full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy

Unscramble the Blue Letters


As you may have noticed, our elections in Canada are a complete joke. We use out-of-date systems that are unfair and create random results. Canada's currently led by a party that most Canadians didn't actually want. How can we hselntoy and genuinely eaocrngue more people to vote when votes don't count in cnaada? You add all this up together, and of course people are apathetic. It's like trying to run into a brick wall.

Now, I'm not trying to be negative by throwing all these oltbsceas out and enxilapnig what's in our way. Quite the opposite — I actually think people are amazing and smart and that they do care, but that, as I said, we live in this enennmiorvt where all these obstacles are being put in our way. As long as we believe that polepe, our own neighbors, are selfish, stupid or lazy, then there's no hope. But we can change all those things I mentioned. We can open up city hall. We can reform our electoral systems. We can deimrtazcoe our public spaces.

Open Cloze


As you may have noticed, our elections in Canada are a complete joke. We use out-of-date systems that are unfair and create random results. Canada's currently led by a party that most Canadians didn't actually want. How can we ________ and genuinely _________ more people to vote when votes don't count in ______? You add all this up together, and of course people are apathetic. It's like trying to run into a brick wall.

Now, I'm not trying to be negative by throwing all these _________ out and __________ what's in our way. Quite the opposite — I actually think people are amazing and smart and that they do care, but that, as I said, we live in this ___________ where all these obstacles are being put in our way. As long as we believe that ______, our own neighbors, are selfish, stupid or lazy, then there's no hope. But we can change all those things I mentioned. We can open up city hall. We can reform our electoral systems. We can ___________ our public spaces.

Solution


  1. environment
  2. canada
  3. people
  4. obstacles
  5. explaining
  6. encourage
  7. honestly
  8. democratize

Original Text


As you may have noticed, our elections in Canada are a complete joke. We use out-of-date systems that are unfair and create random results. Canada's currently led by a party that most Canadians didn't actually want. How can we honestly and genuinely encourage more people to vote when votes don't count in Canada? You add all this up together, and of course people are apathetic. It's like trying to run into a brick wall.

Now, I'm not trying to be negative by throwing all these obstacles out and explaining what's in our way. Quite the opposite — I actually think people are amazing and smart and that they do care, but that, as I said, we live in this environment where all these obstacles are being put in our way. As long as we believe that people, our own neighbors, are selfish, stupid or lazy, then there's no hope. But we can change all those things I mentioned. We can open up city hall. We can reform our electoral systems. We can democratize our public spaces.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
discourages engagement 2
city hall 2
public spaces 2
huge obstacle 2
charitable status 2


Important Words


  1. add
  2. amazing
  3. apathetic
  4. brick
  5. canada
  6. canadians
  7. care
  8. change
  9. city
  10. complete
  11. count
  12. create
  13. democratize
  14. elections
  15. electoral
  16. encourage
  17. environment
  18. explaining
  19. genuinely
  20. hall
  21. honestly
  22. hope
  23. joke
  24. lazy
  25. led
  26. live
  27. long
  28. mentioned
  29. negative
  30. neighbors
  31. noticed
  32. obstacles
  33. open
  34. party
  35. people
  36. public
  37. put
  38. random
  39. reform
  40. results
  41. run
  42. selfish
  43. smart
  44. spaces
  45. stupid
  46. systems
  47. throwing
  48. unfair
  49. vote
  50. votes
  51. wall