A blog to give a voice to our concern about the continued erosion of our democratic processes not only within the House of Commons and within our electoral system but also throughout our society. Here you will find articles about the current problems within our parliamentary democracy, about actions both good and bad by our elected representatives, about possible solutions, opinions and debate about the state of democracy in Canada, and about our roles/responsibilities as democratic citizens. We invite your thoughtful and polite comments upon our posts and ask those who wish to post longer articles or share ideas on this subject to submit them for inclusion as a guest post.
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Sunday, October 3, 2021

Political Polarization

As various writer dissect our recent election some observers are looking at the bigger picture....


Political observers have been warning that the increasing polarization of Canadian politics is turning respectful disagreement on issues into open hostility. Examples of that trend were evident during the 2021 campaign..............


One of the earliest warnings came from former clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick. He warned a Commons committee in February 2019 about the "vomitorium" of social media and "the rising tide of incitement to violence" — the ordinary people suddenly using words like "treason" and "traitor" in public debates on the direction and leadership of the country..........


"My point that I make (in his book) is that the price of entering public life has gotten higher. The price of staying in public life has gotten higher. And over the course of several elections in several years, I think we are going to see fewer people wanting to come into political life and serve their country."


More https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/the-house-election-anger-1.6196142


As someone who is NOT on ANY social media (gasp) but daily reads a variety of news and opinion pieces I cannot help but feel that much of the intolerance and over the top rhetoric is due to the ease with which users of these platforms can spread their thoughtless biases across such a broad spectrum of readers so quickly. That many are able to do so completely anonymously further increasingly encourages such unthinking rhetoric, any control of such content by the owners or by government is promptly classed as censorship and an attack on free speech by many of the users. I do not know how, or even if, such antti democratic speec and actions should be controlled I just know that the ever increasing political polarization and unwillingness to even consider the other point of view is very troubling to those like myself who try to find middle ground.


Its pretty clear that across the border to the south things are much further down the road to a very dark future and with more personal firearms than citizens that is very troubling with our shared border. Whilst I do not advocate mandating national service for all here in Canada I do wonder if the following U.S. veteran has a valid point in regards to deescalating the problematic polarization......


It hits me that either encouraging more national service or, better yet, mandating it, is the most important solution we have to one of the most fundamental challenges we face: repairing the divisions in our country, and fundamentally strengthening the fabric that binds all of us together. This fall, as Congress discusses including all women in the Selective Service — let’s go a step further, and begin to discuss how to include all 18-25 year olds in a national service program.

Service can take many forms, such as joining the military or AmeriCorps, working at a non-profit, joining a Parks system, or teaching in an underserved school. What matters most is not just that the service helps strengthen our country and its citizens, but that it is designed so that young Americans work closely with teammates with meaningfully different lived experiences, serve in locations different from where they came, do work that is larger than self, and accomplish difficult feats.

Elizabeth Young McNally is a veteran of service in Iraq in the US Army.


See - https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/575030-a-year-of-service-for-all-the-key-to-rebuilding-the-fabric-of

 

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6 comments:

The Disaffected Lib said...

Hey, Rural. I think you would find Andrew Potter's new book, "In Decline," helpful. The author, a professor and former newspaper editor, argues that western societies are in retreat from the Enlightenment and that is going to continue.

Potter connects the dots about troubling things many of us have noticed in recent decades. The breakdown of social cohesion, the rise of tribalism, the demise of liberal democracy are not only spreading, their spread is inevitable. Some will find this alarming but more will merely shrug and dive even deeper into our "devices."

The book's biggest failure is skirting the problem of the climate crisis. Potter focuses, instead, on how our federal and provincial governments so clumsily responded to the pandemic to illustrate the decline in governance.

Lorne said...

I'm not sure what the solution is, Rural, but I think your point is spot-on about the anonymity conferred by the internet that often emboldens the irresponsible and threatening rhetoric that seems so common today. Cowards hide behind such anonymity. They have found the perfect venue for their venom,

Rural said...

Well Mound Its a toss up which will bring the downfall of civilization as we know it first, Climate Crisis or Civil Crisis...

Rural said...

As someone who spends far too much time 'on line' daily Lorne, I am unsure if the internet is a blessing or a curse...!

Owen Gray said...

Freedom of speech does not guarantee wisdom behind the words, Rural.

Rural said...

How true Owen!