The NDP have a fundraising campaign where they wish to Dismantle white supremacist and neo-nazi groups in Canada. While that is a feel-good campaign that might bring them money, I think Canadian political parties and elected members of Canadian parliaments should look closer to home if they wish to solve this problem.
While I didn't know for the first 55 years of my life, I'm Autistic.
Throughout my career I deliberately set aside time for volunteer work and learning. I was actually confused why other people didn't do that, as I was told about "human nature". Apparently that meant I thought everyone was like me, only most people were "lazy". 🤔
Nop. I was wrong. With lifelong learning, you have to be fine with older ideas being corrected.
You repeatedly mention that you are Autistic in your comments and posts. I am not sure what the connection is to the conversation we are having. I say this with respect, not judgment.
We are all continuously learning. Though we do not all learn the same things, nor do we all have the ability, interest or luxury to set aside time for it. Many of us simply wish to be entertained and enjoy the pleasures of life. Humanity is extraordinarily diverse, and so are our circumstances.
I would put it to you that if you find someone who shares your interests and your practice of lifelong learning, that person is the exception not the norm. That is not laziness. That is the full spectrum of what it means to be human.
I applaud your commitment to learning. because I do also, learning is a pleasure . I also hope you allot time for life's other pleasures
And yes older ideas will in time be refined, corrected, replaced. As will our new ones, in the years to come.
If there is one thing I have come to understand, it is that we humans are deeply prone to looking at our present moment as if it is the defining and correct one. We reach back into history to understand the future, but we rarely stop to recognize that our present will itself become history.
Future generations will look back at us the same way we look back at those who came before. With a mixture of admiration, bewilderment and disbelief.
"You repeatedly mention that you are Autistic in your comments and posts. I am not sure what the connection is to the conversation we are having."
Google's quick AI response might help with a smaller response to this specific section:
"Special interests are a core diagnostic criterion for autism, specifically categorized under "restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests" (RRBIs) in the DSM-5. During assessments, clinicians evaluate the intensity, focus, and duration of these interests to determine if they are unusually intense or narrow."
Everyone isn't a little bit Autistic, just like not everyone is a little bit Lesbian/gay/bi, or a little bit taller than 6 feet, etc. :-)
Autism isn't a line that goes from 0 (none) up to 11 (beyond the maximum -- from Spinal Tap), but more like the AM radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum, while a different neurotype like ADHD might be like the part of the spectrum used by WiFI, and other people emit visible light. Not every human emits in that specific range of the spectrum of humanity.
The intensity of my interests aren't a personal choice, any more than my sexual orientation, gender, natural skin colour or height (I am 6'4'') is a personal choice.
---------
The existence of different neurotypes is part of the diversity of humanity. That diversity cannot be understood or captured when thinking only in terms of individuals. Without my being able to think at a different level, I don't think I would ever have understood concepts like "racism", where a focus on individuals makes people believe this is about individual-to-individual bigotry. That individual level is like seeing some snowflakes on the surface of an iceberg, but not being able to see any of the iceberg itself (either above or below the surface of the water).
I have noticed that people where a society declares them "different", and placed them lower on some social hierarchy because it, tend to be (but are not always) better equipped to understand the full spectrum of diversity than people who have never had a reason to notice.
Curious, you are generous in sharing your knowledge , opinions and your personal details, as I said , our circumstances are all unique but I believe that truth is universal , what do you think of that, does my circumstance matter?
There are too many words in this question that have subjective meanings for me to offer what might be interpreted as if it were some objective answer. I can only guess at what you might be thinking of with each part of the question.
Over time in conversations, we could learn where we are each situated and have better guesses.
At this point your comment elsewhere about the book "But Not in Canada!" suggests you are in an older demographic than your average Substack user. I don't know if you are older or younger than I am, and there are temporal (how long you have been alive) and spatial (where you have lived) that have a huge influence over what you have been able to experience thus far.
There are some societies, but not all, that place groups with certain biological realities lower on subjectively defined social hierarchies. Living under the influence of one of those societies is part of their circumstances. Different societies treat human diversity very differently, and this is not universal.
Each of our circumstances matter, but how those circumstances are treated by others is not universal.
What some people feel is "Truth" is regularly political and/or religious rhetoric to try to claim that one group's unique ideologies are somehow universal.
I can't offhand think of something someone told me was a "universal truth" that, given time for reflection and investigation across a variety of societies, remained something I agreed was a "universal truth". I accept their truths as a personal perspective, and to be friendly try to avoid revealing my belief these are subjective rather than objective.
I needed some time to think how to reply ...I thought about your reply , ere are my thoughts....
You can't think of any universal truths, I must be honest, that makes me sad, let me be the first to share with you;
That we feel, love, suffer, live and die are a few.
That the speed of light is constant, that gravity is not a force, that time is construct, these are few more.
That there are questions will never answer, that we are not separate from others, that we are a part of this vast maybe infinite thing we call the universe.
These are some other universal truths, and so is the fact that someone will argue the contrary.
I have also read Iliad and the Odyssey does that ancient? If you can't guess what I am thinking, I say don't bother, I will happy to share my thoughts, but understand that my thoughts are constantly changing never fixed because I am influenced by changes which are unfolding outside my mind.
I do give weight to circumstance but I refuse to be defined by it, nor accept others be defined by it . When someone deems it a necessity to say, I am Canadian, I am Japanese, I am aboriginal, I bi-polar, I am Dyslexic, I am Autistic, I gay, I straight, I am old, I am young, I am intelligent…etc to me it’s their shield , it’s their justification to be bias, for compartmentalizing people , that these labels are more important than truth.
The only I am, which I agree with is that I am that am, and know that I know nothing, that without an observer I do not exist outside my mind.
You are well informed, how do you manage to have time educate yourself so well ?
While I didn't know for the first 55 years of my life, I'm Autistic.
Throughout my career I deliberately set aside time for volunteer work and learning. I was actually confused why other people didn't do that, as I was told about "human nature". Apparently that meant I thought everyone was like me, only most people were "lazy". 🤔
Nop. I was wrong. With lifelong learning, you have to be fine with older ideas being corrected.
✔️
You repeatedly mention that you are Autistic in your comments and posts. I am not sure what the connection is to the conversation we are having. I say this with respect, not judgment.
We are all continuously learning. Though we do not all learn the same things, nor do we all have the ability, interest or luxury to set aside time for it. Many of us simply wish to be entertained and enjoy the pleasures of life. Humanity is extraordinarily diverse, and so are our circumstances.
I would put it to you that if you find someone who shares your interests and your practice of lifelong learning, that person is the exception not the norm. That is not laziness. That is the full spectrum of what it means to be human.
I applaud your commitment to learning. because I do also, learning is a pleasure . I also hope you allot time for life's other pleasures
And yes older ideas will in time be refined, corrected, replaced. As will our new ones, in the years to come.
If there is one thing I have come to understand, it is that we humans are deeply prone to looking at our present moment as if it is the defining and correct one. We reach back into history to understand the future, but we rarely stop to recognize that our present will itself become history.
Future generations will look back at us the same way we look back at those who came before. With a mixture of admiration, bewilderment and disbelief.
"You repeatedly mention that you are Autistic in your comments and posts. I am not sure what the connection is to the conversation we are having."
Google's quick AI response might help with a smaller response to this specific section:
"Special interests are a core diagnostic criterion for autism, specifically categorized under "restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests" (RRBIs) in the DSM-5. During assessments, clinicians evaluate the intensity, focus, and duration of these interests to determine if they are unusually intense or narrow."
Everyone isn't a little bit Autistic, just like not everyone is a little bit Lesbian/gay/bi, or a little bit taller than 6 feet, etc. :-)
Autism isn't a line that goes from 0 (none) up to 11 (beyond the maximum -- from Spinal Tap), but more like the AM radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum, while a different neurotype like ADHD might be like the part of the spectrum used by WiFI, and other people emit visible light. Not every human emits in that specific range of the spectrum of humanity.
The intensity of my interests aren't a personal choice, any more than my sexual orientation, gender, natural skin colour or height (I am 6'4'') is a personal choice.
---------
The existence of different neurotypes is part of the diversity of humanity. That diversity cannot be understood or captured when thinking only in terms of individuals. Without my being able to think at a different level, I don't think I would ever have understood concepts like "racism", where a focus on individuals makes people believe this is about individual-to-individual bigotry. That individual level is like seeing some snowflakes on the surface of an iceberg, but not being able to see any of the iceberg itself (either above or below the surface of the water).
I have noticed that people where a society declares them "different", and placed them lower on some social hierarchy because it, tend to be (but are not always) better equipped to understand the full spectrum of diversity than people who have never had a reason to notice.
Curious, you are generous in sharing your knowledge , opinions and your personal details, as I said , our circumstances are all unique but I believe that truth is universal , what do you think of that, does my circumstance matter?
There are too many words in this question that have subjective meanings for me to offer what might be interpreted as if it were some objective answer. I can only guess at what you might be thinking of with each part of the question.
Over time in conversations, we could learn where we are each situated and have better guesses.
At this point your comment elsewhere about the book "But Not in Canada!" suggests you are in an older demographic than your average Substack user. I don't know if you are older or younger than I am, and there are temporal (how long you have been alive) and spatial (where you have lived) that have a huge influence over what you have been able to experience thus far.
https://r.flora.ca/p/nice-canadian-racism/comment/234564761
-----
Biological realities are part of circumstances.
There are some societies, but not all, that place groups with certain biological realities lower on subjectively defined social hierarchies. Living under the influence of one of those societies is part of their circumstances. Different societies treat human diversity very differently, and this is not universal.
Each of our circumstances matter, but how those circumstances are treated by others is not universal.
What some people feel is "Truth" is regularly political and/or religious rhetoric to try to claim that one group's unique ideologies are somehow universal.
I can't offhand think of something someone told me was a "universal truth" that, given time for reflection and investigation across a variety of societies, remained something I agreed was a "universal truth". I accept their truths as a personal perspective, and to be friendly try to avoid revealing my belief these are subjective rather than objective.
I needed some time to think how to reply ...I thought about your reply , ere are my thoughts....
You can't think of any universal truths, I must be honest, that makes me sad, let me be the first to share with you;
That we feel, love, suffer, live and die are a few.
That the speed of light is constant, that gravity is not a force, that time is construct, these are few more.
That there are questions will never answer, that we are not separate from others, that we are a part of this vast maybe infinite thing we call the universe.
These are some other universal truths, and so is the fact that someone will argue the contrary.
I have also read Iliad and the Odyssey does that ancient? If you can't guess what I am thinking, I say don't bother, I will happy to share my thoughts, but understand that my thoughts are constantly changing never fixed because I am influenced by changes which are unfolding outside my mind.
I do give weight to circumstance but I refuse to be defined by it, nor accept others be defined by it . When someone deems it a necessity to say, I am Canadian, I am Japanese, I am aboriginal, I bi-polar, I am Dyslexic, I am Autistic, I gay, I straight, I am old, I am young, I am intelligent…etc to me it’s their shield , it’s their justification to be bias, for compartmentalizing people , that these labels are more important than truth.
The only I am, which I agree with is that I am that am, and know that I know nothing, that without an observer I do not exist outside my mind.