People are simply ill-equipped to challenge what they are told. Many teachers feed the students dogma and will not abide questions.
Dogma, disinformation, misinformation, "theories" etc, etc, are rampant. To some degree they always have been, but the means of spreading the manure was a lot more labor intensive before the Internet.
Yes finally, "Context" is so hard to determine when you read somebody's thoughts and stories weather it be a txt message or forum board posts. Speaking directly to somebody is the way our brains are ment to receive this information. We cannot nearly attempt to get our points across or understood in a few paragraphs that take a few minutes at most to think about, rationalize, and then try to attempt to project this out into the world. To me this thread has taught me alot about Canada, America, laws, our outlook on how we live as people of a 1st world nation and more. Maybe we all didn't see eye to eye on certain things, and maybe didn't get our perspective across as we wanted, but it will teach somebody, something, someday I hope lolSome of what you refer to in the lottery I don't see as privilege, such as genetics, when you live, it's the cards that you're dealt. It's the cards that everyone is dealt. You don't get to pick them. And some might confer privilege or destruction, such as who you know and where you live. The end is the same. We're here and then we're dust.
"Who you know" carries only so far, and if you can't earn the benefit, it will go away, just not necessarily with the same possibly catastrophic results for others with less resources. How about "who you are friends with". Is that privilege, and if so, what's wrong with that? Why is the notion of privilege necessarily a bad thing in and of itself? Isn't there the matter of context?
For example, I was elected to membership in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. While I haven't been nominated for an EMMY, several members asked me if they could sponsor me for membership, and after viewing my credits, a committee, none of whom I knew, voted unanimously to make me a member. That gives me the privilege of voting for EMMY awards and attending the EMMY ceremony. It allows me to watch all of the nominated programs on either the Academy site or through a special login to watch material on pretty much any streaming platform during the nominating period so that I can make an informed decision. It allows me to help talented college students to get internships. It does zip nothing to help me land a job. How is that a bad thing? I think it's kind of cool that my colleagues wanted to do this on my behalf.
As for divisions in the US? They're primarily driven by the twin gods of Fear and Grievance, historically very powerful forces. And because we have powerful tools for spreading Fear and Grievance, it's spread very efficiently, bathing everyone with its malign stink. Put out a statement, back it up with nothing or made up stuff and the majority of people will believe it without question. According to Pew Research, about 30% of the population gets its news from social media:
and that gets spread around to their friends. "I heard", "They're saying" are hardly hard data points.
Social Media and News Fact Sheet
Social media plays a crucial role in Americans' news consumption, with about one-third of adults saying they regularly get news on Facebook and YouTube.www.pewresearch.org
Early in my career, I worked on hundreds of commercials and saw up front and close how powerfully persuasive suggestion works. The difference between 35, 40 years ago and today is that the methods of manipulating people are much more varied, but that's all.
No, I believe the U.S. is special. "Canadian exceptionalism" and "American exceptionalism" have drastically different meanings. Our societies are not running along the same track, largely due to the differences between our immigration policies (or lack thereof as the case may be), as well as our vastly different histories, political systems, geography, population density, etc. etc.
Yeah, understood...I wasn't really referring to any of that though. I'm talking about certain issues that are generally common across the western world in recent years. And a general opposition between national sovereignty and globalism.No, I believe the U.S. is special. "Canadian exceptionalism" and "American exceptionalism" have drastically different meanings. Our societies are not running along the same track, largely due to the differences between our immigration policies (or lack thereof as the case may be), as well as our vastly different histories, political systems, geography, population density, etc. etc.
Our politics is boring. It's the opposite of the U.S. We had no revolution. No civil war. We don't vote for our judges. We don't have a president (thank god). We don't vote for our Prime Minister. He or she is appointed by the Crown. Political contributions are regulated. The money influencing our political system is a minuscule fraction of that found in the U.S. This is a good thing.
Our prescription drugs are price-controlled and generally much cheaper than in the U.S.
We have universal health care.
We have a higher average life expectancy. Lower infant mortality rates, and a slightly older population on average.
Does social media have the ability to mind-fuck individuals on both sides of the border? Sure. But there are structural and cultural differences that make Canadian society distinct from American in many many ways. Not to mention our killer beavers and poutine. YMMV.
I agree with you on all that. But I think "the issues that are generally common across the western world" may just be another of the continuing cycles of history. People have been complaining about the breakdown of society since Socrates, and surely much longer.
I don't disagree with any of that. I just don't personally feel my freedom being impinged that much. Rather than people leaving, I see lots of new people immigrating here. If you're talking about the "brain drain" where talented, smart people move to the U.S. to make more money, that will always be.
That's exactly right. I feel the same, but that's because I'm old. Doesn't everybody eventually feel that way?
OK. Maybe not unrecognizable, but it's understandable that people become more critical of society as they get older, because society changes over time. No?
I was born in '77 so I'm of the generation you're talking about there, more or less. I think the generation that came of age in the '90s are the real self-righteous bunch, but you know, it's probably only, like, a loud 15% who Tweet a lot that are "social justice warriors" and think everyone else is ignorant. Most people are normal.
If you put your location in your profile it would be easier to answer that. I assume you're in the U.S. You can ship tobacco to Canada. No law against that. The purchaser may be required to pay duty on it.
