issue 3// vol 45 opinions // no. 15

  

   

Jessica Berget
Opinions Editor

A: someone who is trying to find a place

to move out, I follow a lot of Vancouver
room and rental Facebook groups and check
Craigslist almost daily. I knew that finding the
ideal place for me would take a lot of time and
patience, and I knew some landlords would
have some questionable rules, but I didn’t
realize just how strict some places can be.

It’s hard enough finding a place to rent that
is within your price range, has an ideal location,
and is with a roommate you can get along with
without having to worry about the landlord’s
asinine rules. I’ve seen places advertised
with the basic rules you see in almost every
listing—no pets, no drugs, and no smoking—
and I understand why some places have these
guidelines... to an extent.

From a landlord’s perspective, these are all
things that have potential to do damage to the
property or disrupt neighbors, so by making
these rules they eliminate those possibilities.
However, if people are paying rent on time
and don't disrupt the neighbors or damage the
property, what does it matter what they’re doing
inside the house?

Some other rules are harsh and unrealistic;
no parties, no guests, overnight or otherwise,

and no drinking. How can anyone live

Illustration by Cara Seccafien

comfortably under these conditions? With so

Housing rentals should
} not dictate how you live

» Renting a place should not come
with so many restrictions

many restrictions it feels like you're applying
to live in a prison, not a house. Renting a new
place should not change how you live your
life. If you're paying to live somewhere then
you should be able to do whatever you want
so long as it doesn’t disturb or harm anyone or
anything.

Some people move out of their family’s
house to get away from rules like these, not to
live with more of them. If you want to have a
beer or a few friends over to hang out after a
long week, what’s the harm? I could understand
if your landlord lives with you and doesn’t want
any disturbances or strangers in their house.
Even then, why are you a landlord if you're not
going to let your tenants live comfortably?

The rule that frustrates me the most is “no
guests.” Do they expect their tenants to have
absolutely no fun? In fact, the “no guests” rule is
against your tenant rights. According to section
nine of the Residential Tenancy Regulation,
“your landlords cannot unreasonably restrict
guests from entering your rental property, or
charge you a fee, even if they stay overnight.”
However, illegal or not, countless rental posts
still include these kinds of clauses.

Moving into a new place shouldn’t mean
giving up your lifestyle. Landlords should
realize that no one is going to want to live in
their house if there are so many rules, and if
they do they are probably not going to abide by
them. It’s just unrealistic.

‘Cancelled’ culture 1s so cancelled

» Shunning on social media does not educate or rectify the problematic

Jessica Berget
Opinions Editor

here are so many celebrities

that have been “cancelled,”
it’s hard to keep track. These
include Kanye West, Shania
Twain, Maya Jama, and Cardi
B—to name a few. However,
it’s not just celebrities getting
shunned by the internet. Brands
such as H&M and Dove have
endured the public punishment
that is being “cancelled,”
with social media as their
executioner.

Being “cancelled” is a
sensation that has consumed
social media. Anything from
an unearthed offensive tweet,
to saying who you would have
voted for in the 2016 election,
to a misunderstood commercial
can earn you a one-way ticket
to cancel city. The point is to
get everyone to stop supporting
whatever it is people have
decided to shun. Although it has
done some good in the past, I
find that cancelling most of the
things mainstream society finds
problematic is both ineffective
and often malicious.

Cancelling doesn’t serve
to educate or change people's
problematic behaviour, nor
does it make any meaningful
difference in their lives or
whether people support them.
Take Kanye West for example:
Despite being ostracized by
social media for saying that he
would have voted for Donald
Trump in the election, and
for claiming that “slavery
was a choice,” people are still
listening to his music, he’s
still making money, and his
career has suffered only minor
nuisances. His new album Ye
even reached number one on
the Billboard charts. In his case,
all “cancelling” has resulted in
is a few days of being shunned
by the internet and an apology,
then it’s been practically
forgotten.

Furthermore, shunning
people doesn’t teach them
about social issues or why
their behaviour might be
problematic, it only pushes the
problem away. It’s practically
cyberbullying celebrities
for stating their opinions or
brands for something that is

misunderstood, or misguided.
When Dove first came
out with their body wash
advertisement in 2017, in which
a Black woman removes her
shirt and becomes a white
woman, there was a huge storm
of angry tweets directed at the
brand because some people
thought it implied that white
skin was “clean.” However, if
you watched the full advert,
you'd see the white woman
also takes off her shirt and
becomes another Woman of
Colour. People saw the first two
seconds of the commercial and
decided Dove was effectively
eradicated, without really
seeing the big picture.
Cancelled culture is toxic.
It implies that a controversial
opinion or a misunderstanding
is enough to discredit your
existence. It also makes
quick, negative assumptions
about something that may be
completely harmless. People
don’t learn what they said
or did was wrong by being
ignored—they learn through
communication, education,
and understanding.

 

Photo of Kanye West by David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons; Photo illustration by Lauren Kelly