SOAP BOX ISSUE #1: In Defense of Something

Close your eyes. Think back to what life was like before. Before social media made information widely accessible. Before social media gave everyone a public platform. Before mistrust and division were as rampant as they are now. When you think of this, where are you?

For me, I’m sitting at my godparents’ home watching the nightly news with very limited interest. My parents and godparents are watching intently, occasionally providing some commentary that I don’t understand. I remember wishing that I did. I remember watching CBC’s The National with Peter Mansbridge and listening to him deliver the current goings on. I remember trusting him. Somewhere along the way, I imagine that for most people that trust evaporated and not just in Mr. Mansbridge. Trust in everything as eroded exponentially since then. Trust in government, trust in experts, trust in each other, and trust in the media among a host of others. No doubt, some of this is warranted. The media has become evermore focused on sensationalism and entertainment; what sells versus what’s important. The government has increasingly bought in to identity politics which seeks to create mistrust and division within the citizenry. Social media has blasted opinions across the world and onto everyone’s screens: both good ones and bad. Certainly, a little skepticism is a good thing, if not a healthy thing for society at large. So then what’s the problem?

It's hard to say. I think it’s fairly obvious to point out that we are currently living in a post-truth society. With the rise and fall of Donald Trump and his “alternative facts” in the U.S. and the pandemic ripping across the globe, virtually all information has been called into question and people are no longer certain of where they can turn to for “facts”. I put “facts” in quotations because it is increasingly clear that not everyone agrees on what really constitutes a “fact”. The erosion of trust in information widely regarded to be true or even verifiably true paints quite a dark picture of what is left to hold us together as a society. I would like to remind everyone that the current state of Canadian society is far from being the most divided it’s ever been. FLQ anyone? Bombings? The kidnapping of a trade commissioner and the murder of a provincial cabinet minister? Have we all forgotten about the October Crisis? I find it hard to imagine all Canadians linking arms across the country and signing kumbaya anytime soon, but I just as easily struggle to imagine a world in which similar radical and horrific actions are taken as they were in the 60s and 70s. But that was also quite different. While the FLQ were quite clearly a radically violent group, Canadians saw a lot more commonalities in themselves than they do now.

Sure, East versus West tensions were high, English versus Quebecois tensions were soaring, and people struggled to get along. But when the dust settled, we saw enough in each other to know that the person across the aisle that you might vehemently disagree with, was still a fellow Canadian. We have strayed so far from that notion that I constantly debate with myself whether we’ll get back to it. Things have obviously, and I think probably for the best, changed since the October Crisis. Since then, Canada has seen 7 different Prime Ministers, 16 federal elections, and 9 majority governments. Politics have changed; values have changed; technology has changed; WE have changed. As a result, society has become more individualized. People no longer see themselves as connected to society at large: civic engagement is on the decline, volunteering is down, voter turnout has been decreasing aside for a few recent upticks, and people are less and less cognizant of the impact a single person has on the lives of those around them. And I still don’t necessarily think individualism is a bad thing. Individualistic societies are often hallmarked by “socio-economic development, including higher incomes, more education, urbanization, and a shift toward white-collar jobs” which all sound pretty good! It’s great that people have placed less stock in group labels and societal expectations and have instead become more comfortable with following their own path and exploring life as who they believe themselves to be. I believe that this makes it harder for people to be controlled since they can no longer be reliably presumed to fit into certain societal groups. But maybe that’s not true. Maybe our lack of connection to each other has actually made it easier for us to be controlled, whether it’s by social media companies, advertising companies, governments, you name it, since it can be safely assumed that we all now only truly care about one thing: ourselves. Why would an Ontarian entrepreneur care about what life is like for an Albertan oil worker? Why should a farmer from P.E.I. consider how their actions could impact a middle school teacher in Regina? I mean, none of them have anything in common, right? They used to. And don’t get me wrong: this isn’t to say that Canada should pivot to more of a collectivist approach or that individualism is inherently wrong or bad. My concern is that if the emphasis is going to be placed on the individual and their individual needs and wants while still living in a civil society with other individuals, then there must be something strong that ties the individuals together in working towards the common good. In basketball, there is a drastic difference between individuals that make up a team (think the 2020 Houston Rockets), and a team of individuals (like the 2022 Memphis Grizzlies). Currently. Canada feels a lot like the former. We’re lacking chemistry.

So, the next logical question is how do we fix it? How do we figure out how to connect 38 million people? I think there’s lots to do or at least try. One suggested solution I find particularly intriguing is Canadian history. In his book, Who Killed Canadian History, J.L. Granatstein discusses how creating a national standard for the history curriculum in schools would help unite Canadians across the country since they would all share the same national story and could rely on this story to present us with a certain set of basic truths about who we are and what we stand for. While this would require every province to commit to a shared vision, I think this idea has some merit. National standards would get everyone on the same page and would allow students to have a more comprehensive picture of their country. The point of history is to learn from it and if students are all taught the same foundational Canadian history, then it will be easier for them to see the values that have shaped this country and why we must uphold them.

I also think there’s something to be said about cultivating respect and morality. I remember being younger and thinking about how ridiculous morality laws were to have in a modern society. Like seriously? I can’t be drunk in public because it might bother YOU? How ridiculous. But recently, I’ve been seeing some of these such laws in a different light. I wonder if, even though their codifying was designed to get people to stop doing something or behaving in a certain way, they had a secondary impact of instilling a sense of respect into the population. It’s not just wrong to be drunk in public because it’s illegal; it’s disrespectful to the random people around you that have to deal with your behaviour and listen to you rant about how the Leafs blew a 3-1 lead. They imprint the idea that your actions impact others and so you’re not just accountable to yourself. But it’s not feasible to pass more laws to try and regulate morality and respect when the ones we already have in place don’t achieve that goal all the time. Perhaps we just all need to do better at understanding the size of our footprints.

It's clear that we have a long road ahead of us, and the situation could very well get worse before it gets better. I believe it will get better. I heard somewhere that good people always win out and that’s a sentiment I’ve held close to my heart ever since. The good in society will always, always, always outweigh the bad, but it might not always be by much. Deep down, people want to make an impact. They want to help others. They know that other people matter. They want to trust, they want to believe, and they want that faith to be rewarded. Before we can move forward, we need to come together and with so many factors magnifying our differences, it can be hard to remember what keeps us together. It’s even harder when you never knew in the first place.