Who is Canada’s smartest person?
OTTAWA—CANADIANS HAVE A chance to unleash their inner nerd in CBC’s latest gameshow called Canada’s Smartest Person, which airs March 18. Contestants will be put to the test and demonstrate just how bright they are, but the new game show gives intelligence a different meaning.
Hosted by comedian Gerry Dee, the show takes psychologist Howard Gardner’s approach using the Theory of Multiple Intelligence. The program will base intelligence six different categories: Logic, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, language and communication skills, musical ability, and social skills. The show isn’t looking for Canada’s biggest math geek, but rather the most well-rounded person in all areas of intelligence.
“People will always be thought of as smart because they know dates and authors and quotes and other things,” said Dee. “The [show] appealed to me, based on what I know from my personal life. I’m not Canada’s smartest person, but this show challenges the whole notion of what being smart really means.”
Featuring a former Canadian Football League lineman, a high-school science teacher and theoretical quantum chemist, and a slam poet who was also a federal policy analyst, Canada’s Smartest Person is also destroying stereotypes when it comes to intelligence.
“There are [people on the show] who you would not view as a stereotypically smart person, and then you would be surprised by the results when you see them. Sometimes it’s the person you wouldn’t expect who does the best, and vice-versa,” says Dee.
—Sofia Hashi
Happy anniversary, Occupy!
NEW YORK, NY—OCCUPY WALL STREET celebrated its six month anniversary on March 18, with protestors lining up in Zucotti Park and marching down lower Manhattan. The demonstration resulted in mass arrests and complaints of police brutality.
The worldwide protest came to an end last November; however, the movement seems to be taking flight again.
“People think the Occupy movement has gone away. It’s important for people to see we’re back,” said Michael Premo, protestor, to Reuters.
Many Occupy participants are reporting excessive use of force by the police. Witnesses claimed a young woman suffered a seizure while in handcuffs. One protestor says she was choked and pulled by her hair, and another claims he saw a man’s head get smashed into a window.
The New York Police Department was on-hand removing arrested individuals by a city bus in an attempt to stop demonstrators from setting up camp.
The arrests that took place in the most recent Occupy Wall Street movement have been described as more violent than before.
—Sofia Hashi
Actor George Clooney arrested in a protest
WASHINGTON, DC—ACTOR GEORGE CLOONEY was arrested during a protest aimed at criticizing Sudan President Omar al-Bashir’s regime. The actor-turned-activist was placed in plastic handcuffs after refusing to exit the Sudan embassy in Washington. Among the arrested were Clooney’s father and other congressmen.
With the presence of several television crews and hundreds of protest supporters, Clooney’s arrest quickly became a trending topic on Twitter with the hashtag #freeclooney.
Clooney is a known to be an advocate against the Khartoum regime, who is blocking humanitarian aid from the United Nations to the Sudanese people. He recently travelled to South Sudan, and has supported for basic human rights and laws in the region for years.
In 2006, Clooney and Brad Pitt, along with other affiliates, created their own group called Not on Our Watch.
“[There is an immediate need for] humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” said Clooney. “[I ask] the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women, and children.”
Al-Bashir has already been accused by the International Criminal Court with charges of genocide relating to Darfur; however, many Western security agencies, including some in Canada, continue to collaborate with Sudan’s police force.
—Tiolu Adedipe
