UPDATED: About Freedom

Although I read and write a fair amount, I clearly am not an expert in the affairs of the world. I can merely observe, report and comment on the things that interest, hearten or outrage me. An armchair (or is it keyboard?) pundit am I.

Nonetheless, there are certain realities that seem to me irrefutable, global heating being the most pressing, in my view. And that's why I find Pierre Poilievre's political pontifications about making Canada the freest nation on earth both absurd and disturbing. 

At the heart of  Poilievre's corrupted vision is that personal freedom (the truck convoy being an egregious example) trumps all else, that the mythical and ogre-like 'gatekeepers' are the only impediments to becoming truly actualized individuals. 

Therein lies the sweet lie.

Anyone who believes such an idealized state is possible is clearly deluded; anyone who advocates for it is being disingenuous, manipulative and mendacious.

The reason is fairly straightforward and, I think, obvious. Freedom without responsibility is a recipe for chaos, made worse by the fact that if we to have any chance (admittedly slim) of  avoiding the worst effects of climate change, co-operation, not the rhetoric of absolute freedom, will carry the day. 

Co-operation, the working with others toward common goals, is of course the complete opposite of the reckless rhetoric espoused by Mr. Poilievre, and clearly anathema to his political posturing. His divide-and-conquer strategy is a clear abdication of political leadership, one doubtlessly appealing to those given more to reaction than reflection.

Pierre reminds me of a student I taught many years ago named Jason. A most disruptive and mean-spirited lad, he was a definite taint on the atmosphere of the Grade 10 general level class I was teaching. It was the same year that asbestos was discovered in the west wing of the school where I taught, a discovery that required moving all staff and students to classrooms in the east wing. Imagine my surprise while watching the evening news to see Jason, who professed concern for his fellow students, leading a march on school grounds protesting the 'unsafe conditions' under which they were being instructed. Jason, a most indifferent student, to put it politely, felt that the conditions and asbestos threat were not conducive to learning, and something had to be done about it.

In many ways, Pierre reminds me of Jason. He exploits discontent for his own aggrandizement, the angry and disenchanted amongst us mere props to facilitate his political goals. Sincerity and genuine concern for the country are absent.

Will Poilievre succeed? I guess it depends upon how you define success. He will undoubtedly succeed in nurturing and expanding his constituency of the aggrieved, guaranteeing victory in his leadership quest. I very much doubt he will become Canada's next prime minister. 

Of course, that will ultimately be determined by those who rouse themselves to vote in the next election, won't it?

UPDATE: Moudakis's latest is just too rich and spot-on not to add to this post:

A Sunday Reflection

 

H/t Annie

Ripped From The Headlines?

There are days while I scroll through Twitter that I come upon a headline that seems to be ripped from a satirical source, such as The Onion or The Beaverton. Today was one such day.

RON DESANTIS’S NEW CIVICS INITIATIVE INVOLVES TEACHING KIDS SLAVERY IN AMERICA WASN’T THAT BAD

Sadly, the source for this headline is Vanity Fair, and is yet another potent reminder of the steady, seemingly inexorable, decline of the United States, where lies are truth and truth are lies.

Lest young people come to see their country in a less than favourable light (i.e., as the rest of the world sees them), the Florida governor is acting with resolve and dispatch, leaving teachers attending Florida Department of Education conferences this summer stunned.

Tatiana Ahlbum, a 12th-grade government and economics teacher at Fort Lauderdale High, said it was stressed that the majority of enslaved people in America had been born into slavery, that the colonies bought fewer enslaved people from the transatlantic slave trade than has been previously portrayed, and that less than 4% of enslaved people worldwide lived in America, without noting that that percentage still constituted millions of people. 

Meanwhile, another slide reportedly quoted George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as saying they wanted to get rid of slavery, while crucially leaving out the fact that both men enslaved people, with the latter owning more than 600 in his lifetime and also famously raping at least one of them. Ahlbum added that few of the facts presented included cited sources. “We were not told which documents stated this or how to find them, just that they existed,” she said.

And that church and state separation thingy? 

The founding fathers didn‘t actually mean that. Incredibly, several slides reportedly stated that this is a major “misconception.” During a breakout session, presenters reportedly mentioned, more than once, “the influence Jesus Christ and the Bible had on the country’s foundation.” Richard Judd, a Nova High School social studies teacher, told the Times, “There was this Christian nationalism philosophy that was just baked into everything that was there.” He added that “ending school prayer was compared to upholding segregation.”

But perhaps DeSantis's heart is in the right place, He just doesn't want people to feel bad about themselves. 

The news of these conferences, which are voluntary, comes months after DeSantis signed a bill banning public schools and private businesses from making white people feel bad during lessons or training about discrimination.

Florida has traditionally been seen as the place old people go to die. It would seem that description can now be aptly applied to young minds as well. 

 

UPDATED: Live And Let Live?

I generally abide by a pretty simple philosophy: don't bother other people. By that, I don't mean  we should not be involved in other people's lives in a positive way; I simply mean that we should not feel compelled to share opinions that serve no constructive purpose. For example, if you don't care for the fact that some may have an orientation different from your own, or a skin colour that is not white, just keep it to yourself. The world really is not thirsting for your views.

Today, of course, thanks to the ubiquity of corrosive social media, far too many see it as their mission to criticize and denounce others who don't meet their 'standards'. For reasons known only to themselves, they believe they are in possession of the key that unlocks the door labelled Truth. It amazes me, for example, of how many claim to know the mind of the deity and take it upon themselves, with Taliban-like ferocity, to try to dictate standards of behaviour. One look at the furor that has ensued from the repeal of Roe Vs. Wade amply illustrates that fact.

But perhaps I digress. What has prompted this post is an ugly incident that occurred recently aboard a bus in Hamilton. The perpetrator, a man named Chris, is pictured below.

Although no longer available, I watched the entire video in which Chris, an obviously unhinged, intolerant hatemonger, unleashed a barrage of his bile on two young HSR passengers, and later made a racist suggestion to a young man of South Asian descent.

In the video, Chris is sitting on an HSR bus headed toward Gage Park's Festival of Friends. He had also livestreamed at the festival for the past few days.

"I don't know what this goofball, weird, transformer looking fool is laughing at," Chris says, pointing toward a passenger seated in front of him.

"Does anyone love you?" responds the rider, seemingly in defence. 

Chris could be heard mocking the people he is filming, asks the rider what their pronouns are and insults the rider some more.

"You're deflecting because nobody gives a s**t about you," the rider responds to Chris in the video.

Chris tells the rider to "get off the bus and say that to me" before threatening to hit the rider and making more transphobic comments.

"If you're a man, I'll smack you out," he says in the video.

Chris then starts to insult another rider for the next minute or so of the video.

He then looks at a third rider, who is a person of colour, and makes a racist comment, suggesting the rider "go back to Pakistan."

As Chris begins to exit the bus, he accuses one of the first two riders of kicking him.

"Do it again, motherf****r," he says as he holds a clenched fist to the face of one of the riders.

"I'll kick your f***ing head off," he says while exiting the bus and starts walking into Gage Park, swearing some more.

The video is hard to watch, but what especially bothered me, in addition to the vituperation, was that no one else on the bus (an older woman, a young woman and the South Asian) did anything to stop this attack. While one does not expect heroics, the very least they could have done was to inform the driver and insist that Chris be put off the bus. If that failed, I would have taken his picture and called the police after telling him to stop.

I am by no stretch a hero, but intervening in a situation like this should be our default position as responsible citizens. Full stop.

UPDATE: I am happy to cite a CBC report about an arrest being made by Hamilton Police in the above incident.

On Wednesday afternoon, the police service said officers arrested 41-year-old Christopher Pretula, charging him with assault and utter threat.

The police service is also applying to lay a hate crime charge.

"We recognize the impact hate has in our community.... We continue to encourage people to come forward to report in order for police to investigate and charge accordingly," police spokesperson Jackie Penman told CBC Hamilton.

"Reporting is an important step in addressing and rooting out hate in Hamilton."

Despite Our Conceit, The Earth Does Not Need Saving

George Carlin probably said it best, but letter-writer Patrick Cowan makes the same point in the following:

The Earth does not need saving. And the human race is its least qualified saviour

Andrea Mandel-Campbell writes: “Opting out of the climate crisis clearly is not an option. We need to get ready for the next revolution in the fight to save the planet: protecting and restoring what is left of our natural world.”

Our planet has survived long periods during which its atmosphere and oceans lacked oxygen. It has endured ice ages and periods of extreme heat, neither of which human beings could have survived. A meteorite struck what is now the Yucatan Peninsula and exterminated most dinosaurs without knocking Earth off its stride.

Trust me: 1. Earth does not need saving. 2. If it did, human beings would be among its least qualified saviours. 3. Earth is not “our” planet. If anything, we belong to the Earth, which can and likely will dispose of us quite unceremoniously one day. 4. Human beings have to be among Earth’s most arrogant inhabitants and eco-warriors number among the most arrogant human beings.

Feline Ferocity

I don't approve of this at all! I only bring it to your attention for your collective disapproval 😁

The American Dream - A Trenchant Interpretation

I have likely posted this in the past, but a repeat viewing in these troubled times is surely warranted: George Carlin parsing the truth about the 'American Dream'. As always with Mr. Carlin, be aware that the following contains language that may be offensive to some.