The Burden Of Thought

 

Over the years of writing this blog, I have made fairly frequent mention of  the importance of critical thinking. At the same time, I have usually been quick to add that it is an ideal toward which I constantly strive, one that I frequently fall short of.

There are, of course, many impediments to critical thinking: our values, experiences, ideology and biases, to name but four, can very much get in the way of sober reflection and analysis. No one, to my knowledge, has ever achieved the Platonic ideal of critical thinking. Let's face it: we are all human, and failures along the road are inevitable.

What I cannot abide, however, is a blatant disregard for critical thinking, either through willful indifference or incapacity. When the state is run thus, we are really dealing with a rudderless ship.

Which brings me to the real topic of today's post, Ontario's Doug Ford government. It is one that seems, either by intent or genetic shortcoming, to be headed by a man who displays a singular disregard for, or contempt of, critical thinking. Take, for example, his recent decision to 'repeal' a post-secondary 'requirement' for people wanting to become police officers. In fact, it has never been a requirement (a high-school diploma is all that is technically needed), but the trend for a long time has been to hire people with post-secondary education. 

In response, Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles had this to say:

“It’s very concerning,”... university and college educations teach a wider view of the world.

“They (police) have a very difficult job, and they require a lot of skills including critical thinking to do their jobs properly.”

The website Indeed notes the following regarding needed police skills:

Critical thinking is an officer's ability to analyze a situation from multiple perspectives and make important decisions within a short time frame. Police officers must have strong critical thinking skills, as their decisions can greatly impact the health and well-being of themselves, their colleagues and members of the public. Critical thinking also allows an officer to examine outside influences that may affect their decisions and actions to remove the possibility of bias and assess a person's conduct fairly.

While it certainly can be argued that having post-secondary education will not ensure critical thinking skills, it at least maximizes the possibility of having/developing them. 

And the decision of  Doug Ford to try to lower the standards is emblematic of the larger problem within his government: it engages in very little real thought when developing policy. A narrow, telescopic lens is applied to most issues. This is most apparent in the building of new houses and new highways that will exacerbate urban sprawl.

""We need more houses."

"Great. Let's open up the Greenbelt."

"People want a faster commute."

"Great. Let's build Highway 413."

Despite the dire implications of paving over farms and wetlands during this time of climate catastrophe, the hammer that is Doug Ford's brain sees nails everywhere. As a consequence, all Ontarians will have to live with heedless decisions that enrich his developer friends and also significantly undermine ways of mitigating that catastrophe.

But let's not lay the blame entirely at Ford's feet. Every member of the voting public who chooses to ignore or have only a passing acquaintance with the problems that envelop all of us are complicit. 

The cynic in me believes this means that come the next provincial election, Ford will return with a majority. And we will have only ourselves and our collective lazy thinking to blame. 

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Snowflakery Spreads

It is common for the hard right to accuse progressives of being snowflakes, meaning, I guess, that they are inordinately sensitive and easily offended. The shoe, however, now appears to be on the other foot, as was recently demonstrated with the expulsion of two black state representatives from the Tennessee House for breaching 'decorum.' Now, snowflakery has again reared its icy crystals, this time in another Republican state, Montana. 

Zooey Zephyr, a trans-lawmaker, was suspended from the legislature for another 'breach.' She suggested (brace yourselves) they would have blood on their hands if her colleagues banned gender-affirming medical care for children.

She will, however, be able to vote remotely. Perhaps I have been too quick to judge?

Still Lessons To Be Learned

The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. And to me, that is a good thing, because there is something both grounding and humbling in realizing the extent of one's ignorance. And it is also an invitation to continue learning, right up to the end.

While I have always been an avid reader of fiction (what else would you expect from a retired English teacher?), over the last few years, I have found myself increasingly drawn to non-fiction. Two recent books in particular steered me in some new directions, one a well-considered biography of Abraham Lincoln, which incidentally taught me a great deal about present-day fractured America, and one on Reconstruction, the period after the Civil War which actually saw a regression of rights for Black people..

All of which is a roundabout way of telling you I just learned about a little-known and shameful chapter in Canadian history, one involving aid and succor to the Confederate South during the height of the Civil War. In an excerpt from his new book, North Star - Canada And The Civil War Plots Against Lincoln, Julian Sher discusses the nefarious link between Canadians and the Confederacy, in this one example a prominent Torontonian whose sensibilities and values would offend most contemporary Canadians.

It was as close as you could get to a Southern plantation home, considering it stood in the middle of a wooded estate in the 1860s on the western outskirts of Toronto.

It was called Heydon Villa, and its owner, a wealthy and powerful aristocrat named George Taylor Denison III, sought to emulate more than the architecture of the slave South — he was an avowed ally and supporter of the Confederacy.

“I was a strong friend of the Southern refugees who were exiled in our country, and I treated them with the hospitality due to unfortunate strangers driven from their homes,” Denison wrote.

The “refugees” Denison harboured and helped were hardly the poor victims of the bloody American Civil War that raged from 1861 to 1865. On the contrary, they were the cream of the slaveholding aristocracy that had started the war — the top Confederate leaders, generals and spies.

While our country was viewed by runaway slaves as a haven, it may surprise many, as it did me, that Canada harboured great sympathy for the cause of the Confederacy, the maintenance of slavery. While officially neutral, 

many among Canada’s elites in politics, business and the church played a darker role, supporting the slave South and in fomenting numerous plots against Abraham Lincoln.

Most newspapers here were more sympathetic to the Confederates over the “mad despot” Lincoln. Catholic church leaders praised the Southern rebellion and helped hide fugitive Confederates. Bankers allowed Southern conspirators to finance their plots and launder their money.

One man, the very wealthy Dennison, 

was in the perfect position the help the Confederates when, in 1864 — three years into a war that was beginning to look bleak for them — they made a desperate effort to surprise Lincoln with unexpected attacks, from north of the border. Confederate president Jefferson Davis set aside about $1 million (about $16 million in today’s currency) to set up a Secret Service operation in Canada, headed by a Southern politician named Jacob Thompson.

That operation was aided and abetted by Dennison, who devised a system of communication to evade detection by the Union. He even went so far as to front an attempt at raising marine aid for the South:

Jacob Thompson wanted to refit a streamer called the Georgian, turn it into a sort of warship and attack Northern cities. Denison fronted $16,500 for the scheme.

Authorities, though, grew suspicious about activity around the Georgian and had it seized in the Collingwood harbour.

In April 1865, an informant inside the Canadian Confederate ranks revealed more details of the plot. When police officers raided the house of one of Denison’s accomplices in Toronto, they found bullet moulds, cartridges and — rather startlingly — 26 torpedoes in a cellar he had filled with water.

To draw this post to a close, I'll add that Dennison hosted Jeffereson Davis, the CSA President, after the war. In a CBC interview I heard yesterday afternoon with the author Julian Sher, it appears that Davis, when he arrived, was greeted by thousands of hardy enthusiasts. The same was true of his visit to Montreal. 

I know it is not fair to judge earlier times by our own standards, but such behaviour by Canadian devotees of Southern repression, exploitation and cruelty strikes me as absolutely shameful and indefensible. 

At the same time, however, it does offer a painful and pungent lesson that should puncture our innate smugness.

 

 

 

The Beam In Our Eye

When you think about it, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with national myths. They seek to convey something special about one's country. For example, there is the American myth about being a country where anyone can become anything by dint of hard work. In Canada, there is the myth that we are a peace-loving, accepting nation that stands in sharp contrast to our southern neighbours. The problems begin when we take those myths too literally and too seriously, allowing us to don blinders to our national faults.

Like many Canadians, I have frequently taken much comfort in feelings of superiority to the United States in so many areas, not the least of which is racism. However, our sad history of mistreatment of Indigenous people, as well as at least a passing acquaintance with the news, should quickly disabuse us of the notion that we are free of such taint, leaving us only with the cold comfort of knowing we are not as bad as the United States.

But our domestic racism cannot be ignored, lest it be allowed to fester. A recent report, for example, tells of widespread Islamophobia uncovered by a Senate committee investigating the problem.

Last month, figures released by Statistics Canada indicated police-reported hate crimes targeting Muslims increased by 71 per cent from 2020 to 2021. The rate of the crimes was eight incidents per 100,000 members of the Muslim population, based on census figures.

Among the committee’s findings is an observation that attacks against Muslims often appear to happen out on the streets and appear to be more violent than those targeting other religious groups, [committee chair Senator Salma] Ataullahjan said.

The committee's final reported, expected in July, will likely disturb many.

 Analysts and experts interviewed by the Senate committee said the rise of far-right hate groups and anti-Muslim groups are among the factors driving attacks against Muslims, Ataullahjan said.

The committee looked at the cases of Black Muslim women in Edmonton who were violently assaulted in recent years.

“Some of them sat in front of us and everyone was getting teary-eyed because it’s not easy to tell your story especially where you’ve been hurt,” she said.

The 2017 shooting at a Quebec mosque when a gunman opened fire, killing six worshippers and injuring several others, is another example of violent Islamophobia, she said.

The Senate committee’s report will also address recent violence against Muslims, including an alleged assault outside a Markham, Ont., mosque where witnesses told police a man tore up a Qur’an, yelled racial slurs, and tried to ram a car into congregants.

 The committee will also detail day-to-day aggression against Muslim Canadians, including accounts from hijab-wearing girls in schools who don’t feel comfortable reporting instances of Islamophobia to police, Ataullahjan said.

Raising public awareness of this shameful behaviour is only part of the solution. of course. 

The National Council of Muslim Canadians also hopes the report will help Canadians familiarize themselves with the Muslim community.

“We want to address hate,” [spokesman Steven Zhou] said. “But also it’s about building bridges. For people to learn about Islam, for people to learn about what this religion is actually about, how the community works."

I don't know what it is to live a life framed by fear, suspicion and averted gazes. It would seem that far too many people, however, do.  

 

 

 

 

Ode To Democracy

 A busy day ahead, so I shall let Theo Moudakis speak for me:

God's Second Gift To Humanity

 But, as Jesus said, "A prophet hath no honour is his own country."

Sharing Incompetencies

 

I was talking to my good friend Dave, from Winnipeg, the other night. Dave and I have been friends for 40 years. The affinities that bind us include books, movies and, of course, politics. Like me, Dave has a jaundiced, cynical view of those who represent us, seeing them as largely self-serving, selfish to the point of ignoring the real needs of the people.

Dave's tale of the Conservative provincial government currently in power is one of incompetence, conflict of interest and, quite possibly, corruption. It is the same array of scourges we face in Ontario under Doug Ford who, although he promotes a folksy persona, has his heart firmly held in the greedy grasp of business, most particularly the business of his developer friends. Witness the systematic unraveling of the Greenbelt and the circus-like transformation Doug envisions for Ontario Place - a 'world-class' spa.

My conversation with Dave was spent in part in mutual commiseration, but being an Ontarian, I couldn't help but feel that our provincial malfeasance, in all of its corrupt splendour, trumps that of our neighbour to the west.

And I am hardly alone in appreciating the magnitude of  the situation here at home, as a variety of letters-to-the editor attest to.

An urban sprawl crisis

• Toronto Star
• 15 Apr 2023

BARRY GRAY THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR FILE PHOTO

A rally drew several hundred to Hamilton City Hall to protest the province’s Greenbelt plan and Bill 23 in 2022. Building more sprawl with large monstrous million-dollar homes is not the answer, writes Marion Bartlett.

Get off your couch, we need a housing revolution, March 27

Yes, we need housing. But at what cost? The Doug Ford government addressed the housing crisis with the “More Homes Built Faster Act,” Bill 23. It aims to develop 50,000 houses on the ecological backbone of Ontario, the Greenbelt.

The bill undermines our rights, communities, and markets and defiles our wildlife legacy. It violates Indigenous Rights, puts federally endangered species in further jeopardy, and puts our drinking water and security at risk. All for a few favoured developers who have espoused this plan to make money at everyone else’s expense.

This is not a solution. It is Ford’s folly. There needs to be another solution. I appeal to Ontarians to view the housing shortage broadly, considering human and environmental effects. Urban sprawl is not just an economic issue but, indeed, an ecological crisis.

Jasmeet Dhaliwal, Hamilton

Ford’s idea of ‘partnership’ is an abusive relationship

• Toronto Star
• 15 Apr 2023

Ontario to help cities with shortfall, April 4

I actually laughed when I read Ontario housing minister Steve Clark’s recent comments on the provincial government’s “partnership” with municipalities.

The Doug Ford government is making catastrophic and long-lasting planning decisions that affect cities without consulting them. It’s making revenue stream decisions that affect cities, planning highways that run through cities, paving over significant environmental lands and wildlife habitat, and taking away municipalities’ powers to plan their own cities and towns all without consulting them.

This is no partnership, this is an abusive relationship.

But, we are not to worry, says Clark. If Bill 23 is creating financial problems for our cities, by starving them of development charges that used to be paid by developers, the provincial government will “not hang them out to dry.”

I guess that means that if the province deems our cities sufficiently desperate for the funds required to serve the needs of residents, the province will bail them out. With what? Our tax dollars of course!

Why should the developers, who are making millions thanks to Ford, have to pay for the infrastructure to support their new developments when the taxpayers can do it ?

Make no mistake folks, we are the ones being “hung out to dry.”

Marilyn Ginsburg, Markham

Ford and photo ops

It’s galling to see Doug Ford on another self congratulating photo op this time with medical students. I wonder if he talked about how the health care system in Ontario is imploding as we breathe and he has the money and means to slow/stop this to an extent but refuses to. It would spoil his personal agenda and he might have to consider he was wrong on many decisions and as we have seen before, that does not bode well with him. Once graduated, why would any health care professional want to stay here when you see what you have to deal with in reality realizing you could have it better just about anywhere.

Robert Panchyson, Burlington

There is one major difference between Manitoba and Ontario, however, that is sobering. The former must face the electorate in the fall, while we in Ontario must continue to groan under the yoke of incompetence, greed and corruption until 2026. 

Some days, that seems like a very, very long way off.