Canadian Concern about Virulent American Nationalism from Terrorism

Walter, thank you for taking time to share your perspectives.   Sadly, we have the 9/11 catastrophe that continues to haunt folks here.  Twice as many Americans died on 9/11 than at Pearl Harbor in 1941.  So, it is reasonable to know who is here.  Canada has done a good job, to date, except for the recent killing at the tomb of the unknowns in Ottawa, and the FLQ crisis of 1971, in keeping track of potential terrorism.  My view is, they are over here, because we are over there.  I grew up in a family with classic American Isolationist roots.  We will do business with you, but we want no foreign entanglements as George Washington advised in his now-forgotten Farewell Address.  Our oil wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus the Zionist lobby here, have embroiled us in the affairs of others, when there is oil in Alberta. 

What we are seeing is a return to "tribalism" and end of the Enlightenment's hope for a cosmopolitan world.  I just finished reading Robert Kagan's book The Return of History and the End of Dreams, published in 2009,  in which Kagan, who works for the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, argues this point.  I think it is safe to say that recent events in Europe align with Kagan's prediction, futuristic forecasting.  Of course, the mass media engages in drama to sell advertising, and this, in turn, leads to demagoguery, as you observe.  I want to be fair, but fear, fear of terrorism, can, and, sadly, is undermining fair, because terrorism is real and creates real fear, its goal.  There, those are my thoughts.  Hopefully the USA will return to its Isolationist roots and stop sowing the seeds of our own destruction.  Take care, and thank you for your honest sharing, again.  Paul   

Canada - National Election - October 2015 - Canadian Viewpoint

Hi Paul,

If the "new conservatives" inspired by Rove and American wedge issue politics are out of power, we the people will win. If whoever forms the new government can start to address the country as a whole rather than special interest groups, we will be on a better course.

Maybe Canadians have become more engaged through the transparent lies they have been fed in this campaign, but I fear that as usual the majority of Canadian follow American 'snews' more than Canadian and as a result know more about Trump and are victims of American fear-mongering and militaristic attitudes.

My vote was easy since there is a strong local candidate whom I know well and respect both in terms of ability and character.

Our political system does need an overhaul. The PMO has evolved into a centralized seat of power that has no real checks if there is a majority in the House. Traditions of Parliament are ignored- omnibus bills like in the USA, the PM acting like a president rather than allowing the G.-G to perform the functions of a head of state. The Senate has become a reward system for party hacks rather than a chamber of 'sober' second thought, the kind of thinking we need desperately.

We, like the rest of western civilization (Gandhi's quip applies: western civilization, a good idea, if had ever been tried) have lost our way and become stupid since we now actually behave as though 'its only about the economy, stupid."

If you add in the atavistic tendencies of the religious right we have a recipe for global disaster.

Globally there are tectonic shifts  occurring that we cannot control- the rise and decline of nations, depletion of resources...........and few political leaders understand them and fewer can communicate them given our 10 second attention spans.

I'm hoping that our election has scrabbled the pieces enough so that we can start creating a new message for our society. What that will be and how it will work its way into action, I can only guess. I'm hoping we look at ourselves honestly and redress some of the real harm we have done in our past and build on the human and natural wealth we have already built.

Cheers,

walter

Why Canada Must Be Free From American Trends

Sharon, thank you for putting safety at the top of your "laundry list" for this case study.  Here in Wisconsin, right here in Dane County where I live, we had the entire De Forest, Wisconsin school system shut down because two students were planning a pipe bomb and gun attack.  One of the kids overheard them planning; the police were able to trace the bomb threat phone calls to their cell phones.  It is disgusting that we have come to this in America.  I would "throw the book" at them in adult court, e.g. terrorist charges, to make them a warning example for others who think it is cute to do this.  Dr. Rux

A Canadian Views American Demoracy Through Eyes of H.L. Mencken

Here are some quotations I saved that might give a chuckle or simply a sense of futility.

H.L. Mencken:

Democracy: the worship of jackals by jackasses.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

The men the American public admires most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

Good Luck,

w

Terrorist Atttack in Ottawa on October 22, 2014

Needless to say, as a loyal friend of Canada, the terrible events in Ottawa today have upset me deeply.  Canada is one of the greatest countries in the history of the world.  I know from first-hand experience.  It angers me that vermin would desecrate the sacred dead of Canada, kill its soldiers, and attack its Parliament.  

In 2011, Jane and I visited the tombs of the unknowns and Parliament.  As we walked observed the tombs of the unknowns a caravan of cars with Pakistani flags on them circled the tombs of the unknowns blowing their horns!   I could no believe I was watching, hearing such disrespect to the country that gave them safety, freedom, wealth!  I submit that coddling such behavior is one of the reasons why the terrible event in Ottawa occurred today.  I hope that anybody who engages in such disrespect and acts of violence are handed over to the Royal Canadian Legion, whose members will know what to do with such vermin.  I love Canada; I hope, pray such terrible acts stop.  Paul

P.S.  My wife Jane is on a two-week tour in Europe right now; she will return on October 30, 2014  I am sure she is very upset with this turn of events.  Please take care of Canada.  We love it!  (We spent two weeks in Ontario in August of 2014.)   We love Canadians!  Paul & Jane Rux

Erosion of Teacher Dignity in Canada

Alan, here are a few quick thoughts.  The blather about leadership assumes professional autonomy in the classroom.  More and more teachers are widgets in an imposed top-down system.  This is especially true for online paper graders like me.  The course is canned; you simply grade the results.
It is similar to the old major professor who had a lot of TA's (teaching assistants).  The TA's graded the paper.  The professor "canned" the content. 

Moreover, the emergence of "Big Data" in which headquarters uses databases to measure your "competence" is going to further degrade teachers.  A friend of mine was head of science at York University, Toronto.  York has 66,000 students; his science department had 10,000.  The System was turning to the TA model, adjunct paper graders, and he saw the erosion of professional autonomy, dignity, "leadership." 

FYI  - I am tired of the American obsession with Leadership, leadership, leadership, leadership.  This is the mantra of fascism, of course.  I favor each person managing himself, herself, also called Chaotics, self-organizing systems.  Anyway, I know I am hopelessly outdated.  So I need to accept "as is," Taoist phrase there, how things are.  Let the systems destroy themselves. 

My friiend in Toronto fought the System.  The result was a fatal stroke last December, which killed him at age 67,  The year before I begged him to retire at age 67 from trying to assert traditional guild craftsmanship against the challenge of the Big Data machines emerging out there.  He could have retired at, yes, $110,000/year.  He is dead now for he believed in a hopeless cause.  I do not intend to make the same mistake.  We plan to visit his widow within the next two weeks.  Paul

Raise Your Family in Canada, Not USA

The bad news is the tragic school killing in suburban Portland, Oregon, the online base for the Concordia University System.  The shooting underscores, good and hard, our discussion about priorities in education today.  Sadly, in the USA, it must be school, campus, student, teacher physical safety.  As I have shared, Dale Breitlow, a Ph.D. classmate of mine at the University of Wisconsin – Madison was murdered by a student at his high school in suburban Milwaukee.  For your professor, the issue of school safety is not some academic debate.  It is very real because of Dale’s murder.   The good news is students like you are preparing yourselves to be educational leaders who are alert to this need.  Keep up your good work.  Only two weeks remain in our course.  It is “pedal to the metal” time now!

The Old School Tie in Canada

Stephanie, I have seen the house system work big time at Upper Canada College, Toronto, Canada.  It is the Eaton/Harrow/Ruby elite high school for boys in Canada.  It has "houses."  This gives each student a special identity and provides the basis for internal competition in sports, academics, and social events.  However,  all "houses" focus on overall excellence in all aspects of student life.  The "houses" help to remove isolation, build friendships among students, and instill a sense of intramural pride and competition that drives overall excellence.  I taught at nearby St. Andrew's College, an elite school in the model of Upper Canada College.  We were rivals in the same prep school league. At St. Andrew's, which immigrants from Scotland founded, we did not have "houses."  We had "clans."  The purpose of the "clans" at St. Andrew's was the same as the "houses" at Upper Canada College.  At St. Andrew's each clan had ties with the tartan of the actual clan in Scotland on it to wear when they competed in intra-mural events.  In the end, however, they all wore the St. Andrew's school tie with pride; your humble servant has his St. Andrew's tie to this very day too!  Dr. Rux

Videos and Confederation of the Great Lakes

Nicholas, this is thoughtful, thorough, and provides valuable insights.  One, the visual culture trend jumps out at your humble servant as he goes through various discount, thrift, retail stores here in Florida over the past three months.  What he sees is lots of romance paperbacks; serious factual books are disappearing.  The same is happening in large retail giants like Wal-Mart.  The video disc section is twice as large as the print section, which includes magazines like Guns and Ammo.  Yesterday, this writer visited the historical museum in Cedar Key, Florida.  The volunteer at the desk, a retired M.D. from New York, told me that not one book store exists in Levy County.  The last one was across the street from the museum, which a retired M.D. from Michigan opened and ran.  He and I became friends over the years; it was one of my favorite stops there.  His wife got sick, and they had to return north.  The book store is now empty, up for rent.  You get the idea.

Two, your discussion of economic domains reminds me of the Canadian consul general from Chicago who a year ago came to speak at a luncheon in the Madison Club, Madison, Wisconsin.  He said, given the population, production, water transportation the Provinces of Canada and the State of America on the Great Lakes could easily create a Federation, the Federation of the Great Lakes he called it!  It would not need the rest of the areas like Kentucky, South Dakota, Manitoba, etc. to become prosperous.  It would trade with them, but it would not provide corporate and social welfare for them!  This is economic domain big time; yes, it was suggested during the US Civil War.  Northerners who opposed fighting Southern planters for Wall Street banks suggested a Northwest Confederation, similar to the Great Lakes proposal.  They said what went on in Dixie was none of their concern; they could use the Great Lakes to make a living without cotton!  If Wall Street and Washington are not careful, such projects could easily emerge.  They would rely on economic domains, not political boundaries, as their engines.  If this country experiences institutional failure, which it could do yet, look for such economic domains springing into autonomous life and shedding the parasites on them.  Thanks for listening.  Dr. Rux

Winning and Losing in Wiarton, Ontario, Canada

Walter, wow, wow, wow!   I love your reflections.  Please keep them coming.  I also concur with your analysis in the email below 100%.  Pollster John Zogby in 2008 detected a trend in the U.S.  He called it "authentic."  You state this here.  People, he estimates it at 48% then, are moving toward the value of "authenticity."  They are tired of fakes, phonies, and frauds lying to them, exploiting them, and destroying them.  Zogby argues Americans have two traditions.  One is commercial; the other is conscience.  New England has its roots in Puritan conscience, not commerce, which came later.  Walden Pond is a symbol of this authenticity, and Zogby says Americans, and Canadians too, as North Americans, are moving more and more toward their versions of Walden Pond.  They are willing to work for less if they can have time for themselves and those whom they love, their neighbors, communities.  You document this superbly in your description of the musical event in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.  There is hope in this.  One of the best experiences of my life were the four years in Wiarton, Ontario, Canada.  I did not know it at the time, but my time there was one of the few in my lifetime where I felt a sense of community, which is absolutely basic to mental, social health.  At the time, I thought it was exile; as the Chinese say, who is winning and losing depends on when you ask the question.  Now, maturity has framed those years as one of the greatest learning, living experiences of my life.  Dear friend, we see the world the same way.  It is comforting to know that you value what I do, see what I do, and hope for what I do.  Please consider collecting your poetry, essays into some book format.  It could be paperback.  It could be self-published.  Make it your heritage to those seeking authentic.  God bless, Paul

Promises in Canada to Keep Before I Sleep

Gary, this is terrific!  Your use of wild card and historical analyses are stunning.  Your first article in particular grabbed the attention of this writer.  Here is why.  I earned my M.A. at the University of Toronto; I studied with John S. Moir, the greatest church historian ever in Canada.  Sadly, he died in 2012.  When I last saw him, he took me alone into his story at his home.  He said, "Do a study of the future of religion in Canada.  Immigration is going to change this country forever, and religious trends will change with it."  I honor Prof. Moir as my role model, hero; I am starting to take steps toward funding to do this.  Your article has simply fired up my resolution to honor my promise to Prof. Moir and write and publish a study in his honor.  Thank you Gary for your "push" here.  When you wrote your analysis you had no way of knowing its special impact on your humble servant here.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Dr. Paul Rux

Knowledge Access in Canada - and Beyond

Thanks Paul,

 

Seldom do I agree as much as with this trends summary. Already made some adjustments in my portfolio in anticipation. I'm not confident our gurus can prevent a period of stagflation and that will be really painful.

 

The one I question most is online education. It is the only platform that makes sense for everyday training, but I think that the really good stuff will be for those with $$$$$$$$$$$$ sort of like insider trading. Corporations and governments control data the way the church used to. The noose is tightening rather than easing in Canada. Knowledge is now a traded commodity which is bad for humanity. What is free is mostly on the level gossip, uninformed opinion, outdated and junk science, and titillation that passes for curiousity.

A trend that I would add is getting off the grid and small is finally recognized as beautiful. The only mid to long term solution in the 'developed' world is to pull back on economic expectations and consumer culture- back to 1940s-50s level of consumption and knowing how to do things for ourselves. Any visit to a supermarket reveals how packaged life is. That's not sustainable and not good.

 

Stormy outside.

Cheers,

Walter

J.S. Moir, Ph.D., University of Toronto, Professional Example

Your humble servant here admires your determination, grit as doctoral students to hang on and hang in with your studies despite challenges in your personal lives, e.g. health issues.  Your consistent first-class work is even more impressive when you share some of the background to your lives with your humble servant here.  Thank you for this sharing.  It honors, continues a tradition that began full-force in my life when I had such a sharing relationships with the late Prof. J.S. Moir at the University of Toronto, where I was a Graduate Fellow for a M.A.  Yes, our work is professional; it is also personal.  This does not mean "personality psycho-babble stuff."  It means genuine sharing, rapport between student, teacher.  Right now I am studying Confucius; he emphasizes the value of the master-student (teacher-student) relationship as one of the great relationships that we humans can experience.  You are going to have such relationships with your own students as professors after your doctoral degrees.  Continue the tradition.  Dr. Rux

Win and Compete to Educate

Jeanine, wow, thank you for sharing this.  Folks like your humble servant here suspect such things; you offer proof.  What changes things is the lack of money.  Education does not need more money - this does not mean cutting pay for teachers.  It needs less funding so it must asking the first question:  In what business are we?  In addition, a country that knows how to win wars and compete economically will know how to educate its youth.  Sadly, America is losing the capacity to win and compete for now.  You may find the attached "speech" for my Rotary (Madison, WI, West) Club on Thursday of this week of interest, for it is one way of expressing what is missing.  Thank you for your sharing.  Dr. Rux  (This applies equally to Canada.  The "win and compete" insight in fact comes from the late Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Richard J. Needham, a favorite of this writer.)

Rights without duties in Canada

Hi Paul,

it's starting to sound like Italian politics.  With most public institutions in disrepute anything can happen. Credibility has been shifted to the noise makers. Whatever happened to enlightened despotism like in the 18th C?

I suspect that our countries and global structures are simply too big to regulate and even more difficult for most people to understand. The alternative is to think local and act locally, not think global and act locally as the idealists suggest. The word revolution keeps cropping up in many contexts. Let's keep our eye on where revolution is happening and see if we could face that set of circumstances. I'm trying my best to stay sane. I think I may revive the Rhinocerous Party which had one item in it's platform: if elected an MP would resign. In my riding back in the 70s we generated some buzz and garnered 5% of the vote.

I sometimes reflect back on a discussion I started with my students a decade or so ago about citizenship in the broad context of values and ethics. My question to them was, "do you think you owe anything to your society/". They were silent. It became apparent that the vast majority had no sense of obligation towards their country if what was meant by that was service to our society, as in voluntary work for minimal pay for months or even years. They saw the benefits of society as their right with no apparent obligations beyond waving a flag and cheerleading. I'm proud to be Canadian but don't ask me to actually do anything for my country!

I have not been able to sort this out satisfactorily because kids still are idealistic and want to make things better. The analogy that I find useful is that of the 'fabric' of society. Fabric is made from many strands, often in many colours and patterns. The quality of the strands and the quality of the weaving are paramount if the fabric is going to function well. If the weave is too loose it weakens even if the strands are strong. If the weave is too strong for the strands, it tears. So we can have colourful fabric in our society but when we actually have to use it, it needs to be well-made.

There are many torn strands in society throughout the world and the winds of change are blowing through the holes. We are desperately  trying to patch a worn out fabric.

 

Ventura and Stern I suspect, know how to tear things apart but probably not how to weave things together,

Walter

PS. My daughter-in-law commented yesterday how quickly I can go from the practical to the theoretical on any topic. I've done it again, it seems.

Will Canada follow USA union busting trend?

Shaun, unfortunately, I do not know offhand of any seminal works about this topic.  It is a fascinating one, for the current governor of Wisconsin broke the public service unions, which includes state tech/junior colleges.  We have daily protests, literally daily, five days a week, in our state capital because of this.  The union members and friends conduct a sing-along under the dome in the state capitol at noon.  It has resulted in arrests and ongoing "bad blood."  The governor did not announce during the election his union-busting agenda; it came as a total surprise!  As I write this, I do not know how many other states in fact have taken this route.  Yes, your question about union impact on operations and learning outcomes is timely, crucial.  It may be a good time to explore how widespread union-busting is right now in education.  How has union busting helped or hurt?  Meanwhile, as you observe, how has the union presence helped or hurt outcomes, operations where unions are still legal?  This is a great issue.  Lack of unions means lack of tenure, job security.  More and more we are becoming Daniel Pink's classic Free Agent Nation.  Yes, as an administrator, you may face challenges over unions, busting them, keeping them.  FYI   Your humble servant has been a member of public teacher unions in both Ontario, Canada and Illinois, USA.  In fact, he went on strike in Ontario.  He is a friend of unions because of the due process pressure they exert on management.  Yet, he operates as a "free agent" as he types this.  This is a very good issue to pursue.  It is not going away soon.  Dr. Rux

Future of Natural Resources

Walter, thank you for confirming my suspicions of the downside of this.  Here, the fracking would occur on the banks of the Wisconsin River, and the danger of its contamination looms.  It is crazy.  As Freud observed, humans have two subconscious drives - eros, to live, and thanatos, to die.  It is always a race between the two; of late, it seems thanatos is gaining on eros.  Thanks for your update.  Yes, the Great Lakes are a vital resource.  Americans, and Canadians too, live in an illusion of endless natural resources.  There are, however, limits (conservative word, concept there); we are approaching them.  In our Anglo-Saxon heritage the story of Robin Hood sums up the popular culture.  It goes like this.  Robin lives in the forest preserve, the king's forest; of course, anything associated with the king is bad.  Hence, conservation, reservation of natural resources by the king, aka the state, is bad.  You get the drift.  Thanks for listening.  I am grateful to be able to share.  Paul 

Elora calling

Walter, in 2013 Jane and I need to get out butts over to Ontario so we can visit with you and D-K in person, live, face to face. It's been too long. Thank you for keeping in touch, sharing your wisdom, and your friendship. You are the best. Meanwhile, the Republic teeters along. Jane and I will vote for Obama and the rest of the Democrats. We believe in fairness; the Wall Street gangsters control even more of the Republicans than they do of the Democrats. Besides, we need our Social Security and Medicare now. People here are somber. You see few bumper stickers, yard signs, buttons, etc. They know the "wheels are coming off the wagon" and the gangsters on Wall Street and their stooges in Washington - despite the horrific economic damage here, which is still mounting. The American people overall are good people when they remain true to their historical values. I make no apology for the "old time religion," for it brought me to Canada. The Pilgrims, New Englanders believed in the sanctity of "Conscience”; it became my heritage too. Canada today is where America was in the 1950's. It is a sane, balanced place yet; people there still have a sense of optimism that is sadly missing here. The best part is Canada remains a fabulous reminder of what once was here and could be here again! Thank you for the comparison. I sorely miss the Great Dominion to our North. It preserves American "know-how" without the violence. I guess at heart I remain an old Loyalist, "old school," Conservative, in the true sense of the word, concept, cf. Edmund Burke, one of my heroes. Anyway, Elora, Ontario keeps calling me now. My old friends in Wiarton have been dying out; thankfully, Elora has emerged to start a new cycle for me. I love Old Ontario, its ways. God willing, I will establish ongoing connections with it; it is not far from Barrie!

Future of Religion in Canada

Marta, at the conference, I met a young Canadian woman who immigrated to Canada from the Middle East.  She lives in Windsor, Ontario, and has a MBA from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  She is a wonderful person.  I plan to explore how she and I can co-author a book on the future of religion in Canada.  I studied at the U of Toronto with the greatest historian of religion in Canada, ever, John S. Moir as part of my M.A. from there.  He died last year.  When I last saw him he asked me to do this study for him.  Out of loyalty I plan to do it.  Right now, I want to use the mind mapping approach to conduct depth interviews with expert people.  Having a devout Muslim woman on the team would enhance the objectivity and credibility of the study.  Our 1.5 hour session at the Chicago World Future Society Conference 2013 came away with this trend.  As the economy worsens, which it will in this country for sure, people more and more will turn to religion for solace, comfort.  They will give up on the false gods of money, politics, materialism and return to what is "authentic."  If however the USA embarks on a war against Iran we can also expect the emergence of fundamentalism and hostility between Christians and Muslims.  In fact, one of the mind maps at the conference centered on War with Iran in 2018!   Is this probable?  Is it possible?  It most surely, probability there, would lead to fundamentalist backlashes in both Christian and Muslim communities, sadly. There, you have a concise summary of what emerged at the conference.  I hope we have sense enough to stop wars and seek common ground on core values, since both Muslims and Christians - and Jews - share the Old Testament in common.  The Prophet called these three religions "People of the Book" and called for Muslims to treat the "People of the Book" with exceptional kindness, concern, and "family" - like love.  It is amazing how oil politics distorts and ignores core teachings. 

Brazil and Canada and USA

Marta, the panel on the future of Latin America was stunning at the WFS conference in Chicago over the weekend.  At the workshop was a past President (three times elected) of the Dominican Republic!  I had an exciting visit with him.  Here is an example of what the panel presented.  Brazil purchases more from the USA right now than all of Europe combined!  And we are busy jabbering about Europe in our mass media with hardly a word about Brazil!