Collective Trauma: The Fallout 3

We humans are a half-baked lot. We are for the most part incomplete. We are usually unhappy, often miserable, seldom satisfied with what we have or with who we are. Especially the spoiled rich kids who live in privileged nations, but this disease of frustrated entitlement appears to have swept the entire world so that now we have substantial middle classes rising in China in India, Mexico, Brazil, to name but a few. And they all want more: they want to eat better food, or should I say, more red meat, which is really quite a destructive thing, both to the human body and the environment; they want nice homes and cars, also bad for the environment, but wonderful for the economy; they want university education for themselves and their children (hopelessly costly, still, unless you are already very well off, or don't mind being in debt for the next twenty years of your life. In the meantime. here at home, we have growing income inequality which is rapidly translating into social unrest. We also are seeing a nasty increase of fragmentation, ill will and hate between disparate and polarized groups. Now, everyone is thin-skinned and easily offended. We have turned into a culture of offence and insult. I began to really notice this when I first heard about cultural appropriation a couple of years back. Now, first of all, I am sympathetic to First Nations people who don't like it when dumb white boys wear ceremonial headdresses at rock festivals, or anywhere else. It looks really stupid and besides it is quite disrespectful. But the outrage that gets expressed also shows a certain lack of...shall we say...emotional maturity? There is nothing wrong with expressing an opinion and certainly there is a lot that is right about showing justified outrage. But to tell someone they can't wear something because it offends you? Or that they cannot say something that runs against your most cherished political, spiritual and/or cultural beliefs and values because it offends you? And instead of trying to leave room for reasonable, well-mannered and vigorous debate and dialogue, you are simply going to scream and holler as loud as you can because you are now an offended victim, they are bullies and your delicate little feelings have been hurt? Oh, but we are also looking at the fallout from generations of attempted cultural and racial genocide and yes this does put a different spin on things. The oppressed have every right to protest against the insensitive behaviour of the oppressors. And the oppressors have to take note, take stock and listen. Does this oblige them to change their behaviour? Probably not. No one should have to start or stop doing anything just because they are feeling shamed and emotionally blackmailed into it. This doesn't mean that change shouldn't happen. Of course it needs to, but it first has to be based on people listening to one another out of mutual respect and this is so often what is lacking in the screaming, hollering and flinging of shit that occurs both online and offline. personally, I don't have a huge issue about cultural appropriation, though I think it's quite dumb and in poor taste for a German to go parading around wearing a Scottish kilt, or a Scotsman to dance polkas while wearing lederhosen. I'm half Scots and half German, by the way. Not as poignant an insult by the way, as the white little dumbass wearing the native headdress. But we still have to cool our rage a little if we want to be heard and respected by others. Otherwise, we come across as perpetual victims throwing tantrums and having meltdowns or psychopathic schoolyard bullies. Or both. In order to understand the tendency towards cultural appropriation, among privileged white Canadians anyway it is also helpful to understand something about the cultural vacuum that many of us live in in this country. Our current prime minister has said that Canada does not have a culture. I am not so sure about this, but he is right in the sense that we don't have a developed cultural identity in this country which leaves a lot of privileged white folk feeling somewhat empty and incomplete. Hence, the desire to appropriate. Not necessarily appropriate (pun intended) but I really think that we all need to cut each other a little slack during these polarized and polarizing times we are living in, show a little more patience and mutual respect, and develop a sense of humour. And maybe also a slightly thicker skin. The current fragmentation that is occurring is only dividing us more. We need to look more for the things we all share in common and really start to focus on finding ways of bringing us together. Without stifling debate of course. We really still need to learn how to actually do dialogue.