Author: Elliot Chan

The right to die

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Opinions_Assisted Suicide Brittany Maynard

An ovation for those who bow out with grace and dignity

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. November 11, 2014

Brittany Maynard—a 29-year-old who was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumour—decided to travel from California to Oregon where assisted suicide was legal, so she could “die with dignity.” After the events, we were all left wondering about the ethical repercussion of such actions.

We must understand that Maynard did not wish to die in this manner. She did not want such a disease, none of us do. Once the likelihood of a cure is dismissed, the only thing left is for the cancer to take over, which would then be followed by a long, lingering death because of Maynard’s youth. None of us want a long torturous death either. To make such an irreversible decision is not something we can take lightly, but that choice should nevertheless be offered.

Sometimes life is worse than death—at least some of us living think it is—and although there are optimists out there that believe in miracles, what would have likely happened if Maynard stayed alive is that her pain would have been extended, she would become a burden to her family, and she would have withered away slowly. She did not take the cowardly way out. She was brave enough to understand that her vessel on this world had failed her.

Assisted suicide, unlike euthanasia, is a last resort that should not be withheld from those wishing to die with grace—although I am not necessarily convinced that there is ever grace in dying. Natural death, incidental death, or spontaneous death all lead to the same conclusion. For most of us, we cannot predict how we are going to pass.

We get greedy with life the older and sicker we get. We want one more sunrise, one more adventure, and one more story to tell. Maynard got that last day. She knew exactly when it was, on November 1.

What would you do with your last week on Earth? Maynard went out into nature, celebrated her husband’s birthday, and spent her last weeks and days with the people she loved. We can only be so lucky to have that experience ourselves, assisted suicide or not.

I both love and hate thinking of death. I love where my imagination goes, the curiosity that fuels me, that tempts me. But I hate knowing that my whimsy isn’t something fabricated, it’s the inevitable. I contemplate my ideal death, and I cannot imagine one. As someone who is healthy and happy, I cannot consider my own death without thinking of those around me. It’s unfair for me to think about my demise; it’s selfish. For those of use who are healthy and living, we cannot judge someone for the way they want to go, we can only offer them assistance, guidance, love, and options.

Not that kind of role model

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LightBox_NewYorkPremiereofTINYFURNITURE,aFilmbyLENADUN_0_63.JPG

Lena Dunham’s questionable childhood shines a light on dark area of parenting

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. November 11, 2014

The awkward years of adolescence—we’ve all been there. For many of us it’s an aspect of our life we don’t revisit often. We tend to bottle up our past, repress memories, and avoid conversations where we open up about those “innocent” isolated incidents. We do this because as an adult it’s hard to say that those behaviours were in fact innocent. The fine line between curious sexual discovery and negligent abuse is a problem that recently surfaced in social media discourse.

I’m of course drawing connection to the events described in Lena Dunham’s memoir Not That Kind of Girl where she confessed to bribing her sister Grace with candy for kisses, in addition to having her sister expose herself. In one incident, Lena was a seven-year-old; Grace was one-year-old. Lena jokingly described herself as a sexual predator, and that statement ultimately caused a backlash. Judgment rained down from Twitter, and the Dunham sisters’ parents took the brunt of it.

Although Lena’s behaviour may seem repulsive to some, the Dunham sisters stood by each other, instead turning their story of incestuous behaviour to awareness for parents.

Policing young children’s sexually driven activities is not a simple task, and for many parents, they bypass the optional birds-and-the-bees lecture all together. Without guidance, children may find themselves in situations that might leave permanent scars. One could argue that the Dunham sisters have turned out fine, but because it’s such a taboo subject, there are probably countless cases out in the world that go unspoken, and many more occurrences go unseen.

A child’s actions will always be a reflection of the parents. The relationship between siblings, especially those with a significant age-gap like Lena and Grace, has been shown to be one where the older child has dominance over the younger. This case requires the parents to be in constant conversation with their children. Parents need to educate the elder and assess the younger. They need to encourage curiosity, yet set strict boundaries. Still, another element causes unease: how young should children be educated about sex?

Once children start interacting with other kids in a physical manner, be it violent or sexual, then a conversation needs to take place. Few parents will have the resources to supervise a child for long periods of time, and a lack of trust can become detrimental for both parents and children. When children are forced to interact, parents must explain what is appropriate and what is not. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sibling or if it’s a schoolmate, violating personal space through coercive or manipulative means is never appropriate.

It’s incredibly bold of the Dunham sisters to be open about such a sensitive experience in their personal lives. It was a shame to see so many people approach them and their parents with scorn. Who of us can say that we didn’t perform a questionable act in our youth, regrettable or not? And can a parent out in the world really say that they know exactly what to do in such a situation? There is no clear procedure to parenting; it’s trial and error. But with so many educational resources out in the world, there is no reason for any aspect to be brushed off.

There is nothing subtle about racism

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KKK ANTIETAM

How should we feel about everyday racism?

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. November 5, 2014

It enters our conversations, appears on television, and is even broadcast in the news. Whether we go there on purpose or if it was just a Freudian slip of the tongue, subtle racism, like a chronic sore muscle, requires us to shrug it off or address it with a tight squeeze.

In the war against everyday racism, I’m a conscientious objector. It’s a messy game, and I cannot see peace at the end of calling every person out for the asinine things they say or do. Do stereotypical references and cultural appropriation make me angry? Sure, sometimes it’s done out of pure spite and is meant to demean a whole racial group of people, but other times it’s done out of ignorance, stupidity, and insensitivity. When it comes down to it, we all say and do stupid things occasionally. Dumb thoughtless acts do not make you a racist, and we need to stop dropping the R-word so loosely. It solves nothing.

Seeing the Toronto Sun editorial cartoon of mayoral candidate Olivia Chow, dressed as Chairman Mao, riding the coattail of her late husband Jack Layton, made me want to vomit. How did the publication not foresee the poor taste of their illustration? Why at no point between pen to print did they acknowledge the hatefulness of their art? There is nothing subtle about it; however, it remains one man’s opinionated expression, for that is clearly how cartoonist Andy Donato sees Chow, female politicians, and perhaps all people of Asian descent. Chow called out Donato, and rightly so, but will it lead to a progressive outcome, or will more hate spread both ways? That has yet to be seen.

The Vancouver Sun recently had its own foray with subtle racism, naming Canucks prospect Jordan Subban as “the dark guy in the middle” in the caption for a photograph. We all cringed a bit when we read that, but a moment later, we chuckled at the publication’s stupidity. Was it a placeholder that snuck past proofreaders and ended up in print, or was it a snarky presentation of racism? Whatever it was, Subban took it with grace, claiming it was a “pretty honest mistake.”

From those two examples, we can clearly see the party that took the subtle racist gesture better or at least with a healthier attitude. We are all unique, we all have our home team, and we—especially as Canadians—have friends, co-workers, teammates, and even families of different races, which is why I believe it’s important to give the benefit of the doubt when it comes to subtle racism.

Although we live in a liberal country, where we all claim to accept each other, I’m pessimistic that we are all kind-hearted people. Realistically, we all have our preconceptions. The way to put an end to those preconceptions isn’t by striking anyone who dares voice their opinion, but by educating them. Canada is made up of a mosaic of cultures, and we tend to split up into our own groups and communities. Just look at the Lower Mainland and you can see the Chinese community, the East Indian community, and the Italian community all centralized at different geographical locations. We need to break this way of living, learn to coexist not in a mosaic but in a mixing pot. Harmony cannot be appreciated from the perimeter; we must delve into it wholeheartedly and embrace other people.

So when you see or overhear subtle racism, don’t approach it with anger, but rather with empathy. Acknowledge, educate, and move on.

Let technology marinate

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9_early adopter

Why you should let tech ripen and avoid being an early adopter

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. November 4, 2014

When new technology is released to the public there is often a party of people who approach it with absolute frenzy. The mystique of new technology is certainly alluring, since innovation is seen as a remarkable achievement. However, it’s that mystique that should leave consumers wary of new technology, be it the latest app, smartwatch, tablet, smartphone, or other new tech.

You should always embrace new technology, but it’s not necessarily important to wait in line for days outside the Apple Store. We’re living in a time where we are governed by tech. We use it for work, we use it for entertainment, and yes, we use it for pretty much everything else imaginable. But what we should know is that technology will move us, it’ll teach us to adopt it as it grows. We shouldn’t go out our way for it and we should stop treating it like a false messiah.

There is no reason to get a product as soon as it hits the shelves, aside from having the small claim to fame as being the guy with the latest gadget. For many of those people the way of thinking is: you shouldn’t wait because technology moves at such a fast pace that if you don’t get this newest item now, it’ll be old news when the next new release is out. Although I understand that sentiment, I cannot condone it.

Getting new technology for the sake of having new technology will only lead to disappointment. Why? It’s because a product or a service generally takes a certain amount of time in order for it to hit critical mass. No doubt the faster you join something the more experienced you’ll be once it becomes popular, but you’ll also be a guinea pig for the first few quarters as the producers and designers determine its true functionality.

New products have complications in a few categories. 1) New devices, products, and even services will have compatibility problems. 2) As a beta tester for a new technology, you’ll be exposed to defective tools with bugs and glitchy software. 3) New products will naturally be more expensive and their value will depreciate as soon as you purchase them, making them poor investments with little resale value.

Although marketers are always looking for early adopters for their products, we should understand that owning premature technology might in fact be a frustrating experience. Remember how choked you were every time Facebook updated its layout without your permission? With that in mind, enjoy the technology you have for a little longer, and allow gadgets to depreciate and new technology to appreciate.

Don’t fall victim to the hype. As life changing as technology is, it takes a community to adopt it, not just an individual. So wait.

It doesn’t matter what your name is

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opinions_names

How not to behave when you forget someone’s name

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. October 28, 2014

A large portion of my job involves networking, performing cold calls, attending events, and introducing myself to strangers. Naturally, names and faces will scramble in my brain and leave me uttering, “Nice to meet you,” or “Hey, big guy!” or “You look familiar,” more than once. I’m not immune to misremembering names, few are; however, when I do forget, I like to believe that I know how to behave properly, not make a big deal about it, and simply move on and have a genuine conversation.

Too often I’ll be approached by someone who I have met numerous times with no inclination of who I am. Of course I feel a bit insulted, being so forgettable and all. But that is not what bothers me. What bothers me is that some egotistical people will deem me so unimportant that they will just quickly brush me aside. Instead of talking to me or even addressing me, they just saunter off feeling more recognizable. As I watch these people disappear into the mass of humanity, I know that we’ll meet again, but the scenario will not change. They’ll say hi, do a few memory reps to remember when we last interacted, get exhausted, and mosey on.

If you cannot remember people’s name after an initial introduction, it’s because you weren’t able to associate something memorable with them. Ask for their name again, then inquire about something unique, not just work, school, or interests, but what plans they have for the near future or what projects they are working on. You must dig deeper than the forgettable surface questions. Show that you’re not a self-centred prick, and give a shit about someone who took the brain space to remember your name. Then when you meet them again, you can ask how their life went with a checkpoint to start from.

I get it—sometimes names just slip your mind or hang at the tip of your tongue. Don’t make a big deal out of it. However, nobody looks good when they forget someone, especially after multiple introductions. At some point, you better get it right or you’ll just look silly, and depending on the person, you might also appear offensive.

My name is Elliot, an uncommon name to say the least. There is something about it that causes people to substitute it with another male name that begins with the letter E. I’ve been called Eric, Ed, Emilio, Ethan, Eli, and maybe a few more that I too have forgotten. It’s understandable—many people have names that sound different. Some people even have names that come from another culture or have a distinctive spelling. What annoys me is when someone says, “Oh whatever, it doesn’t matter what your name is.” Fuck you! Not only is that disrespectful, but it’s also confusing.

Every name represents a human being, every human being is as important as the last regardless of their social class, seniority, personality, or overall attractiveness. And it doesn’t matter what your traits are either; if you can’t remember someone, you’ll always appear a little snobbier.

Toys R Us breaks bad news to children

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Opinion_breaking bad

Why pulling meth-dealing action figures is a fruitless cause

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. October 28, 2014

On October 21, Toys R Us effectively pulled a series of Breaking Bad inspired action figures off their shelves after a petition conducted by a collective of mothers from Florida. With 9,000 signatures, the Walter White and Jess Pinkman toys were sent away for their “sabbatical,” leaving me wondering how those concerned mothers came to such a nearsighted solution.

Now and then I wander into a Toys R Us retailer and feel disappointment that resembles a knee to the groin. There is no nostalgia; the florescent-lit store could not feel more foreign to me. Still, I’ll explore the aisle and see the common toys: fake weapons, brawny plastic action figurines constructed to battle to the death, and sultry dolls that nurture the unobtainable expectation of beauty. As Aaron Paul tweeted: “Hmmmm… I wonder what is more damaging?”

Paul continues to stand by the toys constructed from his image. His countering petition to return the Breaking Bad toys to Toys R Us has already received approximately 30,000 supporters. And although I haven’t signed anything to contribute, I do think the original removal of the toys to be a ridiculous initiative.

First off, if parents are worried about their children becoming methamphetamine addicts or dealers, then they’ll have to do a bit more than eliminate a few toys. Moms, talk to your children about what drugs even are: explain the legalities and educate them on the harmful effects of addiction. Action figures are not the gateway into a life of crime, but poor parenting is.

Nothing hinders the growth of children more than paranoid, overprotective parents. We’ve seen many attempts to hide drug usage and deter temptations, but it appears that concealing cigarettes behind the corner store cabinets and administrating drinking ages is only creating another obstacle that can easily be thwarted should the youth dare to experiment.

Secondly, mothers need to focus on the big picture. Drugs, violence, and sex cannot be avoided in this world, so prepare your kids effectively with confidence and intelligence. Hell, maybe even watch Breaking Bad with them and show them the horrible destructive outcome of each character involved.

There are a billion other concerns out in the world that should worry mothers. It’s funny that they chose a battle against an inanimate object. After all, the worst pain those action figures could cause is the crippling pain of stepping on them barefoot. Moms of Florida, why not turn your attention toward gun control, drug trafficking, the broken educational system, overzealous spending, racism, sexism, gang crimes, pollution, heart disease, cancer, homelessness, unemployment, and many other dire problems in the world?

On a chaotic planet, we should just let the children play, imagine, and have the freedom to explore what they are curious about, guiding their curiosity in a positive direction without limiting them. No more half-measures, moms.

How Making, Recording, and Measuring Decisions as a Team Can Change Your Company

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Nothing says teamwork better than a group of people aligned in the decision making process. While some workplaces are guided by the “executive decisions” of the boss, that leadership practice might not necessary be the best approach in advocating change, nurturing involvement and learning from prior mistakes (i.e. bad decisions).

Steven Forth, CEO and director of Nugg, an application that enable workplace team members to focus, decide, track and align ideas, believes that decisions should not be made in a vacuum, and that the full decision-making cycle begins and ends with proper communication.

Forth wrote: “Some would say research, and research is sometimes needed, but the best decisions are made as part of conversations.”

Intuitive decisions should not feel random

The decision making cycle includes five key steps: surface, discuss, decide, execute, and review; all of which plays into a long-term goal. It’s true that not all decisions are of equal value; some are undoubtedly more serious than others. With that being said, the process of making decisions should not feel random, even though gut feelings, deadlines and stress may play a role.

“Emotions are critical to making intuitive decisions. ‘It feels right’ is a valid reason to make a decision,” wrote Forth. “But you still need to think through what the outcomes will be. Nugg let’s you mark any update or comment as a decision and then you or another person on your team can unfold that decision in more detail.”

Designate time to perform and review

By establishing a workplace culture that track, measure and review decisions after time have passed, allows team members to stay alert and execute appropriately in the future. Setting deadlines may seem like a stress magnifier, but that is not necessarily true. Implementing deadlines can sharpen intuitive decision-making, dampen procrastination and offer a more focused timeframe for exploration.

“Review date and getting explicit about expected and actual outcomes is so important,” Forth wrote. “And in most cases the first review should be relatively soon, within three months at the very longest. If you expect an outcome and are not getting it you need to review the decision.”

Don’t let good ideas and bad results get lost in the clutter

It’s not surprising that most people would want to quickly dismiss a bad decision from the past, wipe it from their mind and start anew. But that mentality will lead to history repeating itself. Don’t simply brush bad results under the desk, because they’ll likely reemerge in another form to waste time, effort and money.

On the flip side of the coin, good ideas are exchanged on the daily with zero trace. These ideas are often lost in an email thread, scattered amongst the shambles on your desk or simply placed in the back of your mind.

“Recording decisions and measuring the outcomes is critical today,” noted Gord Kukec, Member of the BCFerries Board of Directors, in a conversation with Nugg. “With so much happening it is easy for people to lose track of decisions and fail to check what actually results, but few teams do this in any systematic way. If you don’t record your decisions and measure the outcomes, you will never improve.”

Employ team members to participate in the decision-making process

Making decisions, especially on behalf of a whole company, is a scary venture. Ultimately, most long-term results are unpredictable.

That being the case, an individual may panic, second-guess or be guided by a bias intention. Even the most apt leaders will have trouble making those “executive decisions,” but the pressure shouldn’t fall solely on the boss—the supporting team should have equal responsibility to supply input and review previous cases, thus leading the best possible result, even if the decision was made in haste.

The Olympics that no one wants

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Freestyle Skiing - Winter Olympics Day 13

Why world-class cities opt out of hosting

By Elliot Chan, Opinions Editor
Formerly published in The Other Press. October 21, 2014

And then there were two: Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing, People’s Republic of China. How on Earth did this happen? Is it because hosting an Olympic event is such a drain on a country’s economy, or is it because people just don’t care about the Winter Olympics?

When Oslo, Norway—the frontrunner to host the 2022 Olympics—withdrew its bid on October 1, many fans, organizers, and athletes awoke to a realization: the Winter Olympics was just not worth the trouble. For too long, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had been the popular girl at prom, but now she might have a profile on Plenty of Fish.

The problem is not necessarily the Olympics’ attractiveness, but rather its high standards. The IOC is demanding, and that was the greatest turn-off for the Norwegians. After all, the committee did send over a 7,000-page handbook and requested alterations of traffic and airport customs just for the officials, in addition to a cocktail party with the Norwegian royal family. Such pompous demands say a lot about the organization’s culture. And it’s not too surprising to see that Norway wanted nothing to do with it.

With that being said, there is prestige from hosting the two-week event. Just look at the result of the 2010 Winter Olympics here in Vancouver, and you’ll see that the event elevated the city into the world-class standard. It put us centre stage and we astounded the world, in addition to proving many skeptics wrong. We can all agree that Vancouver’s infrastructure, traffic, and tourism economy has taken a step in a positive direction since.

The global situation is that not many cities are capable of becoming world-class cities. Sochi, for example, struggled with the event to the very last moment, and tourism is not exactly flourishing there now. Recessions across many European countries also make the opportunity to host risky.

The most likely event now is that the IOC will select Beijing as the host of the 2022 Olympics—it’s the most reasonable choice. The second possibility is that the committee will offer the opportunity to a country that has proven experience hosting recent large-scale events. What the committee needs to establish is six to 10 world-class cities across the globe that can host the Olympics should a newcomer fail to meet the exceptionally high standards. The United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Italy, France, Russia, and whoever else the IOC deems suitable should be added to their little black book.

No doubt having a list of suitable candidates will reduce the status of the IOC, but is that such a bad thing? What’s the alternative? Waiting by the telephone, hoping that a rich country will call? The IOC should know better: the Winter Olympics is not to be compared with the World Cup or the Summer Olympics. People just don’t need it as much.

Innovators at Interface Summit Forecast Paradigm Shift in Personalization of Tech and Healthcare

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Innovators in digital healthcare assembled at Sanotron’s third annual Interface Summit at Vancouver Convention Centre to wrap up the last couple of days of September and to connect technology leaps to global wellness.

A collective voice from many influential speakers addressed a strong demand for practicality in digital health innovations. No longer are stakeholders, practitioners and patients looking for “cool,” “complex” gadgets—they are looking for devices and treatment that “empower” people in all markets and wellness to take better care of themselves.

One area of technology worth highlighting is the design aspect. According to Dr. David Dunne of Rotman School of Business, in digital healthcare designers need to understand three key aspects in order to enhance the user’s experience and achieve the desired outcome: reframing the problem, understanding the user and the context and making is the way of thinking.

“Doctors are empathetic about diseases, they know what diseases and the effects are,” said Dr. Dunne. “I would argue that doctors’ empathy is about the effects, while designers’ empathy is about the experience.”

For chronic diseases, such as diabetes, patients don’t approach therapy and treatment as the “centre of their life.” People get disconnected with the treatment they have, so it is critical that digital healthcare—in order to be effective—must approach treatment through the user’s lifestyle.

Which leads us to the revolving-door-pharmaceutical experience, something we’re all familiar with. After all, approximately 600,000 Canadians visit a pharmacy in a day. We drop out and pick up with little to no information acquired. We take the daily dose as prescribed and cross our fingers, no questions asked. In an aging demographic, it becomes ever more important that doctors, pharmacists and the patients themselves participate in both the monitoring of health and the follow-up stages to ensure that the treatment is performing as planned.

Pharmacist and UBC grad Aaron Sihota believes the dispensary transaction-based paradigm has to change: “I heard a lot today about telehealth and telemedicine, but not too much about telepharmacy. There is huge potential. Take for example the clinic model; you can have the pharmacy work alongside the prescriber to identify safe and effective therapy. Once that’s been done, the person can just fire it off to a vending machine, where a technician can dispense it or that machine can automatically dispense it and do a live feed counseling. So it’s a completely different practice model. I don’t envision it taking over mainstream dispensary, but definitely working alongside it.”

Moreover, much of pharmaceutical medicine is trial and error, an ancient method that has lasted to this day. In a world where automobiles are tested repeatedly before hitting the showroom and airplanes are soaring 35,000 feet in the sky, it’s hard to accept that doctors and pharmacist are still playing the guessing game with our wellbeing. It seems that only technology can change that, and all that will start with experts from different fields joining hands.

“We have to understand that as much as we have to think about the cause, the solution is very important,” said Ali Tehrani, Zymeworks, “and that is the marriage of high-tech and bio-tech.”

Ultimately, changing one aspect will affect another. In the case of global health, there is much to be done in developing countries. If affordable treatments are a problem here in our industrialized world, it is seemingly impossible for those in third worlds. Digital healthcare should not, and cannot, be exclusive to the rich. Therefore, business models need to change along with the technology created.

“There is a view that you can only deal with these problems in developing worlds by having the money endlessly poured in by Gates Foundation or Grand Challenges Canada,” said Loki Jorgenson, LionsGate Technologies, “and it’ll simply be something the market will never be interested in. And so what we have defined as our mission is to make that market work; it’s a business innovation. How do we make money going into developing worlds? And make a lot of money saving those lives? The reason they die and continue to die is because the market is never interested. Why not?”

Digital healthcare is making significant strides, but there are still many leagues to go, a fact proven by all the paradigm shifts suggested at Interface Summit. If a product, a treatment or a solution wants to succeed and help people in the digital health space then it must be guided by those in need of it. After all, the coolest technologies are the one that saves lives.