Most of us spent much of 2020 in lament.
We fought an invisible enemy we did not understand. Dread almost drove us mad.
Election rhetoric wafted north and multiplied distress.
A Stage
Radicals mix passion with clear ideas about what is wrong. They pour their potent brew into a bold politics of action. They seek change and threaten revolution.
The rest of us lament. We express our sorrow with intention. We state our case and press our cause. We tell the world why it should care.
But what right do we have to lament?
A lament presupposes that someone will care.
It assumes an audience with shared values. If we can make people listen, they will hear and deliver justice.
Shared Values
Lament becomes noise without an audience who shares your values. Just howling at the moon.
I have spent 7 years blogging (howling) a medicare lament.
What did I assume before starting, without even knowing I assumed it?
All complainers must assume something before they start to whine. They share the same assumptions as radicals and other social activists.
Why Join a Riot?
A radical says he riots precisely because society does not share his moral assumptions.
He is confused.
True, society does not share his opinion about the current state of affairs. But he must assume society shares his values. Otherwise he would not riot.
A radical dresses up and demonstrates on the logic that society shares his values and will support him in the change he hopes to create.
The demonstrator must (at some level) assume,
If I throw this brick through that window, people will pay attention. They will see how bad things are for me.
Awareness of my suffering will inspire others to help fix my pain.
Pain is bad. Everyone avoids pain, and every feeling person helps others avoid pain too.
Even if people have no empathy, they will care about the chaos I cause and try to make it end.
Blind Assumptions
Why assume society agrees on what we see to be self-evidently good?
Modern liberalism assumes that to be free is to be good. ‘Good’ can be whatever consenting adults support.
As such, liberalism has no basis upon which to declare a particular action, belief, or idea as wrong.
Liberalism only survives when all liberals assume a background set of bourgeois values: honesty, work, prudence, compassion, respect for human dignity, and so on.
What if some liberals freely choose to reject those shared values?
EDI
An unspoken assumption of shared values animates the equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) movement also.
Without the shared values hidden beneath the movement, EDI fizzles as irrelevant noise.
EDI assumes that unfairness or cruelty should be enough to inspire the rest of the (rational) world to help fix it.
Fairness and compassion seem self-evident. Who would question otherwise?
Value Diversity
But not all societies are fair or compassionate. Many were and still are unfair and cruel. They remain so without apology.
Honour cultures celebrated heroism and strength.
Medieval Christians celebrated pain and sacrifice.
The Buddha taught that life is suffering due to desire and attachment to transient things. Karma is natural and necessary.
Social activists assume shared values, without ever stating what those values are or where they come from.
In fact, many activists attack the most common traditional sources of social values: Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, or Richard Dawkins.
Values Intolerance
Activists simply insist on a self-evident ethical code and then force everyone to take a knee. They dismiss all questions about the basis for their insistence in the first place.
Preaching values, without examining where they came from, ends in war.
If I control the media, I can deplatform you. It is my moral imperative to use my power to crush you and your career.
Might makes right.
Liberalism ends here.
2021 – The Way Forward
2020 was the year of the puppy. Millions of anti-animal, urban families now have canines to train and crate.
COVID pushed us back to basic things such as pets, gardens, and bread making. Craft stores sell out. A bull market on sheep makes mutton farmers smile.
People now have time to read old books and learn where all the new ideas come from.
Hold on to What You Love
Reading Tolstoy, I realize I am an illiterate specialist. I know more authors’ names than I have read and have read less than a quarter of the names educated people know.
Compared with most Canadians, I know much about medicine. But what I know is only a fraction of what specialists know. And compared with classically-trained Canadians, I know nothing.
The way forward lies in remembering what we love.
What do we find beautiful?
Why do we still hold some truths self-evident, which no longer appear to be so on the public stage?
2020 ruptured our spend, entertain, and titillate lifestyle. It left many of us empty. What were we to do?
Nine months in, most people have found new lifestyles. And most are better for it. We have been forced to think and love and find our own lives again.
Happy New Year!
If you get a chance, check out my new book. It already hit #1 in Medicaid and Medicare Books on Amazon. Thanks!!
Excellent article Shawn. Beautifully expressed. Subtly sublime. Hope it provokes thought and mindful reflection and that we are reminded that it is easier to destroy than to create and while society should move forward and be better, we must never forget the foundation upon which society was built on and the sacrifices of those who paved the way for us. The failure to appreciate the past and lessons that history has taught is a frightening first step towards chaos.
Thank you, Robert! Really appreciate that.
You make an excellent point about it being easier to destroy than create. You also brought in a sense that we are not alone. We can learn as much from the mistakes made before us as the wisdom laid down. But we still move forward. We still try new things, and fail at many of them. I find it strange that those who hate the past and want to remake society from a blank slate also are the ones with antigens to changing anything unless they control it.
I’m trying to turn my mind to advice we might give — suggestions to make — to those in authority to make decisions. If we wanted to create an environment for a robust, diverse, creative, and customer-focussed system to grow, what elements might we consider? A crisp plan to change the failed planning of the past 50 years will not do. So what else would we advise?
Again, really appreciate you taking time to read and comment! So glad you enjoyed it.
Cheers
And lest I forget, Happy New Year to you and those dear to you.!
Thanks! From the time stamp on your comment, it doesn’t look like you slept in. I hope you find some rest over the weekend! 😀
From someone who has spent 35 yrs howling a medicare lament …
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
I will certainly be glad to see the back of 2020,but am excited to see how the world spins out of the covid vortex.
Saw your interview on true north,and am looking forward to reading your trilogy …. the last of which will be most important.
Also looking forward to the supreme court appeal of the BC Day ruling.
Hey Ram
Great to hear from you! Yes, I think many people expect something better and possibly new for 2021 and beyond. I sense an eagerness and openness to new ideas in healthcare.
It worries me a bit — people might just have the political support to slap down a shiny, new central plan. We need to be thinking about all the bits and pieces required for great medical care and outstanding patient service. Funding is one — I would argue — small element in the total package. Even if patients paid 100% of the cost of all care (trauma, chronic, everything) with cash from their pocket (a totally unreasonable idea), the state could still regulate it so heavily that nothing happens without the state in control. Funding changes alone will not save us. We need a robust set of ideas and thinking to offer as an alternative to central planning. It is almost like trying to rebuild an industry after it being wiped out by a natural disaster.
Ok, starting to drone on…
Thanks so much for thinking about these things! Too few people have the interest or see the need. Really appreciate you reading and posting a comment.
2021 is the year to focus on what could be better. I’ll need your input as I try to work on the next book!
Happy New Year
Thank you. Thought-provoking and well written.
Thanks for reading and posting! Cheers