the point you're making is something that I've been feeling for the past few years, albeit for a different sector.
In university, part of my major involves taking economic and statistics classes. So, I'm used to answer a question of "what should you do to reduce inflation?" by "increase interest rate", or "employment rate needs to go down", or "reduce public's purchasing power". but until 2 years ago, it never hit me what real life implications of those answers that I could list down without thinking.
now that the increase of my mortgage interest is higher than what my family spend on food, announcement by my employer that they're laying off people and the anxiety I felt going to the office everyday to ask my coworkers "anyone you know is laid off?", or how I have to keep revising our budget spreadsheet to see if the money we set aside is enough for my wife to go on mat leave when we finally get a child we've been praying for. now those answers I listed earlier don't come easily, now I know that those answers are not just words, it has real life altering impact on people.
and I feel that many of us in Canada, including the journalists, have the same blind spot. vast majority of us haven't lived through a war or conflict. listening testimonies from survivors or watching on video just not the same as actually living through it. and that's why many of us are able to make virtuous comments like "0 civilians casualties allowed" or how easily we throw labels and words (e.g. nazi, fascists, etc) since those words don't carry as much weight to our conscience or life experience as those who actually had real life experience of it.
and this conflict may be the first real life experience for many of us when things are not just words, but actual things. we are all like a fresh university grad that faced real life situations when before we just learned those in textbooks.
Statistically speaking, if you have one leg in the freezer, and the other leg in the oven, you will be quite fine. That is the conundrum of economics. Economists come in every flavour: left wing, centrist, right wing. The wings thrive on the volatility that gives one of your legs more attention than the other. That’s clearly not in the best interests of your personal long term planning and well being. Centrists strive for the stability that gives you more of a chance to plan your personal life and blood flow between legs. Interestingly politicians come in the same flavours. Even for the centrists there are no absolutes because black swans thrive on randomness.
Great exploration of the “moral quandary” of “zero casualties justification”. Our society is not prepared in any way for the very difficult times hurtling at us -- this has the potential to eclipse the period following 9/11 because Israel and Palestinian seem much closer than Afghanistan and Iraq, if only because everyone has a preconceived notion of who is right and wrong. And there are no easy answers as to how to make it right.
Really enjoyed the Toronto event, chuckled at the mention-in-despatches.
It’s a good thought exercise for people to imagine having their homes and family destroyed because of wars fought because of the ambitions of evil men, and despise the idea of war because of it. The tricky part is remembering who all those evil men are.
Great podcast but I have one question. You talk about the beheading of babies and I believe that has been walked back. There were babies killed and burned and there were people beheaded, but I thought the IDF actually said the beheaded babies might not have happened. What have you heard on this?
It is my understanding that the perpetrators of the bombs that destroyed the hospital in Gaza have not been verified, despite wide speculation. The tragedies wrought upon innocent people in Israel and Gaza are horrific and senseless.
I was in Germany a few years ago for a workshop with our partner as we were developing a fuel cell train. One night we were walking to a group dinner, and the German project manager paused and started laughing. She said she realized everybody was walking in the dark in dark clothing except for the safety engineers: we were all wearing bright-colored jackets!
Not to be nitpicky, but according to all accounts I have read and heard, it wasn't Hamas's rockets that were shot overhead (and malfunctioned). It was Islamic Jihad. Chatter was intercepted between Hamas and IJ confirming that.
On that road-safety video: I agree with the general sentiment of encouraging people to be defensive, and I've seen plenty of suggestions such as wearing bright clothing at night that are fairly uncontroversial. The problem was the framing that suggested the driver texting on their phone and the pedestrian (who granted was wearing dark clothing and earbuds, but also it was daylight and they were inside a signalled crosswalk that they properly activated) were equally at fault. To Matt's examples, there's a difference between a message of "there are dangerous people out there - lock your doors" and "not getting robbed is a two-way street".
I wear a reflective vest when walking after dark, but if you were talking about the Richmond RCMP video, it wasn't dark. It's obviously good to do what you can to protect yourself, but pedestrians might need to start wearing flashing lights at all times of day to get distracted drivers to notice them. ctvnews.ca/local/british-columbia/2023/10/17/1_6605902.amp.html
What I find most disturbing is the double standard regarding Israel and Hamas. I am trying to wrap my head around how the Palestinian people don’t recognize the harm caused by Hamas. Israel is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself. The politicians and Palestinian protesters are calling for peace, but at what cost? Hamas does not want peace they want to annihilate the Jews. Do people not realize that terrorists, once this goal is met, will then move onto the next target? Hitler started with Jews and moved to target the mentally ill, homosexuals, and Gypsies.I see a lot of young people shouting and protesting in Canada so do they really think that what they are doing will change the course of the war? And when Israel does what it has to to keep its citizens safe will the protesters then turn on the Jewish community in Canada? I have walked the streets in Berlin and have seen the brass plaques set in the cobblestones identifying the Jews who lived at a specific address with their names and when they were deported to the concentration camps. I have seen a concentration camp, seen the partially destroyed Synagogue, toured the holocaust museum, read biographies of camp survivors and seen pictures of bodies in the camps. My middle school friend’s mother was a child when she was sent to Auschwitz, I saw the tattoo on her arm. The world is a brutal and unfair place and the arrogance of young people protesting and shouting and screaming that if the Jews would only leave then there would be peace. There will never be peace in the world as long as individuals want power over others.
Canadians have been living a lie, we do not live in a utopian society, We think we have all the answers but we have never had to experience what Europe experienced during and after the Second World War. We voice options about other countries without the context of learned experience. I wonder what will become of this country should we ever experience what Israel is experiencing? We blame and apologize for previous generations failings who will apologize for this generations failings?
No firm plans for any future events but my gut feeling is that we’ll do western Canada first maybe in the spring and then eastern Canada (including Ottawa) in the fall.
the point you're making is something that I've been feeling for the past few years, albeit for a different sector.
In university, part of my major involves taking economic and statistics classes. So, I'm used to answer a question of "what should you do to reduce inflation?" by "increase interest rate", or "employment rate needs to go down", or "reduce public's purchasing power". but until 2 years ago, it never hit me what real life implications of those answers that I could list down without thinking.
now that the increase of my mortgage interest is higher than what my family spend on food, announcement by my employer that they're laying off people and the anxiety I felt going to the office everyday to ask my coworkers "anyone you know is laid off?", or how I have to keep revising our budget spreadsheet to see if the money we set aside is enough for my wife to go on mat leave when we finally get a child we've been praying for. now those answers I listed earlier don't come easily, now I know that those answers are not just words, it has real life altering impact on people.
and I feel that many of us in Canada, including the journalists, have the same blind spot. vast majority of us haven't lived through a war or conflict. listening testimonies from survivors or watching on video just not the same as actually living through it. and that's why many of us are able to make virtuous comments like "0 civilians casualties allowed" or how easily we throw labels and words (e.g. nazi, fascists, etc) since those words don't carry as much weight to our conscience or life experience as those who actually had real life experience of it.
and this conflict may be the first real life experience for many of us when things are not just words, but actual things. we are all like a fresh university grad that faced real life situations when before we just learned those in textbooks.
Great comments.
My respect Feb B.
Statistically speaking, if you have one leg in the freezer, and the other leg in the oven, you will be quite fine. That is the conundrum of economics. Economists come in every flavour: left wing, centrist, right wing. The wings thrive on the volatility that gives one of your legs more attention than the other. That’s clearly not in the best interests of your personal long term planning and well being. Centrists strive for the stability that gives you more of a chance to plan your personal life and blood flow between legs. Interestingly politicians come in the same flavours. Even for the centrists there are no absolutes because black swans thrive on randomness.
Empathy matters. It too is a currency.
Great exploration of the “moral quandary” of “zero casualties justification”. Our society is not prepared in any way for the very difficult times hurtling at us -- this has the potential to eclipse the period following 9/11 because Israel and Palestinian seem much closer than Afghanistan and Iraq, if only because everyone has a preconceived notion of who is right and wrong. And there are no easy answers as to how to make it right.
Really enjoyed the Toronto event, chuckled at the mention-in-despatches.
It’s a good thought exercise for people to imagine having their homes and family destroyed because of wars fought because of the ambitions of evil men, and despise the idea of war because of it. The tricky part is remembering who all those evil men are.
Great podcast but I have one question. You talk about the beheading of babies and I believe that has been walked back. There were babies killed and burned and there were people beheaded, but I thought the IDF actually said the beheaded babies might not have happened. What have you heard on this?
It is my understanding that the perpetrators of the bombs that destroyed the hospital in Gaza have not been verified, despite wide speculation. The tragedies wrought upon innocent people in Israel and Gaza are horrific and senseless.
I was in Germany a few years ago for a workshop with our partner as we were developing a fuel cell train. One night we were walking to a group dinner, and the German project manager paused and started laughing. She said she realized everybody was walking in the dark in dark clothing except for the safety engineers: we were all wearing bright-colored jackets!
Not to be nitpicky, but according to all accounts I have read and heard, it wasn't Hamas's rockets that were shot overhead (and malfunctioned). It was Islamic Jihad. Chatter was intercepted between Hamas and IJ confirming that.
On that road-safety video: I agree with the general sentiment of encouraging people to be defensive, and I've seen plenty of suggestions such as wearing bright clothing at night that are fairly uncontroversial. The problem was the framing that suggested the driver texting on their phone and the pedestrian (who granted was wearing dark clothing and earbuds, but also it was daylight and they were inside a signalled crosswalk that they properly activated) were equally at fault. To Matt's examples, there's a difference between a message of "there are dangerous people out there - lock your doors" and "not getting robbed is a two-way street".
I wear a reflective vest when walking after dark, but if you were talking about the Richmond RCMP video, it wasn't dark. It's obviously good to do what you can to protect yourself, but pedestrians might need to start wearing flashing lights at all times of day to get distracted drivers to notice them. ctvnews.ca/local/british-columbia/2023/10/17/1_6605902.amp.html
Here is an interesting project regarding Gaza: https://www.peacecomms.org/gaza#whispered-in-gaza
What I find most disturbing is the double standard regarding Israel and Hamas. I am trying to wrap my head around how the Palestinian people don’t recognize the harm caused by Hamas. Israel is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself. The politicians and Palestinian protesters are calling for peace, but at what cost? Hamas does not want peace they want to annihilate the Jews. Do people not realize that terrorists, once this goal is met, will then move onto the next target? Hitler started with Jews and moved to target the mentally ill, homosexuals, and Gypsies.I see a lot of young people shouting and protesting in Canada so do they really think that what they are doing will change the course of the war? And when Israel does what it has to to keep its citizens safe will the protesters then turn on the Jewish community in Canada? I have walked the streets in Berlin and have seen the brass plaques set in the cobblestones identifying the Jews who lived at a specific address with their names and when they were deported to the concentration camps. I have seen a concentration camp, seen the partially destroyed Synagogue, toured the holocaust museum, read biographies of camp survivors and seen pictures of bodies in the camps. My middle school friend’s mother was a child when she was sent to Auschwitz, I saw the tattoo on her arm. The world is a brutal and unfair place and the arrogance of young people protesting and shouting and screaming that if the Jews would only leave then there would be peace. There will never be peace in the world as long as individuals want power over others.
Canadians have been living a lie, we do not live in a utopian society, We think we have all the answers but we have never had to experience what Europe experienced during and after the Second World War. We voice options about other countries without the context of learned experience. I wonder what will become of this country should we ever experience what Israel is experiencing? We blame and apologize for previous generations failings who will apologize for this generations failings?
When are you coming to Ottawa?
No firm plans for any future events but my gut feeling is that we’ll do western Canada first maybe in the spring and then eastern Canada (including Ottawa) in the fall.
Does eastern Canada include the Maritimes?
Definitely joining you in Calgary!
Sounds like a plan.