The Culture War / 29 posts found
Merit First, Identity Second
“May the best man win.” I grew up with that saying. It was a common expression when I was young. It conveyed the idea that merit and ability ought to win out over favouritism and bias. It also meant that the best sort of person should win, someone with good character, an example to everyone around them. It didn’t always happen, but it was the ideal. An…
It’s O.K.To Be a Patriotic Canadian
Canadians are famous for saying they are sorry. It’s a national trait. Along with politeness, we consider apologizing to be one of our most important national habits. But it may have gotten out of hand. What do I mean? We need to stop saying we are sorry for being patriotic. We should be proud of being Canadian, and not just proud but deeply proud. There are peopl…
How I Learned to Love Canada
For a long time I did not like Canadian history. Ironically, I ended up teaching it. I was a Social Studies teacher and teaching history was part of my job, but I did it begrudgingly. I found Canadian history dull and, unlike some of my colleagues, had very little enthusiasm for it. Compared to European history, with its colourful narratives and “Captains and K…
Your Lawn is Racist?
In September of 2020 professor John Douglas Belshaw of Thompson River University in Kamloops B.C. stated that if you own a lawn you need to “de-colonize” it. No, we are not kidding, and we are not making this up. Professor Belshaw went on to ask “What is a lawn, but a statement of control?” and then said that it is a “…huge part of settle…
What the Queen Meant to Us
I was in England during the death of Queen Elizabeth the Second. Although the circumstances were solemn and sad, one fortunate aspect was that I was able to see, first hand, the depth of patriotism and love of nation demonstrated by the English people, and the U.K. as a whole, and the love they had for their monarch. As a Canadian though, I had to ask myself …
What is “Colonialism?”
Language has become a weapon. For many people this is puzzling. Isn’t language supposed to help us communicate? Shouldn’t it be clear, and an aid to understanding? Isn’t language beautiful, and hasn’t it inspired the people who came before us? Yes. All true. Language should be all these things and has been in the past, but nowadays it has been twisted into a po…