I’ve been educating myself about Canadian culture over the past several months… daily listening to the CBCs podcasts for instance. In this new election season, I’ve read a lot more about Stephen Harper’s views on his job, and on Canada and on it’s economy. His perspective is that “Canada’s economy is weak, because of liberal policies.” Well isn’t that interesting? He sounds very much like a usa republican of the 1970s or 1980s. He is definitely not a neo-conservative as some Canadian liberals would want to label him. He’s a good natured fellow, it seems… and there is a lot of truth in the need to understand and facilitate market forces. It is interesting to think that his party might be like the usa republicans of twenty years ago, though. We have had exceedingly mixed results down here in the usa with the republicans being in power on Capitol Hill for the twelve years between 1994 and 2006. It’s fascinating that those who called themselves “conservatives” spoke in terms of precise models of economic cause and effect, and yet adopted a laissez faire attitude towards regulation in general. The truth is that even as they spoke about economics, they were motivated largely by contributions and benefits provided by industry leaders. So, they oftentimes did what industry leaders wanted them to do, because they were getting kickbacks from those organizations, in the form of lobbyist donations, lobbyist swag, ultra high-paying positions on the board of directors of national corporations after they left office, and such things. Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton have become the stuff of legend, for example.
The republican laissez-faire policies in the usa have in many ways led to social entropy… which is ironic considering that the christian right down here was always so vigorously saying that it wanted to promote good moral values. The social entropy we see in the usa evolved in the pre-internet years… where we had a centralized media which was suddenly released from the requirements of the “Fairness Doctrine” This happened in the 1980s, which is, as I gather, was about the same time that the Canadian government passed this law, seeking to ensure honesty and transparency in the press. Now, we in the usa have “shock jocks” spewing their diatribes on hate radio, and we have cable news services that many people look up to and respect which are actually all a charade of propaganda (like Fox News). Is this good for the usa? Absolutely not… I was shocked that even progressive news outlets like NPR (our usa version of Canada’s CBC radio) fully bought into the narrative about the war on the middle east for many years. And they defended the government’s foolish reasoning with a very sycophantic manner of journalism. This is what happens when charlatans are given the reigns of the public consensus-leveraging process - the whole nation’s judgement becomes clouded.
However, in the process of public discourse disintegrating into exaggeration and emotional nonsense, something good happened to the usa. This is, that because necessity is the mother of invention, people in the usa have had to learn some measure of critical and independent thinking about things. Critical thinking is what has given the usa it’s innovative spirit, and it’s zestful approach to life. From what I gather about Canadians, on the other hand, they seem to shy away from deep thought about negative things.
Another interesting movement that started in the mid-1980s was a new folksy kind of psychology which touted the importance of “positive thinking” and “personal affirmations.” This has become quite an influential brand of pop-psychology in north america. There’s a very big error in judgement which “positive thinkers” make, however. Let me map this one out for you.
Can we agree that all the things that happen in the world around us are somewhere on the gradient of positive to neutral to negative?
Can we then agree that it would not be healthy to be emotionally happy as you think about a negative thing? (admittedly, if you are able to see beyond the exact event and see the larger context - there can be things one can learn - and there is reason for pleasure in that… but I’m talking about only looking at the negative occurrence by itself)
If we agree on both of these points above, then we would have to conclude that there are a whole range of human emotions which are meet for the circumstances of thinking about different types of events that occur in the world around us. This logically means that one has to embrace the indignance and alarm and even the anger that comes to mind, when thinking about negative things. A person who wants to shirk angry feelings, necessarily has to become very hasty in how he or she looks at negative topics… that person has no time for a deep and earnest analysis of the causes and effects which surround these negative things. But, then isn’t it true that understanding the causes and effects and ramifications of the negative things in the world around us is one of the most important meditations we all have to do, as responsible human beings living in a society together? I have observed that those who will not squarely look at negative things will become weak in their lives. They will become less adept at daily living. Why? Because their understanding of these negative things that occur in the world around them becomes anemic, so to speak. They only have a cursory understanding of these negative events; and therefore, as they look out at the world around them, and try to put together the puzzle of how things work, they are missing large sections of the picture.
Naturally, the moment one brings indignance out, and voices it to someone in your personal life - it transforms into something which is very unhealthy socially - rancor or complaint. Chronic complaint is entirely unacceptable in a family. Members of the family should not be allowed to be “Eeyores” to use the comparison to a character from AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books. But a personal and private emotion of indignance and alarm when thinking about negative things is something we must embrace, if we are to be earnest in looking around us and understanding our world.
So here, is the difference I see between the culture of folks in Canada and the culture of folks in the usa. We south of the border have experienced a lot of social degredation in our manner of public discourse. And that has led to foolishness, some misery, and some confusion. However, the necessity of embracing critical thought has given us an innovative spirit, and a zest for life.
And thus my suggestion to our northern neighbors is that if you want to capture some of the zest for life you see south of the border… I would hope you would consider debunking the pop-psychology known as “positive thinking” - and instead, encourage your friends and neighbors to have a zeal for critical thinking.
Our ability to avoid the rancour which has poisoned the political dialogue down south is the result of being able to think critically in the first instance.
Canadians also have no problems considering negative thoughts. It’s this ability that helped keep us out of the Iraq war.
The currents of outright anti-intellectualism seem to be running strong and deep in the States. President Bush, who was elected twice, typifies this. He seems to delight in his willful arrogance and inflexibility of mind. The fact that he cannot admit he is wrong is something he is actually proud of. And this has pandered to a large segment of the population that would also rather not think critically. A chant such as usa, usa, usa! would be considered ironic in any other western nation.
The so-called cultural war, the division into red and blue states (with only two political parties feeding this polarity), is also an indicator that critical thinking is not sweeping your nation. Nor is the strength of the evangelical movement, which also abhors thinking critically. Canada is a thoroughly secular nation by contrast, an attitude deeply founded in a more rational outlook.
And in likening our conservatives to Reagan republicans you seem to look at us and see a repetition of a pattern which has occurred in your own recent history and assume that we are evolving along the same lines. Just twenty years behind you. Our politics, conservative and otherwise, have their own evolutionary roots and patterns which will take a bit more than monitoring podcasts to fully comprehend.
The phrase “zest for life” also needs some clarification. What do you mean in this context? Did you mean boldness instead, to contrast with your imagined Canadian timidity? You certainly can’t mean Americans are enjoying life more, which would be a difficult argument to back up with any kind of evidence.
That Americans are more innovative generally than other nations is another myopic view. Humans are innovative, it is not a characteristic more prevalent in any particular nation state. In general it seems you have fallen into the cognitive trap of “american exceptionalism”, a concept which only has currency in the United States.
Of course there is hope that American is moving out from a dark age, that young people especially who have grown up under a Bush presidency should strongly and naturally reject the current anti-intellectual culture. It is understandable that you are drawn to such a hopeful viewpoint.
Just remember that the rest of the Western world didn’t abandon it in the first place.
Thanks for dropping by with the first long comment to my blog. Welcome. I wish I could give you a lei or some doorprize or something. I’ll get back to you shortly to discuss this, OK?
Hi there…
A couple things I have to mention.
First of all, I kind of put two posts together into one here. I ought to have dealt with politics separate from the main point that I was trying to get across about the happiness quotient of people in both countries.
Secondly, I realized when discussing this post over on reddit that in fact, my perception of how happy the usa is, would be colored by the fact that I live in a very cosmopolitan tourist ski/college town in the rocky mountains of Colorado. In fact, now that I think of the attitude of folks in the large cities here… I imagine that Canadians are happier on the mean, than folks in the usa are.
Now that said, let me explain my point a bit more clearly. When I look up to Canada by watching whatever Canadian television and radio broadcasts I can find on the internet… I see a nation which is much like the nation I grew up in - late 1970s usa. The social dynamics currently in Canada are very similar to what we experienced decades ago, down south here. Now that gives me an inroad to a lot of insights about life. It’s very exciting… It gives me the opportunity to see the path which our society in the usa took over the past thirty years. I can even see a lot of personal habits which I have in my life, which were formed because I grew up in a society which more closely resembled your society today in Canada, than it does ours in the states today.
I also feel a sense of obligation to make certain that my Canadian sisters and brothers aren’t tempted to walk the same path which we did, here in the usa. However, there are some aspects of life in the usa which have improved significantly since the 1970s. And I can imagine that a Canadian seeing those things, might want to have them - and a Canadian voter might mistakenly think that Mr. Stephen Harper has the answer for guiding your nation into a future where it has more of the flamboyant attitude, or more of the wealth which the usa has. Canada is at a crossroads this autumn, because of the election which was called. And so here I am at that crossroads, on my website holding up a makeshift sign which says that there are good things in this one direction, and bad things in this other direction.
You say:
But honestly, I think that Canada in the 1970s and earlier was quite similar to the usa. Only in the past twenty or thirty years have these two countries sharply diverged in their courses. And as I already said, I think it has a lot to do with the content laws you have up there, in regards to what can and can’t be published as “news.”
Skavenblight over, at reddit, looked at what I was saying, and put it into a different frame of reference. He pointed out the fact that Canada is a much more sparsely populated country than the usa - and that people live well apart from eachother. He contrasted the relishing of private life in Canada, with the outgoing nature of USAers who want to “be in the spotlight.” Does this help you understand where I’m coming from here? It is this effect that I’m pointing to. Now, we can all say that it’s ok to be an extrovert or an introvert. But in my earnest opinion, introverts are missing out. So, my idea here, is to offer one idea as to how Canadians might learn to suck the marrow out of life a bit more. My idea has to do with thinking independently a bit more about every angle of life.
Now, I have seen in my own life an incredible leap forward in the year 2002, when I felt obliged to sit down and think earnestly and vigorously about the negative situation which had occurred in september of the previous year, and all the implications of the politicians’ actions thereafter - including the war campaigns which had started against the middle east. I saw an incredible deftness which all of a sudden came upon my fingers at my keyboard that year.
Now you say that Canadians are better critical thinkers than people in the usa. I honestly don’t think so. Canadians think together. I see a lot of “group think” up there when I see how ordinary people talk about different topics as they are interviewed by the CBC, for instance.
In the usa, yes, indeed, it is true - that a certain segment of society becomes sillier and sillier by the year. Preachers talking about a “culture war,” and former army dudes exhorting folks about “patriotism” as if it meant a “noble war fever” show us this silly side. But the ridiculous nature of national dialog here also encourages many other people to hunker down and puzzle things out for themselves. It seems that you found this post through reddit… and the vibrant intellectualism which one sees at reddit is a result of this feeling of need people have to sit down in the midst of these political and media hurricanes and puzzle things out.
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