Chapter 44

Hash day! The meeting time was 1 PM, so I lazily enjoyed my morning, drinking tea and watching some news videos on YouTube. Some celebrity is accused of “fat-shaming” because she retweeted a funny cartoon showing a morbidly obese person on a mobility scooter, McDonald’s soda cup in hand, yelling “Wear your mask! You’re putting my health at risk!” at a thin woman. I don’t know why fatphobia and all this shit is still talked about in that way, it should be simple, really. Don’t be mean to people just for being fat. Don’t make jokes in general with a hurtful impact and/or intent. But going as far as saying that losing weight or encouraging people to lose weight is an attack on fat people (like in the case of British singer Adele) or pretending that there are no health problems coming with obesity or linking it to white supremacy or sexism in a bizarre display of intersectional mental gymnastics is pure Clown World.

The Amazing Atheist commented on Gina Carano, women’s MMA pioneer and actress who got fired from some Star Wars spin-off due to her conservative views and posting some rather spicy takes on social media. One of them was comparing the demonization of Trump supporters nowadays by the media to anti-Jewish propaganda, and she had to know that making such far-fetched exaggerated parallels to the Holocaust wouldn’t be well-received by her Hollywood employers. Nonetheless, as TAA pointed out, her takes were pretty mainstream conservative opinions, and the whole cancel culture thing is a slippery slope.

The next albums down the list were a catchy country record by The Flying Burrito Brothers, and some ultra-boring piece of folk music with high-pitched vocals by a guy who goes by Bon Iver. I made burritos with beef, refried beans, salsa, sour cream and lettuce, and devoured them before getting ready to head out.

The weather was surprisingly beautiful, a few days ago the forecast was announcing rain but it turned out to be a 15-degree sunny day. A good turn-out, about 30 people showed up, including some new faces. The trail brought us through parks, a wetland reserve on the edge of town, and a big lake. At one of the numerous beer stops (usually there is one, the hares put four!) I stripped down to my boxers and jumped in the lake, it was freezing, and felt really refreshing.

Total distance was a bit above 8 km if I heard well. Then we went to the regular post-hash bar and had a few more beers. I ate a burger and the girlfriend had fish n’ chips. There’s always a bit of drama between and within factions of expats in town, including people who have a problem with me and my edgy sense of humor, but I don’t have time for this shit. When I see such outbursts or listen to someone vent about another person I just nod and shrug.

I got home and watched 7 Jours Sur Terre while doing laundry. The two main topics were a domestic one and an international one: privatisation of wind energy in Quebec (a nation that pulled itself out of the dark ages through secularisation, and successful nationalisation of its hydroelectric power), and a coup in Myanmar. Of course the latter topic lead the analyst to start talking about China, and how they benefit from an unstable southern neighbor staying away from US influence. Seems like all roads lead to China when it comes to international geopolitics, and the editorial was urging Canada to boycott the Winter Olympics which are to be held in Beijing next year. My opinion on the matter is that yeah, boycotting Olympic Games can send a serious message but is ultimately a limp-wristed empty symbolic gesture if it’s not accompanied by economic sanctions. Also I can’t help but feel bad for the dude who has been working hard and sacrificing a lot to ultimately get to the top of the heap of a niche sport that has nearly zero visibility except on a small window every four years, and now has to sit at home and see his dream vanish. It’s doubly sad if he and his fellow athletes are used as pawns in that way, while the hypocritical government and corporations keep doing business with China to get that cheap manufacturing and access to a huge emerging market. I’ve always hated symbolic gestures.