The Threat-sensitive Brain: a theory about animals applied to Gabriel Wortman

An analysis of
Seeking to explain Nova Scotia shootings: Inside the 'threat-sensitive brain'
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mass-killing-portapique-mental-health-1.5602698
'A threat-sensitive brain that is always looking for evidence to confirm the world is against them' by Michael MacDonald· The Canadian Press· Jun 08, 2020 7:25 AM AT | Last Updated: June 8

The Threat-sensitive Brain 

Can such a theory be applied to human beings or is it better off being applied to animals who survive on instinct? (revision of response to same article previously posted elsewhere).

This type of mental health explanation, as described in the article, ignores the reality of informal social networks or community ideals of conforming to the authority of those who have been granted power to control the lives of those living within their borders. Communities based on tradition or other cultural values may well result in the individual being punished discreetly and informally for breaking the rules of the hierarchy, which could be based on sexuality, or gender, wealth, or another kind of perceived status of members of the community.

Seeking to understand the behaviour of the individual presumably isolated within it, in relationships with fragile bases in which loyalty and trust have little place, means that injustices will build up, and if not resolved may eventually result in the individual attempting to break away from this insurmountable problem.

The idea of the 'threat-sensitive brain' must surely result in loud beeps in the brains of those reading about it, as though the individual has some kind of physical brain disorder (or animal-like brain where instinct is what counts) that results in the individual being unable to reason, to adapt, to be in a relationship, and to live a life of substantial success within the community and at a distance, doing work that has earned him compliments and security, doing sensitive, personal work with clients/patients seeking dental repair. If Gabriel Wortman were this kind of person, he probably wouldn't have been able to achieve all that he did.

The term 'injustice collector' is the creation of those who have lived at the top too long and has little understanding of what really happens in society, in communities that are encouraged and rewarded for demonstrating the collective value of family, sharing, and conformity and excluding those who don't quite measure up.

Referring to being an 'injustice-collector' as a way of seeing the world, as Tracy Vaillancourt (children's mental health and violence expert) does, according to this article, is only one possibility of a motivation for this tragic event. This expert in child bullying would do better spending more time on the subject of 'peer victimization' among adults.

Read ‘Dangerous Instincts’: FBI profiler explains the dangers of that ‘nice’ neighbor <https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dangerous-instincts-fbi-profiler-explains-the-dangers-of-that-nice-neighbor/2011/10/17/gIQAkvNCDM_story.html> for information on the world-view of Mary Ellen O’Toole, a former FBI profiler who coined the term.

Michael Arntfield, criminologist turned armchair psychologist, who speaks of the 'injustice-collector' as someone who often feels "cheated or disrespected by others, even though there may be no evidence to support those beliefs." And that is most likely the problem. If a community does show disrespect in small ways, in an unrelenting manner, there may well be no “evidence” of the type that someone like Arntfield, a former police officer now working in a 'customized academic appointment' at Western University, would value (see Wikipedia, Michael Arntfield). Most of his work seems focused on the individual rather than the community, as most psychologists involved in extrapolating this theory of 'injustice-collecting' and the 'threat-sensitive brain' are.

I suggest a focus on the community, and I don't mean accepting their stories on Wortman as 'evidence' of his guilt or fitness-of-mind or not, but treating them, too, as though they might not be as credible as the investigators of this horrendous tragedy would like them to be. Liking should not translate to 'credibility'. Rather, investigators should attempt to be objective and to keep in mind that when such a tragedy happens, evidence of the sort that shows the killer in a good light may well be kept hidden. No one wants to support the bad guy at a time like this. Mr Wortman was known to be a caring and community-minded denturist in his working community and among those who knew him in that role. But community is often set apart from a person's work-life. It doesn't mean that Wortman should be labelled 'injustice-collector' because those in the business of psychology see him as such. 

A perspective taken from the discipline of Sociology might be better at undoing some of the falsehoods of this perspective, and the very one-sided blame on one man, similar, in fact, to the moral culpability of the tragedy of the Montreal massacre of 1989, during which killings were committed by Marc Lepine, for reasons that were distorted and attempted to be hidden from Canadians.

References:

Seeking to explain Nova Scotia shootings: Inside the 'threat-sensitive brain'  
by Michael MacDonald·
The Canadian Press·
Posted: Jun 08, 2020 7:25 AM AT | Last Updated: June 8
 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mass-killing-portapique-mental-health-1.5602698

 ‘Dangerous Instincts’: FBI profiler explains the dangers of that ‘nice’ neighbor
By Monica Hesse 
Style
October 24, 2011
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dangerous-instincts-fbi-profiler-explains-the-dangers-of-that-nice-neighbor/2011/10/17/gIQAkvNCDM_story.html

Serena Williams: career and motherhood - having it all

Serena Williams’ controversial behaviour at the 2018 US Open Championships women’s singles tennis final, and her insistence that sexism was at the root of it, has led to an increasing number of viewpoints on the subject. My aim here is to take a variety of viewpoints about Serena directly or related to the issues at stake, as expressed in newspaper articles worldwide, and one essay from a book, and to select interesting or relevant points from them. I shall add my own comments and reflections on the situation Serena found herself in and what may have led her to this point. While Naomi Osaka of Japan was the player who deserved all the credit for winning the singles final match, the focus of this piece will be on the professional tennis player and wife and mother, Serena Williams, who lost the match. 

Serena Williams career tennis professional and devoted mother

American tennis player Serena Williams, soon to be 37 years old (on September 26, 2018),  has been involved in what is likely the greatest controversy of her career, while playing the women’s singles US Open Championships final on September 8, 2018.

Serena, using outspoken, accusing comments against the umpire Carlos Ramos during the match, in which she was down a set, started a flurry of newspaper articles and analyses from a number of different perspectives. I have selected just a few here, in an attempt to cover several different angles, though not to explain them all thoroughly. I recognize that there were many ways of perceiving her actions and motives, and will examine some of these, as well as the background to what happened, and give my own thoughts on possible reasons for what happened. 

To begin, it was just over a year ago that Serena gave birth to a daughter, Olympia (no future hopes intended there), and while not the first professional tennis player to give birth in the midst of a career, she has been the one to gain the most attention by doing so, and presumably experience the most anguish and risk from the birth and postbirth or postpartum experience (see ‘After Serena Williams gave birth, Everything went bad’ Jan 10, 2018). An emergency cesarean section, followed by blood clots including a pulmonary embolism led to Serena being at risk of death, soon followed by several procedures and surgeries; then, several months to recover enough to be able to resume training. For a career woman, this must have been devastating, although Serena has always put her infant daughter first in her thoughts, telling her fans that motherhood was the most important part of her life.

The reality of it seems to be that Serena’s career may have been as high up there as having a child, although that is not something women are supposed to say for fear of being branded an unfit mother. If she wanted it all, who could blame her, and if she had not really wanted to lose time to being pregnant, seriously ill through childbirth, and recovery, who could blame her for that?

In an article on the ‘sanctity’ of motherhood, Anne Kingston explains,

The premise that motherhood is not a one-size-fits-all role shouldn’t come as a surprise in 2018, given the rise of the “childless by choice” movement or an international decline in birth rates. Still, it’s received as an affront to the “sanctity” of motherhood and the entrenched belief that the maternal instinct is innate and unconditional—despite ample historical evidence to the contrary (‘I regret having children,’ Feb 2018).

Whether or not she really wanted to become a mother under those terms, there would have been some social expectations and pressure put on her, for her to see motherhood as more important than her career. Age 35 when she had her child, soon to be 37 (on September 26, 2018), she left it almost past the point of being considered too old to have a baby without risk.  Serena gave birth on September 1, 2017, marrying Alexis Ohanian on November 16, 2017. A year later, after a few minor setbacks in her recovery, she was competing in the 2018 US Open Tennis Championships.

In times past, when many women had no real power, they were often accused of being ‘hysterical’ when they objected to rules imposed on them by their husbands and became distraught. Luisa Tam explains the roots of the word and its significance today:

The word “hysterical” and its root “hysteria” originate from the Greek “hystera”, meaning “womb”. Hysteria was an 18th century term used to describe a mental disorder caused by an affliction of the uterus; an illness exclusive to females.

Although hysteria is no longer recognised as a medical condition, the word and its counterparts are still used to describe extreme outbursts of emotion and excitement. And a number of media outlets pegged Williams’ outburst as “hysterical”.

How can we defy sexist attitudes if even the English language continues to uphold such outdated usage? Although these writers may not have been aware of the significance of such a term, they – and the rest of the English-speaking world – must be made aware of this if we are to evolve into a truly equal and tolerant society.  (‘Serena Williams’outburst at the US Open final was a misguided way to tackle sexism in tennis,’ Sept 17, 2018).

I do not believe that this incident Serena was involved in was mainly about sexism. I see it as very likely that Serena’s recent problems with childbirth and recovery could be a source of high emotions at this event, as Luisa Tam’s article in the South China Morning post reminds us.  I am not saying that Serena suffered from a mental breakdown, that her womb betrayed her, causing her to react emotionally, only that being a mother – and becoming one – in today’s world, for career women and stay-at-home mothers, can be fraught with indecision, frustration, guilt, and regret. On top of that, Serena is getting older. In fact, she and Roger Federer were both born in 1981.  In mentioning this coincidence, we should be reminded that, in the same time frame, Roger has managed to produce two sets of twins, while Serena has managed to reproduce only one small child.  That is not sexism, but it does indicate that some differences between men and women cannot easily be changed.  

Aging In America

Most academics don’t write for mainstream audiences, but Germaine Greer is one who has always been ready to give her views and engage with the press.  Greer was certain the Mark Knight cartoon published in an Australian publication was not only racist but sexist also, explaining that the image of Serena, in her view, was both “coarse” (racially unecessary) and “grotesque” (sexist). But mainly, she said, the cartoon missed the point, that it was not about race or sex, “when what she had really done is thrown the match” (see ‘Serena Williamscartoon was sexist, according to Germaine Greer’ Sept 18, 2018). There could be some truth to that, and Serena is the only one who could say for sure, but by the time the interactions between her and the umpire happened, she was already down a set. She had probably realized her chances of winning the next two sets were slim.

The fact that Serena had had such tremendous accomplishments, as a female playing professional tennis, made her loss and the ensuing conflict with the umpire more tragic. After the semi final, much was made of the upcoming final match between Serena and the youthful Naomi Osaka playing for Japan. This article explains two aspects of it, in terms of Serena winning, two days  before the event:

With one more victory, Williams will earn her seventh US Open championship and her 24th major singles trophy, equaling Margaret Court for the most in tennis history.

A few weeks shy of turning 37, now comes a chance to take a title and become the oldest woman to win a Slam in singles (‘Serena Williams toface 20-year-old Naomi Osaka in US Open final,’ Sept 7, 2018).

Not much pressure there! Fancy becoming the oldest woman to win a Slam in singles!  I wonder what she thought when she read that. As each year goes by, there would be less opportunity for Serena to break previous records. In a similar manner, the NY Times, writing the day after the match, gave us more on what it must have been like for Serena to play Naomi Osaka and be thoroughly beaten by her:

What embarrassed Williams might also have been the feeling that, in Ramos’s penalty, she was being disgraced before a young woman who worshiped her, before millions of young people whose adoration sponsors like Nike are wooing. That final was a battle between versions of herself, for how she wants to be seen — as a mother, a woman, a legend, a victor, as elegant, honest and true — versus the many ways she’d been perceived and, on Saturday, misperceived (‘Serena Williams Came In on a High Road. It MadeHer Fall More Devastating,’ Sept 10, 2018).

Motherhood, autonomy and morality

What happened between Serena Williams and Carlos Ramos, the umpire, is described coherently and thoughtfully in an article from New York, one step at a time, explaining how the misunderstandings happened. At one point, she makes a declaration and a demand, to Ramos, in front of the crowds, at home and watching live:

“You owe me an apology,” she said to Ramos, loudly emphasizing certain words. “I have never cheated in my life. I have a daughter and I stand for what’s right for her and I have never cheated. You owe me an apology” (see ‘Serena Williams vs. NaomiOsaka: How the U.S. Open Descended Into Chaos,’  Sept 9, 2018)

At different times, Serena brings up the subject of her barely one-year-old daughter, in a manner resembling an awareness of how motherhood has throughout history been seen as a moral ‘career,’ a duty women have undertaken to raise their children according to strict standards. To be seen as cheating, or to have her character attacked, as she says, when Ramos penalized her for the hand signals that her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, had displayed, was something she claims she would never do. But was she that intent on protecting the image of the good mother, or was there an underlying reason for her putting it that way? Here was a woman with one of the grandest careers, achievements unlike most celebrities could hope to aspire to, through hard work and talent. Was she just another woman susceptible to the pressures placed on her, or did she truly yearn to be the best mother she could possibly be as well as the best tennis player? Did she want it all, but was not able to achieve it?

At a recent interview with Mia Freedman of Mamamia (pronounced mama mia), part of the Mamamia’s Women’s Network in Australia), Serena opened up about how she felt after her ordeal at the US Open, saying,

“I got in the car, and Olympia was in the car. It was so weird, and she started giving me kisses, she never gives me kisses. She doesn’t even know to give kisses, and she just grabbed me, and I was like this little baby is so smart. It’s just hard to be too down when you have a little one… when you have someone to take care of.

“Like I have to take care of this person, and I have to do this type of stuff, it puts everything in perspective” . . . “I’m doing the best that I can to try and move forward,” she said. “But most of all, spending time with Olympia, she’s here in the background… you realise the most important things that really matter” (see ‘Serena Williams tells Mamamia the firstthing she did when she left that US Open court,’ Sept 23, 2018).

Once again, Serena’s focus is on motherhood – womenhood as defender of morality, sometimes to the extent that it must surely be interfering with her tennis. In Mother Time, a collection of essays on women’s experiences of aging, Professor Margaret Urban Walker discusses the idea of autonomy in the lives of many older women, seeing the life course as a kind of “career” that leaves a lot at the end that becomes devalued in terms of moral and social identity (p. 104, ‘Getting out of Line: alternatives to life as a career,’ 1999). 

Walker situates the idea of autonomy within its wider meaning, within a cultural theme, that extends throughout each person’s life, calling it the “individual life as a career” (pp 100-101), a concept that takes in more than the traditional idea of career that is familiar to us, based on occupation and paid work.  After the “life career” is over, Walker says, as it once would have been for women who did not work, or men post-retirement, the career self endeavours to prove that they were once socially acceptable before their adulthood expired (p. 104), easier to do if one has had a traditional career, but a new task to face, nevertheless. I would add that once motherhood is over, the individual would face acquiring or acknowledging additional facets of an integrated life, following what is known traditionally as the menopausal transition or “the change of life”.

Although Serena Williams has led a different kind of life from many women and men, in which her tennis career was real, resulting in greater autonomy and recognition of her worth, the career life of any tennis player is bound to come to an end at some point. Some might wonder why Serena allowed motherhood to interrupt her career, and why she appears to have a particular mindset about it, and her new daughter, that places as much or equal value on the little person as she has done on winning at tennis. Is it cultural, or a personal desire Serena has, to want to experience motherhood, or to “have it all,” or to pass on her genes, or just to want someone special in her life in a way only motherhood can?   

The remainder of Margaret Urban Walker’s essay focuses on three ways of integrating a life, without resorting to reflecting on the traditional life stages open to us, but this has little to do with Serena’s life, unless she does find herself seeking a third way of integrating a life containing fragments of her personal history which are disconnected from being a “whole life” due to her career as a professional tennis player. Travelling, and moving on, over and over again, can result in leaving memories and loyalties behind, sometimes making life seem meaningless. More so, in today’s world, this is the kind of life people lead, not lived in one place only, and not working at one career only.

In Serena’s situation, she is firmly set within the model of an autonomous individual, and has now managed to firmly attach herself to motherhood as an additional source of meaning in her life. As a result of her indiscretion on the tennis court she has had to pay a hefty fine and had her life torn apart (as if it hadn’t been already) by the media. The trauma associated with becoming a mother has probably left her susceptible to the kinds of physical changes that many ordinary women experience as they grow older. But there is much more to her life’s journey than her extraordinary career as professional tennis player or being the best mother ever, or even having her life submitted to scrutiny. When we examine the variety and depth of the public’s and media responses to her tennis match against the 20-year old Naomi Osaka, we realize how her life has affected women in general, and men’s in their attempts to explain just what happened. 

Power and credibility

Serena appeared to be coming from a position of power, not of powerlessness, when she confronted the umpire, Carlos Ramos, about his decisionmaking, which makes a difference when thinking of abuses of power. It is one thing to have someone with no power be verbally abusive towards another when fighting for their survival, but different in effect when it is known that the person with material power who is being abusive has the power to do the other harm to their life in significant ways - whether loss of job, of home, or a relationship. When there is no mutual sense of being equal to one another, or fighting for the same cause, one of the two is often more vulnerable than the other. In the case of the umpire, while his fairness – or not - towards her has also been part of the debate it is questionable which of them has the most power, and the most support on their side, or whether this is a rocky road each of them has to navigate as they continue on.

Serena’s husband Alexis’s nurturing response to his wife Serena’s ordeal was to use statistics to prove her point, that this was a matter of the sexes not being treated equally by the umpire Carlos Ramos, or on a wider level, during professional matches on the whole. Which one of them has more credibility – Serena or Ramos - to not have their career suffer, or their life, is debatable.

George Bellshaw, writing on Alexis Ohanian’s use of statistics from a sports perspective, provides us with a convincing article complete with wedding pictures – their own and at the Royal wedding -  graphs, stats, and a list of code violations before stating his conclusion, based also on what other experts tell him, that sexism on the tennis court is hard to prove. Quoting an expert on technology and a university professor he writes:

‘Maybe that’s the thing from now, if you want to get more empirical evidence from how to understand whether there’s bias in there. There’s a whole hash of new data that’s required to actually be able to do that.’ (Tim Wade – a senior director of technology company Dimension Data).

. . . 

So could we produce accurate statistical results that prove sexism is at play?

‘With certainty? Almost certainly not,’ Professor [Alan] Nevill added. ‘It’s highly unlikely that you’d be able to demonstrate that’s a major attribute in the situation’ (SerenaWilliams’ husband Alexis Ohanian is right about sexism stats – but is desireddata actually possible?’ Sept 21, 2018).

It comes down to collection of an immense amount of data and interpretation of that data, making it impossible to find the answers one wants, even if technology were capable, Bellshaw says, and money and time were of no concern.

In the article that asks in its title, ‘Is Serena Williams right,’ her behaviour on the court is described as normal for men who get angry, but open to question when women do the same thing. Kieran File explains,  

Most people would comfortably associate confrontational actions and behaviour with men and we regularly see this in male sporting competitions. In other words, such behaviour is seen as normal, or at the very least, not unexpected of men.

. . .

Instances of women being confrontational challenge society’s view of them. That leaves them subject to greater scrutiny. In this case, society’s expectations of women as polite, supportive,
 non-competitive and certainly not aggressive may have indirectly contributed to Williams’ penalties in the US Open final (Is Serena Williams right? A linguist on theextra challenges women face in moments of anger,’ Sept 11, 2018).

I would suspect that the finger-pointing and other gestures, including breaking her raquet, and her demand for an apology had a lot to do with the penalties given her by Ramos. On the whole, less haranguing and no name-calling (liar and thief) on the part of Serena, but instead an accurate description of where the problems lay, in her view, may have been more helpful and less threatening. But if she were indeed in so much emotional turmoil, about to lose the set and match to a newcomer on the scene, while still recovering from doing what only women can do (give birth), while getting older, with records yet to be broken, and not enough hours in the day, isn’t it understandable? The question, in many people’s minds, is whether women should be able to behave the same way men do. But is that the best solution to the problem, that more women start behaving like men?

Former professional tennis player Martina Navratilova writes, addressing the problem of women behaving like men on the court, and the fact that being treated differently than others, off or on the court, may have been a reason why Serena couldn’t let go of it:

 Just because the guys might be able to get away with it doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.

 . . .

All of this U.S. Open history, combined, perhaps, with always feeling like an outsider in the game of tennis — I know exactly how that feels — goes some way toward explaining why Ms. Williams reacted the way she did, and most of all, how she just couldn’t let go. But what is clear is she could very much not let go (Martina Navratilova:What Serena Got Wrong, Sept 10, 2018).

To sum up, we have a highly competitive and skilled, motivated tennis player – a new mother, but one for whom tennis has been the most important thing in her life – until now. The approach to middle age, for women, can involve a great deal of reflection if the idea of motherhood has not fully been considered. For a tennis player at the top, as Serena Williams is, it must be even more difficult to make a choice between the two – career or motherhood – or to expect to be the best at both. Furthermore, growing older is not the same for a woman as it is for a man. Finding ways of making sense of one’s life and models of how to integrate the various bits of paths the journey takes, to make them meaningful, is a task for women especially, when trying to live up to men’s models for life no longer works.

References

After Serena Williams gave birth, 'Everything went bad'

By Susan Scutti

CNN

Jan 10, 2018   Updated 2:20 PM ET, January 11, 2018

https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/10/health/serena-williams-birth-c-section-olympia-bn/index.html 

Getting out of Line: alternatives to life as a career.

By Margaret Urban Walker

In Mother Time: women, aging, and ethics (Ed. Margaret Urban Walker).

1999

Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Maryland. pp 97-111.

‘I regret having children’
By Anne Kingston
Macleans
2018 February Issue
https://www.macleans.ca/regretful-mothers/ 

Is Serena Williams right? A linguist on the extra challenges women face in moments of anger
By Kieran File
The Conversation
September 11, 2018 10.41am EDT 
https://theconversation.com/is-serena-williams-right-a-linguist-on-the-extra-challenges-women-face-in-moments-of-anger-102998

Martina Navratilova: What Serena Got Wrong
By Martina Navratilova
NY Times, Opinion
Sept 10, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/opinion/martina-navratilova-serena-williams-us-open.html

Serena Williams Came In on a High Road. It Made Her Fall More Devastating.
By Wesley Morris
New York Times Critics Notebook
Sept. 10, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/sports/tennis/serena-williams-us-open.html?

Serena Williams cartoon was ‘sexist’,according to Germaine Greer
By Ben Graham
news.com.au
Sept 18, 2018. 9:14AM
https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/serena-williams-cartoon-was-sexist-according-to-germaine-greer/news-story/323901c631f6e04fda86921bad708f77

Serena Williams tells Mamamia the first thing she did when she left that US Open court.

By Claire Stephens, Weekend Editor

Mamamia

September 23, 2018

https://www.mamamia.com.au/serena-williams-us-open-final/ 

Serena Williams to face 20-year-old Naomi Osaka in US Open final

Associated Press

Sept 7, 2018

ESPN 
http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/24600041/serena-williams-advances-us-open-final-face-naomi-osaka

Serena Williams vs. Naomi Osaka: How the U.S. Open Descended Into Chaos

By David Waldstein

NY Times

Sept. 9, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/sports/serena-osaka-us-open-penalty.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article 

Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian is right about sexism stats – but is desired data actually possible?

by George Bellshaw

Metro News UK - Sports

Sept 21, 2018 8:00 am

https://metro.co.uk/2018/09/21/serena-williams-husband-alexis-ohanian-is-right-about-sexism-stats-but-is-desired-data-actually-possible-7951998/

Serena Williams’ outburst at the US Open final was a misguided way to tackle sexism in tennis

By Luisa Tam

South China Morning Post

Sept 17, 2018, 7:53pm UPDATED Sept 17,  8:48pm

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2164586/serena-williams-outburst-us-open-final-was-misguided-way-tackle 

PM Trudeau’s statement on violence against women and the Montreal Massacre: my thoughts

Following is the message I left online for Prime Minister Trudeau on his official government page at  https://pm.gc.ca/eng/connect :

I read the PM's statement today about the event at Montreal on Dec 6, 1989. I beg to differ, but the women were not killed simply because they were women. that is now an outdated way of looking at it. It was complicated, and it was about some men having to give up opportunities of the career they dreamed of. Marc Lépine must have been treated badly by women - staff - and feminists to have done what he did.

I know what it's like to not be able to have the career you wanted, because you didn't have enough money, or were too old when you went to university - I was 43 when the killings happened - an undergrad at university. Since then I got my MA and started a PhD, which I did not have enough support for, moneywise. When women go for it, they have to use every resource they can drum up. I was too old to start having to compete with younger women, and could not buy my way into a better position.

I never had a career either, but I did learn to write, and so I write, on Sue's Views on the News. Or at least, I used to write. Now I struggle just to get the healthcare I need, a good part of the time, unsuccessfully. What with women secretaries using their power to make things worse, and doctors probably thinking these women are to be trusted, and seeing no reason to provide care to a 70 year old with no husband, no family nearby to be at appointments with me, that no one is gaining anything worthwhile from, I have been left out. Like Marc Lépine, I have not been treated fairly nor compassionately.

This was not a typical situation of violence against women. Most violence against women happens between a couple who at least know one another and are often married. The killings committed by Marc Lépine were about a man being left behind while feminists prospered.


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
by Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario: https://pm.gc.ca
December 6, 2016
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2016/12/06/statement-prime-minister-canada-national-day-remembrance-and-action-violence-against 


The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women:

“Twenty-seven years ago today, 14 young women were murdered at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal simply because they were women.

“On this somber anniversary, let us reflect on what Canadians – women, men, and youth – can do to rid the country and the planet of the scourges of misogyny and gender-based violence.
“The statistics on violence against girls and women are unacceptable. Far too many girls and women, here in Canada and around the world, suffer physical and psychological harm at the hands of others – often people they love and trust.

“On this day – and every day – we recommit ourselves to finding solutions that help prevent future acts of violence. Men and boys are a vital part of the solution to change attitudes and behaviours that allow for this violence to exist. There must be zero tolerance for violence against women, and only with everyone’s support can we build a Canada that is safe for all.

“That is why the Government of Canada is investing in several programs, both in Canada and around the world, to help promote gender equality by supporting education and prevention efforts, as well as helping those who have been targeted by gender-based violence. For example, we will continue to grow and maintain Canada’s network of shelters and transition houses, so no one fleeing domestic violence is left without a place to turn.

“As we mourn today with the families and friends of those bright and talented young women who were victims of that senseless act of hatred, I encourage everyone to think about how their own personal actions matter. Start by joining the conversation online using the hashtag #ActionsMatter. Together we can change minds and stop gender-based violence before it starts.”

London City Council: controversies relevant to the 2014 election

Added Feb 15, 2014: Background information and Letter to the Editor re article and comments on vandalism in London depicting male genitals and a swastika.

Added Jan 22, 2014: An additional controversy over a workshop to encourage female candidates to run as councillors. Due to the Comments’ section having been deleted from the web page online, see article and comments as saved on my website: ‘Outgoing Ward 5 Coun. Joni Baechler will be joined by other former and current female politicians in running a workshop to encourage London women to run in the upcoming municipal election,’ by Carl Hnatyshyn, Jan 21, 2014). It’s disillusioning when comments on such a controversial issue are excluded from the London Free Press online, where readers might get a chance to see what others in the community think about it.

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Following are a selection of articles, including comments’ sections if available - even though incomplete - providing a sample of the issues affecting Londoners. Now that an election is drawing closer for the election on Oct 27, 2014, of London's Mayor, Ward Councillors and School Board Trustees, how some of the scandals and other problems within London, Ontario, have been handled might be of interest.

Key words are included with each of the articles and Letters to the Editor listed in the reference list below. For some of those articles and Letters, an additional link is provided, to my website, which will include a more complete list of comments than the comments in the official version.

For the most part, the articles and Letters sections I have selected are ones I contributed comments to, in a local London newspaper, which offers a place for discussion of relevant issues, or at least it did, for me, even though a good number of my comments were being deleted by moderators.  If my perspectives weren’t welcome, that is unfortunate, but that doesn’t seem to me to be a good enough reason for them to be deleted in such quantities as they were, and eventually, in my not being able to have submissions approved. In a city such as London – a university city - where a diversity of viewpoints should be expected, I am disappointed that mine were not considered acceptable in that rather biased environment. I am not the only person to run into the problem of overzealous moderation, of having comments removed for no reason, though not everyone who complains about it had good reason to; rather, they might be using that tactic to suggest that they have no personal advantage in that forum.

I have gathered the articles from the London Free Press (LFP) online, from which I am now banned from expressing online where other residents and outsiders are offered the freedom to do so, in a forum that, except for me, could be considered informative and vibrant. One purpose is to provide interested readers a variety of viewpoints on these issues, including my own. Another is to have my views reinserted into the sections from where they have been removed, as much as possible, and to have them available to readers, who might otherwise only be getting to read the ‘acceptable’ views on some of these issues.

Since my research interests include gender and sexuality and class divisions, I tend to focus on these when the subjects appear in the news, not just to advertise my blog, as I am so often accused of, but to attempt to get other views across, and not simply the traditional views, or the increasingly sexualized views that so many people have in today’s world.

Prostitution is now a national issue, with the impact of legalizing brothels holding the possibility of a changed London. It might be a subject some don’t want to discuss, but fortunately, it has been, to some extent, mentioned within the pages of the LFP. Keeping in mind that tactics to silence me and distort what I say are not uncommon, I include pieces on the subject of prostitution as well as related pieces on things sexual (see on my website, Letters to the Editor, Dec 24, 2013, Dec 23, 2013; and Letters to Editor, Dec 30, 2013, Dec 29, 2013). See also on a CBC news video what a former sex worker in London, Ontario, has to say about the changes in the law: ‘Former Sex Worker Opposes Legal Brothels' (video, by Wei Chen, June 14, 2013.

The issue of an image of Katy Perry on the side of a London bus by London City Transit (LCT) is one that was controversial but quickly dealt with and cast aside. It brings to mind another incident some time ago, in which London MP Irene Mathyssen objected to what she perceived to be an incident of sexism during a parliamentary session and ended up apologizing for mentioning it. I wrote about this on my blog, the only piece mentioned on this page that is not from the LFP. See ‘Public displays of private matters - Irene Mathyssen and James Moore’, by Sue McPherson, Dec 7, 2007).

More on Kate Perry, Sandy White, and the N-word is on pages 19-21 in Comments section on my website in ‘London city councillor Matt Brown running for mayor in 2014 municipal election,’ by Patrick Maloney, Jan 10, 2014 .

The class divide includes issues of wealth and poverty, as well as the idea of class based on education and/or occupation. Both of these types of divisions come into play in some of the articles and comments. For discussions, see my saved versions of comments on ‘London city councillor Matt Brown running for mayor in 2014 municipal election,’ by Patrick Maloney, Jan 10, 2014; and ‘Dysfunctional, erratic, even “a bit of a disaster”,' by Chip Martin, Jan 3, 2014.

Term limits for councillors was a topic of discussion in one Letters to the Editor section, comments I had made being deleted for no apparent reason. The series of 3 comments is as follows, including a response that remains in the LFP version and my comments which was deleted.

********** S McP to J A (comment deleted)
If a previous councillor were encouraged to become a mentor to newcomers to local politics, it wouldn't be a matter of simply tossing them out, as you put it. The experience they gain in politics can be applied to other occupations, if they chose to, or after one or two terms out of office they might well go into it again.
We have already covered this in the other article's comments section, but here goes again. Just as many of the unemployed become exasperated at the request for 'experienced candidates only' restriction, so it must be in politics when people want to try but there is no encouragement. If there were permitted, no doubt it would be soon enough that they also came to be seen as "proven" and the "best." That's why all who can, who have something to offer, should have the chance, instead of the same ones over and over again counting on voters' loyalty to their name, or complacency when it comes to spending time on this important democratic process.

P E to S McP
“If a previous councillor were encouraged to become a mentor to newcomers to local politics”
You might want to rethink that idea, and before you do, just consider one name, Orser.

*********  S McP to P E (comment deleted)
I said "if".

End of selection of 3 comments, one of which is in Letters to Editor, Jan 7, 2014 (Jan 6, 2014).

It seemed like a good idea – not a unique one, by any means, but not deserving of the putdown by the other commenter. For anyone considering the idea of mentoring, whether formally, through a program, or informally, the idea is to match up mentor and protégé, and not even to think that everyone was capable of being a good mentor or would want to be. And yet, it was my comments that got left out of the LFP version.

Regarding Nazi symbols in London, what was most important, it seems, was whether the person creating them was wealthy or not, in other words, the economic class of the perpetrator, which would enable one to be privately open about their interests, the other, doing so publically, in public. See ‘Vandal defaces downtown London business with swastikas,’ by Dale Carruthers, Nov 16, 2013; also see ‘Martin Weiche kept Hitler's memory alive by styling his London estate after the Fuehrer’s Bavarian retreat,’ by Jane Sims, Jan 10, 2014.

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added Feb 15, 2014

The article about vandalism focused mainly on the Nazi symbol – the swastika – though there had been another image drawn on the window – male genitals, mentioned briefly in the article but not at all in the comments. Eventually, I noticed the reference to the other offending image, and was in the middle of writing a comment about it to post online when Comments were close, just 24 hours after the article had been posted. Instead, I submitted it as a Letter to the Editor, mentioning the omission of the other image from the title, and deleted from the window before the police arrived, and ignored in the discussion in the writeup. I received a notice saying the LFP had received my submission, but it was not published in the Letters to the Editor section. This is the Letter.

Letter: Re 'Vandal defaces downtown London business with swastikas' , Nov 16 by Dale Carruthers.

"If the swastika offended the owner because it was so close to Remembrance Day, why didn't the depiction of male genitals offend him as much, seeing as it is so close to the Dec 6 commemoration of violence against women.

Even though we know that male genitals have a good side to them, they do also symbolize the harm that is done to women through rape. And many more women suffer rape and sexual violence, surely, than Jews did what happened to them at the hand of Nazis. So why is it this symbol of Nazi oppression and death continues to haunt the world. Why will they (Jewish people, mainly) never let what happened slip farther down in their consciousness! Why is this always a reason to bring it up again, and again!
Rhetorical questions.

The kids will learn about the Nazis in school, though each generation will use the swastika symbol to shock. And they will continue to use the symbol of the penis to shock, although it seems that in today's world most people don't object to that " (Sue McPherson). End of Letter to Editor.

As with the Kate Perry images on the side of the city’s buses, some images are deemed acceptable to show and to discuss, and some not.


=========================================================

Another question for council is why money has been granted for a study into how to help sex workers when two local women – a physician and a police officer - are already working on the front lines, doing what they can (In Person: Dr. Anne Bodkin works with Sgt. Lorna Bruce to help those in dangerous, unhealthy street-level trade, by Randy Richmond, Sept 29, 2013; Intention to get women off the streets, by Randy Richmond, Jan 13, 2014. Obviously, the two are connected – the practical side of it and the research. But since the two women had already started working with sex workers, why was no mention made in the more recent article of how they view their efforts over the last three months. In contradiction to the thoughts of Megan Walker, I would think that focusing on ending prostitution isn’t really a reasonable possibility. Read also, Letters to the Editor: Dec. 30, 2013, Dec 29, 2013).

Language itself is a subject worthy of note here, as it is often used in such forums in ways that are deceitful and controlling. Specific examples can be viewed in Comments’ sections, for instance, about the use of the words ‘academic’ and ‘profession, and variations of them.

The use of the term ‘academic’ became an issue in the comments section of ‘London city councillor Matt Brown running for mayor in 2014 municipal election, by Patrick Maloney,’ Jan10, 2014). On pages 24-25 in my copy of the article and comments, now saved onto my website ( http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2014_Jan_LondonCityMattBrownForMayor.doc ), I have restored the comments that I made during the discussion of the word ‘academic.’ The word was being used incorrectly, although resistance was great to accepting my viewpoint on that.

Worse are intentional uses of language in ways that distort another’s words.
See this, in my comment, “What will there be to indicate to boys and girls that sex is special, that it isn't something you go around having just for fun, with this person or that, or to get the job you want” (on my website: Comments, LFP Letters to Editor, Dec 24, 2013 (Dec 23, 2013). My url

The response, by P E, begins with a quote from that sentence: "that it isn't something you go around having just for fun," distorting what I said. Worse, my comment isn’t on the LFP website article and Comments’ section. Only P E’s response, taking part of the sentence out of context, leaving a completely inaccurate perception of the original sentence. It’s not hard to do that, and people who do aren’t demonstrating any sense of comprehension for what was said, only trickery, or duplicity in their responses.

Another example of useless internet interaction was during a discussion on poppies – in colours red and white (Letters to the editor Nov 8, 2013, Nov 7, 2013). Sometimes it seems as though a commenter may just be waiting until the other person makes a mistake, when he can then pounce on the offending party with everything he’s got. It’s another example of taking a phrase out of context, without considering anything else the commenter has said, but using the mistake as an opportunity to present basic knowledge on the issue, while belittling the other commenter for his or her apparent lack of  knowledge.

It is frustrating dealing with people who have an agenda that seems to be based more on winning, rather than discussion for the purpose of greater understanding or thinking of solutions. It’s even more frustrating to try to have a discussion when the intentions of others may not be that, but in fact may be to suppress information or certain commenters.

It leaves the moderators in a difficult position, as they cannot read every comment for its meaning, or if they do, cannot be expected to get it right every time. So they end up taking sides, against commenters themselves, sometimes, or against the world views of the commenters, and not simply against individual comments.

Other notable incidents in London’s recent history include the city hall being lit up in purple (Now a whole month of demonization of men over violence, by Herman Goodden, Nov 15, 2013), and an announcement of a partial list of recipients of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medals (And the winners are . . .  , Oct 30, 2013).

This has not been a complete summary of scandals and problems London has faced over the year, but a selection based on my own interests, including that of flaws in the comments system that leaves it biased and susceptible to corruption by certain individuals whose agenda may not be the good of the city of London.

If readers discover errors in citing sources, for instance, kindly let me know, and I would prefer that you do not attempt to use one or even two mistakes as evidence that my writing and ways of thinking do not have merit. If the mistakes of any commenter go on and on, and the games go on and on, then it might be time to consider what their purpose is, on the discussion forums of the London Free Press.


List of Articles and Letters to the Editor

Outgoing Ward 5 Coun. Joni Baechler will be joined by other former and current female politicians in running a workshop to encourage London women to run in the upcoming municipal election.
By Carl Hnatyshyn, Special to QMI Agency
London Free Peress
Jan 21, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/21/outgoing-ward-5-coun-joni-baechler-will-be-joined-by-other-former-and-current-female-politicians-in-running-a-workshop-to-encourage-london-women-to-run-in-the-upcoming-municipal-election
View article plus comments on S.A.McPherson website. To access using google chrome, download when prompted to appropriate place on your computer, save, and click open at bottom left-hand corner of page.
http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2014_Jan_OutgoingWard5CounJoniBaechlerWomenElection.doc

Taxpayers paid almost $100,000 for lawyers to represent city councillors in the Billy T's probe

[questionable activities of mayor and councillors]
By Patrick Maloney
The London Free Press
Jan 16, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/16/billy-ts-legal-tab-nearly-100g

Letters to the editor: Jan. 14, 2014
[fresh faces on council, submission and dominance, moderation of comments]
London Free Press
Jan 13, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/13/letters-to-the-editor-jan-14 
View on S.A.McPherson website. To access using google chrome, download when prompted to appropriate place on your computer, save, and click open at bottom left-hand corner of page.
http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2014_Jan14_LFPLetters.doc

Intention to get women off the streets
[prostitution, city-funded study]
By Randy Richmond
The London Free Press
Jan 13, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/13/intention-to-get-women-off-the-streets

Martin Weiche kept Hitler's memory alive by styling his London estate after the Fuehrer’s Bavarian retreat
[gender, Nazi symbol, class]
By Jane Sims
The London Free Press
Jan 10, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/10/martin-weiche-kept-hitlers-memory-alive-by-styling-his-london-estate-after-the-fuehrers-bavarian-retreat

Macartney: "There are likely no perfect answers, and arguments from both sides are worthy of more discussion.”
[term limits for city council, municipal election]
By Gerry Macartney, Special to QMI Agency
Jan 10, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/09/macartney-there-are-likely-no-perfect-answers-and-arguments-from-both-sides-are-worthy-of-more-discussion

London city councillor Matt Brown running for mayor in 2014 municipal election
[municipal election, choosing a candidate, Kate Perry, Sandy White and the N-word; class divide]
By Patrick Maloney
The London Free Press
Jan 10, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/10/london-city-councillor-matt-brown-running-for-mayor-in-2014-municipal-election
View on S.A.McPherson website. To access using google chrome, download when prompted to appropriate place on your computer, save, and click open at bottom left-hand corner of page.
http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2014_Jan_LondonCityMattBrownForMayor.doc

No economic ‘downturn’ for London Mayor Joe Fontana
[budget, police and fire depts]
By Patrick Maloney
The London Free Press
Jan 9, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/09/no-economic-downturn-for-mayor

Letters to the editor: Jan. 7, 2014
[city council, mentorship]
Free Press readers
Jan 6, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/06/letters-to-the-editor-jan-7-2#comment-1189967168 

Dysfunctional, erratic, even 'a bit of a disaster': Critics see blood in the water for incumbents mounting London mayoral or city council runs this year
[council, criminal charges, group of eight, class divide, performing arts centre, gender, masculinity]
By Chip Martin
The London Free Press
Jan 3, 2014
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/03/dysfunctional-erratic-even-a-bit-of-a-disaster-critics-see-blood-in-the-water-for-incumbents-mounting-london-mayoral-or-city-council-runs-this-year
View on S.A.McPherson website. To access using google chrome, download when prompted to appropriate place on your computer, save, and click open at bottom left-hand corner of page.
http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2014_Jan_DysfunctionalErraticABitOfADisasterLondon.doc

Letters to the Editor: Dec. 30, 2013  
[mailboxes, prostitution, sex ]
Free Press Readers
Dec 29, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/12/29/letters-to-the-editor-dec-30
View on S.A.McPherson website. To access using google chrome, download when prompted to appropriate place on your computer, save, and click open at bottom left-hand corner of page.
http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2013_Dec_LFPLettersDec30.doc

Letters to the Editor: Dec. 24, 2013
[prostitution, sex]
Free Press Readers
Dec 23, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/12/23/letters-to-the-editor-dec-24
View on S.A.McPherson website. To access using google chrome, download when prompted to appropriate place on your computer, save, and click open at bottom left-hand corner of page.
http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2013_Dec_LFPLettersDec_24.doc

Letter to the Editor
[vandalism, swastika symbol, masculinity symbol]
By Sue McPherson
to London Free Press
Nov 17, 2013 12:05 pm
http://samcpherson.homestead.com/files/Miscellaneous/2013_Nov_MyLetterEditor_Nov17_Vandalism.doc

Vandal defaces downtown London business with swastikas
[Nazi symbols, class, masculinity]
By Dale Carruthers
The London Free Press
Nov 16, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/11/16/vandal-defaces-downtown-london-business-with-swastika

Now a whole month of demonization of men over violence
[feminism, city hall lit purple]
By Herman Goodden, Special to QMI Agency
LFP
Nov 15, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/11/15/goodden-now-a-whole-month-of-demonization-of-men-over-violence

Letters to the editor Nov 8, 2013
[poppies,  Remembrance Day]
London Free Press
Nov 7, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/11/07/letters-to-the-editor-nov-8 

And the winners are . . .
[Queen’s diamond jubilee medals, city council, partial list]
London Free Press
Oct 30, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/10/30/and-the-winners-are

London council gives pay freeze cold shoulder
[pay increase for city council and mayor?]
By Chip Martin
The London Free Press
Oct 21, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/10/21/london-council-gives-pay-freeze-cold-shoulder

In Person: Dr. Anne Bodkin works with Sgt. Lorna Bruce to help those in dangerous, unhealthy street-level trade
[health, housing, prostitution]
By Randy Richmond
The London Free Press
Sept 29, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/09/29/in-person-dr-anne-bodkin-works-with-sgt-lorna-bruce-to-help-those-in-dangerous-unhealthy-street-level-trade

Former Sex Worker Opposes Legal Brothels (video)
[prostitution]
By Wei Chen, CBC
June 14, 2013
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Ontario/Ontario+Morning/ID/2391336443/

Trashing kate Perry seems odd
[gender; sexism; Katy Perry, Sandy White and the N-word]
By Dan Brown
The London Free Press
Mar 8, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/03/08/brown-trashing-katy-perry-seems-odd 

Sandy White demanding apology from fellow London councillor Harold Usher
[Katy Perry, Sandy White and the N-word]
By Chip Martin
The London Free Press
Mar 7, 2013
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/03/07/sandy-white-demanding-apology-from-fellow-london-councillor-harold-usher

Public displays of private matters - Irene Mathyssen and James Moore
[politics, sexism, gender]
By Sue McPherson
Sue’s Views on the News
Dec 7, 2007
http://suemcpherson.blogspot.ca/2007/12/public-and-private-work-and-sex.html