Our reaction to terror in Israel shows Canada isn’t that divided
Consider the last week. The prime minister and leader of the official Opposition both spoke at a vigil in Ottawa, each denouncing the terrorist attack. The finance minister and the NDP-affiliated mayor of Toronto spoke at Nathan Phillips Square in support of Israel, while a much smaller pro-Palestinian rally took place nearby. There are always loud minorities on the other side of any issue, even whether gravity exists or not. We shouldn’t let them become a distraction.
I am in general agreement with the article. The bigger problem is our education system and today’s total ignorance of history. That is very alarming and particularly younger Canadians have little or no understanding of the context surrounding these world events. The danger of the simplification in social media is enhanced by this failure of historical context.
What happened in Israel should be instantly recognized not just as evil but planned evil. If you have no context on Hamas and don’t understand the history of Israel then it can be too easily dismissed as just another appalling act by legitimate opponents in war rather than the recognition of the horror of the event and its significance in a world where Anti-Semitism continues to exist and grow again.
17th October 2023 at 11:21 am
Rob Tyrrell
This article is an important reminder of due gratitude for being Canadian.
What we also have is the baked-in human negativity bias, a news media attention ecosystem that monetizes this bias, and a political system that is driven by gut feelings, narratives, popular personalities, and team allegiance instead of a priority on demonstrable competence on basic governance and longer-term thinking over short-term political expediency.
That is, nothing really new here except the social media accelerant.
Our democratic political practice needs an upgrade, including we citizens. That said, being a citizen of Canada (born or arrived) is being a winner of a global citizenship lottery.
17th October 2023 at 9:03 am
George Burger
Agreed. And people seem to put the blame for our sliding values on social media. In fact, it is a direct result of our educational system and the media. Bring those into line, with let’s say, 1970s values, and our children will have more than enough armour to protect themselves against social media.
17th October 2023 at 9:37 am
George Burger
I would agree with you, with a caveat. The burst of barbaric support for the massacres of 7/10 in the several days after seems to have subsided, partly I believe because of the modest media and political pushback(except from stalwarts like Doug Ford, who has always been outspokenly supportive of the Jewish community. I too would be interested in polling, but do not expect to see anywhere the same level of support as in the US. But most worrying is that even the US date shows that among 18-34s, they rail overall support for Israel’s actions by a fact of 50%. This means we have alot of work ahead of us educating our children about what is really important in this world, like wars, what caused them, and how to have the tools necessary to have have moral clarity that is expected of people who enjoy the greatest freedoms in the world.
17th October 2023 at 9:35 am
Greg K
A pretty well-written and generally balanced article. If only our MSM could see the world through your eyes. The MSM news broadcasts that I saw – CTV Toronto and CP24 – and the same stories reported on my local CBC Radio One station didn’t show the same story you talked about. They focused on what they called those ‘supporting Hamas militants’ doing their flag-waving and generally disrupting traffic at a major intersection in Toronto. I didn’t see anything about the PM and our leader of the opposition or Ms. Chow and Mr. Singh denouncing anything about Hamas. I saw nothing of the media calling Hamas what it is – TERRORISTS. So if we don’t insist on truth and fairness in reporting the news, how will we ever know? Thankfully the Hub and others still have a voice.
17th October 2023 at 4:32 pm
Christopher Porozny
Terrorists? The legitimately elected leaders of the impoverished and imprisoned residents of Gaza? Rebelling over 2.3 million unarmed human beings being isolated for 20 years isn’t terrorism. The terrorists are those who use a pathetic and utterly stupid myth as their justification for their brutal cruelties.
You wouldn’t know truth if it stood before you, naked.
Comments (6)
I am in general agreement with the article. The bigger problem is our education system and today’s total ignorance of history. That is very alarming and particularly younger Canadians have little or no understanding of the context surrounding these world events. The danger of the simplification in social media is enhanced by this failure of historical context.
What happened in Israel should be instantly recognized not just as evil but planned evil. If you have no context on Hamas and don’t understand the history of Israel then it can be too easily dismissed as just another appalling act by legitimate opponents in war rather than the recognition of the horror of the event and its significance in a world where Anti-Semitism continues to exist and grow again.
This article is an important reminder of due gratitude for being Canadian.
What we also have is the baked-in human negativity bias, a news media attention ecosystem that monetizes this bias, and a political system that is driven by gut feelings, narratives, popular personalities, and team allegiance instead of a priority on demonstrable competence on basic governance and longer-term thinking over short-term political expediency.
That is, nothing really new here except the social media accelerant.
Our democratic political practice needs an upgrade, including we citizens. That said, being a citizen of Canada (born or arrived) is being a winner of a global citizenship lottery.
Agreed. And people seem to put the blame for our sliding values on social media. In fact, it is a direct result of our educational system and the media. Bring those into line, with let’s say, 1970s values, and our children will have more than enough armour to protect themselves against social media.
I would agree with you, with a caveat. The burst of barbaric support for the massacres of 7/10 in the several days after seems to have subsided, partly I believe because of the modest media and political pushback(except from stalwarts like Doug Ford, who has always been outspokenly supportive of the Jewish community. I too would be interested in polling, but do not expect to see anywhere the same level of support as in the US. But most worrying is that even the US date shows that among 18-34s, they rail overall support for Israel’s actions by a fact of 50%. This means we have alot of work ahead of us educating our children about what is really important in this world, like wars, what caused them, and how to have the tools necessary to have have moral clarity that is expected of people who enjoy the greatest freedoms in the world.
A pretty well-written and generally balanced article. If only our MSM could see the world through your eyes. The MSM news broadcasts that I saw – CTV Toronto and CP24 – and the same stories reported on my local CBC Radio One station didn’t show the same story you talked about. They focused on what they called those ‘supporting Hamas militants’ doing their flag-waving and generally disrupting traffic at a major intersection in Toronto. I didn’t see anything about the PM and our leader of the opposition or Ms. Chow and Mr. Singh denouncing anything about Hamas. I saw nothing of the media calling Hamas what it is – TERRORISTS. So if we don’t insist on truth and fairness in reporting the news, how will we ever know? Thankfully the Hub and others still have a voice.
Terrorists? The legitimately elected leaders of the impoverished and imprisoned residents of Gaza? Rebelling over 2.3 million unarmed human beings being isolated for 20 years isn’t terrorism. The terrorists are those who use a pathetic and utterly stupid myth as their justification for their brutal cruelties.
You wouldn’t know truth if it stood before you, naked.