What we've witnessed unfold is the symptom, not the disease. The disease is fear, which manifests as tribalism and a desperate desire to belong to a group that appears strong, majoritarian even.
It used to be that honour prevented a person from acting on their fear. We kept our mouths shut to avoid bringing dishonour to our family, community, church, school, nation, etc. With the disappearance of honour came the inhibition that once kept things in relative order. (I'm lifting this from Tamler Somers and his book, Why Honor Matters.)
The covidians, although very tribal, lacked honour. Social media enables dishonourable discourse. So combining the phenomena of the covidians and social media and we get destructive, divisive, disgusting words (and probably actions).
While working with post secondary students during the height of the passports, I was shocked by their enthusiasm to enforce this creepy system. But I had to remind myself that, more than anything, these young adults want (and need!) to belong to something, and this tribe (which Trudeau falsely painted as the majority) suited them just fine.
I just hope this year's cold and flu season doesn't trigger the covidians replete with keyboard courage.
Yes, this is an excellent point about honour. It's a bit of an outdated concept (sadly). The most shocking thing to me about this is how easily and fully people bought into it. And not just post secondary students, but people with much more life experience who should know better. Tribalism is very much alive.
Full agreement from me, Ken.
What we've witnessed unfold is the symptom, not the disease. The disease is fear, which manifests as tribalism and a desperate desire to belong to a group that appears strong, majoritarian even.
It used to be that honour prevented a person from acting on their fear. We kept our mouths shut to avoid bringing dishonour to our family, community, church, school, nation, etc. With the disappearance of honour came the inhibition that once kept things in relative order. (I'm lifting this from Tamler Somers and his book, Why Honor Matters.)
The covidians, although very tribal, lacked honour. Social media enables dishonourable discourse. So combining the phenomena of the covidians and social media and we get destructive, divisive, disgusting words (and probably actions).
While working with post secondary students during the height of the passports, I was shocked by their enthusiasm to enforce this creepy system. But I had to remind myself that, more than anything, these young adults want (and need!) to belong to something, and this tribe (which Trudeau falsely painted as the majority) suited them just fine.
I just hope this year's cold and flu season doesn't trigger the covidians replete with keyboard courage.
Yes, this is an excellent point about honour. It's a bit of an outdated concept (sadly). The most shocking thing to me about this is how easily and fully people bought into it. And not just post secondary students, but people with much more life experience who should know better. Tribalism is very much alive.