Would You Rather?

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Regent Park youth discuss philosophical questions related to values, beliefs and ethics.

The 4GetAboutIt! TV is a youth-led TV & Radio show produced by Regent Park youth involved in Regent Park TV and the Focus Media Arts Centre. In this third episode of their television studio show, the youth collective reflects on their own personal beliefs while musing on philosophical questions.

“Would you rather?”….so begins the host, Saima Islam, asking the other members of the collective the first question. “Would you rather go into the past and meet your ancestors, or go into the future and meet your great grand children?”

In answering this question, the youth panel engaged in an interesting conversation about the past, the present and the future. Some of the members of the collective choose to go into the past to influence an ancestor to make different choices or fix a problem that would impact on their present and/or change the outcome of their future. One youth felt that by going into the past, they would face discrimination and stigma from family members who could not understand their lifestyle. Others preferred to go into the future to see what the impact of decisions they made today, would have in the tomorrow.

Other ‘Would you rather?’ questions explored values and beliefs. For example, 'Would you rather have more money or more time?' Here the Regent Park Youth Collective got into an interesting debate about time and money. They discussed the importance of how having time can make someone feel happier and enjoy life versus having a lot of things (big house and car). “What’s the point of having those things if you have no time to enjoy them?” argues one of the youth panelists. Another youth argues that the question is flawed, after all “time is money” he say’s. This youth ultimately felt that having more time is important since time is limited, and in his opinion, money is not – a position that many living in the community would find surprising given that Regent Park is a low-income neighbourhood where many families are struggling financially.

In the end the panelists agreed to disagree. What’s your opinion?


If you want to know more about their discussion on this topic, go to:

https://youtu.be/cFZWn6a6oAw

 

 Written by

Dawar Naeem

Journalist
FOCUS Media Arts Centre


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