Not many teenagers with too much time on their hands spend it on politics. It's often considered a world for adults, with subject matter too complex reserved only to the post-puberty brain. In my other "blogging career", I write about Korean football/soccer as we say in North America, a nod to my half-Korean origins. But at one point, I found something simply perfect in the United States Supreme Court ruing to legalize gay marriage, something so glorious that I just had to bring it up in an article about the South Korean Women's National Team advancing to the Round of 16 of the FIFA Women's World Cup. That seemingly innocuous mention of a victory for rights and freedoms in an article about sports resulted in a two-hour argument (well, on Twitter, but it was still two hours) on gay rights. For two hours I went back and forth arguing with some Republican who, to my great frustration, could not comprehend the concept that the definition of marriage can evolve, and fervently refused the existence of a "gay gene" (although I had simply mentioned that it was quite clear that a person's sexual orientation was not something they could simply change). The argument finished when I was fed up with his revoltingly patronizing tone, so I gave him the finger behind my screen and left to watch Power and Politics.
So yeah, I'm a weird kid. There is, to me, something infinitely fascinating about the bustling world of campaign stops and House of Commons drama. I also, as a child who read too much (is that possible?) and thought too much (that IS possible) about difficult episodes in my life, such as my encounter with racism in the classroom (I'm not asking for pity, I'm just taking a life example which quite frankly does not affect me at all anymore), feel like I have developed a nose for any social issues which could potentially strike a nerve with me.
Since we're talking about me, and I like talking about me sometimes, although my obvious left tendencies on the political spectrum, I have learned that the world of politics must not be about the red or the blue (or the orange, the green, the cyan and yes, I haven't forgotten the emerald green of Forces et Democratie). It cannot be about simply siding with a certain party's stance on every issue. The reason I say this is because I consider myself to be a person full of contradictions, and on the flip-side of the coin, perhaps open-minded as well. I feel as if I can be a loyal comrade one day, and an arrogant thorn in the side the next. I can argue with a teacher over 0.5 points of 25 of 50 of 30 of 100%, or just close my eyes and not utter a word when he forgets the Governor General still has a veto. While explaining the Canadian parliamentary system with a diagram. With the Crown of the Queen on it. (I allow myself to be patronizing at times as well.)
The point is this: I believe that I am a person of not just one colour, but many colours, which often conflict with each other. I am not a person who will sit all day on the Poll Compass tool on CBC to try to align myself the most with the popular left-wing party (I've done it before) but rather an individual who enjoys the world of politics, and who shapes his opinion differently on each boring announcement or exciting pre-election move depending on the circumstances.
But enough about me. What will this blog be about? Well, as you probably know, unless you're a robot (some of my first pageviews!), there's an election in Canada this fall, where political parties all across the spectrum will vie for 338 seats across the country. The Conservative Party will attempt to maintain its majority in the House of Commons, while the New Democratic Party will attempt to form their first government. The Liberal Party will hope that voters will turn to their charismatic leader in Justin Trudeau, while the Green Party, Le Bloc Quebecois, Forces et Democratie and Independents across the country will be in pursuit of their own personal ambitions.
I make no promises with this blog, and if you're looking for a place to read the news, there's certainly other, far more credible organizations to provide you that content. This blog will serve merely as a place for my personal reflections leading up to that key day of October 22nd. I hope that I have not bored you in this post, and if you have survived these lines which I have written, I commend you for your admirable tenacity to endure my poorly written ramblings.
So there's the obligatory first post. Thanks for reading and a share on any social media (or by word of mouth, which is okay too) would be appreciated. :-)
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