(Advance apologies for the length of this post - I even shortened it a fair bit! - but I need to get stuff off of my chest.)
Hello reader, would you believe I started the first draft of this post over a year ago? This is, in fact, the 3rd 4th 5th 6th attempt I've made since my "woke" post to sort and gather my thoughts. First, a long draft last June (with lots of links), then an even longer draft in November with even MORE links. Had planned to post in December, but the dismal grey weather matched my mood too perfectly, so I put if off. Also didn't want to post at the beginning of 2024, because why start the year off on a less-than-optimistic note? Then world affairs continued to get worse, and of late things have been happening so quickly it's almost impossible to keep up!
So here it is, finally, and if I thought things were topsy-turvy enough before, I'm not even sure how to describe it now. Other than to say that to me almost everything, but the political landscape especially, feels upside down, inside out, and wrong side up. (Thus the reference to Alice in Wonderland in the post title.) It's left me bewildered, anxious, ANGRY, and feeling like this is the most exhausting and dangerous time my (boomer) generation has known. Hyperbolic? Perhaps, but I do believe we are living in an age of accelerating chaos, from which the wrong people will benefit.
But before I continue, let me ask: is there ANYTHING Canadians are not currently divided on? (Not that polarization isn't an increasing problem almost everywhere.) For example:
- our record-setting wildfire season last year (not a problem, likely arson vs. evidence of increasing climate change)
- climate change (manufactured hoax vs. real crisis)
- vaccine mandates (authoritarian assault on freedom vs. the right collective thing to do to protect everyone)
- The Emergencies Act (draconian & unconstitutional vs. unfortunately necessary)
- Tamara Lich and Chris Barber (national heroes vs. criminal grifters)
- Justin Trudeau (dictator of a broken Canada vs. leader holding Canada together relatively well)
- CBC (liberal mouthpiece that should be defunded vs. national institution worth preserving - though some on the left are now starting to view the CBC as more of a conservative mouthpiece...)
- MAID (cruel eugenics experiment vs. compassionate medical care)
- gender-affirming care (genital mutilation vs. life-saving care)
- DEI (racist anti-white ideology vs. attempt to address systemic racism)
- Ukraine (stop funding vs. continue to help)
- Gaza, possibly the most heated/explosive dividing issue of late (Israel has the right to defend itself vs. yes, and we DO condemn Hamas unequivocally, but no, that DOESN'T excuse civilian genocide, and no, saying so ISN'T anti-Semitic)
The other odd thing going on right now are how some of the same accusations are being levelled by opposing parties or supporters (whether Canadian or American), with the "every accusation is a confession" being lobbed back and forth by all:
- Division - which leader is being divisive?
- Distraction - which leader is distracting voters with wedge issues?
- Authoritarianism, if not fascism - which party is flirting with this?
- Cancel Culture - which side is trying to do this?
- Truth - why can't they distinguish between truth and lies, facts vs. fiction?
- Science - whether it's gender-affirming care or climate change or... all sides will claim to BE on the side of science
- Protecting kids - again, both sides of the gender identity culture war believe that that's EXACTLY what they're doing, with each side claiming the other is obsessed with body parts and gender identity
Which brings me back to the reaction to PRIDE month last June, when in my opinion the current cultural shitshow REALLY took off. Besides the wildfire season which had many of us inhaling smoke, the firestorm around Pride last year is one that I've never seen in my many decades of supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Holy crapola! (Don't know if it was as bad this year as I actually tried not to be on social media as much.)
With the American election coming up in less than 100 days, how is it even possible for a twice-impeached seditionist found guilty of 34 felony counts to run for president again, and worse, still have a real chance of winning? It boggles the mind. In what fiction writer's mind (other than M. Atwood perhaps) would it even be considered a potential plot? It erodes all sense of decency, justice, plausibility and normality. (Go, Harris-Walz, Go!)
Given recent SCOTUS rulings (presidential immunity, legalizing machine guns, criminalizing homelessness, and deciding that bribes aren't bribes if they're received after rather than before), you can't blame Americans for their record-level low trust in the Court. It would seem then that the aim of the justice system is no longer justice, just as the aim of too many politicians is no longer serving constituents or country, but winning elections and gaining power.
Now before Canadians get too smug, our country is no longer immune to political mayhem either. I mean, how could so many be gullible enough to fall for Pierre Poilievre's fake populist playbook, or be swayed by the Conservative Premiers of New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta willing to use the Notwithstanding Clause in order to take advantage of anti-trans sentiment to get more support?
While I personally blame Stephen Harper nationally and Mike Harris provincially for starting the process of loosening Canadian social safety networks if not democracy itself, I believe that the '16 election of Trump in the US, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the resistance to health measures and mandates, and the Freedom Convoy movement here in Canada helped to accelerate the Alice-in-Wonderland world we're now in.
Sadly, Pierre Poilievre lying (love how lie is literally part of his last name) about how Canada is broken and continually blaming Trudeau for everything is something he's learned from the best: keep repeating lies no matter how absurd, because enough people will come to believe them. Have to wonder though; what will Conservatives do when they can no longer blame everything on Trudeau or the carbon tax?
Here, as in the US and other parts of the world, we can't even seem to agree anymore on the meaning of certain words: left, right, freedom, fascism, antisemitism, genocide, racism, truth, woke, etc., while phrases like "bodily autonomy" is used more to indicate being against vaccines than being in favour of reproductive rights. Speaking of which, did you know that back in 2021 Texas tried to pass a bill that would punish those who got an abortion with the death penalty? (Yes, take a moment to let that sink in.)
Doesn't sound very "pro-life" to me. And while that didn't happen, Google Project 2025 to see what policies concerning education, DEI and abortion some Republicans are eager to implement. Democrats in this instance aren't blameless either. The Biden administration could have codified Roe in the last four years, but instead are using abortion rights as a voting issue.
Freedom of speech and freedom of expression? Depends. Those who clamour the most for the right to free speech seem to be the same folks who would like to squash certain books (book ban attempts in the US hit an all-time high last year, and oh, Canada's own Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, along with 12 other books, has now been officially outlawed in Utah's classrooms and libraries in a first statewide ban), sex education in schools around orientation and gender identity, and a kid's right to choose their pronouns in school.
Those crying for smaller government don't seem to have an issue with the prolific US anti-trans legislation* (initially said to be about protecting kids, but quickly morphing into removing rights for adults as well) either. And not surprisingly, "parental rights" do NOT appear to include the rights of parents with trans kids to decide for themselves (in conjunction with medical professionals) the best care plans and treatments for their kids. (*638 US bills, with 75 at the federal level, have been introduced in '24 so far, already surpassing the 604 introduced last year.)
Freedom of speech or expression for whom? You do have to wonder when a new US law defines criticism of Israel as antisemitism. You do have to wonder when so many consider the protest of the disproportionate killing of Palestinian citizens in Gaza to be antisemitic.
You do have to wonder when Amazon permanently removes my ability to leave reviews (and deleted ALL my previous ones) after warning me that a critical review (see View this photo below) of a bestselling racist book violated their community guidelines, even though the book itself and its positive glowing reviews reiterating some of its racism did not. Photo below is of deleted review.
Why the eagerness to suppress speech of protesters by so many who complain of "cancel culture" in too many other instances? Free speech for me but not for thee?
Protesting itself will be viewed (and punished) differently depending on what is being protested. You'll have noticed that occupants of the so-called Freedom Convoy two years back were treated quite differently than Indigenous or environmental activists. Calling to overthrow the government is one thing, but protesting pipelines, fossil fuel industries or factory farming is apparently quite another.
Just recently, 5 UK Just Stop Oil participants were sentenced to four and five years in jail based on evidence gathered during a Zoom call. Yes, a Zoom call. Five years. Equally unfathomable to me is that the judge decided evidence related to climate breakdown (the reason they were protesting in the first place) was irrelevant and inadmissible, which reminded me of the 'Excelsior 4' case in BC, Canada. Here too the judge ruled that evidence related to animal cruelty (why protesters were protesting) was irrelevant and inadmissible, and the protesters were sentenced to 30 days in jail - the only known jail sentence in Canada for peaceful civic disobedience.
In January the BC Court of Appeal upheld their convictions, and while they overturned the jail sentences in June giving them 120 days of house arrest and a year of probation instead, these two cases have set a too dangerous precedent for those protesting whatever interferes with corporate and industrial moneymaking. All the while, climate-damaging and animal-harming industries themselves go unpunished, and certainly never get jail time even in cases of egregious animal cruelty.
Speaking of animal cruelty, Ontario has reinstated the blood sport of penned hunting, Alberta sneaks in a grizzly bear hunt, and "Everybody Hates Marineland" has reopened this season after hopeful rumours of its demise. Oh, and notice how during Canada's wildfires media will discount injured, killed or displaced wildlife when stating there were no fatalities or casualties? Also, while much of Ontario's ag-gag law was defeated (woohoo!), Canada's federal ag-gag Bill C-275 is unfortunately getting close to being law.
I mentioned earlier some of the words we have difficulty agreeing upon. Facts, too. Facts like who won the last US election. Amazingly, I came across a stat recently that said up to 40% of US citizens thought it was Trump. What kind of world do we live in? (Apparently one filled with misinformation and disinformation, one where facts and "alternative facts" duel it out, and where appearance and perception trumps truth.)
What kind of world do we live in when we can't even agree on what is actually happening? Whether in terms of climate change, crime statistics, causes of high inflation and housing, the scapegoating of immigrants and transgender folk, where do we go from here if we can't agree on what is real and what is causing our problems? How do we move forward?
So it's not surprising that this absurdist and increasingly frightening world of ours (we ARE in deep doodoo) is driving so many of us around the bend. And because it's hard to know how to deal with this and how to respond effectively, some of us are opting to check out politically, which I completely understand. It's tempting to just say, "You know what, if the human species is so incredibly dense and arrogant and murderous, then fine, bring on climate disasters, bring on war. Deny what's happening if you want, but don't whine and wail when it comes to your own doorstep."
It's easier to throw your hands up in the air, and I wouldn't blame anyone for doing so. In fact, my own post could just as easily have finished on this note:
I duly give up, so let me end by quoting the Cheshire Cat from a book I've never read, but is a line which somehow makes sense to me:
Never let anyone drive you crazy; it is nearby anyway and the walk is good for you.
But no, just as vegans keep trying to make lasting change when it comes to animal use/abuse, so we have to do the least we can do when it comes to the interconnected social injustices that our world seems to spit out faster and more furiously by the day. We need to, at the very least, be aware of what's going on, speak up and be on record with our voices for the atrocities we're witness to, even if we don't have the power to personally change anything. Saying, "This is wrong" may be the only thing we CAN do, but it's the least that needs to be done. If we can do more, with our conversations, our votes, our wallets, all the better still.
I'm hoping too that knowing you're not the only one feeling unmoored, unsettled, concerned, frustrated, and upset at the calamities that seem to hurtle at us so fast we can't even fully grasp what's going on before the next one strikes, is of some comfort. Please know you're not alone. And even though that's not a solution to any of the atrocities, if enough of us realize that others are just as appalled as we are at the state of the world, maybe we can band together.
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If helpful, here are some Canadian and American publications and authors I read or follow:
Canadian
1) Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and the excellent Doppelganger, which I highly recommend. Interview with The Breach about her book: Naomi Klein: The right has put the left’s ideas in a bonkers blender
2) Astra Taylor, (vegan, woot!) author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart (which I'm currently reading), who also happens to be the sister of Sunaura Taylor, vegan author of Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation (own, but haven't read yet)
3) David Moscrop, author of Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones, and from his Substack: Saying True Things Out Loud and What Does Collapse Look Like?
5) The Tyee, one of my favourite independent Canadian media websites:
Democracy Is Under Siege Globally,
Stepping into the Big Weird 'Anti-Woke' Tent,
Pay Attention, Canada, to Europe's Hard Right Parties, and
Wildfires, Grief and Paralysis
4) The Breach (mentioned up above), another recommended independent media website
American
Some of the main US Substacks I follow include:
1) Judd Legum at Popular Information
2) Joshua P. Hill at New Means
3) Robert Reich
4) Sarah Kendzior at Sarah Kendzior's Newsletter, and
5) Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning: THE best source for news on trans legislation
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Whew!
If you made it this far, THANK YOU for reading, and for trying to help make our world less of an Alice-in-Wonderland one. It's hard, I know, but we have to persevere!
