Story of the Year ?

Tonington

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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Rex is listening in on callers for his Cross Country Checkup program. In the short trip to the corner store I heard Canadians mention the election and death of Jack Layton, a Vancouver man interested in the buying up of properties by Asians (particularly Chinese, was that you Dumpy?), and a man from Victoria who thought the class focus in society as exemplified by the Occupy movement, and to some extent the Arab Spring, and the push-back against the economic model of constant capitalistic growth.

So, what is your story of the year? For me it's the Arab Spring. Brutal and barbaric dictators, and high youth unemployment. A recipe for revolution. Will it be a secular change, or more like the Iranian revolution? Time will tell.
 
eh1eh

eh1eh

Blah Blah Blah
Aug 31, 2006
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Under a Lone Palm
It's all the speed of communication. The Arab Spring wouldn't have gotten any farther than they did 40 years ago without the continual flow of info out of these places.On the internet I saw people on the street keeping the peace,, with guns mind you, but they were only keeping their areas safe and secure. We saw this first hand. How could the government or military go out and shoot them and take control again and then tell the world they quelled violent protests.
My big story is that we are actually getting the big story.
 
Cannuck

Cannuck

Time Out
Feb 2, 2006
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Alberta
Tonington said:
So, what is your story of the year? For me it's the Arab Spring. Brutal and barbaric dictators, and high youth unemployment. A recipe for revolution. Will it be a secular change, or more like the Iranian revolution? Time will tell.
Click to expand...

Agreed but, only time will tell if the the extent of the effects
 
Goober

Goober

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Jan 23, 2009
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Moving
eh1eh said:
It's all the speed of communication. The Arab Spring wouldn't have gotten any farther than they did 40 years ago without the continual flow of info out of these places.On the internet I saw people on the street keeping the peace,, with guns mind you, but they were only keeping their areas safe and secure. We saw this first hand. How could the government or military go out and shoot them and take control again and then tell the world they quelled violent protests.
My big story is that we are actually getting the big story.
Click to expand...

In Syria they have killed thousands - a civil war and ethnic- religious divide / killings is coming down the track.
 
WLDB

WLDB

Senate Member
Jun 24, 2011
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eh1eh said:
It's all the speed of communication. The Arab Spring wouldn't have gotten any farther than they did 40 years ago without the continual flow of info out of these places.
Click to expand...

Possible. But the revolutions of 1848 in Europe seemed to be able to do all right. It all collapsed in the end, as the arab spring may but who knows at this point.

I'd say the Arab spring is the biggest story of 2011. 2012-whatever happens with the EU.
 
Colpy

Colpy

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Nov 5, 2005
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The Arab Spring....but I fear it will turn out to be significant as an essential part of the rise of Islam, as opposed to the emergence of liberty in the Arab world.

it can't be both.
 
Bar Sinister

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
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Tonington said:
For me it's the Arab Spring. Brutal and barbaric dictators, and high youth unemployment. A recipe for revolution. Will it be a secular change, or more like the Iranian revolution? Time will tell.
Click to expand...

I'll go with that, especially as there seem to be completely unrelated groups such as the occupy movement and the anti-Putin protestors in Russia who have taken inspiration from it.
 
Walter

Walter

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Jan 28, 2007
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Me retiring and starting a new job is the story of the year.
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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The ongoing Keystone drama has been delivering.

From Harper calling it a no brainer, then it gets delayed, and now it's a political moving piece for the next U.S. election.

A close second would actually be civil disobedience in parliament from Depape and Trudeau. And Pat Martin to some extent. They're bringing a lot of media attention to the house which is good for public scrutiny of the entire process.
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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K.C. wins!

Jack Layton voted Canada's Newsmaker of the Year

The late Jack Layton has been chosen by editors and news directors across the country as Canada's Newsmaker of the Year. Layton received 90 per cent of the votes in an annual survey by The Canadian Press — one of the widest margins in the 65-year history of the CP Newsmaker polling.

The next closest was Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who received just five per cent of the vote totals.

Layton's widow, Olivia Chow, says the former NDP leader connected with average Canadians, and brought a sense of "good" to the federal political landscape.

Layton was known for wearing funny hats into fundraisers, chatting with workers in line at the Tim Hortons, and bringing his guitar out for folk-song sing-alongs on campaign planes and in meeting rooms across the country.

He died of cancer on Aug. 22 at the age of 61.

Also earning votes in the survey were Canada's new female premiers, the protesters at the heart of the Occupy Canada movement, former auditor general Sheila Fraser and the Grande Prairie Composite Warriors football team.

The Canadian Press also conducted a parallel survey in conjunction with Yahoo Canada to allow the public to make its own choices for Newsmaker of the Year. The public results were no less clear: it was Layton by a landslide.

The late NDP leader claimed fully half of the online votes cast, with hockey commentator Don Cherry a distant second at 16 per cent. Prime Minister Stephen Harper garnered 10 per cent of the vote, narrowly edging the Occupy Canada protesters at 9.5 per cent.

Jack Layton voted Canada's Newsmaker of the Year - Canada - CBC News
 
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