Sgt. Goosenip
Active Member
I just had Thanksgiving dinner with extended family and got into some mild political discussion. Here are some noteworthy observations from the normie boomers I interacted with:
There was some mild ‘noticing’ of things, which were brought up unprovoked. For example, one person lamented about how ‘racist’ the new Indian immigrants were. Also, how bad it is that new Indian neighbours think nothing of housing dozens of people, which ‘isn’t fair’ for a bunch of reasons. It was low-level stuff, but it’s something.
I got into some in-depth discussion with one of them, who seemed open-minded, and I thought I’d try out some different approaches. One of them seemed to be supporting the idea that Canada is and has always been a multicultural country, which is a great thing. I reminded him that when he grew up, Canada was 90% European, which affords the luxury of having little enclaves (Chinatowns, etc) without it being much of a problem. I cited stats about diversity and lower social trust, which he seemed acknowledge (e.g., immigrants give preferential treatment to their own, as do corporations that are incentivized to hire them).
When I brought up the need for some overarching ideology or religion to bind us all together, beyond our being a mere ‘economic zone’ of disparate people, he noted how all the world’s great religions have the same underlying themes of being kind, caring for your neighbours and so on. I noted that while that may be true for Christianity, Islam does not seem to work like that. He seemed mildly open to what I was saying about muslims treating their own and non-muslims in very different ways.
I thought it was interesting for him to suggest that ‘just like how we came together during WWII against a common enemy, Trump is allowing us to come together in opposition to him.’ He thought Carney was doing a great job, noting how Canada needs to be more independent from the US. I agreed, referencing the loss of the Avro and space programs, the selling of our gold reserves, etc., though I pointed out how Carney is simply steering us into the arms of UK globalism, which involves us losing our independence.
Anyway, nothing shocking, but I thought this was interesting. Anyone else have political discussions at Thanksgiving?
There was some mild ‘noticing’ of things, which were brought up unprovoked. For example, one person lamented about how ‘racist’ the new Indian immigrants were. Also, how bad it is that new Indian neighbours think nothing of housing dozens of people, which ‘isn’t fair’ for a bunch of reasons. It was low-level stuff, but it’s something.
I got into some in-depth discussion with one of them, who seemed open-minded, and I thought I’d try out some different approaches. One of them seemed to be supporting the idea that Canada is and has always been a multicultural country, which is a great thing. I reminded him that when he grew up, Canada was 90% European, which affords the luxury of having little enclaves (Chinatowns, etc) without it being much of a problem. I cited stats about diversity and lower social trust, which he seemed acknowledge (e.g., immigrants give preferential treatment to their own, as do corporations that are incentivized to hire them).
When I brought up the need for some overarching ideology or religion to bind us all together, beyond our being a mere ‘economic zone’ of disparate people, he noted how all the world’s great religions have the same underlying themes of being kind, caring for your neighbours and so on. I noted that while that may be true for Christianity, Islam does not seem to work like that. He seemed mildly open to what I was saying about muslims treating their own and non-muslims in very different ways.
I thought it was interesting for him to suggest that ‘just like how we came together during WWII against a common enemy, Trump is allowing us to come together in opposition to him.’ He thought Carney was doing a great job, noting how Canada needs to be more independent from the US. I agreed, referencing the loss of the Avro and space programs, the selling of our gold reserves, etc., though I pointed out how Carney is simply steering us into the arms of UK globalism, which involves us losing our independence.
Anyway, nothing shocking, but I thought this was interesting. Anyone else have political discussions at Thanksgiving?
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