Resource World Magazine

70 www.resourceworld.com A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 Epilogue by David Duval F ew technological innovations have changed the way humans perceive themselves and the world around them more than digital media has – most of which is free with a subscription to an internet service provider. Today, virtually anyone can have a global platform to express their views, although many platforms – including Facebook and Twitter – are increasingly removing commentary they themselves deem to be unsuitable. Universities in particular are becoming left-leaning in the extreme and resistant to non-mainstream views. Some have com - pared this restrictive climate to George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 whose themes centre on the risks of government overreach, totalitarianism, and repres- sive regimentation of all persons and their behavior. Increasingly, print media is becoming obsolete (with the exception of specialty publications) with most of the survivors now emphasizing a strong digital presence to drive reader traffic and subscriptions. One striking feature of digital media is its immediacy: people want their news now and not one second later. Watch any pedestrian on the street or commuter on public transit and they are likely to be on a mobile device. A call-to-action on Twitter can mobilize a demonstration against a major pipeline proposal like Trans Mountain; climate alarmists predicting an end to life as we know it by 2030 and encourage school children to skip class and demand govern - ment action. They are also not averse to exploiting vulnerable children such as cli- mate activist Greta Thunberg who, along with her sister, have both been diagnosed with autism and ADHD. In these crazy times, there's more than a touch of irony in the recent announcement that America's iconic satirical print publi - cation, Mad Magazine, will be effectively shutting down after 67 years. A reliable source of satire and parody of pop cul- ture and politics since 1952, Rolling Stone describes the magazine "as the bedrock of contemporary American comedy" whose cutting-edge satire was perhaps a bit too edgy for today's overly sensitive public. I expect many of its survival issues relate to the fact that there's so much competition from mainly internet-based comedic sources these days (not only confined to Facebook and Twitter but to iconic publications including the New York Times) and much of it is political and social-justice related commentary. One only has to look south to US Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), whose ruminations about global warming and her proposed "Green New Deal" to get the US to "net zero" carbon emissions in a decade, is more reminiscent of an NBC Saturday Night Live sketch. "We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast," a summary of her proposal says. Most politicians these days have Twitter accounts which, in many cases, has precipitated the formation of so-called "parody accounts" that are often hard to differentiate from the original. AOC's most famous parody account was put out by an eight-year-old girl known as "Mini AOC." However, the bright and talented little girl was forced to stop producing content after she and her family allegedly received death threats from the congresswoman's support - ers. In addition to becoming increasingly ridiculous, public discourse these days is also becoming dangerous. Closer to home, Canada's high-profile Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, has been ostracized on more than one occasion for her clearly ideological position concerning global warming. Among her more notable gaffs was blaming the high incidence of forest fires in BC last year on human- caused climate change when in fact many of them were the result of arson. Perhaps after one too many drinks in a St. John's watering hole she was recorded on video saying this: "But you know, I actu - ally gave them some real advice. I said that if you actually say it louder, we've learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it." Mind you, these examples are almost innocuous compared to many of President Trump's utterings where he tends to con - duct domestic and foreign policy via his Twitter feed – sometimes during the dead of night. Threatening China with massive tariffs and Iran with "obliteration" after its rulers suggested he has a "mental disorder" is increasingly downplayed by the media because such threats happen so frequently. In Canada, we seem to be heading for government by Twitter when an issue like plastic bottle disposal starts trending and the government almost immediately initi - ates legislation to eliminate their usage. Most plastic bottles are already recycled in Canadian cities. I dread to imagine the influence these media platforms will have on government for all types of natural resource development in the future. n Governments legislating what's trending online bad for economy

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