Entry #9: Hockey, Politics and Philosophy

Welcome to 2014 folks! As we embrace the new year, there will be more interesting items entering your lives and unimportant items will be leaving. As we look back at the mistakes in 2013, we can learn and grow from our experiences, and we can take what we have learned and apply them to what each person's future holds for them. In order I will look at philosophy and the self then analyze what hockey and the idea of politics hold in the same way and the differences between the two.  

Philosophy: The Self and Memory 

An idea that we can learn from a philosophical point of view is the self. What I have learned through my philosophy class at Conestoga College, and I personally like this idea, the idea of the self evolves around the mind and memory. If there is a time we cannot remember, we are not the same person, we are a different self, an example of this ideal would be from the film Momento. In this film, the main character, Leonard, who has some memory issues, he has to write short messages down on his body and his photographs to help him jog his memory. An example of this idea, is when Leonard is talking to his friend Natalie. Leonard, tells her about a serial killer named John G., and how his wife was raped and murdered by him, this segment will later tie into memory and self. He also tells Natalie about Sammy Jankis, who had the same memory issue as himself, He could not remember the last thing he had done. The tragic tale of Sammy is that his wife could not deal with Sammy's memory issues anymore, so, her plan was to overdose on insulin because Mrs. Jankis is a type 1 diabetic. Every time Sammy finished injecting the insulin into his wife, she asked for another one because she took advantage of Sammy's condition. Since Sammy could not remember what happened, even after he finished the task, he kept on doing it. What I am trying to say is, even if you do not want to remember some past events in 2013, you are not the same self we were during 2013. 2014 is a new year, time to turn over a new leaf, start fresh, all of your mistakes in 2013 are gone, in the past, this year, you can make a big difference in yourself, the way you live, and other's as well.

That is my take on the past of 2013, the self and memory, the next topic on the agenda, is hockey and politics and how they are not so different after all.

Hockey and Politics: Not so Different after all
This little segment, I will take a look at hockey and politics and the similarities between the two. To begin the similarities, first we will look at politics and what they can provide us with, then I will look at hockey and how it provides us with entertainment and how people support other teams.
To begin, let's look at politics and how they provide us with providing services to the country. In Canada, there are 3 levels of government: Municipal, which looks after small cities like the City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo and the City of Cambridge. The next level up is Provincial, this level of government looks after the province (in Canada). The province for Canada is like a state for the United States, but there are different names we give the people we elect. For example, a provincial premier is the same as a state governor. As the premier is in charge of the province, just like how the state governor is in charge of  the state he is elected to. The final level of government is Federal, in Canada, the federal government takes care of the entire country, just like how the president of the United States is in charge. These three levels of government, have to have elected representatives for their party, for example, in Canada there are three (3) main parties, the Conservative Party, Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party. Since the Liberal party and the New Democratic Party have some similar views on changing Canada, they will be merged together to make one party, just to even things out. Hockey takes place in an arena where there are two teams: the home team and the visiting team, the fans and the refs. Canadian politics takes place on Parliament Hill, where there are three parties (remember I merged the Liberal and NDP together for this analysis). the party members and the speaker of the house. The only main difference between hockey and politics is that, during a hockey game, there are only allowed five players on the ice, but in politics, there can be more than one person talking, with the respect of others listening to that person's idea being spoken out to. Hockey teams have the captain of the team and the assistant captain,  politics there is the leader of the party, then the different cabinet ministers, just like the forwards and deface-men in hockey. When there is a debate going on in Parliament Hill, just imagine, a large room, all three parties (remember about the Liberal and NDP parties) each have a specific spot in that room, then they debate on current issues. The only difference between the two is the fighting, politics, they only fight with words, hockey players fight physically, and there are no goalies in politics. It is the same when having and argument and a debate,  both leaders begin with an opening statement on the issue, then the other members of the party have their say. It is just like passing a puck to another team member. In Politics, they do keep score, the score is the number of votes each party has. 

That is my take on Hockey, Politics and Philosophy for this day.