10 — Friday, Octrober 10, 1997 — North Shore News

INQUIRING REPORTER will elimination of mid-day transit discounts affect you?

‘| inquiring

reporter

A series of slide illustrations at a recent transportation symposium began with two choked lanes of cars going nowhere in rush hour. The second showed the cars removed and the drivers sitting in the road. The third showed the same drivers grouped together and empty asphalt stretching into the distance. The last drew a bus around the unhappy commuters. Now if only BC Transit, local and regional planners, and provincial fun-

ders would all look at the same damn slideshow. And then decide to do whatever it takes to make public tran-

sit an affordable and realistic alternative to single vehicle

commuting. Cancelling UBC express buses until ridership becomes “unreliable” (as one transit planner told N.V. District Council with a straight face this week) and then cancelling the route altogether won't work. Neither will raising fares.

NORTH SHORE DEMOGRAPHICS

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Lower Sie

DON’T OTHER KNOW ANSWER

Central and Upper Lonsdale

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TOTAL

Graham Smith

North Vancouver

TI don’t fike it as much because I can’t afford it. I used to go across daily but now it’s more like twice a week. The (monthly) fare card isn’t worth it for unless

Sheri Noel

North Vancouver

In my case, probably not. I would) much rather pay $2.25 than take my car downtown and pay $2.25 to park for half an hour.

Amir elnejad

Anz Agha

I think it sucks. I can remember when I paid 50 cents for a ticket. ¥ actually think Pll buy a lock for my bike and use that. The monthly card is too expen-

you know you will use it

sive.

every day.

Questioning male Promise Keepers

’ By Sandra McKenzie Contributing Columnist

YOU would think that if you could get a lot of guys together, with everyone agreeing to be a better, more responsi- ble person, then all would be well.

It might not end world hunger, but a group hug might not be a bad start towards a generally nicer world. Who could argue with that? Since the group in question promotes only the solid values of an intact, two-parent family, an end to domestic violence and hon- est hard work, what’s the problem?

Well, if the group has a strong, conservative Christian bias, with strident support from the mouth- foamers at the extreme tight-wing of that bias, then that’s enough to raise Hack- les along the rest of the political and social spectrum.

You don’t have to be a member of any particular minority to get nervous at the sight of a million Promise Keepers congregat- ing in Washington last Saturday.

You Yon" t have to be gay or lesbian, a feminist, a sin- gle parent or a pro-choice activist to find something retrograde, if not actively sinister, in the phenomenon

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of mass rallies of middle- class, predominately white, men espousing what sound like good intentions to do better by their wives and children.

You simply have to appreciate the idea that, in general, we are moving fer- ward towards a fairer, more inclusive society.

And we’ve done it by consensus, through the usual political channels. For all its inherent weaknesses and irritants, the political process is a remarkably reli- able and equitable mecha- nism for change.

The problem with Promise Keepers, and most any other social movement driven by an ideology, is that it depends on divine fiat for guidance. And divine fiat, at least as it’s interpreted by fallible human intermedi- aries, is usually narrow in focus and fickle in its appli- cation.

PK members claim to be inspired by holy scripture, which, while full of good advice and godly wisdom, also has its fair share of clunkers and contradictions. The Bible telis us to love one another, and to turn the other cheek, but it also advises us to kill witches and stone adulterers and heretics.

While witch hunts are presumably not part of the PK agenda, there is a overt lack of tolerance in the rhetoric, made all the more disquieting for being dressed up in the language of ecu- menical love for all humani- ty. Reproductive choice and gay rights are two of the most obvious targets for these self-proclaimed defenders of the family.

Te’s casy to see why movements like Promise Keepers are so attractive to so many.

There are real, complex issues that beg for answers. For all our advances, we remain haunted by child poverty, family breakdown, social dislocation and disen- franchised youth. If only the answers were as simple as the PK pledge of honesty, loyalty and respect. Perhaps they are. But for good mea- sure, we'll continue to count on the legislative process, with all its flaws, to look after ‘everybody's best inter- ests.

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