Tamara Lich is on trial for breaking bail conditions by
attending an award ceremony where she was honoured for her part in the Freedom
Convoy demonstration/insurrection.
This is
not news, really. What would be news would be that we’ve acknowledged what it is in
human nature in 2022 that’s behind the angry unrest which we’re experiencing
daily.
I have
the answer and so do you if you’ve raised children or managed a classroom. But
I can’t claim to have the solution. The underlying trigger for social unrest
lies in the hunger for status, pure and simple.
“Status:
the relative social, professional, or other standing of someone or something.”
Note the world relative here. An island where everyone works all day
every day just to survive will never have a political insurrection because “relative
standing” is no issue. Poor communities can provide a happy atmosphere for
residents until one unlucky bastard wins the lottery, builds a house big enough
for fifty and buys a Ferrari.
To be
without status is to be like a runt of the litter who’s constantly shouldered
away from mommy’s teats by the bigger sucklings; denial of status for piglets can be a
death sentence. What would you do if you were that hungry little runt? Sneak up
and tear out the jugular of the sibling with the most status? Organize a runt
convoy?
Power to
effect change is one of the key characteristics of status. In Canada, we
choose people to exercise political power for us. The net effect, too often, is
that minorities who disagree with the choice come to sense their powerlessness
and seek ways to compensate, pick out areas of vulnerability where change can be effected
… by them. Trump rallies, truck convoys are logical responses to being
“runtified”[i]
by the socio-political structures that fail to address status starvation.
Keep favouring the same sibling over the others and "the runt" will find ways to “level
the playing field,” and it won’t be pretty.
But if this is the answer, what’s the solution? Sorry, I don't know one solution. A good teacher identifies status starvation in her/his/their classroom and finds ways to ensure no one is “runtified.” Parents who can’t see what favouritism is doing to a child have no right to the power parenthood has bestowed on them. Governments that write off, even scorn minority opinions are no longer democratic, but are leading their countries on the way to oligarchic thinking and acting.
When
it’s Christians who are practicing hierarchical, status-hoarding models of
community, we should all be shaking our heads in disbelief. One of Jesus’ most
important and repeated teachings was that in his kingdom, everybody shares
status, period. He washed the disciples’ feet, for heaven’s sake!
For us
as individuals and communities, the “think globally, act locally” ideal might
be all we have to offer. If parents and teachers model the zero-sum principle
of winners and losers to kids, the next generation will repeat what we’re going
through. On the other hand, if teachers and parents consciously practice status
sharing and avoid the runtifying of individuals, the peace kingdom has at
least a chance of coming closer in the future.
I can’t leave this subject, though, without acknowledging that we have made progress, particularly if we remember how we reduced the indigenous population to “non-status” (pardon the pun) life through reserve and residential school systems. We have spent millions to bring electricity, phone, radio and internet to remote communities, all of which efforts enhanced their status in our national community. Women no longer need to feel like second class citizens since so much has been done to eliminate their runtification.
These are but three
examples that point out at least some progress in wiping out status hoarding. Creative
minds will come up with next steps … I hope some of us survive to see it.
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