Shucking Oysters: That’s Your Opinion

May 8, 2025

By Alex Allen

“Everybody has opinions. I have them, you have them. And we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Well, that’s horsepuckey, of course. We are not entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our informed opinions. Without research, without background, without understanding, it’s nothing. It’s just bibble-babble. It’s like a fart in a wind tunnel, folks.” – Harlan Ellison

As always, when there are big issues with hints of controversy, we all have an opinion. And more often that not, strong ones. But are my opinions better or more right than yours? Are they well-reasoned? Have I got all the facts? How many times have we heard: “that’s not a fact; that’s just your opinion”?

We humans are irrational creatures who mistakenly believe we use logic and reason to arrive at our decisions. The reality is that we routinely make irrational decisions and then try to rationalize them. The way human minds are wired, if we take a strong position on an issue, we are unlikely to change our minds even when facts emerge that challenge our initial belief. As Scott Adams put it: “The most important thing you will understand about the human experience: being absolutely right and being spectacularly wrong feel exactly the same.” Everything is a slippery slope until it isn’t.

A reasonable thinker doesn’t make empty claims and try to pass them off as right, which is what some do when they say someone’s argument is just an opinion. We already know that without even knowing what you are talking about. What we want to know is: “Is your opinion backed by convincing reasons?” It’s not particularly valuable if all you can tell us is that it’s wrong or biased. If you can’t tell us why it’s wrong, you’re wasting our time. You might as well criticize somebody for “having an idea.” Stating opinions or having ideas are not faults in of themselves.

We all inhabit a reality of our own making. In each of our artificial bubbles, “we know our version of things is both proper and right, while all people who disagree with us are obviously wretched, ignorant and weak.” Quite naturally, we think of those who agree with us as objective and those who disagree as biased. Unfortunately, intellectual humility is a rare quality in human life.

In his book, The Second Mountain, David Brooks touches on tribalism, calling it “the dark twin of community.” While community is connection based on mutual affection, tribalism is connection based on mutual dislike. It’s natural to take sides – we’re tribal by nature. Brooks further notes: “Tribalism is community for lonely narcissists.”

The world has become a very divided place. Especially on social media, you find people with very strong opinions and you just know that there’s no room for discussion. If you disagree, insults start to fly, and usually, anyone with an opposing view is personally shamed. That’s what happens when people truly believe that their opinion is superior to one and all and cannot possibly entertain that there may actually be a different point of view.

And then we have assumptions. Assumptions are like lies. Once they have been uttered it’s hard to take them back. Our assumptions become so ingrained in us that we don’t even question them. Whether they are true or not, we accept and believe these things to be true. The problem is that most of the time, our assumptions – the narratives we tell ourselves – are simply inaccurate.

And lies. As a species, we are also wired for both credulity and for telling lies. Justin Gregg, in his book, If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal, wrote that “it is that combination of traits – this bizarre mismatch between the human ability to lie and spot lies – that makes us a danger to ourselves.” Apparently, humans tell, on average, between one and two verbal lies a day. As we get older, we tell fewer lies, which has less to do with our “maturing sense of morality” and more to do with the fact “that it makes it harder to pull off the mental gymnastics needed to keep track of the nonsense we’re spouting.”

Lying is common because lying works. Telling lies is a super-effective way to get ahead in the world. An even better way to get ahead is to take it to the next level: bullshitting. The bullshitter has an extra advantage, in that they don’t waste time worrying about the truth; they just focus all their energy on being believed instead of being accurate.

Why is it so difficult for us to find common ground? The answer is as complex as the problem. The appeal of simplicity in a “right vs. wrong” / “us vs. them” world is undeniable. It is simple to explain and asks that we only understand one side – your side, the right one.

How can we find ways to allow for personal expression and opinion, to be inclusive of everyone’s beliefs, while being civil and respectful? The world’s challenges are far too complex for a one-size-fits-all solution. But, we cannot allow our fears, bias, and the agenda of a few powerful individuals to drive us away from solving the common challenges we face. At least that’s my opinion, anyway.

Waking Up From The Nightmare Of Western Civilization

May 8, 2025

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE

MAY 05, 2025

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

We don’t need horror movies. We’re creating our own horrors in places like Gaza.

We don’t need dystopian fiction. We’re living in dystopia right here in our own society.

We don’t need fantasy stories about scary monsters. The scary monsters run our government.

Westerners will create a waking nightmare, psychologically compartmentalize away from its existence, and then go watch a movie about a fictional waking nightmare to give themselves a thrill.

We’ll sit on the edge of our seats watching made-up tales about psychopathic killers while psychopathic killers rule the world.

We’ll turn our backs on horrific acts of human butchery and then go watch fictional acts of human butchery, getting ourselves through any discomfort we might experience by reminding ourselves that what we are watching isn’t happening in real life.

Someone in my Substack comments just asked me if I’d considered the possibility that the world might be better off without humanity, because of all the horrible things that are happening while the vast majority of us do nothing to stop it.

There are certainly many ugly things about human behavior, and there are forces within us which absolutely do not deserve to exist. Our self-centeredness. Our competitiveness. Our hatred and prejudice. Our seemingly limitless tolerance for unfathomable abuses so long as they are being inflicted on people in other countries whose anguished faces we don’t have to look at. The delusions and trauma-based conditioning patterns we’ve been passing on from generation to generation since the dawn of civilization. The world would be better off without these things.

But over the years I have also become acquainted with dynamics inside the human organism which could make this world into a paradise, if we can only get out from underneath our delusion-based conditioning enough to realize them. Within every human being sleeps the potential for selfless action and vast compassion. We all have within us the ability to heal. We all have within us the ability to shed egoic consciousness like a reptile sheds old scales.

Maybe it’s silly, but I like to think of this potentiality as a kind of Chekhov’s gun for our species, sitting there onstage waiting to go off as humanity’s story unfolds. I know for a fact that humans have the potential to awaken from the trance of the ego in profoundly transformative ways, and I choose to believe that the playwright put that potential there for a reason.

Every species eventually hits a point where it must adapt to changing conditions which threaten its existence or go extinct. It just happens that in humanity’s case, the changing conditions which threaten our existence are the creations of our own minds. Ecocide. Nuclear brinkmanship. Weaponized AI. Biological warfare. The further our egos carry us down the path of competition and domination, the more likely it is that we open up some existential peril down the road for ourselves that there is no coming back from.

We’ll either make the necessary adaptations and find a way to collectively unlock our dormant potential for selfless functioning on this planet, or we will go the way of the dinosaur. I keep at this because I have seen far too many strange and miraculous things in my life to believe such an awakening is impossible.

And the good news is we have truth on our side. The human ego is an illusion; the self does not exist. Enlightenment is already here, closer to us than our own breath, just being overlooked amid the flailings of the deluded mind. The propaganda is deceitful, and the truth is getting more and more exposure. Humans are getting better and better at sharing ideas and information about what’s really happening in our world.

We just need to open our eyes. We just need to let truth get a word in edgewise. That’s all that needs to happen.

We need to stop fixating on all these made up stories in our heads and on our screens, and look deeply at what’s really going on.

_______________

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Click here for links for my mailing list, social media, books, merch, and audio/video versions of each article. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

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Letter to the Editor – Mark Prior

May 8, 2025

Letter to the editor:

About Gronk

I am indebted to Dennis Forsyth for the following:

This swan was born on the marsh at Bob and Velda Parsons farm between 1998 and 2000. Making it at least 25 years old which is getting up there for a swan. In ’97 I was part of a team who were censusing Canada Geese and Swans as we tried to assess how successful population recovery programs on Vancouver Island had been. In that winter a Mute Swan suddenly appeared on Windy Marsh. Obviously an escape from somewhere as they are not native here. This swan moved in with a half-dozen Trumpeters who hung out there. In the spring it bonded with one of the Trumpeters and when the Trumpeters left for their northern breeding ground it and its new mate stayed here. Mutes don’t migrate. The Mute turned out to be a female and nested on the marsh. To our consternation she and her mate produced two babies. We assumed that they would be sterile as hybrids and that seems to have been the case. In the next two years they produced five more young. Some of them fell victim to predation and some of them left here and moved to Deep Bay. The Mute female was killed by something on the marsh in late 2000 and her Trumpeter mate resumed migrating with the next batch of Trumpeters. The one remaining hybrid has been here ever since. For most of the year it keeps company with the ducks and geese on Morrison south of the road, when there are Trumpeters around it will join them temporarily. Of course we don’t know this swan’s gender. Its voice is somewhere between the minimal hissing sounds of a Mute and the clarion song of a Trumpeter. A raspy, hoarse sort of honk. This led Velda Parsons to name it Gronk. A strange story and since Gronk seems perfectly healthy right now, one that may continue for another few years.

Left, Trumpeter style; Right, Mute style: Photo – Dennis Forsyth

Mark Prior

Letter to the Editor – Ian Thomson

May 8, 2025

To the Editor, The Island Grapevine

Dear Sir

Re: Capping Short-Term Rentals on Hornby Island

As stated by the late Pat Carney, politician, social commentator and long-time resident of Saturna, one working definition of a Gulf Island is ‘a controversy entirely surrounded by water’. For Hornby Island the perennial issue of short-term rental housing is heading for something of a showdown at the upcoming Islands Trust meeting on May 16, 2025. While HISTRA (a formal grouping of short-term rental property owners) considers the regulation of rentals reasonable and good for Hornby (Islands Grapevine No 1682, May 1, 2025, page 6), the focus of their concern has turned to a proposal from the two Hornby Island Tustees to limit the number of permitted rental units. Unsurprisingly, (this is a Gulf Island) there is an alternative point of view alive on Hornby that strongly endorses the concept of reducing and capping the number of short-term rentals.

Both sides in this conversation use arguments to support their opinions based largely on economic and environmental impacts (both positive and negative). Both have clear personal concerns. Property owners are vested economically in various ways. Residents describe their personal space as invaded and/or degraded by the presence of short-term rental properties. This can, and sometimes does, pit neighbor against neighbor.

Trustee Alex Allen has described short-term rentals as the elephant in the room, the 800lb gorilla on Hornby Island (First Edition, May 2025, page 29), and has outlined his perspective on the positions adopted by the main parties involved. He also tackles the question of capping how many short term vacation rentals should be allowed on Hornby by looking at the situation on Orcas and Lopez in the San Juan Islands, Pender and Gabriola in the BC Gulf Islands, and, by way of interest, in the city of Nelson, each of which attracts a number of tourists each year. This approach links rental cap imposed in each of these jurisdictions with the land area involved and apparently is the basis for the Trustees suggestion that rentals be capped at 67 on Hornby.

From a social practitioner perspective, the Trustees have applied an environmental approach, of relative intensity of rental units within the landscape, which is relevant to such considerations as fresh water availability and use and management of waste water. On the other hand, the short-term rental is, behind the economic and environmental arguments put forward by proponents and opponents, very much a social issue. As such, social indicators should provide a greater insight to the reasons for the controversy, its persistence and perhaps offer a solution.

One social indicator (there are others but this one is easy to assemble with publicly available data and similarly easy to understand) is the relationship between the number of short-term rental units and the size of the permanent resident population. This can be expressed as a ratio, 1:X, where X is the number of permanent residents present for each short-term rental unit. The result is a number that can be related to the experience of the resident population. The higher the ration number defined by X the presence of rental units become progressively more diffuse and diluted with respect to the permanent resident population. Conversely, the smaller the ration number defined by X, the more concentrated and proximate to the permanent resident population.

Applying this formula to the examples quoted by Alex Allen (and using population census data from Wikipedia) yields the following relationships. Orcas Island – permanent population 5387, rental cap 211, ratio 1 rental unit :25 permanent residents. Lopez Island – population 3156, rental cap 135, ratio 1:23. Pender Island (North and South), population 2250, rental cap 10, ratio 1:225. Gabriola Island – population 4500, rental cap 10, ratio 1:450. City of Nelson – population 11,198, rental cap 110, ration 1:102.

Applying the same approach to Hornby Island’s permanent population of 1225 (2021 census) is made complicated by the lack of agreement as to how many short-term rental properties are presently active on the Island. However, using the numbers most commonly quoted yields the following pattens. 165 rentals – ratio 1:7; 135 rentals (the number quoted by HISTRA) – ratio 1:9; 67 rentals (number proposed by the Trustees) – ratio 1:18.

The data are revealing. The low ratios of 1:7 and 1:9 under the current situation (regardless of absolute numbers) show that permanent residents are highly exposed to the presence of short-term rental properties. Residents perceptions (both positive and negative) are backed by physical proximity and probable frequency of interaction. There is reasonable suspicion that the ratio would be smaller (lower number), indicative of even closer and greater frequency of interaction, if the calculation were based on the number of permanent households, which is normally lower than the total number of residents in a population. The proposal of capping rentals at 67 and shifting the ratio up to 1:18 reduces this exposure and potentially at least some of the associated social tension.

For the sake of argument (we are on a Gulf Island and this is a cultural norm) it is informative to see how the Hornby picture would change if we use the rental cap ratios applied at other locations. For example, what if the situation on Orcas and Lopez were applied to Hornby? – a not unreasonable idea given that, just like Hornby, Lopez is a tourist destination community with a tourism-based economy dependent on a seasonally fluctuating population of visitors. If Hornby were a San Juan Island, the rental cap would be 50 for a ratio of 1:24.5. Moving along, apply the Pender and Gabriola numbers and you get rental caps on Hornby of 6 and 3 respectively. Apply the Nelson ratio and a Hornby rental cap would be set at 12.

Food for thought and input to the conversation ahead over the ‘right’ numbers for Hornby Island.

Yours truly.

Ian Thomson

Hornby Island

Gronk, Morrison Marsh

May 8, 2025

https://printartphotography.ca

Peckish

May 8, 2025

#1683

May 8, 2025

A Generation Of Women

May 1, 2025

A Generation Of Women – **CANCELLED due to emergency health issues**

The play A Generation Of Women evolved from a single monologue written twenty-five years ago into a saga spanning a century with five different storytelling descendants. As the writer and performer Theatreworks’ Kymme Patrick tells humorous and insightful stories of five generations of women who helped shape our community with their dreams, with obstacles overcome and achievements for women in workplaces formerly dominated by men.

Creating A Generation Of Women began with an historic look at women on Vancouver Island, incorporating facts about the mining town of Cumberland in 1910, the docks of Comox in the 1920s, the Campbell River logging activities in the 1930s and a variety of local areas with details that depict the changing times and challenges. Whether Maggie is escaping the coal pits of Wales to journey to a better life in Canada, or Lillian is cooking meals for the loggers while dreaming of faraway places that the steamship travels, or Florence is building airplanes during wartime while pining for romance and peace, or Lulu is having a moment of clarity while enjoying free love and pesticide-free farming life, they each add a colourful thread to the tapestry of women’s experience throughout the twentieth century.

“In this play I explore how women have struggled during their times with issues of poverty, prejudice and deadly working conditions. I became fascinated by the changing roles of women and of the working class in the Comox Valley and surrounding area.”

Kymme Patrick is a well-known actor, director and writer of dozens of plays, winning awards from Theatre BC in all areas of theatre production. After much deliberation she decided to perform the piece as a one-woman show. “I don’t leave the stage between characters,” she explains. “because I dress in layers to make quick transitions. A new look, a different voice, I’m ready to go!” Although Patrick has performed A Generation Of Women several times any thought of retiring this piece has been met with another request. “Women like to watch it,” she says, “with their mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.”

So come out to celebrate the sisterhood of women and bring your mothers, daughters, sisters and all those who love them. A Generation Of Women will be presented at the following dates, times and venues:

Showtimes are May 9, 7:00 pm at the Abbey Studios in Cumberland and May 10, 7:00 pm at the Gathering Place, United Church on Denman Island.

Tickets are $20 at the door – reservations are recommended at theatreworks@shaw.ca or call 250 792-2031.

Updates to the Tribune Bay Park Recreation Enhancements Project

May 1, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Updates to the Tribune Bay Park Recreation Enhancements Project

Site layout, upgrades and timeline released

HORNBY ISLAND, BC (APRIL 25, 2024) – PROJECT UPDATE – SPRING 2025

BC Parks is excited to welcome campers back to Tribune Bay Campground this Spring. Since acquiring two properties to expand Tribune Bay Park, BC Parks has been creating a long-term plan to make improvements and add new park areas that protect and enhance natural, cultural, and recreational values. Following its designation as a provincial park in 2024, all regulations of the Park Act now apply.

Some improvements have already been made since last season including a new septic system and updates to the campground road.

There won’t be many visible changes for the 2025 camping season, but there are more improvements coming and the campground will look different in Summer 2026. Here’s what is going on:

New Layout and Camping Options

A complete redesign of the current campground is underway to better align with the experience visitors expect from BC Parks. A variety of site options and sizes will be available including park- beside sites, pull-through sites, and small, basic cabins with more space and privacy between sites. A variety of electrified and non-electrified sites will be offered, as well as new pit toilets and shower building.

Reduced campsite density

BC Parks will take a phased approach to construction. Phase One will be built on the original campground footprint and will include a short-term, temporary reduction of approximately 40 campsites. BC Parks is committed to providing a similar number of campsites to the original campground. Locations for the remaining sites are currently being considered, and will be added back in Phase Two. Construction for Phase Two is anticipated in Fall and Winter of 2026/27.

Enhancing visitors’ experience

Other improvements include enhanced access from the campground to the beach, a new playground, and accessibility improvements such as compact gravel campsites and roads, and universally accessible showers. To support healthier air and reduce wildfire risk, wood-burning fires will be prohibited, with propane fires permitted. There will also be an extra vehicle fee for second vehicles at a campsite where space is available.

For project updates and to view the new campground layout, visit: helpshapebc.gov.bc.ca/tribune

Does Capping the number of Vacation Rentals Now Make Sense for Hornby?

May 1, 2025

(Paid Promotional)

Does Capping the number of Vacation Rentals Now Make Sense for Hornby?

We at HISTRA believe the Temporary Use Permit (TUP) bylaw requirements proposed for managing Vacation Rentals are reasonable and good for Hornby.

The Hornby community benefits from well-managed Vacation Rentals adhering to established water and ecological standards while at the same time supporting hundreds of our workers, artists,

businesses and families. Unfettered growth is not healthy for the island and a reasonable cap will help protect what we all hold dear.

At the March 21st Local Trust Committee (LTC) meeting, our two Hornby Trustees proposed setting a cap on Vacation Rentals at 67, half of the 135 Vacation Rentals they estimate are currently

operating on the Island. Trustee Scott said it was a number for the community to discuss.

We believe the current Vacation Rentals are stable and sustainable. Reducing them, let alone by half, is detrimental for Hornby as a whole. For many, renting their homes is how they afford to remain a part of the Hornby community. The guests they bring are an important lifeblood to the artists, artisans, businesses, workers, cleaners and tradespeople of Hornby.

With required Provincial Registration by May 1st, in the next month we will finally know how many Vacation Rentals we actually have.

So, what DO we know?

Most Vacation Rental owners have long and deep roots on Hornby, many being second or third generation islanders. Many bought on the island after years of visiting, making memories and

building connections.

We are not investors — and investors are not a part of Hornby’s Vacation Rentals.
Vacation Rentals do not all operate simultaneously or consecutively over the summer. Many owners enjoy their Hornby homes several weeks during the season.
Our information suggests the number of Vacation Rentals has been stable for several years.
We estimate around 400 Vacation Rental guests come to Hornby each summer week.
That’s compared to 2,400 part time owners, family and friends, another 1,000 at campsites and our other paid accommodations and 500 visiting full time residents.

- Cutting 200 from 4,300 weekly visitors won’t make much difference to lines, ferries or the popularity of Hornby as a destination. It will hurt a lot of locals though.

Every year Vacation Rentals spend the average annual income of 70-75 workers on Hornby — that’s over 15% of the local labour force. That’s not rental fees, that’s what is spent by guests and owners in our community. That would be cut in half.
Vacation Rentals pay 75% of the Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT—aka the “pillow tax”) for Hornby, currently $65-75K each year, goes towards workforce housing on Hornby.

- Since 2022 HICEEC has collected approximately $200,000 of MRDT funds in a GIC, dedicated to workforce housing, $150,000 coming directly from Vacation Rentals.

A long-held argument against Vacation Rentals is the belief they would otherwise provide long term housing on Hornby. The reality is this simply isn’t the case. Our own families are in their homes many times throughout the year making them unavailable for long term residency. They would also be unaffordable — what Hornby needs is more housing that costs below $1,000 a month, housing the MRDT funds can support.

In short, reducing the number of Hornby’s Vacation Rentals will negatively affect many, while providing little benefit or any real change. What it will do is cut the MRDT funds Vacation Rentals contribute to HICEEC’s workforce housing initiative. It will reduce the incomes of many islanders

and upend the lives of all the families who will struggle to keep their family properties and with no positive impact on housing or appreciable difference in visitors.

Reducing the number of Vacation Rentals doesn’t seem to help anyone or anything. What we, and we hope you, support as these changes are implemented:

- Every Vacation Rental that is legally operating, meets the TUP requirements, is provincially registered and paying the MRDT can apply for and receive a TUP.
- Once those TUPs are granted, the need for and size of a cap should be decided in a community process, not by the Trustees alone.
- If the cap is set below the number of TUPs that have been granted, then no new Vacation Rentals would be added until the number falls below the cap.
- To provide certainty for the community, our Trustees can formally confirm, at the May 16th LTC meeting, that, once in place, they will approve all TUPs for provincially registered active

Vacation Rentals that follow the bylaws, meet the TUP requirements and pay MRDT. If you think this is reasonable, please let the Trustees know by email or over coffee.

We believe the Trustees want to make changes the community supports but they must hear from you to know what that is.

Here are the emails: