Is Canada Really A Country We Should Be Proud Of?

Now don't get me wrong by the title of this post as I am a proud Canadian but unlike so many in this country I am convinced we can do a heck of a lot better at making it a better country. Instead we see in the news media efforts to make it less so. Take for example the concepts of "discrimination" and "cultural appropriation".

I for one do not believe in discrimination other than selecting the best person for any particular job, which if you want to be picky is discriminating against the inept. When push gets to shove we discriminate all the time and think nothing of it. Because of treaty rights non-natives are discriminated against as those rights do not apply to them. Others have skills that you do not have so you are discriminated against because of that, and so on. So where does one draw the line? Very simple, you ignore those traits that have absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand, such as skin colour, sex or ethnic background!

So in Canada how do we handle discrimination? Why, we discriminate! Too few women in a particular trade? Irregardless of ability you preferentially hire women and cal it "Affirmative action" so you can feel good by doing wrong. Not enough "visible minorities", why you do the same, ignore ability. They say justice is supposed to be blind, well "social justice" needs to be too!

I remember from grade school history that the Americans to the south once promoted a "melting pot" approach whereas in Canada we would instead embrace our differences. So where has either policy got us? By embracing our differences we actually encourage non-integration of immigrants into Canadian society and in doing so promote hypocrisy; women should have the same rights as men, if your religion allows that. If not, well I guess we will make an exception. And that is just the start of a long list of double standards. Even our base "Canadian Society" has a double standard! In Canada English and French are both accepted, except in Quebec. But that is a "special" case and so doesn't count. Or does it?

Something that has been gaining a foothold of late is the concept of "cultural appropriation". You know, where by you "dis-respect" another culture by eating the food that they traditionally eat or dressing the same way that they traditionally dressed? This the same twisted logic as that used by those who oppose discrimination by discriminating.

So we really are not such a great country to be proud of because of the many double standards and hypocrisies that we support and promote!  So what do we do about it? Just introduce another double standard or hypocrisy. Yeah, I am really "proud" that we do that. Not!

So, what is the solution? Simple really. We decide what "values" we support and stick to them. Don't believe in discrimination based on colour, sex and ethnic background? Then don't discriminate based on those grounds! Note how I did not include "religion"? Too many encourage discrimination of the three cited so therefore it must be excluded as it is not compatible with them and therefore should not be considered equal. But if a religious sect is willing to accept that discrimination based on colour, sex or ethnic background is unacceptable then no problem, you are welcome too.

It makes me think of a metallurgical process called "alloying"; you take different metals that share some common traits, melt them together and voila! You end up with an alloy that while it honours the differences merges them together to produce a substance with superior properties! Maybe the "melting pot" idea that the American's once promoted wasn't such a bad idea. Just too bad they didn't understand the process and ended up with too many impurities resulting in an inferior product although we have nothing to be proud of either.