The Natural State of Everything
Why the little things are a big deal.
The natural state of everything is decay. If you think this a dark and depressing thought, consider this:
Decay is what creates rich compost, it's what keeps our forests reproducing, and it's what allows fruit to ripen and meat to become tender. In the case of food, “maturity” might be a nicer sounding choice of words, but let's not get technical - it's the same process, and if left unattended for too long, it'll prove my point.
The threat of decay also provides motivation to take care of our homes and institutions. If we fail to maintain them, decay is the inevitable result. It's completely unnatural for a building or institution to remain standing for a hundred years if no one is around to take care of it. There is nothing impervious to decay, and our governments (by far our largest institution) are no exception.
This is why I'm ever so slightly amused when, after pointing out some obvious flaws with our current administration (which I tend to do on occasion), people often say something like, "Look at what's going on in (insert latest communist country in the news) - you should be thankful we have it so good!"
Well, Buttercup, the only reason it's not that bad here is because the people wouldn't stand for it. Just calling this country a democracy doesn't automatically make it one - or keep it one. Nothing gets better on its own, and if you do nothing, what you have immediately begins to decay.
There is a reason people move here from other countries, and it's not just because it's better here - it's also because our bar is set way higher. This didn't just happen by chance - it was planned that way from the beginning and we've been working at it for hundreds of years.
The thing about decay is that it's a relatively slow process and if you're not careful, you'll be walking around enjoying your life and ignoring this little thing and that little thing that you just don't feel like you have time for right now, and then one morning you'll wake up and the front porch is peeling, the cabinet doors are falling off, the cat's litter box is overflowing, and that last inch of counter space is now occupied by a rickety stack of dishes millimetres away from a violent demise. Then, when you run outside to try to escape the chaos, you trip over the rake that's been hiding in three feet of grass for the last four weeks. You can ignore it as long as you want, but eventually you're going to find yourself tangled up in crab grass amid piles of shattered dishes and rank cat shit.
It seems to me that in my wonderful country of Canada, our legendary politeness has gotten the better of us over the last decade. We see small things that kind of rub us the wrong way, but they're really not that big a deal, so we ignore them and just go about our lives. Then another questionable event happens but we're told by the media that the majority of Canadians are okay with it, so not wanting to be rude, or appear too controversial, we ignore that one as well and move on. Then a few people, who see where it's headed and have finally had enough decide to do something about it and because that same media says that they’re really just a “small fringe minority”, the whole country gets a knot in their gitch and rather than support these brave men and women (yes, it actually takes some serious cajones to do something like this when you know that more than half the country would love to see you behind bars based on what they saw on the news last night) - rather than support them, they side with a government and media narrative that paints us all as fools. It's almost as laughable as a competent government living in fear of a bunch of truckers taking over the country with bouncy castles.
Yet here we are.
By the way, and in case you haven't thought about it - the primary way we get to hear about the goings-on in our little world is courtesy of the news media (whether you like them or not). In fact, if there's any entity that is perfectly positioned to watch what's going on (say, in government), it's the media. That's what journalists do, right? They see what's happening and they write it down so we can read it. When stuff gets ignored these days, it seems to me that it's mainly because it's the media that is ignoring it. To the detriment of us all.
The American Press Institute has this to say about journalism:
The purpose of journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments1.
Sounds like a noble profession. I'm sure there are other definitions of journalism as well, though I should probably point out that “writing random shit based on current events” shouldn't be one of them. That's what I try to do, so I guess I would know. Sadly, that's also what a lot of so-called “journalists” do these days.
To all those people who tell me that my constant blathering about free-speech and a media free of government censorship and control is at best an over-reaction, and at worst, groundless conspiracy theories, let me point you back to the dishes and cat feces analogy. By the way, calling someone a conspiracy theorist is probably the most common insult on social media today (I wrote about that a while back and if you want, you can read The Big, Bad Three. Allow me to also add that the conspiracy theorists have been proven right an unsettling number of times over the last few years. And you wonder why they killed the prophets…
Anyway, back to the media. Since this is the main way we get to find out about what's going on, and since the purpose of journalism is to give us information to help us make decisions, perhaps we need to start making a bit more noise about what these guys have been up to. In many ways, I think that has started to happen now, and I think the fact that CBC has recently disabled comments on their Facebook page is good evidence of that. I'm ok with people getting tired of my bitching because there are still lots of people who aren't. Yet.
Anyway, it's the least I can do.
Here's another thing you may not have thought about - the high bar we've set in this country isn't set by the government, it's set by the people. And it's set to make sure that our government serves US, not the other way around. That's the whole point of a representative democracy. When people are shammed into voting for a leader who's priority is to throw huge segments of the population under the bus for political gain (the 2021 election in a nutshell) our system has failed.
This didn't happen suddenly either, in fact the smell of excrement was in the air long before the election, but we as a nation (and with a good push from our news media) ignored it and now that box is overflowing. Not only that, but there's something rotten in those dishes as well and that whole mess is teetering on the brink. We're probably well past the point of just fixing the little things by now, but it's a stark reminder of what needs to happen and how easily things can deteriorate.
So what to do? Well, for starters how 'bout we stop ignoring these little things that don't sit quite right coming from our government.
Say something. Don't stay quiet. And don't think it's only you who notices it - trust me, you're not that much smarter than everyone else. It still takes a certain attitude and perhaps there is, as Mark Manson says, “a subtle art” to not giving a fuck2, but there’s little doubt that that is what's sorely needed right now. Personally, I'm fresh out of those, so I really don't care if you think my tinfoil hat is a couple sizes too small - It's just my way to try to make a difference. And it does make difference. To me, at least.
More from BlogOfKen:
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life - by Mark Manson
I have also read Mark Manson's Book and found it super useful and enjoyable!