Right in the centre - Thoughts, lots of thoughts

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Published on Friday, June 16, 2023

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

Sometimes columns come to mind based around one theme. Sometimes, like this week, many thoughts come to mind. 

The first one is that a person can think or believe whatever we want but with one exception. That exception is we can’t make someone else believe or think what we want. That said, what we want or think should be expressed openly and gently. There’s a lot of non-gentle stuff going on these days so gentle and informed discussion is very important.

Here’s some of my thoughts and ideas and maybe they will encourage people to more openly say what they think or want.

In no particular order, here goes.

Sexual activity should not be a spectator sport be it publicly or by way of movies or videos.

Sexual activity is ideally conducted between a man and a woman in a long term committed relationship. 

Marketing, the movie and television industry, are way too far down the sexualized path. It doesn’t seem to matter what is being sold, it has to be accompanied by some form of sexual display.

On a less serious note perhaps, how many tons of perfume is being poured into air fresheners and laundry detergents these days. Until seeing ads on TV the last few years, I would not have known there was a need to dreamily smell the fresh bath towels. According to the commercials I am way off base I guess.

Electric cars are still heavily subsidized and so are the new battery plants. Looks like the governments of Ontario and Canada are going to toss $20 billion of our money into battery plants in Ontario. That’s an obscene amount of money per created job.

Fair comment though, the oil and gas industry is subsidized too.

Companies and sports teams are slow learners. Recent events have shown they need to stay out of political movements or their customers will simply fade away. When a company or a sports team advocates for a movement, they will fall victim to those who simply want athletes to be athletes and beer companies to be beer companies. When fans or customers leave it’s simply a kind of “quiet quitting”. People don’t have to drink a certain beer or watch a certain team. People have choices and tend to exercise that choice.

Sales and profits are important. That said, money isn’t everything. If money or profits were everything, then this paper would have a drugs and prostitution division with a side hustle selling illegal guns.

My overall mantra is if it’s illegal or immoral, don’t do it. Illegality is set by the laws of the land and immorality by various standards. Both can be subject to change. The Ten Commandments seem to be a popular basic choice, at least by Christians, Jews and Moslems. 

My father gave me some wise advice. He used to say, “If it’s not yours don’t touch it.” That advice has a wide application. If a possession or property isn’t yours then don’t touch it. If a person isn’t your spouse, then don’t touch them. Too simple for some but I think it’s great advice.

As always, if you agree with me, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine too. Either way, send us your opinions and if you want me to read them I will happily do so. If you want me to publish them, I will certainly consider that too.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff.