We also need to remember that the Anglo-Saxon tradition also gave us the diggers and levellers, agrarian socialists, that sought to throw off the Monarchy in the English civil war. It gave us Tyler Watt and the peasants revolt. It gave us the agrarian socialism of the CCF in Saskatchewan which led to universal healthcare and our social safety net. These collective values run parallel to the individualist values that dominate our discourse, we need to find balance, not purity. Putting all our epistemological eggs in one basket reduces our cultural resiliency
There is no biological inevitability in Culture. We can make it whatever we want it be.
It turns out that a lot of these western values of freedom and personal autonomy are actually Wendat values. The early European explorers were coming from a places that had no sense of this. They came from a culture of religious inevitability, a place where God had placed everyone in the correct level of hierarchy.
When they encountered the Wendat they were shocked by their freedom of movement within social structures and that authority came from expertise and persuasion and not divine sanction.
These ideas came back to Europe and started the emancipation of people from Kings and Churches. The enlightenment doesn’t start before contact it starts because contact.
What we keep forgetting from the lessons learned from the Wendat is that power should be constantly distributed and negotiated. You can’t be both on the side of God and Kings and also support personal freedom and autonomy. Centralized power and rigid social structures always enslave and limit the possibilities of a culture.
We can still learn a lot from how the north eastern people of America decided 800 years ago to throw off the power of their nascent sun kings in Cahokia and reorganize themselves into loose, highly democratic confederacies.
I think Canada is just starting the ascendancy into full wokeism. I found on the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) pages the other day the notice that NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC research grants had special programs only for black students. The wording at all levels, undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate actually is "Presently, CIHR and SSHRC USRAs are exclusively for black students." This was not so in the past and represents a significant departure from previous funding requirements. Universities of course are where NSERC et cetera applications are generated, so that basically says no white students need apply and universities will tailor their administration to this DEI concept, as NSERC et cetera funding represents a pretty big part of funding. And whilst wokeism appears to begin at universities (Dr. Lyell Asher has an excellent hour or so video on the cult of universities -- specifically ed schools as he calls them, where teachers are trained), its tentacles are far reaching into society. I notice, as an anecdotal surmise, from Facebook pages for the NCTRC that a lot of supporters are white middle-aged women "allies". They tend to be zealous and strident.
In Canada it seems like white middle-aged women (like me) are the ones who wear the orange t-shirts and "every child matters" and wave the placards at "missing and murdered indigenous women" rallies and yell and stomp their feet. I can't yet figure out why this particular demographic is so prevalent. I've spent too much time trying to present facts that contradict their beliefs and lost a few friends along the way, sadly. Apparently I'm a racist and a bigot and a liar.
I would also be on the high end of this demographic. There is no orange in my wardrobe. I am glad to know that my kids are at least somewhat media savvy, judging by conversations we've had.
I've made my kids think about it, as they now have young children. My grandsons aren't in school yet, but I told my daughters to keep an eye out for what's being taught. Here's an example: Gord Downie, formerly of the Tragically Hip and oddly a Canadian icon, wrote a graphic book/opera/whatever about a young native boy who died of exposure after he left his school to travel 600 km to his uncle's place. There is now a foundation called the Gord Downie/Chanie Wenjack Foundation, supported by many big corporations and other organizations seeking woke approval. (They should read Vivek Ramaswamy's book on corporate wokeism). Tons of money. lots of adulation and self-flagellation by "settlers." The book Secret Path is read to Canadian school children from kindergarten up. The problem is the story is not true, at least not as it's told in the graphic novel and on the website and wherever else it gets promulgated. Robert McBain wrote a book called The Lonely Death of an Ojibway Boy that tells the true factual story. here is a link to a good article about the whole thing, the fabrication et cetera. https://c2cjournal.ca/2017/10/the-sad-truth-about-chanie-wenjack/
Then there is the whole orange shirt thing. Phyllis's story about her orange shirt isn't true either. There are for sure some elements that may be true, but as written in her book, it's mostly make believe.
I worry about my grandsons in school. British Columbia is particularly woke. UNDRIP was brought into law right after the hoax of 215 graves hit the news. I work peripherally in the legal field and I've done dozens of land claims and other types of lawsuits involving first nations and I have to say I'm really concerned about the future of BC and of Canada if the brakes aren't put on this whole thing and some reality injected.
We also need to remember that the Anglo-Saxon tradition also gave us the diggers and levellers, agrarian socialists, that sought to throw off the Monarchy in the English civil war. It gave us Tyler Watt and the peasants revolt. It gave us the agrarian socialism of the CCF in Saskatchewan which led to universal healthcare and our social safety net. These collective values run parallel to the individualist values that dominate our discourse, we need to find balance, not purity. Putting all our epistemological eggs in one basket reduces our cultural resiliency
There is no biological inevitability in Culture. We can make it whatever we want it be.
It turns out that a lot of these western values of freedom and personal autonomy are actually Wendat values. The early European explorers were coming from a places that had no sense of this. They came from a culture of religious inevitability, a place where God had placed everyone in the correct level of hierarchy.
When they encountered the Wendat they were shocked by their freedom of movement within social structures and that authority came from expertise and persuasion and not divine sanction.
These ideas came back to Europe and started the emancipation of people from Kings and Churches. The enlightenment doesn’t start before contact it starts because contact.
What we keep forgetting from the lessons learned from the Wendat is that power should be constantly distributed and negotiated. You can’t be both on the side of God and Kings and also support personal freedom and autonomy. Centralized power and rigid social structures always enslave and limit the possibilities of a culture.
We can still learn a lot from how the north eastern people of America decided 800 years ago to throw off the power of their nascent sun kings in Cahokia and reorganize themselves into loose, highly democratic confederacies.
While not Canadian, I see the American universities beginning to cancel DEI contracts as a major crack in the woke agenda.
I hope the trend continues
I think Canada is just starting the ascendancy into full wokeism. I found on the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) pages the other day the notice that NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC research grants had special programs only for black students. The wording at all levels, undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate actually is "Presently, CIHR and SSHRC USRAs are exclusively for black students." This was not so in the past and represents a significant departure from previous funding requirements. Universities of course are where NSERC et cetera applications are generated, so that basically says no white students need apply and universities will tailor their administration to this DEI concept, as NSERC et cetera funding represents a pretty big part of funding. And whilst wokeism appears to begin at universities (Dr. Lyell Asher has an excellent hour or so video on the cult of universities -- specifically ed schools as he calls them, where teachers are trained), its tentacles are far reaching into society. I notice, as an anecdotal surmise, from Facebook pages for the NCTRC that a lot of supporters are white middle-aged women "allies". They tend to be zealous and strident.
Sigh. I hope you're incorrect. I suspect you're not.
And I agree about the woke-supporting demographic
In Canada it seems like white middle-aged women (like me) are the ones who wear the orange t-shirts and "every child matters" and wave the placards at "missing and murdered indigenous women" rallies and yell and stomp their feet. I can't yet figure out why this particular demographic is so prevalent. I've spent too much time trying to present facts that contradict their beliefs and lost a few friends along the way, sadly. Apparently I'm a racist and a bigot and a liar.
I would also be on the high end of this demographic. There is no orange in my wardrobe. I am glad to know that my kids are at least somewhat media savvy, judging by conversations we've had.
I can totally empathize
I've made my kids think about it, as they now have young children. My grandsons aren't in school yet, but I told my daughters to keep an eye out for what's being taught. Here's an example: Gord Downie, formerly of the Tragically Hip and oddly a Canadian icon, wrote a graphic book/opera/whatever about a young native boy who died of exposure after he left his school to travel 600 km to his uncle's place. There is now a foundation called the Gord Downie/Chanie Wenjack Foundation, supported by many big corporations and other organizations seeking woke approval. (They should read Vivek Ramaswamy's book on corporate wokeism). Tons of money. lots of adulation and self-flagellation by "settlers." The book Secret Path is read to Canadian school children from kindergarten up. The problem is the story is not true, at least not as it's told in the graphic novel and on the website and wherever else it gets promulgated. Robert McBain wrote a book called The Lonely Death of an Ojibway Boy that tells the true factual story. here is a link to a good article about the whole thing, the fabrication et cetera. https://c2cjournal.ca/2017/10/the-sad-truth-about-chanie-wenjack/
Then there is the whole orange shirt thing. Phyllis's story about her orange shirt isn't true either. There are for sure some elements that may be true, but as written in her book, it's mostly make believe.
I worry about my grandsons in school. British Columbia is particularly woke. UNDRIP was brought into law right after the hoax of 215 graves hit the news. I work peripherally in the legal field and I've done dozens of land claims and other types of lawsuits involving first nations and I have to say I'm really concerned about the future of BC and of Canada if the brakes aren't put on this whole thing and some reality injected.
You are correct...I work in an elem school in BC.....