Marc Legare is a philosopher and motorcycle adventurist.
He has travelled extensively, worked and lived in Australia, US, and across Canada.
He has a varied working career including: Firefighter, Lawyer, Navy, Motorcycle Importer, plus others.
He chose to return to southern Saskatchewan because of his family's deep roots here.
One of the fundamental reasons our society is deteriorating is we are collectively guilty and have a long history of being unwilling to be confrontational. It is well known that amiableness and complacency are Canadian hallmarks. However, we have been appeasing and non-vocal to a fault. There is a fine line between being accommodating and being pushovers.
We do not like to directly confront people, this is a cultural norm for us. Tragically, we have created for ourselves a great deal of problems for having appropriated this mindset to an outrageously excessive degree. The fact is, in order to denounce wrongs and correct mistakes, we must risk offending others. Because we were so reluctant to oppose a mountain of absurdities and irrational paradigms dumped on us over the past decades, we are now left with all of those ill-conceived beliefs being widely supported today. Our over-the-top amicableness to those who ram rubbish down our throats enables those people to think their notions have validity.
To our collective shame, not speaking up against lies, manipulations, or things that are just plain wrong is, in fact, immoral. For greater clarity, being silent, unobtrusive, and excessively unwilling to dispute clear nonsense is damaging to all of us and demonstrates a lack of character.
Somewhere along the way, we adopted the notion that any sort of overt challenge is rude and inappropriate. Did we take that view because we see confrontation as an American style and many of us are loath to be seen in that light? It is a commonly held opinion that Americans are more confrontational than we are. This is generally seen as a negative characteristic by us. Nevertheless, isn't being a "wet noodle" an equal and opposite negative?
There is nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade. Standing up against the ever-growing mindless, dishonest, drivel being dished out may be unwelcomed by the purveyors of it, but it is necessary and produces positive results by stopping falsehoods from taking root. We would be better off if we were more willing to boldly face down something that is not right. Having the belief that confrontation has its' place would serve us well and it would hold people and governments more accountable. Francis Shaeffer said, "Truth carries with it confrontation."
With our society coming apart at the seams, truth must be defended and those who are overtly or covertly dishonest with us must be opposed. We can no longer afford to be overly agreeable to the point of self-destruction. This does not mean that we need to become abrasive or nasty in the way we challenge people, organizations, or our governments. Nonetheless, it is imperative we rein-in our long standing tradition of being excessively conflict-avoiding. Instead, we need to openly call into question falsities or misguided beliefs. If someone takes offence just because they are disagreed with or called to task on something, that is their problem. If we do not speak up, we will keep going down this same old worn out road that is full of too many potholes already.
There is a great quote from an unknown author that speaks directly and succinctly to this; "Those who avoid confrontation at all cost, are only preserving the thing they wish would go away."
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
