Thanks for starting a conversation on this. You are correct Judith, Canada is not perfect. Not even remotely. Much needs fixing.
But our healthcare system means I'll never face bankruptcy from medical bills or have to start a go fund me, and our social programs provide real support when people need it. I feel safer here – no school shooting drills for our kids, and practical policies like 12-18-month parental leave make a real difference in people's lives. While we're not perfect, we don't have a death penalty, women's reproductive choices are not up for debate, we're a country that chose to sell insulin patents for $1 to help everyone, and we can disagree yet still coexist peacefully. Our challenges with housing and affordability need work to name two that concern me, but our foundation of caring for each other makes me proud to call Canada home. I appreciate that we don't need one rigid national identity – our strength comes from bringing different perspectives together while maintaining our commitment to collective well-being.
The US is far from exceptional, and the sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can look around the world. The situation in your country is sad beyond belief as far as most of the world is concerned. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is MUCH that is good and decent and exceptional too.
Salesman in China was my favourite play at Stratford this year. Brilliant. I was lucky to see a total of nine.
You have touched on a major area of cognitive psychology. Humans have the ability to think quickly, using heuristics and biases to maintain cognitive efficiency. Speed is metabolically efficient and may save a person's life in times of crisis, but it comes at the cost of accuracy. We need both types of thinking, and we need to become better at realizing which we are using, and when we need to slow down. Nobel Prize-winner, Daniel Kahneman, wrote a book for the general reader based on his decades of research on this topic with his friend, Amos Tversky. Tversky had died before the Nobel Prize was awarded. The book, "Thinking Fast and Slow," became a NYT bestseller. It is fascinating and readable, if complex. I recommend it highly. An interesting side note is that the Nobel Prize was awarded in the field of Economics. There is no Nobel Prize for Psychology. Kahneman never took a course in economics. His research with Tversky became the basis of a new field, Behavioral Economics. Oddly, up until that time, a major tenet of Economics was that people make rational decisions! Their research exposed the many ways in which this assumption was cracked. People are clearly not entirely rational.
Thank you for all this. I remember Kahneman's book, but never read it. I'll look at least for a careful detailed review. (Most of my no-fiction reading takes that form.) Philosophers, especially political theorists, were long astounded at the concept of homo economicus, entirely rational and entirely self-interested. Behavioral economics is a major improvement. But didn't know it originated with Kahneman's book.
My own shortcut for the poin is that our scientific name, homo sapiens sapiens, is a misprint. The correct label is homo semi sapiens.
Is the "papering over of cracks" and oversimplifying an attribute of Americans, or of all humans? If Americans do this more than others, why? I suspect that "exceptionalism" and "manifest destiny" may have something to do with presuppositions of superiority, but maybe there are similar flaws in the histories of other nations. Hard facts: Life expectancy in US is the same as in China, and both are 4 years less than in Canada. Thank you for giving us something to think about.
Thank you for the useful and challenging fact. And for joining me in these explorations. You've lived in Scotland and perhaps elsewhere; how would you answer your own question?
I grew up in Scotland and emigrated to Canada, before moving to US. I don't think I CAN answer my own question. From an "n" of 3, I would cautiously say that perhaps all countries have myths that sustain them, but that some myths are more destructive than others. Scotland's belief in its hardiness and honesty is a way of drawing a distinction with England. These values are not unique to Scotland, but believing they are does no particular harm. However, believing that "American values" are somehow unique to America allows Americans to feel superior to "others" and permits some Americans to talk about "real" Americans. This plays out in immigration policy and in social policy. If Americans are unwilling to admit they are not superior how can they learn from others. (See the nonsense in the debate about National Healthcare.)
Thanks for starting a conversation on this. You are correct Judith, Canada is not perfect. Not even remotely. Much needs fixing.
But our healthcare system means I'll never face bankruptcy from medical bills or have to start a go fund me, and our social programs provide real support when people need it. I feel safer here – no school shooting drills for our kids, and practical policies like 12-18-month parental leave make a real difference in people's lives. While we're not perfect, we don't have a death penalty, women's reproductive choices are not up for debate, we're a country that chose to sell insulin patents for $1 to help everyone, and we can disagree yet still coexist peacefully. Our challenges with housing and affordability need work to name two that concern me, but our foundation of caring for each other makes me proud to call Canada home. I appreciate that we don't need one rigid national identity – our strength comes from bringing different perspectives together while maintaining our commitment to collective well-being.
The US is far from exceptional, and the sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can look around the world. The situation in your country is sad beyond belief as far as most of the world is concerned. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is MUCH that is good and decent and exceptional too.
Salesman in China was my favourite play at Stratford this year. Brilliant. I was lucky to see a total of nine.
You have touched on a major area of cognitive psychology. Humans have the ability to think quickly, using heuristics and biases to maintain cognitive efficiency. Speed is metabolically efficient and may save a person's life in times of crisis, but it comes at the cost of accuracy. We need both types of thinking, and we need to become better at realizing which we are using, and when we need to slow down. Nobel Prize-winner, Daniel Kahneman, wrote a book for the general reader based on his decades of research on this topic with his friend, Amos Tversky. Tversky had died before the Nobel Prize was awarded. The book, "Thinking Fast and Slow," became a NYT bestseller. It is fascinating and readable, if complex. I recommend it highly. An interesting side note is that the Nobel Prize was awarded in the field of Economics. There is no Nobel Prize for Psychology. Kahneman never took a course in economics. His research with Tversky became the basis of a new field, Behavioral Economics. Oddly, up until that time, a major tenet of Economics was that people make rational decisions! Their research exposed the many ways in which this assumption was cracked. People are clearly not entirely rational.
Thank you for all this. I remember Kahneman's book, but never read it. I'll look at least for a careful detailed review. (Most of my no-fiction reading takes that form.) Philosophers, especially political theorists, were long astounded at the concept of homo economicus, entirely rational and entirely self-interested. Behavioral economics is a major improvement. But didn't know it originated with Kahneman's book.
My own shortcut for the poin is that our scientific name, homo sapiens sapiens, is a misprint. The correct label is homo semi sapiens.
Is the "papering over of cracks" and oversimplifying an attribute of Americans, or of all humans? If Americans do this more than others, why? I suspect that "exceptionalism" and "manifest destiny" may have something to do with presuppositions of superiority, but maybe there are similar flaws in the histories of other nations. Hard facts: Life expectancy in US is the same as in China, and both are 4 years less than in Canada. Thank you for giving us something to think about.
Thank you for the useful and challenging fact. And for joining me in these explorations. You've lived in Scotland and perhaps elsewhere; how would you answer your own question?
I grew up in Scotland and emigrated to Canada, before moving to US. I don't think I CAN answer my own question. From an "n" of 3, I would cautiously say that perhaps all countries have myths that sustain them, but that some myths are more destructive than others. Scotland's belief in its hardiness and honesty is a way of drawing a distinction with England. These values are not unique to Scotland, but believing they are does no particular harm. However, believing that "American values" are somehow unique to America allows Americans to feel superior to "others" and permits some Americans to talk about "real" Americans. This plays out in immigration policy and in social policy. If Americans are unwilling to admit they are not superior how can they learn from others. (See the nonsense in the debate about National Healthcare.)