Culture

  • A Moderate Moment

    A Moderate Moment

    John Seel

    September 5, 2012

    And yet in this contested election, moderates are in control of the election. The Republicans moderated their Tea Party rhetoric during their Convention to appeal to the undecided independents or the "disappointed" Obama supporters—those with glue still on their car bumpers. It will be interesting to watch how the Democrats handle the same challenge this week as they hold their convention in North Carolina, a state that recently affirmed a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions.

    An oft-quoted adage in Washington is that "moderates have no mailing lists." Consequently, partisanship rules.

    And yet in this contested election, moderates are in control of the election. The Republicans moderated their Tea Party rhetoric during the...

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  • Becoming Socially Incompetent

    Becoming Socially Incompetent

    Milton Friesen

    August 31, 2012

    Vancouver is the most connected city in Canada in terms of social media, but is also among the most lonely cities in the country   People aged 25-34 are the most lonely demographic   High-rise apartments are the most lonely locations   Most people don't know their neighbours well enough to say hello or to offer even minor assistance to them   People are about as connected to their neighbours after three years as they were when they first moved in (in most cases, very little)   Most people don't get involved in civic life because they don't think they have anything to offer  

    [caption id="attachment_1382" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lonely in the City"]...

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  • Evil Explained Away

    Evil Explained Away

    Ray Pennings

    August 29, 2012

    In fact, these rootless dances with understanding may move us from away from truth.

    Murders of every kind, but especially mass murders, rarely have their motives adequately explained. Poverty, abuse, religion, ideology . . . lawyers and pundits may try these "explanations," but the irrationality of such acts mostly defy labels.

    In f...

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  • Glorious Adaptation: Institutions that are Future Ready

    Glorious Adaptation: Institutions that are Future Ready

    Milton Friesen

    August 24, 2012

    I happened across Jantsch's book a couple of months ago while on one of my habitual shelf reads at a local university. It was the title that caught my attention and led to a Contents scan and then the discovery of Chapter 9 "Adaptive Institutions for Shaping the Future". After re-reading my notes from social innovation scholar Frances Westley's keynote at the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities I realized that the reference I had noted as "Jantz" was Westley referring to Jantsch and then it all made a whole lot more sense.

    Memory bends and folds time. Ideas distant in time can be suddenly pertinent. In his 1972 book Technological Planning and Social Futures, Erich Jantsch explores very...

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  • The Journey

    The Journey

    Josh Reinders

    August 23, 2012

    Hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. As the leading company in the booming obstacle course industry, Tough Mudder has already challenged half a million inspiring participants worldwide and raised more than $3 million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project. But Tough Mudder is more than an event, it's a way of thinking. By running a Tough Mudder challenge, you'll unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover a camaraderie with your fellow participants that's experienced all too rarely these days.As described above, the event is more than a physical challenge. It's designed to push you to your limits, and to be more than a single person fighting for the lead. It's not a competition, it's a group challenge. And when you take a look at some of the obstacles, you see why: jumping into a tank full of ice and water and swimming underneath a bar below the ice; running through a field of fire; crawling through pipes buried under the ground; and finally, running through a 20-foot-long area with thousands of live wires hanging down, some with thousands of volts coursing through them. By no means an easy challenge.

    This past weekend, hundreds of people descended upon Toronto for a unique event. Named "Tough Mudder", the event is the adult's extreme version of the obstacle courses you ran through as a child. From the Tough Mu...

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  • Hats & Higher Powers

    Hats & Higher Powers

    Peter Menzies

    August 21, 2012

    last month that the Girl Guides of Australia have decided to doff their chapeaus and adorn themselves instead with the tin foil hats of 21st century thinking. But even these would have to be shocked at the utter vacuity of the phrases the Girl Guides from Down Under have chosen to replace "God and the Queen." (References to obedience are also gone, which seems an odd decision for a paramilitary unit but there you go; once that tin foil hat is on firmly, just about anything is possible.)

    Of primary concern to theists and monarchists alike was the news

    last month that the Girl Guides of Australia have decided to doff their chapeaus and adorn themselve...

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  • Opting for Moral Relativity

    Opting for Moral Relativity

    John Sikkema

    August 9, 2012

    Should we care?

    In its report released last month, the Global Commission on HIV and the Law called for the decriminalization of personal narcotics use, "voluntary sex work", and non-disclosure of HIV-positive status to sexual partners.

    Should we care?...

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  • A society watching The Dark Knight Rises has something wrong with it

    A society watching The Dark Knight Rises has something wrong with it

    Peter Stockland

    July 25, 2012

    In this morning's Globe and Mail, columnist Lynn Crosbie takes the case a step deeper and challenges literary creators to respond with essential grace when their creations go damnably wrong. In contrast to the harrumphing galumphers who churn out endless pure political commentary, she works from the assertion that the electoral, parliamentary, and policy cliques are to our lived meaning as WWE wrestling is to Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot: a bombastic sideshow relation to the authentic theatrical absurdity of contemporary life.

    My Cardus colleague Josh Reinders makes a brilliant argument in yesterday's blog for literature's powerful formative role in creating a culture of saving grace.

    In this morning's Globe ...

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  • Sneaking in the Back

    Sneaking in the Back

    Peter Menzies

    July 23, 2012

    In the interview with I Dig Your Girlfriend, Wildrose Party Leader Smith is reported by the usually reliable Rick Bell of the Calgary Sun to have said that candidates with religious beliefs have to show they can represent everyone. This follows on two controversies that arose during the election campaign this past April. One was when supporters of the government dug up a year-old blog on a Pentecostal website by Pastor Alan Hunsperger in which he indicated, in the context of a discussion with members of the gay San Francisco community, that those who don't change their lives will burn in the Lake of Fire. The other was when a snippet from an interview by Calgary pastor Ron Leech was leaked in which he indicated that as a Caucasian candidate in a heavily ethnic riding he had an advantage because he didn't identify with any single community. Amid the general hysteria of an election that threatened a half century of one-party rule in Alberta, that comment evolved into hints of white supremacy.

    The question regarding whether Christians who seek public office should be held to a higher standard or, to put it more bluntly, be vetted with greater suspicion and scrutiny than others arose in Alberta again this past weekend, following an interview given...

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  • Reaping the Whirlwind

    Reaping the Whirlwind

    Brian Dijkema

    June 29, 2012

    His grandparents asked: I've been thinking a great deal about those last few words, lately, particularly as they pertain to my work, but also as they pertain to our public life, our discussions, our debates—our life together. The question that continues to recur for me is this: . . . . . . . . . .

    I read an excellent commencement address by Daniel Mendlesohn this week in which he describes a conversation he had with his grandparents about his plans to study classics in university....

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  • Marrying Yourself

    Marrying Yourself

    Ray Pennings

    June 27, 2012

    These narcissism ceremonies (let's not contribute to the debasing of language by calling it a wedding) have included guest-lists and parties, ring exchanges, and elaborate vows. It is also no guarantee of happiness—only 18 months after the ceremony, Bostonian Roland Nigland reportedly filed for divorce, charging himself for infidelity.

    Nadine Schweigert has attracted considerable attention of late for her March wedding, to herself. I had never contemplated this as an option and so did not realize how behind the times I was. An hour of Googling the phenomena shows that the p...

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  • Seeing and Believing

    Seeing and Believing

    Peter Stockland

    June 26, 2012

    Completely uncharacteristically (okay, maybe not completely uncharacteristic), we emerged from the gallery locked in a vigorous debate. It was touched off when I said how much I dislike plaques, signage, headphone audio commentary or similar distractions at an exhibit such as the Van Gogh. My son, a doctoral student in history who was visiting Ottawa to do research at the National Archives, was appalled.

    My son and I recently spent a Saturday afternoon together in Ottawa taking in the Van Gogh exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada.

    Completely uncharacteris...

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  • Graduation Wishes

    Graduation Wishes

    Ray Pennings

    June 22, 2012

    Wellesley High School English teacher You've been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. ... You've been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored....Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet....And now you've conquered high school....But do not get the idea you're anything special. Because you're not.Talk show debate has reduced McCullough's antidote to an alternate reduction. "Make the most out of life by forgetting about yourself and serving others." With due respect, whatever merits McCullough's talk may have had, this alternative doesn't really cut it either. And neither does the religious version of graduation reductionism sometimes heard in Christian education settings. "Pray and trust God and He will make all things go well for you." Graduates deserve something more than unnuanced slogans.

    This blog is the substance of the graduation address given at Oxford Reformed Christian School last evening.

    Wellesley High School English teacher

    ...

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  • A Revenant Renaissance

    A Revenant Renaissance

    Robert Joustra

    June 15, 2012

    Queue some blockbuster postmodern fantasies, both the utopian, as in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and dystopian, as in The Walking Dead. As organized religion fell out of favor with American cultural elites, other fantastical sources were needed for storytelling that took us beyond the mundane and the material.

    Last week in Bulgaria, two bodies staked with wooden and iron rods were excavated. Medieval Europe certainly had some special skills in cruel and bizarre executions, but the c...

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  • Absurd, and Good

    Absurd, and Good

    Brian Dijkema

    June 14, 2012

    Think of Macbeth. The "Scottish Play"—a political play if there ever was one—ends with blood all over the stage.  Carl P.G. von Clausewitz, ever the Prussian, is blunter.  "War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means."

    We think of politics as an epic battle between ideas, but it's not.  Politics, done properly, is theatre.  And theatre involves bodies, expression, movement, speech and action.  It is an endeavour which involves the whole human being. It is, in short, a fle...

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  • Healthy, Wealthy, Respawning

    Healthy, Wealthy, Respawning

    Josh Reinders

    June 6, 2012

    The discussion was centered on the digital economy, and specifically the gaming industry. Topics included women in video games, why video games are successful, and how video games can be used in conjunction with the health industry. The talk piqued my interest, as I often enjoy the pleasure of playing video games.

    Last week I ventured out of the shackles of my internship and went on a field trip into the fabled land of Research in Motion (RIM), OpenText, and Wilfrid Laurier University. Congress 2012 of the Hu...

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  • Religious rights are not human rights?

    Religious rights are not human rights?

    Peter Stockland

    June 5, 2012

    The key to the video is not the demonstrators protesting legislation that will use the State's monopoly on deadly force to tell Catholic schools how to name their anti-bullying clubs. It is not even just the presence of a lone counter-demonstrator who heckles the main group of protestors as she holds a juvenile sign announcing "Jesus had two dads and he turned out fine".

    As Bill 13 was being passed in the Ontario legislature today, a parent's rights group was circulating the following video: "You Deserve to be Bullied".

    The key to the video is not the demonstrators protesting legislation that will use ...

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  • Two-Way Streets: Where Efficiency Isn't Everything

    Two-Way Streets: Where Efficiency Isn't Everything

    Kathryn de Ruijter

    June 1, 2012

    As more and more people are moving downtown in cities across North America, more people are questioning how to revitalize downtowns after decades of flight into the suburbs. In Hamilton, a growing number of voices are pointing to the conversion of one-way streets to two-way as an important next step in this process.

    Hamilton, Ontario is a city with an intricate (albeit confusing) network of one-way streets. These multi-lane expressways are very efficient in their purpose: to get people through the city core very quickly. They are not, however, conducive to building a v...

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  • Life Lessons in Cultural Engagement

    Life Lessons in Cultural Engagement

    John Sikkema

    May 25, 2012

    At least in Canada, this is how I sometimes feel about Christians in this post-Christian or, perhaps more truthfully, pagan society. Most are like salamanders, wanting to be left undiscovered and alone, as long as their quiet, secure space under a rock remains undisturbed. Few Christians are like the zoologists and cinematographers, at least making the effort to see that a survivable habitat is maintained for their salamander friends.

    Think of a nature special you come across on TV featuring an endangered species of which you know nothing, and about which you care little—the Hellbender salamander, say. I learned of it recently in just this way. Z...

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  • Cultivating Civic Virtue

    Cultivating Civic Virtue

    Brian Dijkema

    May 24, 2012

    Political parties, as always, have noticed this, and exploit these tendencies by routine use of a wedge to carve these various self-selecting groups into potentially winnable constituencies. As a result, while the conversations in our living rooms and across our fences are amiable and comfortable, our politics exude a special type of nastiness; extreme politics, if you will.

    When North Americans aren't bowling alone, we're drinking, reading, and laughing together with people who are like us. The media with which we engage, our friends, our neighbourhoods, and, increasingly (sadly) even our churches are filled with people like u...

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  • When Reality Overwhelms Satire: What The Hunger Games Reveals

    When Reality Overwhelms Satire: What The Hunger Games Reveals

    John Seel

    April 20, 2012

    We've all used the excuse, when a joke's recipient takes a cutting remark meant in jest as fact. Somehow the excuse is supposed to remove the sting. But in fact all such jests always have a modicum of truth thinly veiled in the humour. It is sometimes worth examining the truth that the humour exposes.

    "I'm just joking."

    We've all used the excuse, when a joke's recipient takes a cutting remark meant in jest as fact. Somehow the excuse is supposed to remove the sting. But in fact all such jests always have a modicum of truth thinly veiled in the hum...

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  • Sit down. Shut up. You lost.

    Sit down. Shut up. You lost.

    Peter Stockland

    April 17, 2012

    Given her stellar record of journalistic good work, then, it seems borderline churlish then to pick nine words from today's column as evidence of what is wrong with the world. Yet it must be done. If the greatest poet of the day walks into a bank and says the four small words "this is a stickup", his flowing yards of iambic pentameter will not save him when the flatfoots arrive.

    Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente writes thousands of excellent words a month. Almost all bring the fresh scent of common sense. Many are contrarian in a way the makes me wonder how they ever became the contrary rather than the norm.

    Giv...

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  • Conscience rights are Charter rights

    Conscience rights are Charter rights

    Peter Stockland

    April 10, 2012

    According to a Calgary Herald-Edmonton Journal poll reported in today's National Post, Smith and Wildrose have lost the impressive lead they held in the first week of campaigning. They are said to be tied in popular support with the governing Progressive Conservative party. Premier Alison Redford last week attacked the Wildrose platform for promising to protect conscience rights by letting health care professionals and marriage commissioners go to court for legal exemptions from, say, performing abortions, dispensing contraceptives, or officiating at same-sex weddings.

    Have Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith's in-born libertarian instincts cost her a majority government in the Alberta election?

    According to a Calgary Herald-Edmonton Journal poll ...

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  • Holy Week and Public Theology

    Holy Week and Public Theology

    Ray Pennings

    April 5, 2012

    Those of us involved in public life, when explicitly appealing to our Christian motivation for these actions, are often quick to cite the Christian obligation of love for neighbour as an animating force. In fact, sometimes this emphasis can cause a perceived tension between believers who make social engagement a priority and others who fear this emphasis leads to a neglect of the vertical relationship between believers and God.

    Today is Maundy Thursday, the day in which some Christian traditions engage in feet-washing rituals, as a commemoration of the events surrounding the Last Supper. There Jesus instructed his disciples both through the object lesson of humbly washing their fe...

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