the great divide
and do tell, is it the same for you?
I know I’m not the only one noticing it. My courier driver sees it too. The guy at the feed store was talking about it with someone buying a few bags of chicken scratch. My friends and family all have stories to share. We, I humbly submit, are a people more divided than I have known in my lifetime. Something is happening and I think, whether purposeful or not, it serves the powers that be quite nicely. Unfortunately, it doesn’t serve us, as in ‘we the people’, at all.
Of course we’ve always had different opinions about how things should be. Heck, there’s been war since time immemorial. That’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m seeing is an entrenchment in positions with such fervour that to try to have simple conversations with alternative viewpoints is met with the contempt and hostility normally reserved for a serious threat. People are dumbfounded if you don’t agree with them. They get angry and dismissive. Reason slinks out the door in favour of the repetition of soundbites, mottos, and taglines. Curiosity is replaced with being right and listening with defending.
What is happening?
I grew up in a country full of salty, gritty characters. There was always a level of gumption to Canadians. It’s tough weather up here and most of the population, outside of the First Nations, settled here with nothing but determination and a dream. They had to get things done and they did. Today, only a generation or three later, that spirit has generally faded. A growing apathy spreads with our waistlines. Politics have replaced churches. Once notoriously known for our politeness, we now drop our heads and shuffle past one another, allowing for a “sorry” if we get too close, but rarely a “hello”.
And yet we willingly take on the care for the state of the world. People eagerly proclaim their support for countries far away, but don’t know the name of their neighbour. Protestors demand justice for the condemned, then demand condemnation for anyone that doesn’t share their views. We are living in a milieu so thick with hypocrisy it blinds us to what is right in front of our faces.
It’s nothing new for governments to use fear to control their citizens. What’s new is the tools at their disposal. For decades we’ve been sucked into our radios, our televisions and newspapers, and now our online worlds. People sit down on their couches in the evening and shut down reason and discernment in order to be kept up to date on the latest news. They’re told what to think about it, who’s good and who’s bad, and how the responsible and noble citizenry are expected to act. Year after year, these screens feed our minds with fear and threat, promising salvation in a government or a compliant action or, at the very least, good company with other worthy citizens if we just do what we’re told.
It’s gotten so bad that I can, for the most part, tell if someone watches the mainstream news offerings by what they want to talk about in a conversation and how absolute their positions. In the last few months I’ve had repeated conversations with people that, upon learning that one of our daughters lives in Virginia, suddenly look very solemn and whisper some version of “Oh dear, how is she doing there?”, as if I just told them she has a terminal disease. “Great, she loves it there and has made a lot of