I recently read Simon Ducatel’s editorial from the Dec. 17, 2019 edition of the Mountain View Albertan (editor’s note: formerly the Mountain View Gazette) titled “Identifying, and then ignoring, internet trolls,” and I wanted to send a note of support.
All of what you are saying about democratic socialism and the deteriorated style of the political discourse is very valid and deserves support or at least open-minded appreciation.
It is sadly and tragically true that many of the ones that suffer the most from inequality, are purposefully being betrayed and manipulated when sourcing for their information and heavily relying on social media.
Going online, it seems we have the world at our fingertips. But it is a matter of fact that manipulation has gone mainstream (Cambridge Analytica, war rooms, and so on).
Most of what our current political and economical system is based upon — growth and consumerism — is actually not feasible for much longer unless mankind finds a way to jump to an Earth 2.0; the refuge of denial is not working much longer.
I am sure your voice is heard, and sometimes even if there is only one person who reads, understands and then talks to others, something powerful can be ignited.
Canada is strong when people are united, foster tolerance, and respect each other’s viewpoints. That is why people still find the country attractive, and frankly, it is the only path for humanity as well to avoid destroying ourselves and a habitable planet.
While it often feels frustrating to try and share thoughts and fragments of a concept that collides with what people learned to believe here, it is not a lost cause.
The fact that it was possible to get a majority for a more progressive government in Alberta in 2015 is a sign of hope and shows that renewal is possible.
When I hear people today complaining about higher tuition, school bus fees, cuts in health care, job losses among teachers and nurses, groundwater contamination from rushed, non-red-tape resource depletion, leaking orphan wells from companies that have declared bankruptcy while already enjoying huge profits in tax havens and the likes, I respond that somebody must have voted for those politicians, who willfully serve the two per cent under the assumption that sufficient wealth trickles down to satisfy the other 98 per cent and legitimize the system.
Democratic socialism is actually neither radical nor new; it is what allowed mankind to survive and thrive for thousands of years.
Liberalism — sometimes called conservatism — à la Adam Smith and his contemporary disciples, which assumes that pursuing one’s own goals (even recklessly) will eventually benefit all, has irrevocably reached the end of its dead-end road socially, environmentally, and economically.
Gerhard Doege,
Crossfield
