Personal silhouettes
Not every news story affects me directly. However, I reserve the right to be offended, when something happens that goes against my personal beliefs. More later.
In Toronto, the owner of a restaurant decided to play the public sympathy strings, when he opened up despite closure rules put in place for public safety. And when the eventual ticket was issued, not only went to his public (not mine) to pay the costs, but he mocked the authorities at every step.
As of today, the ticket cost for his decision stands at $187K. And from where I sit, the restaurant should pay this cost of operating willingly. Here’s why:
He had a monopoly situation, given that everyone else (who obeyed the rules) was closed. Cost of zeroing the competition. As well, he has received a small fortune in free advertising, given the newsworthy value of this story. And finally; he did break the law. I’m not a potential customer (too far to drive), but fair is fair. We now know the price tag for a state-administered sales gold mine.
Elsewhere in the nation, we have some high level curling competition going on. My fix is delivered by TV. And in the real world, the spectator count is very low. So low that there are hundreds (thousands?) of virtual fans in the stands, representing real humans with cardboard stand-ins. And like some strange reality show, the cutouts have identities. Apparently, people were given the option to put their face on display, which I find touching. Look, there’s Mom!. And the family dog (usually absent from arena sports)!
