I Want to Believe

So, yesterday, I didn't like the news. I actually like Chrétien, and I dislike Martin, and I want to believe that the Gomery report is fixed.

But here's the thing: is this how Bush supporters get through life? They like the guy, so any new information that strongly suggests that he's not ethical is therefore flawed?

The World Is Making Me Itch

Item: A coupl'a weeks ago, I caught a bit of John Malkovitch on Actor's Studio. He was being asked about the oddball roles he gets cast in, and he replied, "That's my product. In the acting industry, you have to know what your product is."

Item: Last federal election, after the Liberals made a miraculous election day recovery from some polls that suggested that they might not get the most seats, I watched the CBC analysis of the results. They were speaking to some researchers who went on about how Canadians appear much more comfortable with the Liberal brand than they are with the Conservative brand.

Item: I was reading a exchange on one of the mailing lists that I'm on. People are talking about the effect of language on perceptions of gender. If there are words to describe more gender categories, someone posited, that increases the mindshare of those gender categories as possibilities.

I hate hate hate the way marketing concepts are affecting the way we describe the world around us.