Took the kids to Canada’s Wonderland the other day. I worked there in the summer after high school when it was just in its second season. CW was financed by Taft Broadcasting Corporation and so all the people leading the training sessions were har har Texans who imported a lot of hype and lame motivational crap that left most of us cold.
Nothing changes. Taft dumped CW years ago and now Paramount Parks is pedaling its version of american fun to its ignorant northern neighbours — excuse me — neighbors. But this version has matured substantially. When I worked there in 1982, the breakdown of american/middle—eastern relations was in its infancy. Now, before you can even purchase or present a ticket, you have to step through a metal detector. And I lost count of surveillance cameras positioned throughout the park, ostensibly to deter theft. But I am skeptical that theft is sufficient to justify the presence of surveillance cameras. Theft was a problem in 1982, but the park thrived.
I am concerned that Paramount has presented us with a Trojan horse. Along with its version of fun, it has surreptitiously delivered its version of fear. None of this — the surveillance cameras and the metal detectors — none of it would have been implemented by Paramount except for fear of reprisals for america’s military presence in the middle—east.
Who is requiring this? Certainly not the Canadian public as represented by its government. What have we to fear? After all, a good number of our brothers and sisters are of middle—eastern descent. I doubt Paramount Entertainment is really concerned about the security of its Canadian assets. No. This is probably determined by an underwriter sitting in the office of some L. A.—based insurance carrier. And so, to make this underwriter happy, hundreds of thousands of people will compromise their personal freedom — that hallmark of a just and democratic society. Who’s to say that Osama bin Laden hasn’t already destroyed america? We just haven’t noticed yet.
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January 28th, 2011 at 1:46 am
i worked security at wonderland two years ago.
the metal detectors have nothing to do with americans or the middle east or terrorism, most (if not all) of the sister parks in the usa dont have metal detectors.