Liberal MP Joël Lightbound claims his own government’s response to the pandemic has been “politicized” and “divisive.” He’s got a point.
While Justin Trudeau may have been right to say many Canadians are “angry” and “frustrated” with the unvaccinated, stoking that anger is hardly productive or responsible for any leader.
But it’s not only the Liberals who should be reassessing their attitudes. Republicans versus Democrats, Liberals versus Conservatives, the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated — as the divides grow wider, what are we each doing to build better bridges rather than demonize one another?
I am not alone when I say that. In my own extended family, the vaccinated and unvaccinated are becoming estranged. The rage of extreme viewpoints astounds me, given the love and respect that earlier defined these relationships. Reports of destroyed friendships and family connections around issues of the jab are increasing.
And I watch with concern how aggressive Facebook posts from my own acquaintances belittle or berate those who do not hold their views on the importance of vaccines. The mocking seems relentless. Last year, UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that the pandemic was unleashing “a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating, and scaremongering.” The situation does not seem to be much improved.
We need to stop and see where we are going with such attitudes. In my view, we are not headed to a good place.
While respectful dialogue on divergent issues is always welcome within a democracy, it is concerning and ultimately defeating to engage in such deeply divisive conflicts. As biologists know, evolution has proceeded on the strength of collaboration and co-operation. Duke University professors Brian Hare and Vanessa Wood confirm that rather than relying on survival of the fittest, human progress has developed primarily on the strength of “survival of the friendliest.” Others agree we are “group animals” and our progress demands we focus on ways to understand and mediate, rather than condemn one another.
Recently, CBC Manitoba published a series around acts of kindness in the community that had been reported during the pandemic. It was refreshing to read about such random acts — from delivering letters and gift cards to nurses to clearing neighbours’ snowy driveways.
But these actions are not enough. We need to start to question the deepest values that drive decisions and policymaking. Anger, divisiveness, conflict and stubborn entrenchment in one’s own views do not open the door to listening, understanding and reaching an equitable resolution.
As we look to our elected officials for guidance during these troubling times, we should realize the whole point of public health is to broaden the dialogue to include social, community, economic and environmental concerns —– and that means inviting multiple stories. Different voices and judgment calls will emerge around issues of risk, for instance.
The challenge is to ensure we remain open-minded and tolerant even as divergent views emerge. In the case of COVID-19, the fact is that it is more than just a virus, as crucial as it is to get it under control. The pandemic affects our mental, social, economic and environmental well-being as well. A genuinely holistic public health perspective acknowledges this complexity, and demands we are humble, open-minded and tolerant towards one another and willing to genuinely listen to different viewpoints. This is how we can best hope to start to “live with the virus,” as so many people recommend.
As we start to move out of the pandemic, let’s certainly try to leave the divisiveness behind. It is not only a job for political leaders to do so, but the same applies to each of us. There are many different stories to tell, and plural perspectives, whether they are told from left- or right-wing or moderate political standpoints. Only if those narratives are respectful will we continue to acknowledge the roots of democracy and of our humanity.
MP Lightbound is right to say “it’s time to stop dividing Canadians and pitting one part of the population against the other.” His colleague Nate Erskine-Smith is also right that “we need to manage our differences with respect.” We need to remember that if there is respect and kindness toward one another, we can always achieve more together than separately.
Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, PhD, is a former dean of the faculty of environment at Simon Fraser University and professor emerita in the department of philosophy at the University of Toronto.
She is currently writing a book for the University of Toronto Press entitled A Kinder World.
Comments
Yes, a simpleton's view - The idea of survival of the fittest always applies, but one has to remember the level one is at when reacting to the challenge. If at the family level avoid behaviour that challenges aggressively . If community level, provincia level, National, International the same, if cohesion is the objective. If survival is being challenged, then aggression may be needed as the 'fittest' way to survive. I noticed that when our Federal democratic process (Parliament) was being threatened by what evolved in the Freedom Convoy, our Political Parties forgot to come together to defend our system, and carried on the inter Party rivalry . They behave as though they are prepared to sacrifice the democratic process for Party supremacy. Our rivals at the international level must be gloating at our self destructive ways. We will be easy pickings for their empire building objectives now under way in most areas. To name one -Poland.
Democracy as a concept of governance may have had it's day, because it has lapsed it's defences for Order and Peace internally , as well as against any external predator. Most of those external predators have order and peace within their borders, and formidable offensive weaponry to gain more territory. I suspect their citizens agree with their leaders, at least to the point of not rising up in revolution .
"They behave as though they are prepared to sacrifice the democratic process for Party supremacy." Absolutely! I suppose that I shouldn't have been but I was actually shocked when Scheer, Poilievre and Bergen emphatically supported the protests even before they had a handle on the bigger picture. All they cared about was having something to bash Trudeau with. The Liberals aren't all that much better. Where are the "statespeople" in our political classes?
"I noticed that when our federal democratic process (parliament) was being threatened by what evolved in the freedom convoy, our political parties forgot to come together to defend our system, and continued the inter-party rivalry."
Uhhhhh, ONE party did that and as usual, it was the conservatives, who sympathize with the convoy types to the extent that Maxime Bernier, one of their proxy leaders, came within a hair of actually winning leadership of the federal Conservative Party of Canada. These trucker types are their "base," a group that has given new meaning to the term.
I keep seeing this "bothsidesism," an assumption that political parties are interchangeable; it's a perspective that apolitical people who don't actually follow it that closely like to affect. When there are two separate entities, zero collaboration will take place unless both are at least open to the concept, it takes two i.e. But if one party absolutely refuses, is in diehard opposition, declares itself to be obstructionist above all, then THAT PARTY is the problem, and that party is the Conservatives.
The GOP started all of this intransigence in the right wing by showing themselves once Obama was elected, and they've never let up. So virtually ALL OF THIS political turmoil can be blamed on conservatives, and should be at every turn.
One problem is that it's a bit late for all that. In order to become an anti-vaxxer, a person has to have already joined a subculture which is drastically suspicious of and hostile to our social and educational institutions--they have to already not believe anything anyone says. At that point they don't care about your compassion or consultation or whatever, anything you say is all a plot.
In the long term, yes, we need to create a more consultative, compassionate environment and a more stable, equitable economy. But when it comes to dealing with these people right now, it's more like a cult--you need to pull people out of their weird little hall of mirrors-and-echoes, and you need to do something about the cult leader/s.
Well said. These people need actual deprogramming in the same way people leaving a cult do. They have accepted beliefs and become very emotionally attached to them. More than that, they have joined a community and if they accept what you are telling them they will have to walk away from their "friends".
Examining those beliefs causes them significant anxiety and that's why they resist. We have to help them....somehow.
Many people now seem to "not believe anything anyone says," except that they believe EVERYTHING that is said by ANYONE who agrees with the worldview they've chosen. As a retired teacher, I'm thoroughly embarrassed, yes, by the "unkindnesses" (perceived or real) in evidence, but especially by the lack of critical thinking skills on display these days.
This article is as distressing to read as what has been happening over the last month because it's a reminder of how the decent left wing that is trying to govern is getting run over by a conservative convoy that is completely irrational and dead wrong on every single "issue" they're so pathetically "fighting for." "Divergent views on vaccines?" In the context of a pandemic? What are you talking about?! This isn't whether or not you prefer chocolate to vanilla.
And facing such dangerous misinformation with "kindness" and simple-minded "positivity," essentially turning the other cheek when faced with such blatant and aggressive stupidity as the conservatives keep gleefully dishing out, with no end in sight, combined with the shocking malice aforethought shown in pure, unbridled hatred of Trudeau and the Liberals is the main reason we are even in this disturbing situation! Pan out, big picture, there are precedents close at hand; if a political right that has lost its mind wins, which deeming it to be on a par ,with the left helps happen, we're all screwed here. No more church ladies on the left, please; we all need to grow up now.
I don't see it this way. In my personal experience, people are much kinder to each other during the pandemic than ever before. Maybe it's because I don't partake of social media, which amplify and exploit differences of opinion for profit. If people would just turn their back on social media (and other negative forces such as alt-right radio) and open up again to the real world, things just might take a turn for the better.
The "Freedom Convoy" debacle turned out to be an exercise in how not to handle a mob. You cannot reason or negotiate with a mob - if you try, you will probably make a fool of yourself. The PM knew that and so did nothing.
There was never any clear statement by a valid representative of the convoy defining their specific objectives, what specifically they were in response to, or why their means to achieve their objectives were justified. We heard a lot of buzz-words like "freedom", being bandied around, but nobody attempted to define what were the acceptable limits on freedom in a liberal democracy. As a result, the protesters and our government officials were working from entirely different perspectives.
What should have happened? The protestors should have been asked to nominate 2 or 3 spokespersons to provide the above information. They should then have been asked to participate in a public debate to discuss its validity. (It should not have been in the format of those inane televised shouting matches that they call debates at election time. It should have been in proper debate format, with the rules of debate properly enforced by a competent moderator. Fallacious argument should have been weeded out and the winner declared by a competent, impartial judge.) This would have given Canadians the tools to help decide for themselves.
You obviously watched no footage of Ottawa or these terrorizing thugs at all. Lining up hundreds of police was the ONLY way to handle this "walking dead" crowd, unreachable with reason.