Christianity is, indeed, an abstractiion. We vow to love our neighbour - but we do so only in the abstract. It's so much nicer that way.

We vow to bring our children to Jesus - but if a billionaire wants to use them to make more money for him, that's okay.

In 2005, the billiionaire forced a very poor city, St. John, to lower its civic tax rate for him in a way that will cost the city some 5oo million dollars in lost revenue.

The billionaire owns his own chapel, a white one - sort of a whited sepulchre. His newspaper ad invites us to go there, and reflect.

Well, why not? It's only abstract reflection.

I think you have it about right. Folk pay homage to the Christian idea, while in practice following the instructions and encouragements of Thomas Hobbes, whose influence has determined the structure of their commitments and priorities.

The problem is clearly articulated in Plato's "Phaedrus". Phaedrus and Socrates are in conversation about various concerns. The come to think about the utility of writing for those seeking the good in life. Here is how the basic pattern is represented online:

"Socrates tells a brief legend, critically commenting on the gift of writing from the Egyptian god Theuth to King Thamus, who was to disperse Theuth's gifts to the people of Egypt. After Theuth remarks on his discovery of writing as a remedy for the memory, Thamus responds that its true effects are likely to be the opposite; it is a remedy for reminding, not remembering, he says, with the appearance but not the reality of wisdom. Future generations will hear much without being properly taught, and will appear wise but not be so, making them difficult to get along with." Link to Source Article

So we move ahead to grasp for the carrot which is now projected on various digital screens instead of dangling from a stick held in front of us.

He who has control of the now digital media has control.

Is that what you are attempting to tell us, Graeme?

Digital media instead of providing everyone with a pair of rose colored glasses?

Perhaps we could rewrite the story of Little Red Riding Hood. She is walking through the woods on her way to show her grandmother her new iPad.

I think graeme is warning us of the dangers inherent in big business taking over and directing public education.

I think he is right: the greatest achievement of civilization, and indeed the mark of a civilized society, is free public education. First it was elementary education, then secondary, and a few European countries are now offering free post-secondary public education. This, not the privatisation of education, is what Canada should aim for!

If investors are going to make a profit in a public service, such as education, that profit must come from the taxpayer or the employees or diminished quality of service to the students.

The private sector is not, most of the time, the right sector to be in charge of public services.

And Christianity has too often been an abstract idea lilmited to worship time on Sondays.

Well, I meant all those things that those above have said. I just didn't say it as well.

Thank you graem for starting this thread.

graeme

To paraphrase Rev. John " I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer"  but I do think the volunteer aspect of teaching kids to read is a good thing. There are training lessons provided with the program on the net. It is costly and I do wonder if it could have been  done involving less expense. There are two openings on the board  of directors graeme!

Elementary Literacy Inc., a private-sector-led initiative, has counted on the support of numerous private sector partners and associations, including Fédération des Caisses Populaires Acadiennes, Innovatia, Marwood, Bleublancrouge, the Nurses Association of New Brunswick, Fusion SJ, the New Brunswick Retired Teachers' Association, the University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus, l'Association des Radios Communautaires Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick, Brunswick News, Banque Nationale and l'Acadie Nouvelle.

Close to 45 schools are participating in the tutoring programs. For more information and to find out how to become a volunteer partner visit the Elementary Literacy Inc. website.

Virtual Classroom - online training to teach the students

http://elementaryliteracynb.com/virtual_classroom

http://elementaryliteracynb.com/staff_members

Board of Directors

http://elementaryliteracynb.com/board_of_directors

FAQ

http://elementaryliteracynb.com/faq

Another commentary:

Over half of New Brunswick is functionally illiterate. Take some time and allow that statement to sink in.

According to Statistics Canada, 53 per cent of high school graduates in New Brunswick are not functionally literate; many have never picked up a book.

They may be able to read or write basic, applicable sentences or terms, and identify street signs, but not much else. Our province simply does not meet the standard of literacy that most of Canada does.

The next two years will see the completion of the Alward government’s restructuring of the education system. Whether we will see a rise in literacy rates remains to be tested by time, and time it seems, is running out.

http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/27104/brunswick-functionally-illiterate/

I know the rate of illiteracy. I also know that schooling has very little to do with it. I grew up in a community in which reading was not nighly regarded. (Luckily, my parents were exceptions to the rule.) My friends were illiterate. They weren't stupid. Literacy simply wasn't part of their world. You won't change that with volunteer tutorials.

New Brunswick has a long tradition of illiteracy. So have working class districts in any city. You'll also find it varies according to religious group. That has to do with the importance accorded to learning among various religious groups.

As to the private initiative, this is not new -and its motivation has nothing to do with helping little children. Private business wants control of the schools to make money out of them. This has largely been achieved in the US with "charter" schools - public schools which, under private ownershhip, collect school tax money AND charge fees.

The result has been to close these school to the poor and the lower middle class, to degrade the public schools, and to drive down the quality of education in general - without producing a superior product from the charter schools. The same thing is happening in Britain.

Here, the move is led by Jamie Irving, publisher of all the newspapers in New Brunswick, and heir to the irving fortune. The irving have long wanted official entree to the schools - with dollar bills attached. And they got it - two and a half million dollars for....volunteers. So who's getting the two and a half mil and what for? Nobody's talking. And it's our money.

This also means they're actually in the schools, and exerting influence over curriculum. The only people who should be doing that are teachers and the general public.

New Brunswick is also a frightened province. It's a small world, and having the wrong political views could get you fired - quite seriously. Open, public debate is virtually unheard of. The newspapers are the most biased - and the worst, I have ever seen.

The Irvings wield enormous influence. It's an easy matter for them to round up various "community" groups and other flunkeys to form volunteer boards, etc. In fact, you can be in real trouble if you don't conform.

Illiteracy in this province has been around forever. People like the irvings have never shown interest in it before. Now, all of a sudden, they've been financing "think-tanks" to churn out reports on the virtues of business penetration of our schools. They don't give a damn about illiteracy. They couldn't care less about what happens to the people of this province. What they care about is control and money. And in this climate of fear, of bought governments,and a controlled press, they can get away with anything.

The influence - and fear - reach down through every level of New Brunswick society and activity. It controls city councils, Home and School, educaton committees, libraries, private conversation, everything.

Having experienced these people and the mafia of Quebec, I'd rather have the mafia. it's not nearly so greedy. And it doesn't pretend to be virtuous except at weddings and funerals.

The "Alward" reconstruction of the education system is a fraud. Alward is a wimp quite ignorant of any thing about education. His reconstruction of educaton amounts to imposing a business style of management on  the system. It is a system hopelessly incompatible with education. but much admired in the Irving Empire. He's also imposing it on health where it doesn't work, either.

To learn more about it, check out Sigma Six in google. In the opinion of many reputable scholars, it;s not even a good system for business to operate under - but it's all the latest rage.

O.K. graeme........this is heavy duty stuff......:(

Hi stardust,

Respectfully submit that this is not a paraphrase of me so much as it is a quote of someone else.

When I employ sharp it is typically as follows:

"I am not the sharpest bulb in the (pick container that first comes to mind.)"

It is mixed metaphor as hyperbole.

A paraphrase might be:

"You elevator does not have a full deck."

or,

"Just because the lights are on it doesn't mean there can't be snow on the roof."

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Rev. John

I picked the name for the  quote  out of thin air...? bad memory ? ...  so as not to be accused of  plagiarism. Sorry about that!

graeme

Here's an  article from 1974 in reference to N.B. newspapers only:

It must be nice to own a province and then some.....!!!!

In January of 1974, K. C. Irving Limited et al. were charged and convicted under the Combines Investigation Act for planning to create, and sustain a monopoly in the newspaper industry of New Brunswick. The proposed merger was deemed to be detrimental to public interest, according to the trial judge at the time. Irving and the newly acquired companies appealed the decision and won.

The Crown then appealed the decision, taking it to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court Justices upheld the original appeal stating that the Crown had not given enough evidence to prove that the formation of such a monopoly was in fact detrimental to the public interest. Irving was allowed to maintain its ownership of all English daily newspapers. And the rest, as they say, is history. That was the last legal challenge to the Irving family’s ownership of print media in New Brunswick. The court decision destroyed the idea that a monopoly in an industry, so long as it brings economic benefit to the area, is not inherently bad.

This, however, is a very narrow understanding of the public interest. It gives very little attention to the fact that the news industry is not like other industries. It is also meant to serve the public interest in another way, by informing the public of events that matter to them. The Irvings’ monopoly on the distribution, publication, and generation of print news in this province has much wider consequences beyond the economic. It affects the public socially and politically as well. It is in these areas that a monopoly, by a corporate entity, can, and should be argued to be detrimental to the public interest.

Ironically, as I write this article, The Brunswickan is in negotiations with Brunswick Publishing Inc., which is owned by the Irvings to get them to print our paper. The last major printer of newsprint in the province, that was owned by a New Brunswick company other than Irving, has shut down its operations, making Irving the only New Brunswick owned company in the province. The monopoly continues.

The Irving family owns roughly 300 companies that are involved in things from oil refining, to toilet paper manufacturing, to newspapers. And as such, its interests lie in many areas. The majority of its companies operate in New Brunswick, but also extend into the New England states, other parts of Atlantic Canada, as well as Québec and Ontario. It is involved in just about every aspect of provincial life.

Irving-owned newspapers are often dominated by their role to provide the population of New Brunswick with a positive image of Irving, or create an absence of news when it is convenient for Irving. With corporate control of the papers in the hands of Irving, they serve as the public relations department of the Irving companies under the veil of objective journalism within the free press; the papers are neither objective nor free from censorship.

The laws in Canada must recognize the social and political impact of near monopoly ownership of the news media by corporate interests. People must demand a new format to get their news in this province; news that represents its interests and does not push the corporate interests of Irving as objective truths.

http://thebruns.ca/opinion/do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-200/

That puts it gently.

I was quite stunned at the depths of political life in this province. irving owns the Liberals and Conservtives as fully as the newspapers. I note that school commissions, PTA, etc. are heavily laden with irving people.

When the chief medical officer of the province warned that drilling for shale gas could severely endanger the health and even the lives of NBers, the irving press butchered the report of her warning - and played up the assurances of a person with no medical qualirications whatever.

In a province with a high rate of illiteracy, and one in which most jobs are irving or associated with irving, the effect is fear that runs through every aspect of daily life. 

Elections are fought with few public meetings, little political discussion, and no platforms among either Liberal or Conservatives that might rock the boat.

I write a daily blog on the Moncton paper. There is no trouble finding material. The newspaper has almost no news. it plays up trivia. Reporters almost never ask questions. They simply act as stenographers. Most of the columnists write only pointless little stories like how their dog got sick. (no exaggeration.)

The editorials NEVER criticize anybody who is rich. They routinely dump on the poor and on unions. Reporting on any party but the Liberals and Conservatives is rare.

Recently, the editorial ranted at CUPE for speaking against drilling for shale gas. They said only political parties  had a right to take public positions on public issues. (serously. it really said that.) However, they loudly praised a banker (who is not a political party) for taking a position in favour of such drilling.

New Brunswick is close to being a feudal state. Its people are being debased and robbed blind.

The churches seem to see no problem in this.

graeme

I understand what you are writing about NB and I've read your blogs. The Irvings are one gigantic power house with a net worth of over 8 billion as of Nov. 2012 the net says. I could fill a few pages if I listed all the companies they own, possibly 300 and counting.

Here is another article written in 1980  about the NB newspapers ownership.

I can't find any updates since then.

Quote:

By 1980 newspaper concentration has increased dramatically despite the Davey report. In New Brunswick, the Irving family owns all of the province's five English newspapers. Southam Inc. owns 12 papers across the country and Thomson Newspapers Co. Ltd. owns 40 newspapers representing 30 per cent all Canadian dailies. This alarming concentration spurs another Royal Commission on Newspapers to look at the same issues that the Davey Commission studied a decade ago.

The Royal Commission, under Senator Tom Kent, puts the publishers on the defensive as seen in this CBC Television report. The Irvings, Ken Thomson and Southam owners all testify before the commission. Things heat up as Arthur Irving lashes out after being accused by the commission of intimidating his reporters.

1980

http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/media/concentra...

Jan. 2012 - Irving - charge for online newspapers

Former journalism professor Marie-Linda Lord said the company's virtual monopoly on newspapers in New Brunswick means many people will feel they have no choice but to pay $20 per month for a subscription.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/01/14/nb-irving-n...

Hi stardust,

No need to apologize.  The quote has a source somewhere, I do not know what it is offhand.  It is a statement so heavily repeated it doesn't need to be attributed to anyone.  It is not plagiarism to use it even if one fails to name the source since it is a figure of speech.

Grace and peace to you.

John

They say television is educational. It is. Every time someone switches on the TV, I go to my room and read a book.

-Graucho Marx

The Irvings now own all the NB papers, English and French. And the quality of their journalism is beneath contempt.

I should add the irvings are looking to expand in NB. They have recently, with the help of a government that is wimpy even by NB standards, wriggled into the schools, and are imposing private business structures on medicare. Both schools and hospitals are on the radar for increasing privatization.

They make Calgary look like a hotbed of the social gospel.