Good article. I agree that "the great challenge of the future is how to provide people with a sense of meaning and purpose in something more useful and transcendent than nationalism, violence and conquest”.
Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory states that liberals and conservatives share four basic values i.e. caring for each other, fairness, personal liberty, and loyalty. But conservatives share two further values i.e. respect for authority and the need for transcendence in our lives. According to Haidt, liberals typically revile those two values, while conservatives recognize the legitimate role that they have to play.
Unfortunately, the hard right has always understood the appeal that authority and transcendence have for many of us, and they’ve been very effective at perverting and weaponizing them. If our Western societies are ever to regain any sense of a common purpose, one of the things we need to do is find a way to accommodate and respect those impulses.
Excellent take on the 'malaise of modernity.' There is a moral and spiritual vacuum in the West, and it's being filled in increasingly unhealthy ways. Both the right and the left keep spawning and promoting toxic ideologies as a way to fill this moral and spiritual vacuum. As a Christian, I do feel a spiritual purpose in life, and my faith gives me moral meaning. But I understand that many Canadians don't have that, and are therefore searching for something like it.
My first job as a teen was at McDonalds in the late 1980s. You touched on it here, but McDonalds Canada is a seperate entity from the US company, a master franchise that then controls the rest of franchising for Canada. I'm pretty sure it was McDonalds Canada the led the expansion into the USSR, bringing a lot of expertise to the table to set up a sophisticated supply chain where really nobody had before. It was a big deal at the time and the Canadian connection gets lost in the story as people love the symbolism of something so emblematic of the US opening in the USSR. But, it wouldn't have happened without Canadians!
I remember the greatest challenge Macdonald's Canada had was getting a truck transportation system set up as the Military owned all the Trucks in the former Soviet Union. How could you move Potatoes with Military vehicles? Macdonald's eventually figured it out . Perhaps Putin's Army should have taken notes.
excellent point regarding the search for meaning and tribe...we have made quite the effort to run organized religion out of Canadian public life but we have utterly failed to replace it with anything...i cant help but notice the absurdity of godless millennials like myself treating religion as anathema yet flock to the "chapels" of mindfulness gurus to practise being grateful, displaying gratitude, being part of a community all of which were essentially the benefits of organized religion in the first place...i dont mean to suggest that organized religion and religious doctrine didn't have negative effects as well, but its clear we have lost something given how hard we search for it
I think organised religion was decapitated by the realities of what it allowed its leaders to hypocritically do to its followers; usually the young ones. I used to laugh myself silly watching US TV evangelists performing miracles; until even Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Bakker had to come clean that they too, couldn't be trusted.
Based on the last 50 years of deficit funded economic suicide, I can't blame anyone under 30 for looking at a bleak future. My and my parent's generations have already spent it, and given ourselves everything we could ask for....many still funded on borrowed money. And what to do when a crisis comes along and the cupboard is already bare? Make up a new financial statistic to make it all seem fine.
Religion has always been about control; usually of women. Fundamentalist ones have just taken it to new levels. I think it drove itself out of society when its blatant hypocrisy became public.
"But after a generation of peace and wealth, we can see in our own societies and in our individual lives the perils of over-abundance. Once our material needs are met, further acquisition fails to provide lasting contentment."
Well lucky for you that you have wealth and over-abundance. Not all Canadians (or insert name of any other country here) suffer from your painful level of wealth. Many Canadians have seen their piece of the pie shrink and see there will be even less for their offspring while a few at the top get more of the pie and much larger slices.
It is these same wealthy who have broken our sense of security. We are afraid to speak out for fear of the woke police, the religious are mocked as believing in fantasy, our schools no longer teach learning but doctrine, governments mock their own peoples as "deplorables" or "fringe minorities" holding "unacceptable views"
But it was these less wealthy Canadians that kept produce and medicine coming in and stocking shelves and serving as cashiers and delivering the uber orders to the lucky ones who could work from home or worked for government at any level. We got vaccinated and stayed home and closed our restaurants, gyms and hair salons and watched the rich somehow get even richer.
Many peoples' problem is not having too much but rather they are losing hope of ever being able to reach even the shrinking middle class that our government cannot even define. And now, with rampant inflation the future looks even less bright for many. Luckily for you though, your problems are more esoteric.
This column is not intended to brag about my personal degree of wealth, or lack thereof. I'm speaking of society far more generally. And while there are certainly, obviously poor individuals within our society -- by historical standards even the poorest among us live lifestyles that would be considered unfathomably comfortable to our ancestors. Not counting the homeless or the severely drug addicted (who have distinct social and psychological issues tangentially related to access to material goods) the average poor person in a welfare state has access to a place to sleep with heat, enough food, running water, usually a television or a phone, and at least some household appliances. Do you see a lot of people starving to death in Canada in 2022? There is a reason why obesity is one of our primary health epidemics. To observe this fact isn't to dismiss that being poor in 2022 absolutely sucks. Nor to deny that "middle class" status is increasingly out of reach; nor that things are getting harder for people.
But try to picture how the typical inmate of a Victorian workhouse would have regarded our modern poor, and you start to appreciate what I'm talking about when I discuss modern western overabundance. There is no time in history when humans have been wealthier or better off.
I understand that generally the world is wealthier than it has ever been. Life expectancy in Africa has risen from 52 to 54 in the last 10 years and no I don't know of any Canadians that have died from starvation but just go to a food bank and see your fellow Canadians.
Obesity isn't epidemic amongst the rich who can afford gym memberships, personal trainers, peloton machines or their children who can afford hockey, dance lessons, and the parents' minivans to transport them. It is more a disease of the poor in a rich society who get less exercise and eat more junk food because their parents may be absent due to work or other. Food and shelter or even a phone provided by the welfare state isn't the same as providing fairness, opportunity and hope by society at large.
Dan, then how do people like American Professor Thomas Sowell go from an extremely challenged childhood to the top of his profession? We all have 24 hours in a day no matter how low we started in the ladder of reasonable success. It's all about how we spend our time, who we spend it with. It only takes one book, one comment and/or one person we know who can give us that spark for better. It's also not about how fast we work towards a better life, as long as you slowly slowly work on improving yourself each day.
You make a valid point. I does take only one book or one person to give the spark. Why then is Sowell such an exception? How did most of his contemporaries fare? How do we make sure we get the right book or the right person to our youth to provide a light? How do we teach them to improve each day? Boy -- I look at what Jordan Peterson has tried to provide to young people (and especially young men) and I shake my head at the disapprobation he has received from the "woke".
Statistically, where you start has a huge determination of where you end up from a socioeconomic point of view. Social mobility isn't impossible, but its really hard if you start at the bottom of the ladder.
I think globalism was generally a good idea -- it helped lift a significant chunk of the world out of poverty. Where it fell down was in first world countries, where we allowed wealth inequity to grow, subscribing to the notion that wealth accumulates where it's most efficiently deployed ("they earned it") rather than acknowledging the very real advantages that class (and networks and other barriers, like regulatory rents) create. We could -- and should -- have used the growing cumulative wealth in the West to invest in infrastructure, retrain people and generally reinvest in our societies. We did not -- and that was a huge failure we're paying for now, both socially and economically.
We can still work to fix this, but it means finding ways to invest in people while giving them options. It also means those of us doing relatively well need to accept the need to invest in the societies we live in (that enable that wealth accumulation) rather than taking an "I've got mine" attitude. Because, fixing this isn't going to be cheap.
It is enormously difficult for a mid-career person if their profession evaporates. They typically have a mortgage, dependents and a need to save for retirement. Taking years off to retrain, trying to sell a house in a market where everyone is leaving ... it's a daunting task. That's true for GM workers in Oshawa, oil sands workers in Ft. McMurray and even former journalists! The goals should not be to keep propping up sunset industries with government dollars -- paying the owners, not the workers. That just stretches out the pain. We should be investing directly in people, helping them find the next thing, without blowing up their entire lives.
We do a great disservice at not acknowledging and solving this puzzle. Get it right and you'll not only have a more cohesive society. You'll probably have a significant economic advantage as human capital is a fundemental driver to the whole economy.
I'm impressed with your thoughts Tony. I mentioned elsewhere that each year we read fewer books and magazines. Sadly, fewer people volunteer their time too. There's a Buddhist expression that we are all teachers and students at the same time. I realize it's hard for people who are in the work force to find the time to volunteer, especially to connect with a wider range of ages and education/economic situations. But I think more of this could cost very little money (just a bit of time each week) and get huge benefits back in building a more stable and fair society.
I generally agree but where you say "where we allowed wealth inequity to grow" I say where we exploited and pillaged.
And I agree that the government shouldn't prop up sunset industries. I don't think government should try to pick the winners and losers. The market can take care of that.
When electricity is cheaper than fossil fuels everyone will switch.
I have no problem though if government encourages investments in certain sectors. We still need vehicles, fuels and journalists. Places like substack proves we don't need to shovel taxpayer dollars to the CBC and other media outlets. (Though I have no issue with taxing/charging Alphabet and Facebook and even Twitter for the Canadian news they propagate.)
Well I'm very anti-woke, (but used to lean to the left; now I'm a centrist) and I have found benefit in listening to Peterson. Not that I agree with his POV on all topics. But the older I get the more I have learned to listen to a variety of opinions, most important opposing opinions - there is some truth in both extremes, and it's the only way an individual can be open to taking even a milder stance in their own POV. I agree that Sowell is an exception, but so are the majority of self made people. As Haidt, Peterson and many others say, change starts with each of us. Stop following the crowd, start with finding one person who (or group) who aspires to more than you - you will meet more like minded people, read, read, read non-fiction - make your local library your friend, many great minds are now sharing their knowledge on YouTube, monitor how you spend each hour of the day and ask yourself if you wasted this hour (we all need down-time to recharge) or did something to move yourself forward.
Also, as American Black Prof Glenn Loury says re fellow blacks, a university degree isn't necessary. Go to a trade school. Yes the cost of renting and owning a place is shocking in most of the world now; but most people insist on living on a big place and developers say they can't make any money building smaller places. But we can't use this as an excuse for not trying harder. I live in a smaller city east of Vancouver and I take local transit. I can't believe the number of young people (with or without children) who have not been to a trade school or university. This is the bare minimum any responsible parent and young person in a western country should be aiming for. I say this as a person who started working at age 17 in 1966 and managed to work my way up through the IT industry with only a few night school courses. No one has ever funded my life. Bottom line, we now live in a "I'm a victim society'. I never once heard my grandparents complain about the very challenging lives they lived, and three were immigrants.
Sandra our career paths seem very similar. I too was early into IT and worked my way up without a CS degree. My first salaried job (after my paper route) was at a Mac's milk when I was 14.
Unlike some though, I was lucky to have good role models who instilled a love of books and learning and a sense of personal responsibility. If you don't have good role models and nobody helps you find them or makes you do the right things then you truly have to be an exceptional person to rise above your current station.
True. And now we want to deny them to those trying to make their lives better. If we want to do that we have to provide them nuclear and renewables but we cannot deny them electricity and other energy forms.
Dan, I am 73 and have travelled to 30 countries (both rich and developing), including the former USSR, Afghanistan, etc. and have lived in Egypt. The poorest Canadian and American living on social assistance still lives far better than most people in the world. We don't know hardship. Try living in a hovel, eating the equivalent of beans day in and out, no access to libraries to expand your mind, can't afford to send kids to supposedly free govt funded schools, can't afford healthcare or pharmaceuticals. BTW I married into a lovely Egyptian family; the family apartment was 450 sq ft for the parents and 4 kids. When I was in Egypt during the Arab spring, gas for cars and cooking was in short supply, and throughout my 40 year relationship with Egypt, water and electricity was cut off randomly most days and apartment elevators regularly broke, and this was in Cairo.
I know that our social safety net provides us with the necessities of life. But visit public housing in Toronto or the reserve in Hobbema. You'll see broken apartment elevators water shortages, electricity cut off shitty healthcare etc. But what you will notice is despair. Save the body but kill the spirit?
Sandra, when you say we don't know hardship, you should live with a father you barely know in jail and a mother working two shitty jobs who has no time to give you attention and can't afford to give you stuff that the other kids in your class take for granted. You may think hardship is living in a mud hut and only eating what you grow or kill but that kid may be happier than the urban kid. Tell her how lucky she is.
Sandra, it is true that I don't know your life experience and if you think I was judging you, I apologize. I was just trying to point out that there are many types of hardships and a social safety net doesn't necessarily protect our people from all harms and hardship.
Dan, historically the vast majority of people have lived shit lives. Those of us born after WW II have had it far too cushy; we expected the party to not only last forever but give us a higher high. There have always been and will continue to be people who are for no fault of their own who live very unfair lives.
BTW, the number of people who read any book, let alone non-fiction, goes down every year. I'm hardly an expert in world history, science, etc. re Canada of the rest of the world. Yet books have always been my best friend, as it took me to higher intellectual and comforting places, that I have never gotten from people around me; yet these people in my generation (including myself) are considered successfuly baby boomers. It's more and more apparent that are ignorance of our own countries and the world's history and other topics, is painfully high. And our schools and most university programs do not provide the real education we need. Thankfully as much as there are negatives to the internet, a wealth of information is now available to each of us. It's there for the taking, but most people aren't interested... too busy getting tattoos, upgrading their cell phone, and buying prepared food.
Lou - I'm neither bitter nor particularly angry. I was just trying to point out that even though Canadians have a social safety net, many Canadians (and other first world citizens) don't consider themselves to have an overabundance issue.
Two comments: I was living in Budapest during the last days of the Cold War and there, as in Moscow, the advent of a McDonalds was the subject of news reports and lineups; it was, in fact, where in 1989 the American Ambassador met with his Soviet counterpart to discuss managing the decline of the Soviet system in Hungary (they didn't have to wait in line).
My other comment is that anyone who bought into to "no more wars because we are too economically intertwined" theory forgets history. The very same argument was made in 1912, just in time for World War 1.
Jen, as always - I know, it is tiresome to hear it again - I enjoy your work and perspective.
I very much enjoy the various comments herein and from time to time. I find many of the comments today to be "useful" - as I use the word - but there are some that are (in my oh, so considered view) rather tendentious and not always relevant to the column. However, for the most part I find the various comments to be useful in making me think - whether or not I agree with them.
So, again, fan mail - how tiresome!
And, oh, yeah, I also enjoy Matt's work; please let him know.
I would just note that Russia is acting at cross-purposes. It is reasserting its imperial boundaries, but at the same time asserting its nationalism. Empires are multiethnic and thus non-nationalist. Committed as Putin is to subjugation of Ukraine while asserting Russian nationalism, Putin has chosen to deny Ukrainian nationality. An imperialist accepts the subjects nationality, and find ways to rule without arousing national resentments (that make rule difficult). In this case, I think it is safe to say that Putin's denial of the reality of Ukrainian nationality will engender permanent resistance to Russian rule.
Putin may have chosen to deny Ukraine nationality and so is blowing them up, shooting them down, trapping them is cities with no food, water, or escape. The only problem is Ukraine does have a lot, an awful lot, of Russian speaking Russian nationals, the people he was going to save from the nazis, I recall. And these Russians in the crosshairs are being blown up, shot down, and are trapped in cities with no food or water or humanitarian corridors. These people too will engender permenant resistance.
Jen - I think this is an award winning article. I admire your well honed writing/investigative skills. You touched on so many necessary points. I was in the former USSR 45 years ago, visiting Moscow, Leningrad, Caucasus countries and Uzbekistan - a life changing experience. I remember when in Moscow, entering a spectacular, very large, classic, belle epoque meat/deli store with a maze of display coolers. 95% were empty. We also walked by a dingy hole in the wall 'store' sellinga a few boxes of apples; I do think it was called "Apple Store # 6". There were line ups for everything, with most people reading books and newspapers, while patiently waiting; I have always remembered Russian's love for reading/learning. I could go on and on re my life changing memories.
Years later, I also remember watching on TV here in Canada, the opening of the MacDonald's in Moscow.
Very good summary of western malaise. It is sad the west moves to tribes and Russia to imperialism. I hope this is a wake-up call for our country and the need for common values in the public sphere.
Not sure I follow the argument, or buy it if I do.
I appreciate the critique of the assumption that a global economic liberalism and interdependence would lay the conditions for endless peace. Instead its assumption of universal acceptance, its own form of cultural imperialism, has run up against revivalist autocratic nationalisms seeking to achieve territorial ambitions through military conquest. The claim here seems to be that this nationalist tribalism is filling a void left by the spiritual emptiness of consumer society. Or at least the latter has left liberal democratic societies weakened and unprepared for such nationalistic threats to the global order established since WWII.
My take is the vast majority of humanity want to live comfortable, predictable lives. Big dramatic violent conquests are fine on the big or little screens, but not when they blow up your living room and everyone in it. The average person wants nothing to do with war. Thus the exodus from Ukraine (and to a lesser extent from Russia). This war is not being driven by bored consumers.
If we are going to talk about spiritual emptiness as a motivator, then we might as well talk about religions run by gangs of pedophile priests, corrupt elites, or hyper-partisan pols, as talk about the unfulfilled desires of consumers. We also need to recognize the spiritual emptiness of the acts of violence rationalized through propaganda meant to trigger people's tribal fears and not assume such tribal violence is filling a void created by an unfulfilling consumer experience of peace and prosperity.
So my point, war is not animated by the spiritual emptiness of people living relatively comfortable, predictable lives pursuing the customary community rituals of family and friends. If we are to understand this dangerous moment of ethnic autocratic nationalism, we are going to have to look beyond critiques of consumerism to understand the underlying conflicted nature of societies themselves.
The old conflicts of tribal identity have never left us. My guess, without having researched the question specifically, is that every major violent conflict around the world has a divisive ethnic aspect. Consumerism per se doesn't favour or disadvantage any particular ethnic tradition. It also does not dissolve those conflicts.
Certainly capitalism is inherently disruptive of traditional forms of life. But the current dangerous moment is not a case of the traditional versus the modern, despite the fact the propaganda plays on long standing stereotypes. Rather the current moment is more similar to the imperialist ambitions that collided in WWI and WWII. The current contest for super-power status is in flux. Russia, clearly a superpower in decline, seeks to revive its imperial ambitions through a play that will realign its options with a rising China at the expense of the West. China hopes to benefit from its ally's play to weaken the West. Neither Russia nor China are satisfied with the global order establish by the West after WWII. They both seek to benefit from its violent disruption.
Well written, with the only addition that many are being left behind as the wealthiest take more and more and live ridiculous life styles with no meaning. Giving nothing back to community other than guilt cheques that make them look good instead of paying people decent wages and benefits and keeping our environments clean and safe. Where healthy young people pay for someone else to have their child so she does not ruin her body or go through the pain of child birth. Life needs pain to have meaning. No wonder people are looking for something, anything to believe in, that has meaning and substance to them. Democracy is looking shallow, lame and weak and strong man like Putin will take advantage. The good news is, there is still hope. People can come together and fight for freedom and all its imperfections at the cost of comfort. The people of Ukraine have shown us what courage really is and I thank them for the reality check.
Entitlement is at the center of both Russian expansionism and Western indulgence. It is also at the centre of both the societal issues in Canada and our financial ones.
Good article. I agree that "the great challenge of the future is how to provide people with a sense of meaning and purpose in something more useful and transcendent than nationalism, violence and conquest”.
Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory states that liberals and conservatives share four basic values i.e. caring for each other, fairness, personal liberty, and loyalty. But conservatives share two further values i.e. respect for authority and the need for transcendence in our lives. According to Haidt, liberals typically revile those two values, while conservatives recognize the legitimate role that they have to play.
Unfortunately, the hard right has always understood the appeal that authority and transcendence have for many of us, and they’ve been very effective at perverting and weaponizing them. If our Western societies are ever to regain any sense of a common purpose, one of the things we need to do is find a way to accommodate and respect those impulses.
It’s a new one on me that liberals don’t believe in authority. Please explain what that means.
Taken at face value, it would mean that the truckers’ convoy was liberal, because they were rejecting authority.
Neilster. Thx for your reference to Haidt. He gives us lots to think about.
Excellent take on the 'malaise of modernity.' There is a moral and spiritual vacuum in the West, and it's being filled in increasingly unhealthy ways. Both the right and the left keep spawning and promoting toxic ideologies as a way to fill this moral and spiritual vacuum. As a Christian, I do feel a spiritual purpose in life, and my faith gives me moral meaning. But I understand that many Canadians don't have that, and are therefore searching for something like it.
The article did have a charles taylor vibe.
My first job as a teen was at McDonalds in the late 1980s. You touched on it here, but McDonalds Canada is a seperate entity from the US company, a master franchise that then controls the rest of franchising for Canada. I'm pretty sure it was McDonalds Canada the led the expansion into the USSR, bringing a lot of expertise to the table to set up a sophisticated supply chain where really nobody had before. It was a big deal at the time and the Canadian connection gets lost in the story as people love the symbolism of something so emblematic of the US opening in the USSR. But, it wouldn't have happened without Canadians!
I remember the greatest challenge Macdonald's Canada had was getting a truck transportation system set up as the Military owned all the Trucks in the former Soviet Union. How could you move Potatoes with Military vehicles? Macdonald's eventually figured it out . Perhaps Putin's Army should have taken notes.
excellent point regarding the search for meaning and tribe...we have made quite the effort to run organized religion out of Canadian public life but we have utterly failed to replace it with anything...i cant help but notice the absurdity of godless millennials like myself treating religion as anathema yet flock to the "chapels" of mindfulness gurus to practise being grateful, displaying gratitude, being part of a community all of which were essentially the benefits of organized religion in the first place...i dont mean to suggest that organized religion and religious doctrine didn't have negative effects as well, but its clear we have lost something given how hard we search for it
as a priest I know once said: If you don't raise your children with God, you raise them to be God
I think organised religion was decapitated by the realities of what it allowed its leaders to hypocritically do to its followers; usually the young ones. I used to laugh myself silly watching US TV evangelists performing miracles; until even Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Bakker had to come clean that they too, couldn't be trusted.
Based on the last 50 years of deficit funded economic suicide, I can't blame anyone under 30 for looking at a bleak future. My and my parent's generations have already spent it, and given ourselves everything we could ask for....many still funded on borrowed money. And what to do when a crisis comes along and the cupboard is already bare? Make up a new financial statistic to make it all seem fine.
Religion has always been about control; usually of women. Fundamentalist ones have just taken it to new levels. I think it drove itself out of society when its blatant hypocrisy became public.
"But after a generation of peace and wealth, we can see in our own societies and in our individual lives the perils of over-abundance. Once our material needs are met, further acquisition fails to provide lasting contentment."
Well lucky for you that you have wealth and over-abundance. Not all Canadians (or insert name of any other country here) suffer from your painful level of wealth. Many Canadians have seen their piece of the pie shrink and see there will be even less for their offspring while a few at the top get more of the pie and much larger slices.
It is these same wealthy who have broken our sense of security. We are afraid to speak out for fear of the woke police, the religious are mocked as believing in fantasy, our schools no longer teach learning but doctrine, governments mock their own peoples as "deplorables" or "fringe minorities" holding "unacceptable views"
But it was these less wealthy Canadians that kept produce and medicine coming in and stocking shelves and serving as cashiers and delivering the uber orders to the lucky ones who could work from home or worked for government at any level. We got vaccinated and stayed home and closed our restaurants, gyms and hair salons and watched the rich somehow get even richer.
Many peoples' problem is not having too much but rather they are losing hope of ever being able to reach even the shrinking middle class that our government cannot even define. And now, with rampant inflation the future looks even less bright for many. Luckily for you though, your problems are more esoteric.
This column is not intended to brag about my personal degree of wealth, or lack thereof. I'm speaking of society far more generally. And while there are certainly, obviously poor individuals within our society -- by historical standards even the poorest among us live lifestyles that would be considered unfathomably comfortable to our ancestors. Not counting the homeless or the severely drug addicted (who have distinct social and psychological issues tangentially related to access to material goods) the average poor person in a welfare state has access to a place to sleep with heat, enough food, running water, usually a television or a phone, and at least some household appliances. Do you see a lot of people starving to death in Canada in 2022? There is a reason why obesity is one of our primary health epidemics. To observe this fact isn't to dismiss that being poor in 2022 absolutely sucks. Nor to deny that "middle class" status is increasingly out of reach; nor that things are getting harder for people.
But try to picture how the typical inmate of a Victorian workhouse would have regarded our modern poor, and you start to appreciate what I'm talking about when I discuss modern western overabundance. There is no time in history when humans have been wealthier or better off.
This was a really excellent piece - I liked the angle very much. And you are spot on in respect to your final observation.
I understand that generally the world is wealthier than it has ever been. Life expectancy in Africa has risen from 52 to 54 in the last 10 years and no I don't know of any Canadians that have died from starvation but just go to a food bank and see your fellow Canadians.
Obesity isn't epidemic amongst the rich who can afford gym memberships, personal trainers, peloton machines or their children who can afford hockey, dance lessons, and the parents' minivans to transport them. It is more a disease of the poor in a rich society who get less exercise and eat more junk food because their parents may be absent due to work or other. Food and shelter or even a phone provided by the welfare state isn't the same as providing fairness, opportunity and hope by society at large.
Dan, then how do people like American Professor Thomas Sowell go from an extremely challenged childhood to the top of his profession? We all have 24 hours in a day no matter how low we started in the ladder of reasonable success. It's all about how we spend our time, who we spend it with. It only takes one book, one comment and/or one person we know who can give us that spark for better. It's also not about how fast we work towards a better life, as long as you slowly slowly work on improving yourself each day.
You make a valid point. I does take only one book or one person to give the spark. Why then is Sowell such an exception? How did most of his contemporaries fare? How do we make sure we get the right book or the right person to our youth to provide a light? How do we teach them to improve each day? Boy -- I look at what Jordan Peterson has tried to provide to young people (and especially young men) and I shake my head at the disapprobation he has received from the "woke".
Statistically, where you start has a huge determination of where you end up from a socioeconomic point of view. Social mobility isn't impossible, but its really hard if you start at the bottom of the ladder.
I think globalism was generally a good idea -- it helped lift a significant chunk of the world out of poverty. Where it fell down was in first world countries, where we allowed wealth inequity to grow, subscribing to the notion that wealth accumulates where it's most efficiently deployed ("they earned it") rather than acknowledging the very real advantages that class (and networks and other barriers, like regulatory rents) create. We could -- and should -- have used the growing cumulative wealth in the West to invest in infrastructure, retrain people and generally reinvest in our societies. We did not -- and that was a huge failure we're paying for now, both socially and economically.
We can still work to fix this, but it means finding ways to invest in people while giving them options. It also means those of us doing relatively well need to accept the need to invest in the societies we live in (that enable that wealth accumulation) rather than taking an "I've got mine" attitude. Because, fixing this isn't going to be cheap.
It is enormously difficult for a mid-career person if their profession evaporates. They typically have a mortgage, dependents and a need to save for retirement. Taking years off to retrain, trying to sell a house in a market where everyone is leaving ... it's a daunting task. That's true for GM workers in Oshawa, oil sands workers in Ft. McMurray and even former journalists! The goals should not be to keep propping up sunset industries with government dollars -- paying the owners, not the workers. That just stretches out the pain. We should be investing directly in people, helping them find the next thing, without blowing up their entire lives.
We do a great disservice at not acknowledging and solving this puzzle. Get it right and you'll not only have a more cohesive society. You'll probably have a significant economic advantage as human capital is a fundemental driver to the whole economy.
I'm impressed with your thoughts Tony. I mentioned elsewhere that each year we read fewer books and magazines. Sadly, fewer people volunteer their time too. There's a Buddhist expression that we are all teachers and students at the same time. I realize it's hard for people who are in the work force to find the time to volunteer, especially to connect with a wider range of ages and education/economic situations. But I think more of this could cost very little money (just a bit of time each week) and get huge benefits back in building a more stable and fair society.
I generally agree but where you say "where we allowed wealth inequity to grow" I say where we exploited and pillaged.
And I agree that the government shouldn't prop up sunset industries. I don't think government should try to pick the winners and losers. The market can take care of that.
When electricity is cheaper than fossil fuels everyone will switch.
I have no problem though if government encourages investments in certain sectors. We still need vehicles, fuels and journalists. Places like substack proves we don't need to shovel taxpayer dollars to the CBC and other media outlets. (Though I have no issue with taxing/charging Alphabet and Facebook and even Twitter for the Canadian news they propagate.)
Well I'm very anti-woke, (but used to lean to the left; now I'm a centrist) and I have found benefit in listening to Peterson. Not that I agree with his POV on all topics. But the older I get the more I have learned to listen to a variety of opinions, most important opposing opinions - there is some truth in both extremes, and it's the only way an individual can be open to taking even a milder stance in their own POV. I agree that Sowell is an exception, but so are the majority of self made people. As Haidt, Peterson and many others say, change starts with each of us. Stop following the crowd, start with finding one person who (or group) who aspires to more than you - you will meet more like minded people, read, read, read non-fiction - make your local library your friend, many great minds are now sharing their knowledge on YouTube, monitor how you spend each hour of the day and ask yourself if you wasted this hour (we all need down-time to recharge) or did something to move yourself forward.
Also, as American Black Prof Glenn Loury says re fellow blacks, a university degree isn't necessary. Go to a trade school. Yes the cost of renting and owning a place is shocking in most of the world now; but most people insist on living on a big place and developers say they can't make any money building smaller places. But we can't use this as an excuse for not trying harder. I live in a smaller city east of Vancouver and I take local transit. I can't believe the number of young people (with or without children) who have not been to a trade school or university. This is the bare minimum any responsible parent and young person in a western country should be aiming for. I say this as a person who started working at age 17 in 1966 and managed to work my way up through the IT industry with only a few night school courses. No one has ever funded my life. Bottom line, we now live in a "I'm a victim society'. I never once heard my grandparents complain about the very challenging lives they lived, and three were immigrants.
Sandra our career paths seem very similar. I too was early into IT and worked my way up without a CS degree. My first salaried job (after my paper route) was at a Mac's milk when I was 14.
Unlike some though, I was lucky to have good role models who instilled a love of books and learning and a sense of personal responsibility. If you don't have good role models and nobody helps you find them or makes you do the right things then you truly have to be an exceptional person to rise above your current station.
For which we can thank fossil fuels.
True. And now we want to deny them to those trying to make their lives better. If we want to do that we have to provide them nuclear and renewables but we cannot deny them electricity and other energy forms.
Dan, I am 73 and have travelled to 30 countries (both rich and developing), including the former USSR, Afghanistan, etc. and have lived in Egypt. The poorest Canadian and American living on social assistance still lives far better than most people in the world. We don't know hardship. Try living in a hovel, eating the equivalent of beans day in and out, no access to libraries to expand your mind, can't afford to send kids to supposedly free govt funded schools, can't afford healthcare or pharmaceuticals. BTW I married into a lovely Egyptian family; the family apartment was 450 sq ft for the parents and 4 kids. When I was in Egypt during the Arab spring, gas for cars and cooking was in short supply, and throughout my 40 year relationship with Egypt, water and electricity was cut off randomly most days and apartment elevators regularly broke, and this was in Cairo.
I know that our social safety net provides us with the necessities of life. But visit public housing in Toronto or the reserve in Hobbema. You'll see broken apartment elevators water shortages, electricity cut off shitty healthcare etc. But what you will notice is despair. Save the body but kill the spirit?
Sandra, when you say we don't know hardship, you should live with a father you barely know in jail and a mother working two shitty jobs who has no time to give you attention and can't afford to give you stuff that the other kids in your class take for granted. You may think hardship is living in a mud hut and only eating what you grow or kill but that kid may be happier than the urban kid. Tell her how lucky she is.
Dan - you have no idea what my life experience has been! So please don't pre-judge me.
Sandra, it is true that I don't know your life experience and if you think I was judging you, I apologize. I was just trying to point out that there are many types of hardships and a social safety net doesn't necessarily protect our people from all harms and hardship.
Dan, historically the vast majority of people have lived shit lives. Those of us born after WW II have had it far too cushy; we expected the party to not only last forever but give us a higher high. There have always been and will continue to be people who are for no fault of their own who live very unfair lives.
BTW, the number of people who read any book, let alone non-fiction, goes down every year. I'm hardly an expert in world history, science, etc. re Canada of the rest of the world. Yet books have always been my best friend, as it took me to higher intellectual and comforting places, that I have never gotten from people around me; yet these people in my generation (including myself) are considered successfuly baby boomers. It's more and more apparent that are ignorance of our own countries and the world's history and other topics, is painfully high. And our schools and most university programs do not provide the real education we need. Thankfully as much as there are negatives to the internet, a wealth of information is now available to each of us. It's there for the taking, but most people aren't interested... too busy getting tattoos, upgrading their cell phone, and buying prepared food.
btw Sandra another good Canadian substack is https://shush.substack.com Sorry Jen if this is out of line.
So bitter. So angry. Let it go.
Lou - I'm neither bitter nor particularly angry. I was just trying to point out that even though Canadians have a social safety net, many Canadians (and other first world citizens) don't consider themselves to have an overabundance issue.
Two comments: I was living in Budapest during the last days of the Cold War and there, as in Moscow, the advent of a McDonalds was the subject of news reports and lineups; it was, in fact, where in 1989 the American Ambassador met with his Soviet counterpart to discuss managing the decline of the Soviet system in Hungary (they didn't have to wait in line).
My other comment is that anyone who bought into to "no more wars because we are too economically intertwined" theory forgets history. The very same argument was made in 1912, just in time for World War 1.
Jen, as always - I know, it is tiresome to hear it again - I enjoy your work and perspective.
I very much enjoy the various comments herein and from time to time. I find many of the comments today to be "useful" - as I use the word - but there are some that are (in my oh, so considered view) rather tendentious and not always relevant to the column. However, for the most part I find the various comments to be useful in making me think - whether or not I agree with them.
So, again, fan mail - how tiresome!
And, oh, yeah, I also enjoy Matt's work; please let him know.
I would just note that Russia is acting at cross-purposes. It is reasserting its imperial boundaries, but at the same time asserting its nationalism. Empires are multiethnic and thus non-nationalist. Committed as Putin is to subjugation of Ukraine while asserting Russian nationalism, Putin has chosen to deny Ukrainian nationality. An imperialist accepts the subjects nationality, and find ways to rule without arousing national resentments (that make rule difficult). In this case, I think it is safe to say that Putin's denial of the reality of Ukrainian nationality will engender permanent resistance to Russian rule.
Putin may have chosen to deny Ukraine nationality and so is blowing them up, shooting them down, trapping them is cities with no food, water, or escape. The only problem is Ukraine does have a lot, an awful lot, of Russian speaking Russian nationals, the people he was going to save from the nazis, I recall. And these Russians in the crosshairs are being blown up, shot down, and are trapped in cities with no food or water or humanitarian corridors. These people too will engender permenant resistance.
Jen - I think this is an award winning article. I admire your well honed writing/investigative skills. You touched on so many necessary points. I was in the former USSR 45 years ago, visiting Moscow, Leningrad, Caucasus countries and Uzbekistan - a life changing experience. I remember when in Moscow, entering a spectacular, very large, classic, belle epoque meat/deli store with a maze of display coolers. 95% were empty. We also walked by a dingy hole in the wall 'store' sellinga a few boxes of apples; I do think it was called "Apple Store # 6". There were line ups for everything, with most people reading books and newspapers, while patiently waiting; I have always remembered Russian's love for reading/learning. I could go on and on re my life changing memories.
Years later, I also remember watching on TV here in Canada, the opening of the MacDonald's in Moscow.
Very good summary of western malaise. It is sad the west moves to tribes and Russia to imperialism. I hope this is a wake-up call for our country and the need for common values in the public sphere.
We all, at some level, need to be builders. If we aren't our soul will die. Consumption is not enough.
Not sure I follow the argument, or buy it if I do.
I appreciate the critique of the assumption that a global economic liberalism and interdependence would lay the conditions for endless peace. Instead its assumption of universal acceptance, its own form of cultural imperialism, has run up against revivalist autocratic nationalisms seeking to achieve territorial ambitions through military conquest. The claim here seems to be that this nationalist tribalism is filling a void left by the spiritual emptiness of consumer society. Or at least the latter has left liberal democratic societies weakened and unprepared for such nationalistic threats to the global order established since WWII.
My take is the vast majority of humanity want to live comfortable, predictable lives. Big dramatic violent conquests are fine on the big or little screens, but not when they blow up your living room and everyone in it. The average person wants nothing to do with war. Thus the exodus from Ukraine (and to a lesser extent from Russia). This war is not being driven by bored consumers.
If we are going to talk about spiritual emptiness as a motivator, then we might as well talk about religions run by gangs of pedophile priests, corrupt elites, or hyper-partisan pols, as talk about the unfulfilled desires of consumers. We also need to recognize the spiritual emptiness of the acts of violence rationalized through propaganda meant to trigger people's tribal fears and not assume such tribal violence is filling a void created by an unfulfilling consumer experience of peace and prosperity.
So my point, war is not animated by the spiritual emptiness of people living relatively comfortable, predictable lives pursuing the customary community rituals of family and friends. If we are to understand this dangerous moment of ethnic autocratic nationalism, we are going to have to look beyond critiques of consumerism to understand the underlying conflicted nature of societies themselves.
The old conflicts of tribal identity have never left us. My guess, without having researched the question specifically, is that every major violent conflict around the world has a divisive ethnic aspect. Consumerism per se doesn't favour or disadvantage any particular ethnic tradition. It also does not dissolve those conflicts.
Certainly capitalism is inherently disruptive of traditional forms of life. But the current dangerous moment is not a case of the traditional versus the modern, despite the fact the propaganda plays on long standing stereotypes. Rather the current moment is more similar to the imperialist ambitions that collided in WWI and WWII. The current contest for super-power status is in flux. Russia, clearly a superpower in decline, seeks to revive its imperial ambitions through a play that will realign its options with a rising China at the expense of the West. China hopes to benefit from its ally's play to weaken the West. Neither Russia nor China are satisfied with the global order establish by the West after WWII. They both seek to benefit from its violent disruption.
Bored consumers are not the problem.
Well written, with the only addition that many are being left behind as the wealthiest take more and more and live ridiculous life styles with no meaning. Giving nothing back to community other than guilt cheques that make them look good instead of paying people decent wages and benefits and keeping our environments clean and safe. Where healthy young people pay for someone else to have their child so she does not ruin her body or go through the pain of child birth. Life needs pain to have meaning. No wonder people are looking for something, anything to believe in, that has meaning and substance to them. Democracy is looking shallow, lame and weak and strong man like Putin will take advantage. The good news is, there is still hope. People can come together and fight for freedom and all its imperfections at the cost of comfort. The people of Ukraine have shown us what courage really is and I thank them for the reality check.
Brilliant insight.
I'd love to see someone interview guy who wrote that end of History article, and see what he has to say about it now.
Entitlement is at the center of both Russian expansionism and Western indulgence. It is also at the centre of both the societal issues in Canada and our financial ones.
Entitlement is the eighth deadly sin.
Another excellent article Jen.
When I read the comments I know we are doomed.