Destroying is easier than creating

In my last post, I contemplated the difference between simple legislation that requires tolerance and government efforts to promote acceptance.

There are clues that the Conservative government finds certain progressive aspects of Canadian society displeasing to them; however, the Canadian public would not support an obvious attempt to legislate away people's existing rights. So how to circumvent the "obstacle" that is the Canadian electorate?

It's easy, actually. As I've noted before, there is a difference between tolerance and acceptance. Rights groups ultimately want acceptance of diversity, and they exist because not all of society is equitable (or even tolerant in the case of people with different sexual orientations). As such, the Conservatives are simply axing programs and cutting funding to reduce the effectiveness (or even eliminate) of rights groups. Unfortunately, money is necessary for anything to succeed in the long run.

Without effective rights groups, the elements of society that despise diversity will remain (and possibly grow in strength if they get funding). I suspect that the Conservatives hope that these elements would regress Canadian society slowly over time, benefiting their agenda (and themselves, due to more like-minded voters) in the long run.

The sick irony is the ability for the Conservatives to use the fact that Canada is reasonably progressive as a defense. Here is a hypothetical line of questioning and answering:

Status of Women? Cut the word "equality", and then axed. Why? Because with regards to gender equality, "mission accomplished".

The most staggering realization for the Canadian public (hopefully) is how much a government can accomplish if it really set its mind to achieving its goals outside the legislative branch. For the most part, not much damage has been done through legislative means (although Harper's multiple prorogation of Parliament and general defiance with regards to Afghan detainee documents have tested the limits of his executive power against the legislative branch). Much more damage has been done with money... how it has been spent, and how it has been denied.

Peace and long life.

Acceptance and tolerance: multiculturalism and beyond

In the opinion section of a student newspaper years ago, I once read that there was a difference between acceptance and tolerance. It's true. There is a difference in legislating laws against hate crimes and discrimination, which "impose" tolerance, and an official government policy that promotes diversity a part of the nation's identity.

That official government policy that I refer to is, of course, multiculturalism. Multiculturalism was an ingenious nuance that encouraged differences in people's cultural heritages as strengths rather than something to be tolerated. Now, implementing multiculturalism would not have affected people with entrenched viewpoints (for or against cultural diversity), but it would have had an influence on youth growing up. Canada was no longer a country of various groups tolerating each other, but a country of diverse groups that was part of a bigger group. Furthermore, government funding was available for cultural groups to hold events to help preserve Canada's multicultural landscape.

(Of course for all the talk of multiculturalism, Canada hasn't helped its original cultures, the First Nations, enough... but that sordid tale is for another day.)

Now with rose-coloured glasses off, I doubt that everyone happily accepts this diversity (although I suspect that a growing number of people do thanks to the newer and younger generations). Furthermore, there are legitimate challenges in trying to preserve cultural diversity, especially for newer generations of immigrants. The U.S. already is a major cultural exporter, and despite multiculturalism, Canada does have its own "overall culture" as well. Regardless, multiculturalism is a well-intentioned government policy that has borne fruit.

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Cultural diversity is not the only kind of diversity in Canada. It can be expanded and encouraged.

For example, despite legislation protecting people of varying sexual orientation, I suspect that a fair number of Canadians tolerate the idea more than accept it (or sometimes, not even bother to tolerate, such in the cases where religion is a "reason"). Ontario's new sex education program that includes a discussion of homosexuality seems to be well-intentioned and a step in the right direction. It certainly won't happen with the Conservatives in power, but there may be a day where the federal government has a program that encourages acceptance of people with different sexual orientation.

It shouldn't end there either. Diversity of people, viewpoints, and ideas is what will keep Canada vibrant.

Peace and long life.

Fearmongering against vaccines

It's worrying, but the anti-vaccination movement has had a significant impact on vaccination rates in the U.S. I don't believe that herd immunity has been compromised yet, but it must be getting dangerously close to that point. Herd immunity is probably a major reason why people can get away with not vaccinating their children (and then possibly heralded as evidence that vaccinations don't help). Once that's compromised, though...

The main problem is that the risks of something bad happening as a result of a vaccination is not compared to the risk of something bad happening with contracting a preventable disease. Vaccines are released for consumption only after they meet the requirement that only 1 in 100000 people will suffer adverse effects. For example, a batch of faulty H1N1 vaccine was recalled when 1 in 20000 people suffered severe allergic reactions. The H1N1 influenza had a death rate of 3 in 10000 people (0.03%), so even the faulty vaccine was safer than being infected by H1N1.

Frankly, a disease that is roughly as harmless as a vaccine wouldn't strike enough fear into the public for anyone to bother with making a vaccine in the first place (with regards to the "profit as a motive for pushing vaccines").

Still, the image of some horrible allergic reaction or autism (despite follow-up studies failing to find any statistical correlation) is enough to make people fear one of the greatest (in terms of benefiting the health of the species as a whole) medical achievements in human history.