About Me
My name is Ross. I work as a web developer in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I've been working in this career for nearly three decades and I've seen many things change in the industry over that time. From simple black text on white backgrounds with default blue underlined links, to the latest in web site and application designs. Technology changes from Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers to the latest browser technology for desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones.
I've been working from home since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, so my social interaction with the world has been pretty limited. Starting work at 7am because my commute is from the kitchen to my home office means I finish my work day around 3:30pm, and my commute home is all of 15 seconds. It's better than taking the bus! Thankfully my employers are pretty good about my working from home. Thanks to our skills with internet technologies, I'm pretty much as productive as when I worked in the office. I love that I don't spend one and a half hours commuting anymore.
I've seen the rise of social media. It's gone from a new and amazing way to socially interact with friends and family to social and political influencing. It's now a haven for misinformation, disinformation, and is a general pool of mind-numbing garbage. There's been the decline of cable television to the rise of media streaming services that have basically become a new version of cable television including all of the intrusive advertising. And like most people I am guilty of indulging in the addictive quick fix nature of short format video content. I hate it! But I. Can't. Stop. Looking!
My partner and I have been pretty involved in our gardening adventures for the last eight years. We've gone from a small 10 x 10 foot plot to a large raised garden bed of 12 x 25 feet. We've even joined a neighbourhood gardening association. We're getting older and I won't be the first to tell you that making friends in your forties and fifties isn't easy. We have our small social groups. We play Dungeons & Dragons with one group of friends. I have a few people that I meet for coffee on some weekends. My partner has a group that she occasionally knits with, and she has a large group of friends in the novel writing community.
Both of us are also dealing with aging parents. My mother has a form of Alzheimer's dementia that makes it difficult for her to communicate. I've basically taken on the responsibilities of a second adult in order to be sure she doesn't end up homeless. I make sure her bills are paid, she's housed, makes it to medical and dental appointments, and being sure that her pension finances are in a healthy state. I prepare the documentation for her taxes, and a couple of times a month I go through her mail to be sure there isn't anything of importance that she has missed. I pick up and make sure she has her medication. I have my own medical issues, so trying to keep track of everything can be a real chore.
The World
I've also seen the world change significantly in that time. The end of the 1990s was a time of what I would call hope and prosperity in the world. The world economy was decent, there was relative political stability with most influential countries in the world. The early 2000s saw major upheaval with the war on terror and the beginnings of a shift in the political landscape. Those influential countries started moving politically to a more isolationist and protectionist direction. As a result, people have become more polarized in their views and feel threatened by people whose ideas do not coincide with theirs.
Opinion vs. Facts
I cannot say that I am not biased in one way or another. I do have opinions, but I am willing to listen to reasonable conversation and debate on almost any topic. What I will not do is put up with is voiced opinions and rhetoric that comes through in sound bites and memes. Conversation requires a two way interaction. Yelling on social media is not conversation. While people can react and you can interact back and forth, the tendency on these platforms seems to be conversation devolving into shouting matches with nobody actually listening.
This is my place to talk about things that interest me or catch my attention. I will state my opinion on things, but I am always willing to change my mind if evidence proves otherwise. Evidence means verifiable data. Not an echo chamber of conspiracy and paranoia. Tangential connections and coincidental happening are not necessarily causal in nature. Before making arguments based on these connections, you need to provide verifiable proof that the points of your argument are connected.
While there are some people who do not trust or believe the "Mainstream Media", the alternate media sources that they seem to refer to do not necessarily have the journalistic integrity that actual professional journalists have. There are those who say that the Mainstream Media has an agenda that can't be trusted. I say that their alternate media sources have their own agendas too. I am a great believer in Critical Thinking. When I read, hear, or see something, I am skeptical until I can see verification of truth. In today's highly connected world where the technology at everyone's fingertips can alter the perception of truth, it is encumbent on us as individuals to review this information through a skeptical lens.
This isn't just for journalism. It's for any supposed fact that we come across. A good example of this is vaccination. Why is it that people still believe in debunked theories about vaccines being dangerous? It's because people are not thinking critically about what they see, hear, and read. I am not saying that vaccines can't be dangerous. They certainly can be for those who have allergies, compromised immune systems, or specific medical conditions. However, those vaccines also have literature associated to them describing these issues and all of the medical testing data that occurred before they were even approved for human use. Many of those people who make the false claims of vaccines being dangerous base their claims on long discredited studies, and they themselves have been the recipients of many of the vaccines that they rail against.
If you grew up in the 60s, 70s, or 80s (Generation X) many of these vaccines were part of public health programs that were instituted in schools. These vaccines have nearly eliminated Polio around the world. Measles in Canada had been wiped out by the 1990s. The only cases that would occur from year to year came from travel from countries that had not yet eradicated the disease. Those folks who always say "do your own research" to support their claims do not direct people to verifiable professional sources. They direct them to sources that echo their own beliefs. If you are going to "do your own research" you should be looking to professional peer reviewed journals and to those professionals who spend their lives working on a subject, not the person on TikTok who claims that this or that is good or bad.