Absolutism, the modern disease

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absolutism, activists, Canada., Constitution, equality, equity, Men, miracles, women

The word is defined as follows: the acceptance of or belief in absolute principles in political, philosophical, ethical, or theological matters.

It appears to me that we live in an age of absolute beliefs or opinions. The is no room for intelligent discourse, for presenting facts, to argue in a debate and present a counter point. It looks like we are either for or against and with someone or group or against said person or group. People want a solution to any problem which has to be final and absolute, solve this thing once and for all. Problem is we live in an imperfect world but no matter it’s got to be fixed now. How did we ever get to this point? The age of miracles is past, as the song goes, no matter we demand miracles from our elected officials, from anyone in authority.  Otherwise we are not happy, it is almost a nihilistic approach to life, a total rejection of Laws and Institutions or beliefs unless they prove they can provide us with the solution to a better world where everyone is treated fairly and without prejudice or preference.

In discussions people are pigeonholed along gender lines, economic or educational lines, religious beliefs though many claim not to have any and political view points. You are with the left or the right, you cannot be with the centre in terms of opinions. Age and generations is also another great divide, one group blaming the other and vice versa, usually the elderly are to blame for all the problems of the world.

If that was not enough, the media is also trying to tell you how to think and what to think under the guise of informing you. On social media you are afraid to leave a comment because the caustic reply you will get is well beyond any intelligent reasoning.

There have been other ages in human history where absolute thinking has prevailed. In Europe with the protestant Reformation an age of extreme intolerance, war and violence, tens of thousand died and this happened in the age of the Renaissance and Baroque period. In the 20th century extreme ideologies surfaced all over Europe and in Asia with the results we know.

Now in the 21th century a new phenomenon, populist ideology and concepts coming mostly from North America. In Canada with the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, Canadians saw a huge change in how they perceive themselves and how they see their country. Enshrine in the Canadian Constitution, the Charter has taken on a life of its own, with unforeseen results. It rectified many wrongs and demolished pre-conceived ideas of how society functions. Many of us profited from the advances brought about by the Charter.  Politicians also used it to push the concept of equality amongst all people. By 1995 equality was replaced by equity, not the same thing and not the same meaning either in legal terms, however few paid attention to this change, confusing equality with equity.  Equity is a great example of a word that started out with a general sense that developed more specific senses over time. In Canada today it generally means giving all to one group as compensation for centuries of perceived wrong doing by the other privilege group. A general rejection of the past and historical figures, they were wrong and awful people. We judge the dead, in some cases the long dead and accuse them today of crimes, using today’s standards. I wonder what we will be accused of in 60 years.

As the concept of equity took hold of Canadian society, some thought they could export this concept to other continents, in the spirit of look how good I am, I will show you how to correct the mistakes in your society. A rather arrogant idea coming from people who do not think in terms of justice but in terms of social revolution fuelled by self-absorbed thinking.

In the last 3 years in Canada we have seen the rise of a movement which advocates that women who are victims of violence, sexual or domestic must be believed no matter what the evidence of lack thereof may be. The simple fact that an allegation is made is sufficient to have the judicial system kick into gear. This movement with the help of the media has alleged that all police force in Canada is corrupt and or non-responsive, the Judicial system is broken and dominated by white old men with patriarchal tendencies, our politicians are accused of being biased.  Now Margaret Atwood, the famous feminist writer and acclaimed author is accused by the very same group of being anti-women because she believes in due process of the Law and said that mere allegations against anyone in the #MeToo movement are dangerous for us all, if no investigation takes place and the allegations are not proven in a Court of Law if they are ever pursued at that level how is society to progress.  One activist said to Atwood, maybe you should listen to young vulnerable females who are powerless, Atwood shot back that she had been listening for 63 years. Another activist wrote on Twitter that she was not interested in Justice or due process but in burning down the building of society and starting from scratch, in other word complete revolution, cannot see to many followers of that idea, but the media loves to broadcast the idea. As one editor told me, we are always on the look out for that story that gets public attention.

What is interesting in all this, was the comment made by a feminist writer and jurist who being interviewed explained that Society at large is simply not following the issue of equality or equity and public attitudes are not changing as fast as some would like. So despite the activists, media and some politicians who would like to see a re-ordering of society with new pro-feminist attitudes, few in Society, men and women are actually following or paying attention to any of it. Passing laws, social engineering, imposing quotas in hiring base on gender alone, demanding that private corporations have a balance ration of men and women on boards, or that Courts of Law have an equal balance of men and women sitting on the bench, etc all of it may have a more surface impact than a deeper attitude changing impact on Society at large.  I am still appalled by television Sport channels and hockey in Canada to see the same toxic macho attitudes being presented and watch in bar, pubs and at home, no one says a word about this, hey hockey and sports in general are sacred institutions. Change will come eventually but change in peoples attitudes to any social question will come at snail pace. You cannot legislate how people think.

However in this age of absolute beliefs and instant solutions, one has to be very careful to either say nothing on social media or parsing one’s words carefully as to not offend the activists who believe they hold the truth.  As  a lawyer said to me, this is the result of the electronic age and the internet. That is scary.

Attitudes

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8 March, Canada., equality, Feminist, PMJT, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau

One of the most difficult thing to do in this world is changing people attitudes towards a situation, a person, a social construct, etc… People have opinions and attitudes about our world and the society we live in and changing attitudes can prove fruitless. In North America and the Western World change has been fast and furious in the last 50 years, in some cases too fast for some and bewildering in its implementation.

This week was International Women’s Day and with it we got the usual effusive news report on women’s progress, in Canada women have been able to vote in Federal Elections for one hundred years, so in Parliament 338 young women were invited from every community to come and speak on equality sitting in the Chamber for a 3 day conference. Our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau likes to style himself a feminist and he has gone out of his way to show what he can do to promote feminist causes, he is the first Prime Minister to have a parity of Ministers in his Cabinet and now he has announced in light of the Trump defunding of so many social programs internationally a 650$ million dollar program for Women’s health and reproductive rights in developing countries.

His spouse Sophie Grégoire Trudeau put out a press release promoting the idea that on this day we should also look at men who support and help women in their social advancement. It did not take long for many feminist on the more extreme fringe to denounce her and say that we did not need her ideas. Some went so far as to call it a day when you can ostracize men and the media loves reporting the more extreme point of view. Truth is at the Street level around me, saw no mention of the day. Yes there have been many advancement on pay equity and in many other domains in our society. Our Parliament has 46% women siting in the House of Commons. The abortion question was resolved in 1988 and many laws have changed to ensure equality amongst men and women. Nothing is perfect but bit by bit things are changing for some not fast enough, but again attitudes have not changed all that much in general despite legal changes in our Constitution and Laws. Badgering people or shaming them on social media will not bring a new attitude on the role of women in our society.

I maintain that in order to advance any idea in Society you need to include everyone and especially men in this case, it is a continuous process of education throughout society, not confrontation. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau simply said that with her children she promotes in their rearing the notion of equality, so that they have positive attitudes towards everyone and not harbour old stereotypes. Her message is positive and inclusive because this is where it all starts in the education of children.

Maclean’s carried two opinion style articles from two writers, one was Anne Kingston, who sounded more bitter and more dismissive than usual, Kingston basically claimed that Sophie Grégoire Trudeau was an elitist (yes that word again) she was out of touch and the photo of her and her husband Justin was sickening, just another political wife. As for all the other women who might agree with Sophie well they too are dismissed as traitor to their gender. These feminist writers claim that they do not need their husbands and would not be seen in a photo with their husbands holding hands,it is all too demeaning. This type of extreme point of view does nothing to help advance equality in our society and simply shuts down the dialogue. Unfortunately the media loves the extremist it is good entertainment. Let’s hope that parents will teach their children the value of the human person of either gender and the principles of equality.