The Dynamics of a Question
“Who Are the Warriors?”By The Peasant Philosopher
If you are part of my generation and grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, you’ll probably know what movie that line is taken from. And if you do, you’ll probably know the meaning, power and context behind that question as well. For those of you who have not heard of The Warriors, I suggest you go and rent this 1979 classic.
I was watching that movie the other day and found the opening dialogue as timeless and relevant now as it was when it was made, what with everything going on in Toronto today.
It also got me thinking, does a similar question exist in our 21st Century world?
So I asked the following on a popular Internet billboard site in Toronto:
“Who can provide me with the home address of the following two people:
President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 79
And
President of the Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 CUPE?”Once placed, this ad was emailed to the Globe & Mail, The National Post and the Toronto Star.
A reporter from the Star contacted me within four hours of the ad’s placement. Within five, I had someone willing to sell me the information.
Now, instead of an action-filled movie filling my mind's eye, I am left only with the dynamics of the question:
What is the value of such a question?
Is the seller asking a fair price?
Should I release the information?
Should there be public debate before the addresses are released?
Should the release of such information be based on some public opinion poll?
Should I not get involved because I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan?
Should I use the Internet to help one side gain an advantage over the other?
Is the Internet undermining the power of the union? The government?
What about personal privacy? Personal security?
Are union leaders and their members more powerful when they can walk a picket line in the light of day and then go home in relative anonymity?
Does the public have a right to know where a government employee lives?
Do we have the right to know what each government employee does? How much they earn? Who they are?As you can imagine, this is just the tip of a very big iceberg when it comes to understanding the dynamics of such a question in this digital age. Furthermore, the ripple effect from acting upon the answer to those questions can no longer only be confined to a few streets in the “big city.”
The Internet allows us all to participate.
I wonder if anyone out there is interested in asking more questions like this. Perhaps someone out there could go one better and offer a few answers to these questions?
Or perhaps we should just keep our focus on the garbage piling up in Toronto.