Canadians would be foolish to ignore the ill wind that is blowing from the south. Rather than ignoring it, Clare Boychuk and Mark Dance suggest that Canadians should push back against it:
In the wake of Trump’s election, the main lesson for Canadians is that change is coming. We can shape that change and choose pluralism over the forces of white nationalism, but to do so will require listening to a diversity of voices and a willingness to participate in robust public conversations about racism, land, multiculturalism and equality.
The American model has always been the melting pot. But that model no longer holds. And it's that change that drives Trumpism. Fortunately, we have always worked from a different model. But there has been pressure over the last fifty years to copy the sins of the Founding Fathers.
To ensure that we don't repeat the mistakes which have come to fruition in Donald Trump, there are several things we must do. We must be
willing to diversify our news sources, read things that make us uncomfortable from authors we haven’t heard of and acknowledge the racial and class strata that cut through society — the way that the same words can reverberate differently in different ears, the way one person’s pinhead can be another’s Pericles — we will be incapable of responding to this historical moment and renewing our commitment to real equality.
Rather than scoff at so-called marginal voices, now is the time to pay attention to them — to listen to Cindy Blackstock’s call for action on equal treatment of indigenous children in this country, to listen to what Black Lives Matter has to say about police brutality and race, to listen to the water protectors challenging the Dakota Access pipeline. If we do that, we will find new ways to live with and care for each other. If we do not, we will stand gaping as darkness envelops us, saying — as Mansbridge did last week — “I’m still not sure why we didn’t see that happening.”
The Dean of the Law School at McGill and poet, F.R. Scott, wrote that it was critically important to "learn by living." Now so more than ever.
Image: Canadian Poetry Online
18 comments:
It's going to be difficult to diversify our news sources as long as the CRTC and the Competition Bureau turn a blind eye to media concentration. Just 4 companies - Bell, Shaw, Rogers and the CBC - control 85% of all television revenue. Things are no better in newspapers, where Postmedia holds a third of all Canadian papers. Media concentration in Canada is worse than in just about any other OECD country, and it continues to get worse.
Point well taken, Anon. It's hard to have diversity of opinion when so few hold all the cards.
The CBC created three of the biggest blowhards in Canadian history.
Who are you referring to, Steve?
The underlying message here seems be be the need for careful, critical thinking, something that often sadly seems to be in short supply these days, Owen.
Don Cherry, Rex Murphy and Mr Wonderful the Dragon.
Trump's election represents the triumph of ignorance, Lorne. History proves that it can triumph anywhere at anytime. We are not immune.
I assume you mean Kevin O'Leary, Steve. And I agree.
The U.S. is a hodgepodge, not a "melting pot".
A hodgepodge is a plethora of divergent factions and demographics who co-exist IN SPITE OF one another. And who each guard their own "territory" and are selective about who they allow to temporarily "enter" their domain.
As long as I can remember myself this has always been the actual reality about this country, in spite of all manners of wishful-thinking feel-good idealistic rhetoric and mantras suggesting "collective unity".
Whatever the rhetoric, Tal, "e pluribus unum" doesn't apply anymore.
Since I set up my blog, more than a decade ago, I've been advocating the breakup of Canada's corporate media cartel as the first essential step in rehabilitating our liberal democracy. Before Martin was ousted there were signs that his government was willing to act but, once Harper arrived, we developed a symbiotic relationship between government and the corporate media. Harper, for example, waived the restriction on foreign ownership to permit PostMedia to cinch its deal with American vulture capitalists. We all recall what was on the front page of every PostMedia newspaper just before the last election.
I had hoped that Trudeau would not hesitate to act on this but, like the NDP, he shows not the slightest interest. The only party that has a free press policy is the Greens, the one party that won't be getting the chance to implement that sort of action.
If America had a genuinely informed electorate, Trump probably would have been denied the Republican nomination much less the presidential election.
Paul Godfrey's editorial policy during the last election offers stunning evidence of what media concentration means in practice, Mound. As long as group think is the order of the day, democracy will be on life support.
I dispute the notion that ignorance was the primary reason for Trump victory. America is mad as hell and Hillary was not addressing that anger, in fact she fueled it.
It's not just newspapers, Owen. Here in BC, we have Global TV (better known as Glo-ball)where some of their has-beens are now either working for or are candidates for the faux BC Liberal party. Radio Stations are also in the loop of rallying around our Photo-op Queen. Shaw Cable has a "local" show on once a week where one of the Vancouver Sun employees - known as "The Dean" in reporting circles as he has free access to Victoria's ruling class - has his cheer-leading program that pretends to be a balanced look at local politics but those of us who live here know better.
Another thing that Norm Farrell points out is that several of them are out on the "speakers" circuit, taking nice tidy fees while others have relatives nicely employed at a heck of a lot more than minimum wage directly or closely to the current Premier.
One of them was the official political reporter for CBC in Vancouver until people started registering serious complaints.
We are not clean here in Canada -- it all depends on what political party one supports as to whether this situation is okay or not.
The nature of a melting pot is the stuff at the bottom gets scorched and the scum rises to the top.
I've been disturbed by the amount of coverage that Canadian media (of all kinds) has about American issues. By using cheap entertainment as news off the wire feeds media can save money but so many important Canadian issues are ignored.
As Postman wrote, Lulymay. It's not about information. It's about disinformation.
If the powers that be can keep Canadians ignorant, Toby, they will get them to vote against their own self interest. That, essentially, is the explanation behind Trump's victory. And you can bet that there are people north of the border who have learned that lesson well.
There's no doubt that voters were angry, Steve. However, if you examine Trump's policies -- and there's not a lot to examine -- it's clear that, despite what he says, those policies won't benefit those who are angry.
He may spend on infrastructure, but his tax cuts will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. Once again, the United States will be left with a huge deficit. When China calls in its markers -- and it will if Trump imposes 35% tariffs on Chinese imports -- interest rates will spike. And so it goes.
The angry once again voted against their self interest. That's stupid. But they believed Trump's sales pitch. He has spent his life taking people for suckers. The election was his biggest con. And it worked.
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