opinions // 16

Tax and release

» Making housing more affordable should be central to the 2014 municipal elections

Patrick Vaillancourt
Columnist

Wie the 2014 municipal
election here in British
Columbia only weeks away, can-
didates across the province are
making some pretty bold sug-
gestions and even bolder prom-
ises to win. The data shows that
voters are not all that engaged
in municipal elections, but if
you subscribe to the notion
that “all politics are local,” ’'d
encourage you to get informed
and vote in your respective
municipality this November.
Ifyou are froma mid-
dle-class background, you
have a dog in the fight, with
a lot at stake for residents in
the Lower Mainland. The
cost of living is becoming
increasingly difficult to meet

: and housing prices, especially
: in Vancouver, have risen to
: monumental new heights.

Some people are con-

fused as to why housing is so

: expensive in the city. It’s really
: asimple economic equation

: of supply and demand: there

: are many who want to buy

: properties here, and there

: isn’t enough for everyone.

But why are there so many

: apartments available for rent?

In truth, many of the

: properties are being purchased
: by absentee owners from all

: over the world. Investors from

: everywhere are deciding to

: put their money in Vancouver

: homes, banking on increasing

: housing prices being the

: trend for years to come.

Whether you area renter

or an owner, you have a stake in
: the fight for affordable housing.

: The rent you pay has a direct
correlation to the owner’s mort-
: gage, and so the higher the cost
: of the house, in all likelihood,

: the higher your rent will be.

One proposal by mayoral

candidates in Vancouver is

: to impose a tax on absentee

: homeowners—those who buy

: property here as an investment,
: yet choose to live elsewhere.

: [think the idea warrants

: serious debate and discussion

: inthis municipal election.

Homeownership is an

: achievement, but alsoa

: responsibility. Buying a home

: somewhere is an expression of

: interest not only in the edifice,

: butinthe community. This is

: evident in the taxes homeown-
: ers pay, whether it’s municipal

: property taxes, school levies, or
: water sanitation fees. Though

: real estate is an investment

: vehicle, it should be distin-
guished from homeownership,
: which implies a certain level of
: involvement in a community.

Non-resident homeowners

aren't interested in the better-
: ment of the City of Vancouver,
: but are merely looking to

: make a quick buck, waiting

: for housing prices to increase

: even further before eventually
: cashing out. This is what

: pundits mean when they say

: “bursting the housing bubble,”
: and a housing crash in the city
: doesn’t do anyone any good.

Atax on non-resident

: homeowners is a step in the

: right direction, but in no way
: does that singular gesture

: result in the stabilization of

: housing prices across BC’s

: Lower Mainland. It has to be
: apillar ofa larger program

: to bring real affordable

theotherpress.ca

: housing to the region.

Some will no doubt criticize

my stance on this as being

: anti-globalization or anti-free

: enterprise, yet nothing could

: be further from the truth. If

: an Asian billionaire wanted

: toinvest in one of many com-

: mercial properties for sale in

: Vancouver, then by all means

: doso without any added taxes

: levied on them. Residential

: properties are different because
: housing isa social issue that

: only affects those who live

: within the city limits. Absentee
: homeowners, by virtue of

: being absent, couldn’t care

: less about the community, and
: thatisa breach of each and

: every homeowner's respon-

: sibility to their community.

So be sure to go out and vote

on November 15. We can ill-af-
: ford to be silent on this issue.

 

I'm not acreep; I'm not a weird-oh

» Male fear of being labeled a creep is the creepiest thing of all

Elliot Chan

-. Opinions Editor
= Mopinions

si @theotherpress.ca

  

B oys, have you ever been

have a thought pop into your
head? You know, the one that

She doesn’t want to talk to you.
You should probably just leave.”

is another.
Once that thought
materializes it’s hard to

: overcome it, but understand

: this: if you aren't able to rise

: above that thought, you have

: officially self-destructed. So

: please, do walk away before your
: lack of confidence rips you open

. : and causes you to bleed anxiety
talking to a girl and suddenly :

all over the sweet girl. It doesn’t

: matter if she was interested in
Ou v : : you or not, whether you were

says: “She’s not interested in you. : just chatting or if you were
: flirting, you cannot sell what you :

, wee : aren't persuaded by yourself.
Of course, this anxiety is normal. :
But feeting nervous is one thing, : of being labeled a “creep” is
etting it sink in and destroy you : what keeps most men from
: approaching women—not

: the other way around. So stop

The overwhelming fear

: identifying everything you do as
: creepy. Making eye contact with
: a woman is not creepy. Asking a
: woman a question is not creepy.
: Being engaged in a conversation
: is not creepy. The only thing that :
: is creepy is the weird thought

: inside your head that is telling
: you to feel guilty over nothing.

Good intentions shine

through and bad intentions

deserve to be discovered.
In many scenarios, a man

: often feels as though he is in

: a competition for a woman’s

: attention, but if that is your

: mentality, then you will be

: doomed; maybe not ina short-

: term sense, but definitely

: in the long run. You should

: not subject yourself to such

: pressure, especially if you are
: ina social environment where

other people are waiting for you

: to strike out. Trying to control

: someone’s attention is not only
: creepy, but also neurotic. Don’t
: try to win someone over with a
: grand gesture or a long-winded
: story. The goal is not to keep her :
: attention, the goal is to allow
: her to comfortably establish a
: rapport with you.

Your fear of losing the

spotlight makes you creepy. You
: don’t need to be in the spotlight

: to be appreciated. Most people

: don’t want to engage with the

: entertainer, most people want

: to engage with a fan. So try to be
: attentive instead of attractive.

: Show that you can actively listen.
: Listening is the least creepy

: thing you can do.

As the Shins said, “caring

: is creepy,” but worrying about
: being creepy is 10 times creepier.

Forget about it, act cool, and

: try to stay out of the spotlight.

: Focus on the story she is telling
: you, make eye contact, and

: don’t worry about what your

: subconscious might think of

: you.

 

Appropriation versus pop culture

» Is it culturally insensitive for Western culture to adopt the word “manga”?

Brittney MacDonald
Staff Writer

W: are experiencing a shift
in popular culture—what
I would call an expansion into

a more worldly view. More
specifically, we as a society

have become interested in the
nerdy aspects of other foreign
geek subcultures. This has been
most prevalent in the Japanese
“otaku” subculture, which

is dominated by manga and
anime, highly stylized Japanese
graphic novels, comic books,
and animated cartoons, which
feature characters with large
eyes as their most defining
trait. Recently I have noticed a
backlash against this, as well as

: accusations of “appropriation.”
: Well, in the famous words of

: Inigo Montoya in The Princess
: Bride: “You keep using that

: word. I don’t think you know

: what it means.’

This backlash has been

focussed almost exclusively on
: L’Oréal’s Miss Manga Mascara.

I can imagine the process

a marketing executive went

: through when they were asked

: to brand the new L'Oreal

; mascara, which is meant to

: define lashes rather than just

: elongate them. In my head I

: imagine it going something like
: this: googling “big eyes” resulted
: in hundreds and hundreds of

: pages of suggested manga, both
: in English and Japanese.

I blame hipsters for this

: newfound popularity of manga.
: Regular Western comic books

: became too mainstream (damn
: you Robert Downey Jr. and your
: impish good looks!), so they

: had to go to manga in order

: to be pretentious. It backfired

: though. People became fond of
: the manga aesthetic, and even

: began categorizing it ina new

: genre: North American manga.
: For examples see Twilight,

: the Dark-Hunter series, and

: Empowered.

So because manga isn’t

: a Western advent, people

: say this process becomes

: “appropriation,” because it’s
: stealing the concept from

: another culture. Ignoring

: for now the fact that it’s

: impossible to steal a concept,

: that accusation is also a bit

: hypocritical. Think back to

: all the makeup you've owned,

: anything with “rouge” or

: “stiletto” in the title is now

: appropriation of French or

: Italian culture. For that matter,
: your Celtic knot-design tramp
: stamp is appropriating my

: culture and turning it slutty, so
: I'm doubly offended!

Now I’m not Japanese,

so whether or not this use of

: Japanese terms to sell makeup
is offensive or not, I don’t know
: (though I suspect it isn’t).
However, I do know how to

: use a dictionary. True, cultural
appropriation is a legitimate

: concern and it can be negative,
: especially when used in ways

: that are derogatory. But that is

: not what’s going on here. The

: adoption of a word or term from
: a minority into mainstream

: culture is acculturation, and

: it happens anytime cultures

: interact with one another for an
: extended period of time. People
: from different cultures begin

: adopting terms or words from

: one another in order to better

: communicate ideas.

The use of the manga style

by North American artists might
: be appropriation, but you'd have
: to run around and check with

: each one of them individually

: to see if they have any Japanese

: ancestry or not before you

: accuse. But that just might make
: you a racist.