity, it makes sense that a beverage with such effects on the body and mind would be so popular.

However, it’s just not that good. Just admit it already.

If you say coffee is your favourite drink, stop lying to yourself and realize that a part of what makes coffee so popular is the addictive effects of caffeine.

According to a study conducted by researchers from the Université de Nancy on the effects of caffeine on the central nervous system, the human body does not seem to have developed a tolerance to the effects of caffeine, though signs of dependence and withdrawal symptoms have been present.

Coffee addiction is not a new discovery though, and most people are aware that their love for coffee is just blinded by their dependence on it. Although I appreciate the self-awareness, can we stop with the quirky and sometimes cringy “but first, coffee” merch?

How about a “but first, central nervous system addictive stimulant that doesn’t actually taste good?” Just an idea.

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