ROZ'S RANT

Stealing and gouging.

I got tired of the stealing. More than anything, that's why the paywall was removed from our website. People like to take all of our work, copy it into their Facebook groups or page in its entirety, and then either use it to support an argument or to wave it around like a bull. If you stole our intellectual property for your own personal gain, congratulations. You've won.

This is not new. It's been going on forever in the news world. I know what you're thinking though. If it's newsworthy, shouldn't it be free anyway?

In a Utopian world, absolutely. It also completely ignores the fact that a lot of our content was always free and clear of the paywall anyway. We required an email log in because if we don't you're going to get people spamming the comments just like they do on Facebook posts and groups. You know the ones I'm talking about.

While I'm on the subject of Facebook, just because you post an opinion as fact does not make it so, and just because your neighbour and friends agree with you does not make any of you right.

I'd dearly love to work for free. I really would love to pay my bills with goodwill and online kudos or street cred. I am one of those idiots who think food, shelter, clothing and healthcare should be basic inalienable rights and we shouldn't have to work 50 years to enjoy maybe 5 or 10 after before we die, but you can't even do that anymore.

You can blame Trudeau all you want, or Pollievre, or whichever politician and party you hate, but they aren't the ones labelling the beef at the grocery stores. One of the most appalling things I read this week was that grocery stores deliberately don't run sales when the seniors get their cheques, but run it between on the weeks the seniors don't have any extra money.

I can testify this happens because my mother is one of those seniors. She's been ranting about it for a long time, and it has nothing to do with COVID or politicians. It's gouging, and gouging is legalized stealing. Don't even get me started on insurance.

What we don't need is more laws, but rather businesses that aren't trying to squeeze us for every last dollar. Just how many yachts do they need exactly? On the plus side, we'll have no choice but to keep our New Year's weight loss resolutions. Who can afford food around here anyway?