Readers weigh in on the response to pro-Palestine protests, and the ways modern communication shrinks our attention spans.
Stick to facts about protests
In 2020, Blacks Lives Matter and Indigenous protesters were arrested and charged for blocking an Ottawa street for two days. The Coastal GasLink protest blockade in 2020 was broken up by RCMP after 19 days, and resulted in protesters being arrested, charged and convicted. (The Freedom Convoy occupation of Ottawa lasted three weeks). Recently in East Vancouver, 14 pro-Palestine protesters were arrested after blocking traffic and a railway for less than four hours, with charges expected.
During the pandemic, the majority of BLM protesters wore masks even while outdoors, demonstrating their commitment to public health. This was a notable contrast, I might add, to the “Freedom” movement that during the pandemic protested against wearing masks and other public health measures.
Another relevant difference: The Convoy occupation occurred at and surrounding the federal Parliament building, whereas the pro-Palestine encampments are located on universities’ properties. It is up to the respective universities, not the prime minister, to request law enforcement intervention to remove the protesters on their properties. Quebec City police removed protesters at Laval University recently, for example.
Barbara Schindelka, Saskatoon
Modern attention spans
With the ubiquitous use of smartphones and social media, we seem to have lost the skill of communication.
We are addicted to a barrage of jolts per minute. Watch old movies. Scene changes occurred slowly. New movies? Scene changes or other jolts every couple seconds.
Reading has become a lost art. A message must fit a bumper sticker. Even the 280-character limit on “X” (formerly Twitter) seems to test someone’s comprehension skills. Messaging has been reduced to sound bites or “fake news.”
What is particularly disheartening is people bragging about not reading, implying others are fools who read — gasp — books and periodicals.
TLDNR: Too long, did not read or LOL (laughing out loud) or ROTFLMAO or STFU or ICYMI or AFAIK — all fitting that 280-character limit.
1960s television drama episodes (like Bonanza) ran 49 to 50 minutes, with infrequent commercials running an average of over one minute each. Today, hour-long drama episodes on television are under 40 minutes, half hour sitcoms under 20 minutes. To fill the ad space we suffer a dozen 10- to 20-second commercials.
Robert Bandurka, Humboldt
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