Tag: whats the consensus

What’s the Consensus: Does Friends deserve the hype?

We’re all familiar with the show, but are we all on the same page about it?

Reader, I sense that this one is going to be more divisive than usual, but the question needed to be asked: how do we feel about Friends? One of the most popular television shows of all time, it has also received its fair share of criticism, and I want to know where we stand with it.

In its 10 seasons, Friends was nominated for over 60 Primetime Emmy Awards, suggesting that it was beloved by television viewers at that time, and, it would seem that love carried on: Friends: The Reunion, which aired in May of 2020, was watched by an estimated 29 per cent of U.S. streaming households on the first day of release.

Friends ran from 1994 to 2004, giving it a following of millennial viewers who probably made up a large part of that reunion audience. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, after all. The thing is, a lot of good TV shows have been made since 2004. If we’re talking about sitcoms that can be compared to Friends, there are solid (and similarly beloved) shows like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.

And, 30-minute comedies continued to evolve beyond that style of humour — single set sitcoms — even at the same time as Friends was airing: The Office, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Modern Family are all excellent comedies that have also stood the test of time.

When Friends was put on Netflix in 2015, it gained two things: a whole new generation of (younger) fans, and a whole lot of people left wondering, why did I ever like this show? Many felt that, through their older and more *refined* comedy lenses, the show just fell short of their memories — and was actually pretty problematic.

So, Concordians, whether you’re a first-year fresh out of CEGEP, or a mature student like myself who feels ancient in your classrooms, I want to know how you feel about Friends.

What’s the Consensus?

Click here to cast your vote:

https://ivlv.me/yHL0b

The results from each poll will be published in the following edition of this column.

Last time, we asked readers if they think that smoking cigarettes is still cool. The results: 17% said yes and 83% said no.

 

Feature graphic by James Fay

What’s the Consensus: Is smoking cigarettes still cool?

We know it isn’t good for us, but do we care? Does smoking cigarettes still make someone cool?

A few weeks ago, I brought home a puppy. She’s cute as can be, sassy as can be, and, unfortunately for me, a canine vacuum. She will eat anything: leaves, rocks, you name it. The morning after my birthday party she threw up a piece of a balloon that I’m not even sure how she got a hold of. She was feeling celebratory I guess. But her favourite snack of all — the one she can’t seem to get enough of — is cigarette butts.

Having lived in Montreal for three years, I’m well aware that this is not the cleanest city in the world. I am even more acutely aware that, perhaps due to the city’s European influence, a great deal of its residents are cigarette smokers. I had just never realized quite how many cigarette butts are littered on our streets and sidewalks.

It’s left me wondering — my own dismay towards cigarette butts aside — is smoking cigarettes still cool?

The practice of tobacco smoking was, among other things, appropriated from Indigenous people by sailors returning to Europe from the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, according to Britannica. Over time, smoking began to be used less and less for medicinal and spiritual purposes, as it was originally intended, and more so as a symbol of wealth and elitism in western society.

While smoking did eventually become more affordable, the coolness factor brought about by the years it spent as something only rich people could do, took a good, long while to start wearing off.

It wasn’t until around the 1950s that research started suggesting a link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer; since then, its popularity has slowly but surely declined. According to the University of Waterloo, nearly half of all Canadians were smokers in 1965, compared to about 15 per cent of Canadians in 2017. Despite that decrease, tobacco continues to be the number one cause of preventable disease and death in Canada, according to BREATHE, the Canadian lung association.

So, Concordians — smokers and non-smokers alike — how do we feel about cigarettes today? Is smoking still cool?

What’s the Consensus?

Click here to cast your vote:

https://the-city-concordia-u.involve.me/new-project-09ac-copy-copy

The results from each poll will be published in the following edition of this column.

Last time, we asked readers if they think that Concordia should have made vaccination against COVID-19 mandatory for returning to classes in person. The results: 46.7% said yes and 53.3% said no.

 

Feature graphic by James Fay

What’s the Consensus: Is it okay to travel for leisure during the pandemic?

How do we collectively feel about non-essential travel during the pandemic?

We’ve all heard these words at one point or another in the last 18 months: “I can’t wait to travel again!” Fair comment, if you’re someone who enjoyed jet-setting prior to March of 2020. I think we can all agree that, since the onset of the pandemic, there have been good excuses for travel: family emergencies, certain work obligations, and medical procedures, to name a few. What has been more contentious is whether or not any of us should be travelling just for the sake of leisure.

Welcome to What’s the Consensus?, where, for the next eight months, on a bi-weekly basis, I’ll be unpacking divisive issues to figure out what the consensus is amongst Concordians.

This week, I want to know how you feel about traveling for leisure during the pandemic. As with anything divisive, there is a grey area. Perhaps you think that traveling is fair game, as long as the traveller is fully vaccinated. Perhaps you think that traveling within Canada is acceptable, but crossing the border is taking it too far. Maybe you haven’t seen any of your family or friends in a long time, and don’t think anyone else should have that luxury either. There are no wrong answers, but I want to know your answer.

So, what’s the consensus?

Click here to cast your vote:

https://the-city-concordia-u.involve.me/new-project-09ac

 

The results from each poll will be published in the following edition.

 

 

Feature graphic by James Fay

 

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