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Contact: Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
™ opinions@theotherpress.ca

Your laws are too ‘precious’

» Why comparison of the Turkish president to Gollum is as ridiculous as fantasy

Elliot Chan
Opinions Editor
‘we, S opinions@theotherpress.ca

[ Turkey, insulting, mocking,
or showing any dissension to
the president is against the law.
This case was proven when Bilgin
Ciftci, a Turkish doctor, created

a meme of President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s face side by
side, matching expressions with
Gollum, the despicable character
from The Lord of the Rings.

Ciftci has since been fired
from his job, but now the courts
are determining the next order
of action. Since the chief judge—
apparently too busy—has never
seen any of The Lord of the Ring
films, he and the court is turning
to some experts of Tolkien’s
epic tale in order to determine
whether or not the comparison is
indeed an insult. The argument
in defence of Ciftci is that
Gollum is a hero of the story and
therefore the meme was not an
insult, but rather a compliment.

Now, I’m going to break this
whole situation into two parts.

First off, Gollum, although
he redeems himself (in a sense)

: at the end of the saga, is not a

: hero of the trilogy. He is a vile

: creature that succumbed to

: greed. Gollum is a victim, for

: sure, but at no point was hea

: hero. He killed his best friend,
: Déagol. Gollum is the epitome
: of a self-destructive addict.

I know what you are

: thinking: he ended up destroying :
: the One Ring, doesn’t that make
: him a good guy? No! Because

: he bit off Frodo’s finger in an

: outburst of voracity and fell

: off the edge of Mt. Doom. He

: had no intention of destroying

: the ring. While it was the ring

: that corrupted poor Smeagol

: and morphed him into

: Gollum, we cannot honestly

: say that Gollum is a hero.

The second part of the

: situation that must be addressed

: is how stupid the law is. This

: proves that freedom of speech, no
: matter how benign it is, is still a

: luxury in many parts of the world.
: Moreover, the inability of some

: to show any sense of humour is

: even more disturbing than the

: law itself. The fact that Tayyip

: didn’t just brush it off and accept
: the little ball busting is kind of

: funny, too. You'd think a man

: with power could poke fun at the
: fact that his looks are comparable
: to, say, Orlando Bloom.

Let’s be honest, Ciftci was

: not trying to plot Erdogan’s

: downfall. Even if he disliked the
: President, the mere comparison
: to Gollum did very little harm

to the President’s persona. All

: it did was call attention to the

: fact that Erdogan shared similar

: features to a fictional character—
: which he totally does! Perhaps

: Peter Jackson didn’t need to

: utilize CGI or Andy Serkis. He

: could have just cast Erdogan.

r I
m sure many in Turkey

: found the comparison uncanny,
: too. But when a country has a

: law that makes it incapable of

: processing a joke, then it is that
: country that becomes the joke.
: Imagine a Canada where we

: werent allowed to satirize our

: leaders. That wouldn’t be the

: free country we know and love.
: Turkey is a beautiful place, one
: | wish to visit one day, but with
: a law like that it sounds more

: like Mordor than Rivendell.

(Y Sparking interest

(¥ White is the new black, yellow, brown, and all the other

hues, really

(¥ Unwrap some free time this holiday

And more!



Image via www. huffingtonpost.co.uk



Don't brag about your work ethic, ever

» Why nobody needs to know that you are a hard worker

Elliot Chan
Opinions Editor
‘ws, S opinions@theotherpress.ca

ou think you work hard.

Well guess what? Nobody
cares. Nobody cares how hard
you work. People care if you
get the work done or not. How
hard you work is your business,
and even then it’s just your own
perception of yourself, and we
know how often that is flawed.

It’s a competitive world out
there and hard work doesn’t go
unnoticed. However, when you
start advertising your efforts as
if what you're doing is so much
more significant than everybody
else, you are putting a target on
your back. You think announcing
your hard work will get you
praise, but rarely is that the case.
Telling someone you've worked
hard, even if you did, is like a
pretty skinny person telling you
that they are attractive. On the
other hand, ifyou tell someone
that you've worked hard and they
found flaws in your project, then
don’t you look like an idiot?

Wanting people to know

: that you’ve spent significant

: time on something is natural.

: We live in an age where sharing

: information—regardless of

: how mundane—is as normal as

: sharing an elevator. But when

: you are telling people that you

: work hard all the time, what you
: convey is that you are stressed

: out and under pressure all the

: time. Many people see hard

: working people, not as inspiring,
: but as pitiful. They have towork
: harder, because they suck at what :
: they are doing. Other people :
: with the same job and same

: assignment as you are getting it

: done with ease, but here you are,
: working hard. Pfft! Don’t make

: ajob sound hard; make a job

: sound enjoyable and painless.

You might think that your

: boss wants you to work hard,

: but that’s not true. Your boss

: wants you to bite off what you

: can chew and swallow it well.

: The Canadian workforce loses
: $16.6 billion a year in sick days. :
: Keeping you healthy and working :
: consistently is better than having

: you breaking your back and

: winding up out of commission.
: Working recklessly doesn’t

: impress anyone, not even the

; person paying you to do so.

If you work hard, the product

: will speak for itself, and nobody



: will ever be able to take it away

: from you. It’s true—sometimes,
: hard work doesn't pay off

: immediately. You can play a

: great game and still lose. But if

: you are genuinely putting in the
: effort, with a set goal in mind,

Image via thinkstock

be

: you are not after the praise. You

: probably don’t even care what

: other people think. You want to

: do your best. How you get to your
: accomplishment doesn’t matter,
the key is that you get there.