Story telling #3 Addendum

I find it interesting and in some perverted way a bit satisfying to note the increased attention being paid to the Ebola outbreak within the past few days. The western media and western governments are starting to act as if someone should be concerned. Of course the concern only exist because of the number (no matter how few) of residents of the US or Europe who either have contracted it or at least may have been exposed to it. Most Canadian provinces now have designated hospitals in major cities that are equipped and have trained staff. We are becoming concern because it may affect us.

Clearly, in order to generate public concern and the willingness to invest tax dollars, we will need to be inundated with scary information to generate sufficient moral panic to take action. Action that should have happened five months ago.

TVO had an excellent discussion on Ebola last night. One of the guests was a Canadian doctor (Doctors Without Borders) who had work in West Africa six or so months ago and another was the head of Doctors Without Borders. While the President of MSF was slightly more circumspect than the doctor, both made it clear that (1) MSF had made it clear six months ago that this outbreak was unusual and that the world needed to get actively involved right away and (2) it was beyond human comprehension as to why the world was not becoming fully engaged now in providing resources to fight the spread of this disease. It was refreshing to hear people say what they thought.

What was even more surprising was Steve Paikin said. He asked the question as to why we didn’t respond sooner and with more resources. He wondered out loud if it was because the virus was only affecting poor black Africans. Paikin usually tries to be a neutral host. Yesterday he asked a question that we all need to ask – and then answer.

On the Road Again The Gathering #5

A focus point for many members of the Family at a Gathering is the full moon celebration. I have never been sure why, but some, it is the reason why they come. For the majority, especially for those who can only make it for a few days getting there for the full moon celebration is always their target. It is almost always a night of good food, drumming and dancing. For me, other than being up past midnight, in a clearing with the moon shinning so bright that one could almost read - the full moon has no special significance. Except of course for the fact that my family is there and are happy.

The full moon at this Gathering was exceptional - it was clear, bright and so full that it almost filled the sky. It was a bit cold but nothing too uncomfortable. I spent less time than normal at the main circle fire in part because my good friend from Salt Spring arrived well after dark. By the time we had hung around with each other up at the road, waiting for her stuff to get settled, the party was well underway. Then a bit later I met a couple on the road who had a bit of a problem that that they needed to talk to someone about. It could have been anyone - I just happened to be there. It was a bit complicated and took sometime to sort out. By that point I was tired and so after making a somewhat cursory visit to the fire, I went off to bed. Perhaps I am getting too old to spend all night dancing beside a raging bonfire..

The next few days drifted by in their usual unstructured haze. People, abet somewhat slowly, continued to arrive and as usual even more people started to leave. By Monday morning there were significantly fewer cars on the shoulders of the dirt road. While there was no real rush in me getting back to Duncan, I started to get a bit anxious about how to get at least to the highway. My back had been well taken care of and felt reasonably fine. The thought however, of walking 10 kilometers before reaching some sort of major intersection was more than I wanted to consider. I was relieved that by Monday night after supper I had tentatively gotten a ride on Wednesday morning at least to Nanaimo. Which was great and I felt as if I could relax, a bit. I am always conscious of the fact that not everyone is as obsessive about punctuality as I am.

While the planning and anticipation about going to and getting to a Gathering are exciting, the leaving for me is not. As readers of this blog are aware, I do not separate well. It is always difficult for me to leave friends and family, especially after being immersed in each other’s lives for 7-8 days.

By 9:00 on Wednesday, I was packed and had most of my stuff up by the road. There was a bit of a panic as I couldn’t find the person who had offered me a drive and I started to wonder if he had left without me. Which of course was silly – he was not even up. At some point he must have noticed me sort of shadowing him so he confirmed that he was still going but that he would not be leaving until after lunch; which meant that we would not be leaving until sometime after 2:00. I found it incredibly difficult to hang around doing nothing, feeling as if I no longer belonged there. I wanted to stay for ever or at least another few days but knew that was not a possibility; I had already backed my bags and figuratively gotten on the bus leaving town. Eventually long before noon I said good bye to my friends and went up to the road to wait.

It was a long wait but eventually my driver (who had had immigrated from Russia), someone from Vancouver who was incredibly positive focused and a young brother from Seattle were all up at the road at the same time and away we went. It was close to 3:00 when we left and of course we had to stop at Gold River for junk food. It felt as if we would never get on our way. When we did get going it was an enjoyable drive, folks were chatty and relaxed. My fellow back seat passenger from Seattle had some interesting stories and asked equally interesting questions.

We had left a lot later than I had hoped. I was a bit concerned being let off somewhere near Nanaimo and it being dark. I really didn’t want to sleep outside on the side of the road. It looked like rain might be a possibility and I felt tired and more than a bit grubby. Sleeping outside would not make me feel any better or any cleaner. However B.C. had just increased the speed limit to 120 KPH which meant that my driver was comfortable going 10 or so kilometres a hour faster than that. The drive did not last nearly as long as I expected. We got to the turn off to the ferry about an hour before sunset.

I  called my son to tell him where I was. He offered to come and get me, It was a generous offer and I appreciated  it but it would have been a hassle for him to pack up the kids just at bedtime and go for a two hour drive. Besides I had done so little hitchhiking that I wanted to make sure that I had not lost my touch.  I hadn't. Within a few minutes a mid-90's Cadillac stopped. The front door was broken, so I sat in the back seat. It was nice being chauffeured in a big old car that was (with the exception of the door) in great shape. My driver was a middle age man, a lawyer who was about to embark onto a rather interesting and very challenging new career. He had just been employed as part of a team that would investigate complaints against the police. As he had already worked as both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer, he understood the issues. If everyone on the team was as well trained, experienced and committed to the process as he was, I would be very optimistic as to the success of the program.

As happens so often, the drive ended too soon. There was so much more we could have talked about. I suspect that when my driver stopped to pick me up, he didn't realize that his new passenger would have enough of a working knowledge of the courts to engage in a detailed conversation of how the law worked. I am always amazed at the diversity of my drivers. I am equally amazed at how they challenge me to draw on all of my experiences to fully engage them in our time together.

My driver dropped me off on the outskirts of Duncan, I could have walked to my son's but I was lazy - so I called him and fifteen minutes later I was back home. Another Gathering to remember, more memories to file away for those cold and rainy days of November when the glories of the previous summer are almost lost and the upcoming one too far away to dream of.

Storytelling #3

The narrow Eurocentric perspective that permeates our news reporting and our government policies comes with serious consequences. Take for example two of the major world stories that are dominating our news and the thoughts of our politicians. 

The Middle East feels as if it just careens from one political disaster to another. At present ISIS's actions and activities dominate the news from that part of the world. It is not that the Palestinian question has been resolved or that the injustices and cruelties of the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assadare have by some magic disappeared, they have just moved from the front pages of our various news venues and apparently from the short term memories of our politicians. Without question ISIS's activities are horrendous and obscene. Contrary to their claims that they have some historical validity, and that their actions are based on the Koran, they stand alone, fabricating their rationalizations out of whatever insanity or desperation drives them. The fact that they appear to have reasonably quickly become the predominant danger in the Middle East is both a result of the West ignoring much of what has been happening in that area for the past six or seven years and our inability to follow two or more plot lines at the same time.

A cynic might wonder if someone decided five months ago that we would need to bomb and then attack them on the ground and therefore orchestrated the ever increasing anxiety required to produce the desired results. To achieve the heightened level of awareness and concern required for us to agree that action is required, we become inundated with hyperbole and exaggeration to the saturation point.  At some point it becomes very difficult not to agree that we need to bomb (and thereby kill some civilians) both because we have not been told any other side to the story and to not agree makes us appear unpatriotic. 

It is not that ISIS is not a problem, it is just that it is not the only problem. Until we are prepared to see the Middle East as a complex world with rich stories going back long before the Christian era - as a society with values and political agendas that are different (different does not mean bad) than the West's, our little interventions will only serve to meet someone's short term goals and create more chaos for everyone else. When we shape someone else’s narrative based on what we think it should be, we can be sure that only we will benefit.

A potential international disaster that could affect Canada's health and wellbeing and perhaps even its economy, is the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The Canadian government and the news sources talk about it - but if one listens closely to the rhetoric, we are helping because those countries most affected by the outbreak do not have the resources to fight the disease by themselves. But we don’t really need to be concerned about it or the consequences for the people affected by it. Unlike the ISIS “war” in the Middle East, the Elbola outbreak is not being made our problem, we are not being told that our lifestyles and our security is being threatened. It is happening somewhere over there.

So we will give them a little bit of help, slowly and when we get around to it. The government has the capacity to ship six jets, a few tankers and all of the related personnel to Iraq within a few weeks but it can't figure out how to get some face shields to West Africa in a month. The government can plan on spending over $300 million to bomb the dessert, but can only find five million to help out Africa.

Sociologists discuss something they refer to as moral panic which can be “defined as an episode, often triggered by alarming media stories and reinforced by reactive laws and public policy, of exaggerated or misdirected public concern, anxiety, fear, or anger over a perceived threat to social order” (Krinsky). In both the case of ISIS and of Ebola, the narrative that the media choses to tell shapes our concern. In one case we, as a collective, become concerned and if past history is any guide are prepared to bomb (murder via collateral damage) harmless civilians and perhaps become involved in an endless excursion into another foreign country; one in which we have blindly refused to learn about or understand.  In the other case we have equally as blindly refused to accept that (1) we may have some need to be concerned about our own health and safety and (2) that there are potentially thousands of people going to die because we have not reacted fast enough.

My only question is: who or what “guides” the media to decide what narrative to focus on?