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."

Comments

Translation from Canadian CorpoSpeak

[Anonymous Coward]

"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.

bad thing?

[fish_in_the_c]

The consumer ( aka normal people) are in control of their own decisions about information and culture?
Oh no, whatever will we do.

As a Canadian...

[Sepultura]

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.

Because Canada has a "little brother" problem

[Sycraft-fu]

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.

Culture Loss or Culture Change.

[jellomizer]

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.