Excellent reporting. What you reported (I hate 2nd person but...) I witnessed and experience, to a limited extent, in Canada. Many, many people who came to Canada would later discovered that their certification for whatever was not recognized. At the time, being a nobody, what could one have done but witness and assimilate whatever lessons that there were. Where I am from, we had waves upon waves of refugees coming from Vietnam/China and South/central America, some from eastern Europe and of course the whole province was seeded mostly from refugees escaping from either wars in Europe or those lured by the promise of free or cheap land. There was a very large wave of Ukrainians that came long before I born who maintained a very strong sense of their cultural heritage and essentially became what was locally called "established".
Originally, many of the "rules" that were in place I accepted as necessary to prevent any form of favoritism toward any group, that the laws and regulations were meant not just for we indigenous but for all for the news and history books abounded with examples of what happens when justice becomes seen as something akin to a popularity contest. I'll be honest, nothing is less attractive to the human spirit when individuals begin to pivot their arguments for how a social contract to work along the concept of "birthright" especially when expressed as a function of skin color.
In retrospect, I failed to recognized that my views were not as universally shared as I once thought. There was a time when many of my peers saw Canada as a work in progress, but there seems to have evolved some sort of disconnect that social justice and economic justice are the same thing. Living in the US has opened my eyes how some people (especially on the political left) seemed to think that the level of tax revenue available to a government is a measure of a state's commitment to social justice. In actuality, using and raising tax dollars, to pay for social programs that do not address at a structural levels questions of either social justice or economic is extremely alienating for some (the ACA has done nothing about health care costs). It isn't a coincidence that the MAGA crowd finds most of their supporters in low income states.
Fast forwarding, personally I think we live in an age where it came be pretty widely seen that our elites are not our betters. For sure in the political arena, but the same can be seen with many institutions like ICRC, Amnesty International, the UN,.....I have to go but I just read that the PM of Canada said recently that the housing and rental crisis can be solved but the solution must involve preserving current home levels to protect investors. Nothing is more corrosive to a social contract as when a people see their disposable income being reduced because of miss management of resources.
I don't think I did a good enough "job" at explaining what I have long observed but only lately come to understand which is there is a huge gap in those who understand social issues and those who manage and steer state resources and institutions that administered social programs. There is a saying that both shit and cream rise to the top. There are some serious philosophical theories, probably best articulated by Feuerbach, about how people's trust in institutions get exploited. The only thing I could or should add by those of us not in a position to do as much as yourself is that I think those who are frustrated by the constant virtue signaling that seems to rain from heaven like manna via the main stream media are beginning to open their eyes. I was watching an interview on Al-Jazeera of some ordinary Palestinian and he was asked about the latest red-line by Joe Biden. He responding by making a good point about would ruzzia invaded Ukraine if Obama have followed thru on his red line remark about Syria. The fact that the average person has more opportunity to come across different points of view often is a double edge sword, but either one believes in the basic decency of the human race, or one becomes the play thing of demagogues. Hence, I for one follow with keen interest everything written here.
Excellent reporting. What you reported (I hate 2nd person but...) I witnessed and experience, to a limited extent, in Canada. Many, many people who came to Canada would later discovered that their certification for whatever was not recognized. At the time, being a nobody, what could one have done but witness and assimilate whatever lessons that there were. Where I am from, we had waves upon waves of refugees coming from Vietnam/China and South/central America, some from eastern Europe and of course the whole province was seeded mostly from refugees escaping from either wars in Europe or those lured by the promise of free or cheap land. There was a very large wave of Ukrainians that came long before I born who maintained a very strong sense of their cultural heritage and essentially became what was locally called "established".
Originally, many of the "rules" that were in place I accepted as necessary to prevent any form of favoritism toward any group, that the laws and regulations were meant not just for we indigenous but for all for the news and history books abounded with examples of what happens when justice becomes seen as something akin to a popularity contest. I'll be honest, nothing is less attractive to the human spirit when individuals begin to pivot their arguments for how a social contract to work along the concept of "birthright" especially when expressed as a function of skin color.
In retrospect, I failed to recognized that my views were not as universally shared as I once thought. There was a time when many of my peers saw Canada as a work in progress, but there seems to have evolved some sort of disconnect that social justice and economic justice are the same thing. Living in the US has opened my eyes how some people (especially on the political left) seemed to think that the level of tax revenue available to a government is a measure of a state's commitment to social justice. In actuality, using and raising tax dollars, to pay for social programs that do not address at a structural levels questions of either social justice or economic is extremely alienating for some (the ACA has done nothing about health care costs). It isn't a coincidence that the MAGA crowd finds most of their supporters in low income states.
Fast forwarding, personally I think we live in an age where it came be pretty widely seen that our elites are not our betters. For sure in the political arena, but the same can be seen with many institutions like ICRC, Amnesty International, the UN,.....I have to go but I just read that the PM of Canada said recently that the housing and rental crisis can be solved but the solution must involve preserving current home levels to protect investors. Nothing is more corrosive to a social contract as when a people see their disposable income being reduced because of miss management of resources.
I don't think I did a good enough "job" at explaining what I have long observed but only lately come to understand which is there is a huge gap in those who understand social issues and those who manage and steer state resources and institutions that administered social programs. There is a saying that both shit and cream rise to the top. There are some serious philosophical theories, probably best articulated by Feuerbach, about how people's trust in institutions get exploited. The only thing I could or should add by those of us not in a position to do as much as yourself is that I think those who are frustrated by the constant virtue signaling that seems to rain from heaven like manna via the main stream media are beginning to open their eyes. I was watching an interview on Al-Jazeera of some ordinary Palestinian and he was asked about the latest red-line by Joe Biden. He responding by making a good point about would ruzzia invaded Ukraine if Obama have followed thru on his red line remark about Syria. The fact that the average person has more opportunity to come across different points of view often is a double edge sword, but either one believes in the basic decency of the human race, or one becomes the play thing of demagogues. Hence, I for one follow with keen interest everything written here.