Many of us progressive folk are now harbouring the desire, or at least a dream, that this current pandemic is going to make us all nicer, gentler, kinder and more humble people. Kumbaya, anyone? I believe it was Gandhi (yes, THAT Gandhi) who said, when asked what he thought of Western Civilization, that it sounded like a very good idea!
It is rather interesting, methinks, Gentle Rader, just how selective our thinking is when it comes to talking about civilization. For example, the Aztec and Maya are still considered to be the most civilized of the native peoples of the Americas, because they had writing, and gold, and fancy buildings and an amazingly complex set of social structures and infrastructures. And did I also happen to mention their incredibly advanced mathematics and sciences, especially astronomy? And let's not forget their incredible works of art. Oh, by the way, they also practiced human sacrifice. An awful lot of it. And they didn't have the wheel. Or toilet paper.
Very unlike many of the First Nations of North America, who did not have advanced writing systems and in other ways were considered quite primitive. Oh, and a lot of them had also incredibly advanced social justice systems that emphasized restorative justice over retribution and punishment. So, who was really more civilized?
This for me often brings to mind some of the classic human rights arguments between communist dictatorships and so called liberal democracies. Cuba, for example, does not enshrine as human rights freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press or freedom of dissent, as are commonly enjoyed in other countries. But those arguing in favour of the Cuban system of government will quite legitimately emphasize the free medical, including dental, care that is universally available, not to mention free post secondary education, and that housing is recognized and provided in that country as a universal human right.
When I went to Bogotá for the first time in four years, I noticed the tall gleaming office and condo towers and what a monument that whole city seems to be to the selfish and uber capitalist philosophy of Ayn Rand, while also musing how this could be enshrined as a thoroughly modern and progressive city, even while the poorest of the poor were being trampled underfoot by the very wealthy.
During this pandemic of the Covid 19 virus, we Canadians are justifiably horrified by the thirty-one deaths in a Quebec nursing home, where many of the surviving residents were abandoned by their caregivers and left to marinate for days in their own excrement and urine. Now, there is even more sympathy being expressed towards our homeless populations, given their heightened vulnerability to contracting the virus, and some people might even be motivated by real compassion, and not simply fear of being infected by them. Maybe one day, we will even see all of them getting housed. In decent accommodations.
Yes, our forty years of neoliberalism and deregulation have finally come back to bite us in the ass, and soon it's going to hurt even more. We may even one day, perhaps in my lifetime, come to actually believe that the real markings of a civilized society have very little to do with its technological progress and prowess, and almost everything to do with how their most vulnerable populations are being treated. Kumbaya, anyone?
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