There ought to be a requirement for fledgling politicians that they spend a couple of months teaching kindergarten. No matter how much authority you have, you can’t just order a bunch of five-year-olds to learn and expect it to happen. You have to bribe, cajole, motivate and create routines. Then you can make progress.
And people don’t get much better when they grow up. You can pass legislation, you can tell voters what’s right and good, but unless they buy into the program, they just quietly keep doing what they want to. It’s that passive-aggressive streak in human nature showing through.
I’m sorry if I seem naïve to some of you, but I’ve been having a quiet little epiphany of my own, here in my little cottage on a narrow peninsula out on the Left Coast. You may have noticed the first stirrings a couple of weeks ago, when I was talking about the Next Downtrodden Minority (poorly educated white Christian males).
And ever since I’ve been wondering if those of us in the First World are the progressive, inclusive, societies we dream we are. Or whether our countries consist of a small fringe of civilized people on the surface, with the rest of the population still dragging their butts through the nineteenth century.
“Between the World and Me” by Ta-nehise Coates.
Considering the news out of the US last week, there was a very timely conversation on CBC radio’s “q” the other day with a black American writer. He reminded us that racism is still alive and flourishing in United States. It translates into physical danger, as shown in the statistics of the killing of black men by white police officers, by the numbers of black men in jail. Canada has its own problems in this respect, with the high percentage of aboriginal people in jail and the high levels of violence against aboriginal women.
And it goes right down the line, from the more overt experiences of racism, rape and sexism, down through workplace bullying and “office politics” to the casual complaints about Chinese drivers in Richmond, B. C. and the scapegoating of Chinese buyers who are apparently responsible for the region’s high housing prices.
Who is Progressing?
In Canada’s last federal elections, the Liberal Party won a majority of seats with 40% of the popular vote. Of course, only 70% of eligible voters turned out, and 15% of the population is too young to vote, meaning that about 24% of the population actually voted for the party in power.
So don’t be surprised when some “progressive” policy voted into law by a duly elected government doesn’t translate into real-time change in society. There are two ways to lead. One is to forge ahead and assume everyone else is following. The other is to stay ahead by looking over your shoulder to see which direction everyone is going, then adjusting your course accordingly. Good leadership involves a bit of both, and I suggest a bit of looking-over-the-shoulder would be useful about now.
“I’m Right and You’re an Idiot”
Otherwise public discourse falls into “a smog of adversarial rhetoric, propaganda, and polarization,” as it is termed by John Hoggan, Chair of the David Suziki Foundation. You know, I always worried a bit about calling my blog “Are People Stupid,” for fear that it might give the wrong impression. Mr. Hoggan has no such qualms about naming his book, in which he discusses “the importance of reframing our arguments with empathy and values to create compelling narratives and spur action.” Amen to that.
And part of that empathy comes in understanding that we are forcing many people outside their comfort range, and that forcing will inevitably cause pushback. Progress goes in fits and starts. We’ve had a great deal of progress lately. Perhaps now is the time for consolidation, just to make sure that the rest of the population is following us. A little less highly publicized Doing Something About It and a little more Making Real Progress.
There is a whole lot too much we-won-the-election-now-everyone-has-to-do-what-we-say going on. You can’t force people to believe in things they don’t believe in. The best way to change people is by example. Show them that your way of life is better by living it and prospering.
The complaint keeps recurring that if we in Canada change our electoral system away from the 50% + 1, it will make it harder to get anything done. Change will be slower, because there will be fewer majority governments, and those in power will have to take into account the opinions of a wider range of people. Which, it occurs to me, might be a Very Good Thing. There has been too much focus lately on winning, and far too little on bribing, cajoling, motivating and creating routines.