Extremists have been exploiting the pandemic to create civil unrest, according to CSIS documents released under Access to Information legislation. Ideological groups intent on overthrowing the government have been “promoting the panic” over vaccines, the spy agency said.
Out of this it is clear to me how contagious and powerful social media content can be if it promotes fear or indignation, as has increasingly been the case. Companies like Twitter or Facebook could lower the temperature if they adjusted their algorithms but doing so would also lower user engagement (and revenues).
For another, it has revealed how complacent many people are about the divisions in our society.
“Yes, Canadians are divided — more than 90 per cent (vaccinated) on one side and the rest on the other,” said one respondent.
I think that is a fundamental misreading of what is happening. The vaccine mandates are a proxy for a broader values war being waged in our society and, if we don’t start to understand it and calm anxieties, the occupation of downtown Ottawa will have been merely a prelude to more chaos.
As a Maru public opinion poll for Postmedia suggested, fully one third of Canadians are prepared to resort to violence to protect what they see as their fundamental values -- a figure the poll suggested rises to 45 per cent in Alberta.
Social media is culpable, but so are our politicians.
Former federal Liberal candidate Adam Pankratz detailed his disillusionment with Justin Trudeau in an article in National Post, in which he said the prime minister’s embrace of identity politics has led to an “incredible failure of governance.” Government opponents have been called names in order to discredit them, he said. “Political opponents are not simply people who hold differing views but people who are fundamentally evil and deserve to be demonized, shunned or shamed.”
On the other side, would-be Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been using the word “freedom” with abandon, in particular in championing the “freedom convoy.” Yet one person’s freedom fighter is another’s insurgent. Encouraging lawlessness and disorder may play well with a faction of the Conservative coalition but it’s less likely to win over the non-aligned. In the Maru poll, two thirds of respondents said they want to extract voter revenge on politicians who contributed to, or supported, the protest in Ottawa.
Both parties desperately need to start talking the language of solidarity and fairness, if the centre is to hold.
In the debate on the Emergencies Act, Trudeau belatedly recognized the imperative to conciliate, while coming as close as he is ever likely to in acknowledging his part in the downfall of civility. “In the heat of the moment we can all get carried away to win an argument,” he said. “As a country, let’s aim for more decency in our public discourse. Let’s cherish the democracy we have and let’s commit ourselves to working together to make it even better.”
On the Conservative side, Eric Melillo said he is dismayed by the Emergencies Act “but it does not make the prime minister a dictator. He is within his right to invoke it.”
His colleague Scott Aitchinson said it’s time for MPs to stop being politicians and start being leaders. “We weren’t sent here to represent only those people who put up our lawn signs. We weren’t sent here to appeal to the lowest common denominator; we were sent here to raise it,” he said.
These are not sentiments that will find reward on platforms that minimize respect, understanding and civility, but Aitchinson is right — our country is in dire need of leadership if we are to drag its politics back from the cliff’s edge.
There is a Catch 22 in this worthy, yet idealistic aspiration that in my mind shatters hope for Canada's future. What’s clear is that everyone is frustrated with the government -- the truckers, the people who oppose the truckers, the people concerned about using the emergency act...and those with contrasting views on how the COVID pandemic should have been handled in general as it spread rapidly and assuredly across Canada these past two years.
It is a worn out cliche, but increasingly these days as public frustration mounts, governments are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
Sadly, the majority of us have become people of little faith and it does not auger well. Total agreement on anything is an unrealistic expectation and civil unrest is here to stay.
Get used to it my friends! Whenever you can, walk on the sunny side...Hug those close to you -- once COVID restrictions are lifted.
Out of this it is clear to me how contagious and powerful social media content can be if it promotes fear or indignation, as has increasingly been the case. Companies like Twitter or Facebook could lower the temperature if they adjusted their algorithms but doing so would also lower user engagement (and revenues).
For another, it has revealed how complacent many people are about the divisions in our society.
“Yes, Canadians are divided — more than 90 per cent (vaccinated) on one side and the rest on the other,” said one respondent.
I think that is a fundamental misreading of what is happening. The vaccine mandates are a proxy for a broader values war being waged in our society and, if we don’t start to understand it and calm anxieties, the occupation of downtown Ottawa will have been merely a prelude to more chaos.
As a Maru public opinion poll for Postmedia suggested, fully one third of Canadians are prepared to resort to violence to protect what they see as their fundamental values -- a figure the poll suggested rises to 45 per cent in Alberta.
Social media is culpable, but so are our politicians.
Former federal Liberal candidate Adam Pankratz detailed his disillusionment with Justin Trudeau in an article in National Post, in which he said the prime minister’s embrace of identity politics has led to an “incredible failure of governance.” Government opponents have been called names in order to discredit them, he said. “Political opponents are not simply people who hold differing views but people who are fundamentally evil and deserve to be demonized, shunned or shamed.”
On the other side, would-be Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been using the word “freedom” with abandon, in particular in championing the “freedom convoy.” Yet one person’s freedom fighter is another’s insurgent. Encouraging lawlessness and disorder may play well with a faction of the Conservative coalition but it’s less likely to win over the non-aligned. In the Maru poll, two thirds of respondents said they want to extract voter revenge on politicians who contributed to, or supported, the protest in Ottawa.
Both parties desperately need to start talking the language of solidarity and fairness, if the centre is to hold.
In the debate on the Emergencies Act, Trudeau belatedly recognized the imperative to conciliate, while coming as close as he is ever likely to in acknowledging his part in the downfall of civility. “In the heat of the moment we can all get carried away to win an argument,” he said. “As a country, let’s aim for more decency in our public discourse. Let’s cherish the democracy we have and let’s commit ourselves to working together to make it even better.”
On the Conservative side, Eric Melillo said he is dismayed by the Emergencies Act “but it does not make the prime minister a dictator. He is within his right to invoke it.”
His colleague Scott Aitchinson said it’s time for MPs to stop being politicians and start being leaders. “We weren’t sent here to represent only those people who put up our lawn signs. We weren’t sent here to appeal to the lowest common denominator; we were sent here to raise it,” he said.
These are not sentiments that will find reward on platforms that minimize respect, understanding and civility, but Aitchinson is right — our country is in dire need of leadership if we are to drag its politics back from the cliff’s edge.
There is a Catch 22 in this worthy, yet idealistic aspiration that in my mind shatters hope for Canada's future. What’s clear is that everyone is frustrated with the government -- the truckers, the people who oppose the truckers, the people concerned about using the emergency act...and those with contrasting views on how the COVID pandemic should have been handled in general as it spread rapidly and assuredly across Canada these past two years.
It is a worn out cliche, but increasingly these days as public frustration mounts, governments are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
Sadly, the majority of us have become people of little faith and it does not auger well. Total agreement on anything is an unrealistic expectation and civil unrest is here to stay.
Get used to it my friends! Whenever you can, walk on the sunny side...Hug those close to you -- once COVID restrictions are lifted.
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