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Outgoing CRTC Head Says Technology Is Eroding Canadian Culture
Patchw0rk F0g writes "Canada's outgoing CRTC head, Konrad von Finckenstein, has some choice words for his successor: Internet and wireless technology has disarmed federal regulators of their weapons to protect cultural identity. The retiring Finckenstein cites over-the-top broadcasting, new Internet technologies and (perhaps most importantly) the fact that the CRTC is antiquated and can't keep up with these emerging technologies as factors in the (still)-growing culture-loss of Canada to the U.S. 'We have now moved into an era where the consumer is in control, and where thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, you cannot control access any more,' he said in one of his last interviews."
just copies the American version anyways.
Canada has a culture?
"Technology is eroding the iron hegemony of Bell and Rogers! Sheeple Canadians are starting to wake up and realize they are being bent over a barrel and are getting restless!"
The CRTC is an unelected, largely unaccountable old-boy's club for power-players and lobbyists from Bell and Rogers. The CRTC's only mandate is protecting the duopoly of Rogers and Bell, nothing else.
This is a guy who's trying to stop the wheel of time from turning.
Why is the US pointed at as the reason for their culture loss? I'd agree that the internet is causing some culture loss, but you could also counter by saying it is causing culture gains. I know personally my life has been impacted by the culture of different nations due to the readily accessible nature of information on the computer. In my house you would think it more Asian than American due to the internet.
I also see this at my kids school. Both in style of dress and the behavior of the kids.
While I do agree that it is important to know where you come from, I don't think it is wrong to embrace other cultures. In essence isn't that pretty much where all culture stems from, the exchange of ideas?
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
The consumer ( aka normal people) are in control of their own decisions about information and culture?
Oh no, whatever will we do.
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
'We have now moved into an era where the consumer is in control, and where thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, you cannot control access any more'. Sounds kinda butthurt to me.
Let us think for oursevles and decide for ourselves.
Nobody says, "Hey lets go out for some Canadian tonight."
Konrad von Finckenstein
Anyone else read "von Frankenstein"?
Scorpion flap or GTFO!
I'm a native born white Canadian living in one of the most multicultural cities in the world and I can't stand the CRTC. Living here for 25+ years, I don't even know what Canadian culture is, let alone why we need a bureaucracy to defend it. The only people the CRTC are serving are hacky television writers whose shows get put on CBC and cancelled a year later. They are completely out of touch with reality and need to go.
If the dollar is an "I owe you nothing", then the Euro is a "Who owes you nothing." - Doug Casey
As a Canadian, here's the solution I'd suggest:
Stop trying to force Canadian content on Canadians!
If the content is good and provides something consumers want then it'll be a success. If it's Canadian-created filler crap then it won't, regardless of how forcefully it's stuffed down our throats.
And don't claim that Canadian content can't be successful on it's own because that's just bullshit. Just look at the music industry to see lots of Canadian content that's successful south of the border for the most glaring example.
If I recall, only Quebec can claim a cultural identity. The rest of canada can only claim to have a mash of british and US culture.
'We have now moved into an era where the consumer is in control, and where thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, you cannot control access any more,' he said in one of his last interviews."
You say that like it's a bad thing, Konrad.
Canada is a colony of the crown, much like Australia. It is primarily a British-US culture save for some belligerent Frenchies in the East.
Canada's original culture was North America Indian including Eskimos (Inuit), which have been marginalized by western culture.
Canada's best comedies are take-offs of British shows (Canda's worst Driver) and their original stuff "Corner Gas" is marginally funny. (Kenny vs Spenny, Kids in the Hall, etc successes are short-lived) Anyone sufficiently funny winds up in the US (Lorn Micheal's, Micheal J Fox, etc) however these people are more "American" than Canadian.
Don't get me wrong, I love Canada. But the culture isn't original, it is derivative at best, copied at worst.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
“We have now moved into an era where the consumer is in control, and where thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, you cannot control access any more,”
And thank God for that. What country does this guy think he lives in? I'd expect that in communist China but in Canada? Ouch.
I suppose it's just one more example of a government being unhappy about losing control of the minds of its people. In all honesty, if Canadian content can't compete with American then it deserves to lose.
Basically Canada is still going through issues trying to figure out what it means to be Canadian. A large part of how many Canadians seem to define themselves as as "not American" hence the "little brother" syndrome I talk about. They are like a little kid who is saying what they are is the things the big kid is not.
This isn't such a problem for the average man on the street, of course, but it is a big issue for the government and various folks. They have a real issue with trying to decide what it is to be Canadian and protecting that. There are even things like laws requiring a certain amount of content on TV and radio to be Canadian in origin.
Internet and wireless technology has disarmed federal regulators of their weapons to control cultural identity.
FTFY.
There's no scientific consensus that life is important.
Okay,
Hockey
Poutine
"Eh?"
"Zed"
Mounties
and a territory full of angry francophone separatists.
Not sure if that fulfills the requirements for a "culture".
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Canadian imports are American culture, or Hollywood culture at least. So, much U.S. films & music use Canadian star who come here to make more money than is possible there. William Shatner, Dana Carvey, & Celine Dion are all Canadian...as is Blackberry from RIM. Where is the effort to keep them inside your borders?
"We have now moved into an era where the consumer is in control, and where thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, you cannot control access any more,' he said in one of his last interviews."
Good. Out with the old, in with the new. Seeya, sucker.
I would like someone to define "Canadian culture" for me, because I can't seem to find a single one that you can call "Canadian."
Is it English Canada or French Canada, or is it Polish, Scottish, Chinese, or Malaysian?
That's not to even bring up Greek Town over by Queen St East.
Ouzo for everyone!
--
BMO
You cannot control and regulate culture. Cultures evolve, and yes, often in directions you may personally disapprove of.
In the end, it isn't your call.
You shepherd culture Individually. Support the values you hold dear. Pass on your history. Practice the traditions that mean something to you.
This is as it has always been. It isn't your to control.
And if the people decide to change, then the culture changes.
You cannot preserve it by writing laws to restrict them.
I assume that CRCT is Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes? sometimes I wish people would spell out acronyms.
Culture always changes. There's always some loss, but there's also always some gain. Holding onto that to the past that desperately inhibits the future.
Canadian culture isn't "eroding" any more than the US's is. Things change. We aren't forcing it on your citizens... your citizens just like it. Get over it and realize that culture is a huge group idea and no one has the authority to control what direction it goes, and any attempt always seems to fail, and I doubt you're willing to go the totalitarian route.
People like konrad makes me puke. I can`t believe someone or a bunch of people (the board of crtc perhaps ?...notice the lack of capital letters in crtc...they don`t deserve it) supported that guy. With that kind of talk and thoughts towards canadians, Internet and the whole technology no wonder why the canadian technology is so retarded and back in the dark ages. I'm a canadian and I'm ashamed of what my country thinks about technology. The bad part in in this Konrad is not the only one who thinks technology is going to fast and they can't keep up; just look in the political world. They don't give a positive feedback too. FFS, everything is in place to give more culture to canadians, the technology is there, the brain is there, the creativity is there but almost no one is using it yet. Since when did you go in a school and used technology properly ? Hell, most technologies are blocked in schools, most people in schools (ie: teachers) don't know what to do with the Internet or hell technology all together. No one wants to use it. By the way, Konrad doesn`t know squat about culture. He could start raising his fist to his own government and give more money to the cultural department...seriously. In my province, the only culture we learned was the american indians in the early ages in Quebec. I mean, don`t want to piss anyone off but i don't care about that alone. I want to know more about the political world..well anything to do in our age...give me culture..not only math, my language and some idiot philosophy classes. A whole world exists out there.
...was to point out the facts that
a) Canada has no culture. We've always been parasitic in our cultural identity; what little concept we have of a "Canadian culture" sprouted between 1916 and about 1975. Before then, culture immigrated with the masses; since then, it's been subsumed by global influences -- and yes, mostly from the U.S. That's mainly proximity, and puts us in company with a shitload of other countries.
b) The CRTC sucks. Sucks balls, as a matter of fact. I used to be a long-distance reseller; I've dealt with the CRTC on a person-to-committee basis many times. As a body, it's antiquated, stone-aged in its thinking, and yes, usually takes the easy way out by bending to the whims of the big telecom and media entities. It, like it's affiliates in the States and overseas, needs to get their asses in gear and up to speed with what's really happening in the tech world today. It doesn't just risk reputation or stagnation on its current route: it jeopardizes the Canadian public and its technological future in the same way that SOPA and PIPA affect domestic Internet users. Which brings me to...
c) If we're arguing that Canada has become Americanized, then the biggest risk of this is that Canada will adopt the same type of idiotic, tech-blind, censorious legislation that is represented by SOPA and PIPA. If we can import and be influenced by Jersey Shore, Mitt Romney, Kelly Ripa, and Mickey Mouse, how much influence will bills of this magnitude have on our weak-kneed politicos when the U.S. turns around and threatens to increase border security or stop buying natural resources if we don't toe the line?
There. There's the fodder. Have at it, Slashers!
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~~ Hunter S. Thompson
The law requires a certain level of promotion of Canadian culture in all productions.
So try to create a deep-space sci-fi with Earth long gone, with promotion of Canadian culture elements.
Or a document about origin of humans in Africa, with promotion of Canadian culture elements.
Or a canadian-themed movie about Ancient Greece.
I'll back up your point about successful Canadian content here in the US. I've also noticed an interesting side-effect of the CanCon rules . . . There's a hell of a lot of CanCon on American TV. A lot of it is pretty good, and you wouldn't notice it except for the northern accents (which don't vary that much from northern states) and an occasinoal "eh", more frequent on documentary/reality shows (e.g. anything with Mike Holmes) than on works of fiction.
www.wavefront-av.com
The CRTC has no business messing with so called "culture loss". We make up our culture with our individual decisions about what we enjoy and value. Thats it.
Many governments around the world are trying to control the internet, to stifle the democratization of information and access. In the end they will lose.
They aren't losing to American culture, American media makes "anti-culture" defined by self-interest, reactionary thought, celebration of ignorance, 0-empathy thinking, and vengeance over justice.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
As a Canadian I say this: (as has been discussed many times before)
- What is Canadian identity? First of all we need to accept that we IDENTIFY very strongly with the US (culturally, economically, strategically). So denying it does not grant us identity, just makes us look like hypocrites. The strongest Canadian values we have are our (misunderstood) compassion and generosity. Many times I have witness how Canadians jump to help in times of need without hesitation and I recognized that as truly Canadian.
- There are way more important issues for the CRTC than being the cultural champion for our society (that is actually the job for Heritage Canada http://www.pch.gc.ca./ We have a pressing need for guaranteeing communication access to all Canadians (internet, phone, cell phone) as a competitive service and not serving special interests groups (Bell, Rogers, Shaw, etc). Monitoring profanity and violence is non existent in radio and some tv shows, surprising for a conservative government. More access to diverse cultural (and political) views from varying parts of the country.
So in essence, the same ridiculous quotes from the Harper government to distract Canadians from the real issues and convince them of the virtues of his schemes.
Oh, the horror.
Did he actually manage to make that sound like a bad thing?
I got to thinking about why other places preserve their culture in person and online despite being online and it's pretty obvious. It's not the internet's fault that everyone in Canada is too far away from each other to maintain sufficient interaction to preserve their culture. Speaking two main languages across the country probably doesn't help either.
...the fact that the CRTC is antiquated and can't keep up with these emerging technologies as factors...
Doesn't that say it all?? Here's my solution: disband the CRTC and use the money to fund local bands/artists. Maybe setup a new "record label" that is a little more in-tune with society of today, not of yesteryear. There's a lot of things we could do with the money! (Our money mind you!)
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
All the posts I'm reading are "Canada has no culture". Seriously?
Of course Canada has a culture; Quebec has a more unique example, but for English Canada there are a lot of cultural similarities between their culture and the United States' culture, so most of those characteristics are subsumed under the US cultural umbrella. Canada's resulting perceived culture is more fragmented, less in your face than other cultures. We could easily lose these fragments and become more 'international' (though most English speaking Canadians get information from english speaking countries, so that means the US and UK mostly). All nationalist cultures will face this in the coming years.
The question, really, is does this constitute a problem? It's a question of identity: 'what cultural groups do you identify with?'. Nationalism has a very real hold on our identity. We need that feeling of belonging to something, and everybody is born into a nation. However, online experience has already show us that 'virtual reality' provides that feeling of belonging and the groups with which we identify and to which we belong have changed drastically. This is a fragmentation of previous groups, and of course the previously established cultural groups are going to fight back.
Of course, the results of this fragmentation remain to be seen. Maybe it's better to belong to a group that all your neighbours belong to so that we share something in common with them, and some weak nationalism has a greater value then we currently understand. Maybe the explosion of smaller groups will allow a stronger connection within the group while a weaker without. I personally think that both are useful, and that Canadians should want to understand their culture, just as all other nations should want to understand their own culture. Having to legislate it in fear of losing it shows mistrust on one side and disinterest on the other, an ugly combination.
It would appear that the Canadians are eroding Canadian culture by choosing American products(is it even logically coherent to be able to erode 'your' own culture? Is it even logically coherent for a population as large and geographically dispersed as Canada to have 'a' culture?).
Lest my opening mislead, though, I would argue that the technological developments that the CRTC flunkie is complaining about are eroding the CRTC's ability to 'protect' 'Canadian culture'; but they are also eroding any need(we can argue about whether there ever was one; but there is a framework for arguing that there was) for that ability at the same time and by the same means.
Traditionally, 'culture' came in two flavors: small-scale, organic, locally-produced stuff, which is produced spontaneously, for basically nothing, for some mixture of pleasure and local consumption. Interaction with any broader market is limited; but capital costs are virtually zero, and operating costs are subsistence level. The other flavor, substantially newer, was the 'national culture' which really only existed in a coherent sense with the advent of modern printing technology, reliable mail, radio, TV, national distribution networks for recorded media, etc. This stuff is almost exclusively produced as an economic matter(even if some author or violinist or something does it for the love of the art, it ain't getting printed, taped, or mass-distributed unless some bean-counter says so). Its production and distribution tend to be moderately to heavily capital intensive, fairly centralized, and with considerable economies of scale.
Now, if you give any credence to the argument that the preservation of 'national culture'(to the degree that such an animal exists, and to the degree that such an animal is seen as "authentic" rather than as a bland, homogenous, destroyer of small-scale local cultures within the nation), Canada had a problem: traditional broadcast media and mass-market printed matter all reward capital investment and economies of scale(marginal cost of a paperback or an additional listener, fuck-all. Fixed cost of media empire or initial production, huge). Since the US is much larger, population wise, and modestly wealthier, it makes overwhelming economic sense that most of the 'culture' companies would be large US conglomerates producing 'American'(whatever that means in this context) culture tailored to appeal to American customers, and sold incidentally to anybody else who was interested. Thus, a competition between the 'Canadian' and the 'American' mass-culture businesses would likely favor the 'American' ones(the scare quotes are because, as businesses, the locations barely matter, they are probably both Delaware corporations operating as subsidies of multinationals headquartered at a P.O. box in the Cayman Islands, their 'location' just refers to their intended market). Now, America happens to have been historically superb at such contests(being reasonably populous, quite wealthy per-capita, and good at grabbing creative people from various messy collapses into war and mayhem of the 20th century); but the phenomenon isn't uniquely American, the same outcome would hold between any two nearby countries of sharply dissimilar market size with competing mass-culture industries.
However, the various effects of the internet(which do weaken the CRTC's abilities) also weaken the traditional dynamics of mass-culture sale. If the only way for something to hit the radio is because ClearChannel decides to put it there, Canadian music might have a problem. If technology radically reduces the cost of production and distribution of mass culture, it suddenly becomes much easier for the organic, local, semi-recreational, Canadian grassroots cultural producers to spread their stuff far and wide. Even if the means by which they do so are scary American companies, those scary American companies now exert much less cultural pressure. An American record label isn't going to
I'm happy to see that the CRTC has failed in their mission to shove their vision of "Canadian culture" down our throats so far. I'm even happier to see the CBC sweating as they are getting grilled by Sun News as to how they account for the billion + a year they get from taxpayers.
But I suppose since I'm not First Nations or Quebecuois, I'm just not good enough to be considered part of Canadian culture in their eyes.
If it were up to these guys, all that would be on Canadian tv would be Road To Avonlea and Corner Gas.
Are you kidding me?
I think out-of-control immigration to Canada is a much bigger threat to Canadian culture.
Years of government "multicultural" policies have led to entitled immigrants with no respect for Canadian culture, expecting everything to be changed around to suit them.
Of course everyone turns a blind eye since they're afraid of being being attacked as anti-immigrant (or whatever).
when the US introduced this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtILxBszyf8 to Canada, and it took off there like crazy :P
mov ah, 4ch
int 21h
Well, just put Strange Brew on an endless loop and curl up into the fetal position.
Meanwhile the rest of us will welcome the exchange of ideas in our constantly changing world.
The Canadian content rules are outmoded: let's face it Justin Bieber and Michael Buble outsell a lot of Americans. And a few years back, you had Shania Twain, Alanis Morisette and Celine doing the same thing. Canadians are doing just fine.
So, can all Canadian radio stations please stop playing the same old Bryan Adams songs please!!
They are the 51st state, the country's hat, all those kinds of jokes that basically say "Hey Canucks, we love you big time".
And god knows we Americans have our faults.
But we all watch all the Canadian TV shows on HGTV, and aside from the fact that you can't pronounce the word "house" correctly, we're basically the same culture.
The difference between Canadian Culture and U.S Culture as a whole is less than the cultural difference between say "Boston" and "Phoenix"
We want you to have your own "culture", but lets not go crazy and insist that its that big of a deal if it changes or the two cultures grow closer together.
What exactly are we protecting? Canadian Bacon?
Before you respond, every American really does love you and hopes you do well, finish school, and get a nice job.
The culture that we have to pay twice as much as 100km south?
I guess I'll get flamed for this, but the only cultural difference from the US have to be (mildly) claimed by the french, the natives, etc.
Geographically and linguistically, it's too hard to distinguish if we were to forget about the borders (actually, even for the french and natives in many areas!).
What he really means is that the US is gaining more culture per round than Canada. They are just afraid of the culture borders being eroded because of this. What they need is a good Canadian culture icon so they can do a culture bomb.
The solution is to make culture really free. Make it so the big media companies can't restrict our access to culture. Cancel the DMCA and make sure the anti-piracy acts and treaties all die. Shorten copyright protection to something reasonable like the seventeen years it is for patents. Lay anti-trust charges when big media companies force anti-competitive contracts on movie theaters. As it is now, crappy American movies always get screened and Canadian feature length movies don't even get made because they can't get screened.
The Canadian content rules were based on the premise that: "Crappy Canadian pop music is just as good as crappy American pop music". It worked well and the Canadian music industry prospered once Canadian artists had a fair chance to be heard.
When we have an even playing field, Canadian culture can compete on its own merits and we can get rid of the CRTC.
While probably not the most amazing stuff out there, up here in Canada, my (asperger) son has found a venue for expressing himself thanks to easy access to music producing software, and actually has a chance at being heard thanks to free distribution sites like soundcloud and bandcamp.
I don't hold a lot of hope of the CRTC protecting his cultural expression. An open and free net is probably the only way he'll be heard.
I'm in my right mind and I have the answer to everything!
I think he's sending Canadian Culture to a very receptive U.S. audience, and in doing so, he's eroding our American culture of house building.
As the song goes, "He is Daaaaaangerous!" ;)
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
/. is like Stallman: both used to be slightly interesting to a small niche; now they're just angry, irrelevant, and unbelievably out of touch with reality.
and you get the REAL WGN with all the local sports that the other WGN does not have.
1) They still have hockey
2) They're still not American (except when remonstrating with an American for using the term to mean "of or relating to the US)
3) Some of them still speak French
Bonus: Evangeline Lily (who speaks French)
Looks like Canada's culture is doing just fine.
Globalization for the past couple thousand years have seems to be a factor in changing cultures for quite a while.
And there are always people who get pissed off by this natural effect.
You get those crazy Romans who take over a culture, if they didn't kill every man, woman and child, usually caused a portion of their culture to rub off to the entire roman empire, although the conquered people usually get the biggest culture shift. However if the mighty Roman Empire could be switched to Christianity, which has been a small sect in an outskirt territory. Putting all debates about religion aside it shows how globalization effects all cultures involved.
So now in the 21st century We have near instant globalization of ideas and products. So cultures are changing. They are not going away but they are changing and are being effected by outside sources. Americans know about the music and shows available in Japan, or in India, we can talk to people from these areas and make friends of them. Also vice-verse a lot of countries that are newer to globalization feel more threaten then others, because their culture has been isolated for so long that their culture has been the same for a long time, however forces are causing it to change. Ideas on morality, politics, and stereotypes are becoming more diverse and the culture is changing to either accept these new ideas or reject them... But these new ideas are out there to be thought about, and they are changing culture more rapidly then what everyone was used to.
Many Americans are threatened by the ideas from Asia and the Middle East, as well these groups are threatened by Western ideas. They put to call our ideas of morality and what is right and wrong.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I can't seem to locate the reference on www.jimcarroll.com anymore, but many years ago (I'd say 10-15 years ago, as a guess) he posted on his blog that the CRTC was doing the "dance of the dinosaurs", and would one day become extinct.
It would appear that the CRTC has begun to die off, as predicted.
Canada could have had British Culture, French Cuisine, and American Technology. Instead, they settled for American Culture, British Cuisine, and French Technology.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
It should say "Outgoing CRTC Head Says Technology Is Eroding Canadian Xenophobia"
As with France and the American South, "loss of Culture" is code for nationalistic prejudice and/or racism.
I see the mixing of cultures as a good thing.
...and i am like: xD
"Your not living your life the way we want you to live it, Dammit!!!" said officials.
New resources in Canada are being exposed (i.e. thawing out.) Canada can make a claim on Arctic resources which are now in a "land rush" due to also being exposed and explored. Canada is the largest country in the world in terms of landmass and is positioned to potentially have a milder climate to grow crops in when global warming/climate change severely disrupts the climate and weather of the US farming industry.
So we might as well make the "annexation" easier via cultural means instead of doing so via a crude, overt coup or invasion.
P.S. I'm not sure if I'm being funny or serious.
It was already hard enough to own a Canadian. And now escaped ones are now hard to tell apart from Americans.
There go my dreams of owning a maple syrup plantation.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
and maybe back bacon, too. or maybe not. hey, this old fart is whining about losing Canadian culture, eh. like, can't he find his toque or something? take OFF, hoser. just make, like, these IS and Ps end every sentence on the net thing with eh, then, eh. so that's our topic for today.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
It depends how you define "Canadian" content. Almost anything from SyFy, past and present, is made in Canada. Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, etc. A few network shows are too. Fringe, for example, is shot in Vancouver.
The question becomes, when is a show Canadian? Stargate was shot in Vancouver, with a Canadian crew, a mostly Canadian cast, Canadian writers, Canadian producers... The only thing distinctly American about the show was where the money came from. Does that make Stargate Canadian? Most people seem to think it does, and it tended to win the Spacey award for best Canadian show every year.
Content that might not exist if it weren't for the CRTC. Networks up here might just lazily buy the broadcast rights for US shows rather than look for anything original.
There is a lot that I don't like about the CRTC, but mandating Canadian content isn't so terrible. Especially since it is so easy for the consumer to watch or listen to whatever they want anyhow. The content rules really just provide incentive to create content in Canada, keeping the domestic industry operating.
Unfortunately, that same protectionist attitude that keeps small Canadian studios and artists going is also being used to protect a few big telecommunications companies from having to actually compete against the big bad US and European network providers.
Isn't that how it's meant to work?
If hockey's so cool, then why does "horse hockey" refer to BS more often than to polo?
Poutine? Isn't he the Prime Minister of Russia?
...that he's complaining the fact that expression is in the citizens' hands and thereforce culture is being lost, or that he's implying the idea that culture is derived from and only consists of media that's filtered through a large company.
Content being in the user's hands is actually a positive for culture. Culture thrives on the freedom of expression. Its very existence is predicated on it. The more widespread the particular instance of expression, the stronger the culture.
I can see why he might be complaining that U.S. popular culture is displacing Canadian popular culture (U.S. popular culture is by and large obnoxious and trashy in all respects), but that has nothing to do with either of his positions. Maybe instead, he should complain that parents aren't teaching their children properly, or that Canadian culture isn't well-defined enough for children to sufficiently differenciated it from U.S. culture. Both make more argumentative sense if he's decrying the loss of Canadian culture through the infiltration of U.S. popular culture.
As it were, he just comes across as trying to assert that the natural number 1 is equivalent to the logarithmic.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
You know what impact the internet has had on _me_ as a Canadian? I found out about http://www.heroesofthenorth.com/, that's what. The internet allows Canadians to produce material and post it online for other people- including other Canadians- to watch. What a /tremendous/ surprise that the head of a government agency dedicated to dictating to Canadians what their culture is equates loss of government control with loss of culture. Weapons to protect cultural identify my ass; these are the guys who told the CBC to drop Air Farce and 22 Minutes, ffs.
No OS on the planet can protect itself from a user with the admin password. - Yvan256
A cheeseburger in every mouth and Netflix on every TV worldwide.....you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Enough already. When they say 'Canadian Culture' they mean 'The lack of choices so we can charge high prices'
That's all it is. They're mad that someone else is doing it cheaper so they can't get as much money as they want to gouge Canadians for.
They want restrictions to force Canadians to pay higher prices for products and a limited market to maintain it. If we have a wide open free range market for material, TV shows and everything else, you'll have...dun dun dun..competitors. They hate those.
Companies I have worked for said the US market can be difficult, because everyone is used to having choices and options available to them, so if you're not competitive in pricing, technology, and features, you won't make it.
Think about that, that's /exactly/ what my manager said to me at this company, based in Canada that Markets in the US.
That to me says - In Canada, it's not as hard because people have no choice but to buy your crappy products at higher prices.
Heck, we're a major oil supplier to the US, and yet our prices for gas are higher. Go figure. If anything the unification of culture by CHOICE is a good thing. Then finally people can start truly putting differences aside and advance globally.
As the parent notes, there is a lot of Canadian and other Anglophone nationals and productions on "American" TV. Let's examine two "American" shows: Fringe (Fox) and Revenge (ABC).
:). In a sense, they may have a point; we may all just be regionalisms of the global Anglo-sphere.
Fringe stars Canadian Joshua Jackson, and Australians John Noble and Anna Torv. Fringe is shot on location in that great American city Vancouver, BC for the last 3 seasons. The pilot was shot in Toronto and the first season in New York.
Revenge stars Canadians Emily VanCamp and Henry Czerny, It also stars Englishman Joshua Bowman and Englishwoman Ashley Madekwe.
The two biggest American films ever: Titanic and Avatar were made by Canadian James Cameron and stared, respectively Englishwoman Kate Winslet and Australian Sam Worthington.
So, what's that about Canadian culture? It would be no less ridiculous for US Americans to talk about pernicious Canadian or Australian dilution of US culture. Canadians may just have to reconcile themselves that there really is an international Anglophone culture that we all share and stop trying to define their existence by showing they are not American. Embrace the fact that Canada is part of a cosmopolitan Anglophone international super-culture. I'm sorry if reality upsets your inner Quebecois.
BTW, you have nothing to fear; according to the French, the US doesn't have a culture
It would be a grim irony if obsessing about your object of scorn brought about your untimely demise. Perhaps yoga or mild sedatives might be an option?
I don't get this. Most of the good American content online exists behind paywalls (that require a US address) or foreign blacklists. Sure, we can circumvent many of these measures, but the average user doesn't (I assume). My point is that American advertisers will happily take over from the CRTC in denying Canadians access to American content.
Personally, I don't get the point -- since many American shows are produced in Canada, doesn't that inherently make them "Canadian content?"
Price, Quality, Time. Pick none. What, you thought you had a choice?
Instead, we got: British passion, American culture, and French know-how.
I have never seen a US city consider making public services free on a holiday
Maybe you should look harder?
http://totaltrafficla.com/2011/12/31/free-bus-train-rides-for-new-years-eve/21231
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/malerts/SFMuniNewYearsEve.htm
https://www.google.com/search?q=free+new+years+taxi
For millenia, groups of people, as well as like-minded individuals everywhere, have been separated from each other geographically, which effectively prevented them from exchanging information and ideas. However, as separate groups they did all find unique ways of communication and entertainment, knowledge, arts and beliefs, which we refer to as language and culture.
Now there's the Internet, and all groups connected to it find themselves being drawn into a single global culture with English as a unifying language. Some folks, Konrad von Finckenstein among them, lament this development because of what's being lost, but what about the bad things we're losing and the good things we're gaining? All these separate languages and cultures are interesting, but they have also prevented us from communicating and understanding each other, which has all too often resulted in violence and bloodshed.
Therefore, if we find that the continued growth of the Internet leads to a loss of individual languages and cultures, but an increase in communication and understanding overall, then that's definitely not something we should try to stop.
Every once in a while, anthropologists find a group of primitive people living in a jungle somewhere without ever having had contact with the outside world. They jump at the opportunity to study such peoples, but there are now questions about whether is it is ethical to keep these people as isolated as possible just to preserve their languages and cultures; outside contact would certainly include many dangers for them, but also many benefits. Besides that, shouldn't they have a choice in the matter?
The same goes for Canadians, or any other less isolated but nevertheless culturally distinct groups around the world: it should be their choice in the first place, and if they choose to further integrate themselves into the global village, then that's also a good thing.
And soon, just as in Civ IV, we're going to start seeing Canadian cities near the border changing allegiance to the USA. Pretty soon their whole country will fall to our cultural dominance, leaving just the capital city left as easy pickings for our Stealth Bombers, Modern Armor, Navy SEALs, and a few Axemen we never got around to upgrading. Once the entire continent is under our control we'll be well on our way to a Domination Victory!
But really, we'd better hurry, we only have another 38 years before the game ends.
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
If you think Quebec is the reason for this "americanisation" of Canada, you're living in a dream.
"We have now moved into an era where the consumer is in control" Thats a good thing! As a Canadian I am sick of this "protect our culture" bullshit. Culture is what the population makes it, not what the government decides it should be with censorship. I embrace globalization, enjoy media from all over the world and I watch a show because of its quality, not its nationality. I don't need the gouverment to scold me and say: "be more Canadian!". Beside, its not like there is a lack of successful Canadian artists and actors in the United-States.In the end, freedom of choice is worth the price.
A great canadian show, and because of the subject matter the host says "HOUSE" a lot!!!
If you think that's what I wrote, perhaps you need to take Basic Reading Skills for $100.00?
The CRTC is supposed to protect culture? Nonsense. How its mandate got extended to that is a classic example of "mission creep". It was supposed to be about licensing radio and tv broadcasters. The "Canadian Content" requirements are a joke. Example: Bryan Adams (a Canadian) is not considered "Canadian content" for purposes of air play.
It should go back to its original purpose - making sure that the public spectrum is allocated in such a way that broadcasters don't step on each others signals. The other function of the original CRBC (which was the antecedent to the CRTC), you can figure out from their own web site
"'into an era where the consumer is in control, and where thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, you cannot control access any more". So previously you did controlled your own people!? Have a sit on an electric chair then!
Second City Television decided to address the Canadian goverment's requirement that Canadian television had to have two minutes of Canadian specific references by letting Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas have free rein. Thus was born that ode to Canadian living, "The Great White North!" (Is that enuff Canadian fer ya, eh?) :)
You guys all have short memories or just don't know the history of the CRTC. It originally had an arms-length relationship with the gov't and could pass regs as necessary to protect Canadian cuture and also bring some order to the natural monopoly of the telcos and the wild-west broadcasters. It's arguably (obviously) important given our proximity to the monster-to-the-South but mostly needs to be around to protect us from ourselves given our damned colonial atitudes in this country that will sell out everything we own here to every big country or corporation from "far away" in a blink of an eye. Well, that was then... this is now, and the CRTC has turned into a toothless cow. Various corrupt governments over the years (this time, Harper and his reptiles) have tried to reign in the CRTC but the best leash was the Broadcasting Act of 1991 where the government (Federal Cabinet) got the power to overturn CRTC decisions it didn't like. You can argue "...serves the bastards right" but it also destroyed any ability of the CRTC to stop SOPA/PIPA kind of laws or make the Telcos behave. Too bad, but the CRTC was eviscerated a long time ago and nobody remembers the time when the broadcasters bitched endlessly about the CANCON (Canadian Content) regs but I saw it give a HUGE boost to the Canadian recording industry which is all the better for it. The film industry also benefited theoretically, but who can tell with the crap that producers, who exploited the good times, ground out. The real evil of corporate concentration happened after 1991 and the CRTC can't do anything about it now. It's long since rotted from the inside and is directed from the outside by the Darth Vaders that run the government. Could be way better... but then couldn't we all.
That's the export filter. Generally people only export the best stuff, so it tends to stand out. For every Kids in the Hall there were dozens of shows that were deemed not fit for export (for good reason).
I read the internet for the articles.
I disagree. Quebec has something the rest of Canada doesn't: a distinct culture. Blasting away Quebec would just make Canada a non-official state of the USA.
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author.
Culture is what it is, and it constantly evolves. The minute you try and control it, it's not culture anymore. You can't have culture forced upon you. Traditions are shed and new ones are constantly created. That's just how it is. Canada is multicultural and it doesn't make sense to try and direct peoples' tastes, and the government should especially be hands off, otherwise it begins to look like facism. Quebec is learning this the hard way.
are considered culture?
Because that is all that the CRTC has done. They've allowed Bell and Rogers to hold the Canadian customer hostage.
No longer does the federal government get to guide what we see or read, and thus think. Nor are Toronto and Ottawa being culturally overfunded having any effect outside of those two areas. Eastern Canada is now free to resume its natral cultural relationship with the east coast of the US and into the Caribbean. And BC can continue its natural relationship with Asia. Alberta can resume pretending to be Texas. And central Canada can focus on themselves without dragging the rest of us along.
If anything this will make Canada more culturally diverse as there is no One Canada. (A single nation under two official languages.)
Imagine taking calfornia, but colder, and with their entire population spread over a land mass roughly equivalent to your entire country, with all the social, political, and economic differences that would result after being like that for some decades.
if you could force more shows like "Men with Brooms", that'd be great...
People like this are scary, especially when they are/will/were in power. Its all about using FUD in getting people to agree to being squelched and controlled. Only this time its with flag waving, not diaper changes.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Quebec no longer has a "distinct culture." The Internet already blew that away. Not that it was all that distinct beforehand. Back when the PQ first proposed regulating television to french-only broadcasts, they quickly shelved that because too many french-quebecers were huge fans of The Price is Right and Another World. Today it would be American Idol.
Quebec cannot join the US - the US doesn't want it. Quebec is financially finished. Where else in the world do you have someone earning $20,000 a year paying over $5,000 in taxes?
And this despite getting $100 a month for each person from the feds in "equalization payments" for self-inflicted harm done by chasing away jobs for more than 40 years.
1% of the population lost their jobs in the last 6 months of last year - and half of that job loss was in one month - December - the only place in Canada where that happened (everywhere else either stayed the same or increased employment).
The provincial budget has a huge hole blown in it and no way to fix it. Not when you already have the highest tax rates in the world, the 4th-lowest income of all the states and provinces (ahead only of Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia), and a debt to gdp over twice as high as any state. Why would the U.S. want to be stuck with that?
Except for me, my sister, my mother, now my father (he just got his citizen ship), mother's brother, parents, aunts, uncles, etc and so on.
I'm a dual, I go to Canada every summer, and have for more or less my whole life. I get to see plenty of both cultures, and so I'm pretty confident in my assessment. Canadians still have a big problem figuring out what it means to be Canadian, and much of it is simply defined as "We aren't American."
If you need laws and the treat of property seizure or prison to protect your national culture, your culture deserves to fall. Cultures need to survive on their own merits, and "cultural police" need to learn that dangling from a length of rope can be "cultural" too.
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
(e.g. anything with Mike Holmes)
I've always liked that guy.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
Is the CRTC over its head? Yes. Are they the perfect example of a bureaucracy that has grown for absolutely no reason? Yes. Absurd waste of taxpayer's money. Yes.
A few Bryan Adams songs are not considered Canadian content because of a CRTC formula for Canadian music. Those songs if I recall were recorded in the US. I'll save the diatribe of reading the policy.
Basically, its a points system. One point if artisits is Canadian. One point song was written by Canadian. Minus one point recorded in the US. Mine one engineered by American.
To keep a radio license or avoid heavy fines, you need to air a certain number of songs considered Canadian according to the points above every hour.
Satellite radio and internet radio have been a great way to avoid this unnecessary regulation. And for those that hate Nickelback internet and satellite radio are a blessing (Thank you!). Nickelback is unfortunately a Canadian band and gives stations points for playing the song. Their songs are all on heavy rotation because of this.
And it just goes to show how pointless their points system is :-)
...who cares?
Technology is eroding government control of Canadian culture.
Perfect. You are the poster child of 'please don't vote'.
I love the anti-quebec contingent in Canada. A fountain of bullshit that would put Rev. Phelps to shame.
So, tomhudson, why don't you take this to the next level. Find out why your local politicians are so impotent that they cannot get the 'great special privilege' that Quebec politicians achieve so effortlessly. I don't think you will like the answer.
... was obsessed with "cultural identity"?
So culture is all about controlling access? Hmmm... There's some nasty truth in it. Basically that's what Nietzsche said...
Oh, the beautiful gloss of greality!
Stop the CRTC from approving every Tom, Dick and Harry US cable broadcaster from buying Canadian wire and air rights. End of problem.
The internet opens up my world to the BBC, Australian TV, etc. i.e. Other members of the Commonwealth. I watch very little of the US "reality" and "game show" drek. In fact, almost none.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
I know bigbangnet didn't capitalize it at all, but sometimes British sources seem to capitalize only the first letter of an acronym. Nato instead of NATO for instance
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
how do you think IV compares to II?
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Um, bell owns CTV.
Canadians are what they are, we don't need a government body defining it for us. We want certain things and they try to replace all of those wants with a Canadian equivilant, whatever that means. It's trite and simply not what we want.
As a Canadian a welcome the loss of culture. The current 'culture' is a nightmare of political correctness all set out to make Canadian love all other cultures and despise their own.
You think I am extreme? Consider this? Several times a week the CBC (a.k.a. Canadian Bias Corporation) airs "The Little Mosque on the Prairie" a homegrown TV program about Muslims in Canada. As you imagine the program is purely to make Muslims look great at the expense of all things non-Muslim.
White men are all bigots; Christian ministers are intolerant; Muslims are tolerant and Imams are understanding and continually provide moral lessons to the non-Mussies. The plots and writing are sophomoric and, of course, the Mussies come out ahead every episode.
It is fucking political correct lunacy. And worst of all Canadian tax money is used to fund this pap. There are other programs for Chinese, and the inevitable dancing Bollywooders etc. etc. etc. And don't forget the Quebecois who have banned - in effect - the use of English in Quebec. It is illegal to display English signs there. And there have been attempt to curtail English speaking programs there.
There are even channels like CMT - Canada's Multi-Culti TV.
Every day in every way I look forward to the increasing availability of American culture. It may be brash, and mindless and violent and ......yada yada yada......, but it at least presents and alternative to the horrendous PC claptrap of Canada.
The loss of Canadian culture (which has morphed into other culture worshiping overlaid with anti-American programs) will not be missed by many, many Canadians. Good riddance to Finckenstein.
My wife and I traveled through Quebec and the Gaspe this fall for 10 days. We enjoyed every minute of our trip and the wonderful, friendly people along the way. However, the "no English" signage throughout the region on some occasions, kept us from finding some products we were willing to buy. For example when driving, on occasion we were unable to determine what product were for sale in some establishments, so they lost our business. I wonder if this is commonplace?
Point Taken
www.wavefront-av.com
Indeed. He seems like a real stand-up guy; the real deal, so to speak. I think it would be cool if more people set about the process of embarrassing their particular industries over the junk they produce. I tend to say that IT would be a good place to start, but the problem is that it is hard to convey the concept of "doing it right" to the layperson when it comes to IT. With general contracting work, it's something people can understand.
www.wavefront-av.com
Probably is the simple answer.
A more complicated answer would be, perhaps if you're going to visit a place you should learn the lingo, instead of assuming that every should learn English and have their signs in your language. Next time, take an English -> French dictionary with you. Or have 'net access on your phone and go to one of the many translation services.
Have you seen the mobile prices and plans in France? If only we could be so lucky. I don't know what their internet is like, but I'd wager it is cheaper as well.