Learning Stories
by
Mario deSantis
mariodesantis@hotmail.com
“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear,
free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to
oppose what I believe wrong, and free to choose those who shall govern my
country.” - -The Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker, Canadian Bill of Rights,
1960
“The whole judicial system is at issue, it's
worth more than one person.”--Serge Kujawa, Saskatchewan Crown
Prosecutor, 1991
“The system is not more worth than one person's
rights.”--Mario deSantis, 2002
Ensign Stories © Mario deSantis and Ensign
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"Policies, not opinion polls"--Lord Roy Hattersley,
former UK labour deputy leader
"Technological progress is like an ax in the hands of a
pathological criminal"--Albert Einstein
"The system [National Missile Defence system] would offer
little protection and would do grave harm to this nation's core
security interests"-- Federation of American Scientists
Today's information technology has broken down our geographical
differences and we have been experiencing real time information from
all over the world. As a consequence, our global leadership have
been hailing the informational technological changes as providing a
better democratic environment. And it is for this reason that we are
all flooded with statistical opinion polls telling us what we really
want at any given time: 'black today, white tomorrow.' This is
called instant democracy, democracy driven by opinion polls, and it
is no wonder that our politicians don't walk their talk and make
social policy decisions based on our instant democracy: daily
statistical opinion polls with a confidence interval of 99% and a
maximum error of 1%. And I get so mad when social policy decisions
are made based on statistical polls and spin-doctored by emphasizing
the high confidence in the decision and the small related maximum
error.
The fallacy of this statistical decision making process is
highlighted when at a later time we hear the saying 'the decision
was the best decision at the right time and right place.' Instead,
we must make social policy decisions based on our shared democratic
vision so that these decisions are right over a longer time period
and over all the places. This is democracy, democracy of people, and
we don't want the breakdown of democracy by elevating technologies
and instant polling before people.
It
was two days ago that in relation to the possible federalization of
aviation baggage screeners I heard US House Representative John Mica
saying that people are as good as the technology they use. Again, we
have social policy makers putting technology before people and this
is why we have a divided world and this is why our governments fail
in their social responsibilities to protect their citizens. And
things are precipitating for the worse of humanity as President
George Bush is pursuing at this time of crisis his dream of a Star
War by promoting the National Missile Defence system.
As long as there is life there is hope, for me, for all of us,
and for President Bush |
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