Critical Thinking

More from my Hedges book, The World As It Is -- rebellion seems to be the only real means to change.  But who am I kidding, mother of three -- I am not going to take leave from work to join the Occupy Movement. So then I ask myself -- why bother? What am I doing here learning about all this, getting angry and depressed and doing nothing. What is the point. Sadly, I still haven't figured it out. But what I do find I am starting to do is think critically. Take this excellent Chomsky quote:

"Don’t take assumptions for granted. Begin by taking a skeptical attitude toward anything that is conventional wisdom. Make it justify itself. It usually can’t. Be willing to ask questions about what is taken for granted. Try to think things through for yourself. There is plenty of information. You have got to learn how to judge, evaluate and compare it with other things. You have to take some things on trust or you can’t survive. But if there is something significant and important don’t take it on trust. As soon as you read anything that is anonymous you should immediately distrust it. If you read in the newspapers that Iran is defying the international community, ask who is the international community? India is opposed to sanctions. China is opposed to sanctions. Brazil is opposed to sanctions. The Non-Aligned Movement is vigorously opposed to sanctions and has been for years. Who is the international community? It is Washington and anyone who happens to agree with it. You can figure that out, but you have to do work. It is the same on issue after issue.”

I don't instinctively do this. I trust what I'm being told and am often the first in line for koolaide. Hopefully reading and learning about the perils of corporatism will help me develop this quality.

The truth will set you free

Am reading an incredible book by the insightful and highly intelligent Chris Hedges. Even from the introduction, I am inspired by his writing. He compares his role to that of a preacher whose job is to preach the truth. He writes to expose the lies and injustices that have resulted from unfettered corporatism and to "call people to arms". According to him, being objective means that you accept the status quo. How can you be objective about death squads, massacres and civilian deaths at the hands of profiteers of war? How can you be objective about 33.2 million Americans who depend on food stamps? How can you be objective about 20 000 Americans who died last year because they did not receive adequate health care? Balanced news prevents us from feeling and its part of the reason we've lost our moral compass. Empathy, passion and a quest for justice are what's needed to effect change.

This challenges some of my recent thinking that it is dangerous to be single-minded and to vilify those who don't share your opinion. How will you ever be able to solve problems together if you are so divisive in your views? But then again, Chris Hedges viewpoint makes sense to me. You have to take a stand and fight against the injustices of the world or else you're inhumane.

I appreciate putting objectivity under the micro-scope. There's so much to learn here, that I'll have to devote a few blog posts to this.

Objectivity

A good friend of mine is taking a hiatus from the news -- or at least discussing it. At first I thought he was bored of the same old headlines and was starting to become apathetic like the rest of the non-voting populous. But as I listened to him explain his disdain for politics and the insularity that results from being emotional vested in your parties dogma, I too started to ask myself "why am I choosing to get worked up about politics?" I tell myself that I am staying informed of the issues. But really I'm looking for evidence to support my own views. I automatically find fault with new ideas that come from 'the other side' and have even started to lose respect for those with opposing views.

My friend suggesting removing the ideology and judging new programs on their own merits instead of looking for hidden agendas and categorizing them into divisive camps -- "Liberals Good" "Cons Bad? Can I do that? Do I want to? How do I even start?

The other thing I realized is that I am getting way too worked up over things I cannot change, some of which include:
politicians lie
politics is funded by big business
everyone has an agenda
people are motivated by their own self-interest
money is power and power corrupts
there's very little if anything politicians can do to prevent people from behaving badly -- there will always be bad apples
men want sex all the time (just had to throw that last one in :-))

I know myself and I don't think I'll be able to take a neutral point of view when examining an issue, but I'd like to be able to practice acceptance and consider that I could very well be wrong. Why not listen to the other side? I might learn a thing or two.

What are we getting worked up about?

It's hard to separate politics from ideology. When I look at something like the new Crime Bill, my instinct is to dislike it based on its source. I know very little of the justification for each proposed change. But I know that it is completely unnecessary because it's coming from a government that uses fear to control its people. In spite of the fact that crime rates are dropping, the Conservatives want to lock away Canadians. They want to appease their baby boomer voting base by showing that they are tough on crime. See, there I go, spewing my own dogma.

I almost wish that I could view political change without knowing what party was behind it. I tried reading the Crime Bill even and it just confused me. It's pretty sad that I have such a poor knowledge of the law in the first place. Here's an example of one of the proposed amendments: "This enactment amends the Criminal Code to eliminate the reference, in section 742.1, to serious personal injury offences and to restrict the availability of conditional sentences for all offences for which the maximum term of imprisonment is 14 years or life and for specified offences, prosecuted by way of indictment, for which the maximum term of imprisonment is 10 years. " Huh? Give me an example of a serious personal injury offense. Is this a good thing? Do we need to be tougher on youth? Who's getting away with what? I guess it does come down to ideology for me. Punishing people does not make for a better society. Prevention is a much better use of our tax dollars.

I'd love to be able to be objective. Lately, I find myself surfing for more evidence to back up my beliefs -- see, yeah, Harper's evil man! I only talk politics with people I know who share my views. I accuse my old man for being so blinded by his beliefs that he can't even see the truth. And yet, this will be me before too long. Not good.

WTF Canada?

I had a sinking feeling that today would be depressing, but I had no idea just how disastrous the election results would be. Voters basically signed us up for another four years of contempt, misappropriation, lies, cover-up, influence-peddling, coercion, bullying, over-spending, ... I'm so drunk right now I can't even think of more adjectives.

How could this be true? What were voters thinking? I'm afraid of the future. Gawd, I'm afraid of losing my fucking job FFS! I can't even find that silver lining. Balanced budget, moving more to the centre, being more accountable ... yeah right. What can I do about this now other than sulk and drink some more? Nothing. It's over. I'm so disengaged that I don't ever want to hear about politics until 2015. Maybe that's why voters did this -- now I get it, they were already fed up and did not want to hear about another election for four more years. Life sucks.

Why I'm not voting for the Cons

Integrity, accountability, transparency, DEMOCRACY. These words mean something to me. I consider public office a high honour -- we give our government the privilege of serving our interests and yet with the Harper government, he only serves the interests of his party and their rich, right-wing, religious zealots. Ignatieff was right this week when he said that Harper shuts down any form of dissension. Muzzling government officials, refusing to provide access to government information, misappropriating public funds, vetoing bills in the Senate, lying to parliament. The list goes on and on. This is not democracy. This is not my Canada. And still the polls remain unchanged. I heard on the CBC that scandal means nothing to voters unless it's a sex scandal or results in profiteering. This boggles my mind! Millions of people put their lives on the line for democracy all over the world and all we have to do over here is simply VOTE -- send the message that democracy matters. Wake up Canada!

Politics

A bit of election fever over here -- have been so anxious to talk about how things are playing out for each party, who is likely to win, etc. that when I had both sides of the family over for some cake tonight, I froze. It was clear from the onset that none of us shared the same views and everyone could feel the tension, so thankfully the conversation went no where. I didn't want to challenge my Dad -- I didn't want to ask my BIL why he thought Ignatieff was untrustworthy -- I just wanted everyone to be happy. Perhaps the timing was wrong, it was my son's b-day after all. But I think it goes deeper than that. Politics are 'incendiary'. Talking about it does not really inform and educate, it isolates and can even insult. I'm passionate about my views and I feel that those with opposing views are uninformed and hell I even think a lot of them to be selfish and naive. And this makes me feel awful because I should realize that a person's political aflictions say nothing about the people they truly are. Judging is wrong D. I need to be accepting of other viewpoints and try to learn from them. And yet, here I am only talking politics with those who share my views. Why? So we can agree and pat each other on the back? K, I feel like I'm turning this into another identity, that is strengthened by vilifying the other side. 'Us vs them' is not what I need more of. Time to be more objective.

I Remember

How can I express how I feel about November 11th without coming off like a complete ingrate. It's a day of mixed emotions for me. Part of me is loyal to my roots -- my Dad is extremely proud of his 35 years of military service, as am I. The Armed Forces rescued my Dad from a hopeless, loveless and poverty-stricken upbringing. The opportunities afforded by a military life is certainly what gave my sister and I most of what we have today. I am also incredibly grateful that my Dad did not see conflict overseas. I remember being terrified as a child during the Falkland Islands and also later hearing of how close Canada was to going to Vietnam. There's no question that my old man was ready to serve his country. Lucky for us, it never happened.

I also have tremendous respect for people who make it their livelihood to serve other people. The medical profession, enforcement, safety -- these are my heroes. It's clearly more than a pay cheque for them. They give WAY more than they receive. They are deserving of our respect.

And then there's the pacifist in me who has a really hard time honouring war. No one can argue about the death, destruction and debt that ensue and yet here we are being given a day off to 'remember'. There is no such thing as a noble cause. Why must we continue to force our beliefs and values on other cultures? What the fuck are we fighting for really? Money, pure and evil. I will not honour the military industrial complex. I just won't.

I feel sorry for the families of those who died in combat. They did not have a choice. But please, let's not put Afghanistan in the same boat. WWII was the last 'just' war -- our sovereignty was in eminent danger. Somehow by honouring world wars, the default has become 'homage to all combat'. I also make a distinction between inscription and voluntary service. If you choose to join the military then you choose to accept the risks that come with the job. It takes a brave person to put their life on the line for their beliefs, but let's not forget that they are the beliefs of the government and not necessarily those of its citizens.

Of course any criticism of the military that I express is perceived as treason. I wouldn't dare say any of this to my 'Support Our Troops' faring family. So I keep it to myself and every November 11th, I take a few quiet minutes to think about what the world would look like if we were all at peace -- peace with each other and most importantly, peace with ourselves. That's what I think we should be remembering. xx