Ideologies

A number of things have happened over the last while which have been very concerning to me. Generally, these involve situations related to misinformation, disinformation, and a lack of information and awareness. The specific situations
include Indigenous Residential Schools in Canada, the whole area of transgenderism and gender fluidity, climate change, and the polarization of politics, here in Canada, but more so in the United States.

What I want to do, therefore, in this blog is to provide the readers with some truthful information they can use to address these issues in whatever way they might have a need for. David T. Kuyzis, in his book titled Political Visions and Illusions discusses reasons why ideologies need to be taken seriously, especially for people of faith. Ideologies are beliefs that introduce visions that some people regard as correct into political life. The problem is that often these ideologies are not correct because they are based on world views or information that are flawed. To Koyzis, the principal flaw is that ideologies flow from the secularization of the Christian faith and the culture this faith produces.

To be more precise, we now live in times where secular humanism reigns as the dominant belief system. It embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics and naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma and super naturalism as
the basis for morality and decision making. There is no God, so humans must take responsibility for themselves.

With this in mind, let me now delve into setting some of the records straight on the topics cited above.

1. Residential Schools
The ideology that overarches the Residential School narrative is that First Nations tribes at the time the British and French arrived in North America were civilized, living lives which were noble and peaceful, and where this land was
owned by them. In fact, this was anything but the case given that there were only about 200,000 of them and they lived nomadic lives, often at war with other tribes. As European settlers arrived and claimed the land, the Indigenous lifestyle could not work, and so, as western style government began to prevail, the dilemma became helping these people to fit in. Residential Schools were part of the answer. 

This topic is too broad to cover in a blog so let me recommend to you a book, From Truth Comes Reconciliation by Rodney Clifton and Mark Dewolf. The book features articles by former teachers, workers, and students in these schools. It features an analysis of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (“TRC”). The book presents new insights into what many people experienced in these schools. A common conclusion by all contributors was that the schools were not all bad, nor were they all good. They were “non-binary” in terms of evil versus good. They had elements of both. The Frontier Centre, which sponsored the book, concluded that no Canadian should be a “citizen plus” or a “citizen minus”, based on the colour of their skin, their ethnicity or their race. The current narrative, being one where special rights should be accorded First Nations for special evils suffered diminishes the ideal set by Frontier. I highly recommend this book to all who have an interest in the area.

2. Transgenderism/Gender Fluidity
The issue of transgenderism and gender fluidity continues to be a very live topic these days. Our Regina Public School system continues to teach gender fluidity in our schools, often without parental knowledge or approval. While
children who do not want to be taught this can go to a separate classroom, many do not know this, in fact, effort is made not to let the children know this room exists! Also, many parents have not been made aware of the teaching or the
option for children not to attend. As an aside, Why is the reverse not the proper way to do this – Why shouldn’t students and parents have to opt into this teaching as opposed to opting out.

In any event, here are some things you need to know:

-Read the Cass Report out of the U.K. or at very least a summary of it. The report was sponsored by the National Health Service, so it is unbiased in its findings and conclusions. 

Here are a few findings:
-There is insufficient evidence for the safety and effectiveness of puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
-The same applies to other medical interventions like surgery. 
-Gender affirming care is based on “shaky foundations”. Gender affirming care means that people should be affirmed or encouraged to explore transitioning.
-Rather, young people should be given comprehensive, holistic treatment for their mental well-being. Much of what they experience with gender dysphoria will pass in due time or is really a manifestation of depression, anxiety or autism.
-As a result of this report, the U.K.’s Gender Identity Service Clinic was closed. Studies in Sweden have reached a similar conclusion as have studies in several other countries. Studies in Finland indicate that gender transitioning raises the
risk of suicide by 19.1 times. The American Medical Association now recommends against gender affirming care. The U.S.A. president has banned this type of care. Canada is one of only a few western countries which continue to use gender affirming care against the findings of all of the most recent credible studies. In Canada, many provincial education curriculums include teaching that gender is fluid, that biological men can become women and vice versa. Part of how this is done is by creation of a concept of gender as being different than sex. This idea was put forward by John Money, a sexologist who worked at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

Here is a summary of what AI says about Money.
“John Money was a key figure in understanding gender, though his work is controversial. He coined the term “gender role” and promoted the idea that gender identity is a fluid construct, shaped by learning and social environments,
rather than being fixed at birth. His most famous case, that of David Reimer, was initially presented as a success for his theory but was later revealed to be a traumatic experience where Reimer ultimately rejected gender identity
challenging Money’s views.” David Reimer was actually a twin. His penis was severely injured when he was two years old. His parents took him to see John Money. Money initiated surgery on David which removed his male genitalia and created female genitalia. David’s name was changed to Brenda. Money incorrectly reported the surgery and gender reassignment and construction as successful. This resulted in other doctors and sexologists trying to do the same thing. Ultimately David was told the truth, went through de-transitioning and was married. Unfortunately, the trauma took its toll. He committed suicide at age 38, but the damage was done on a much larger scale to the point where today, many people, and governments, have accepted the legitimacy of social and medical gender construction. Prime example – The Canadian government. The truth is that most of these people don’t know what the truth is.

Post Script -This is just in. Even within the LGBTQ+1 community, there is now serious doubt about the validity of gender construction and transition. At last report, two major organizations have broken away from existing organizations,
taking on the identifier of LGB because TQ+1 people are in their view, actually L, G or B.

3. Climate Change
Climate Change is a sensitive and controversial subject. There are some who have predicted the end of human life on the earth within 10 years, or at least climate catastrophes that would pose great risk to humans. Al Gore first
predicted this in 2006. Some of what he predicted was correct, for example, temperature increases. Some have been wrong, such as “no more snow on Mount Kilimanjaro”. He also predicted significant hurricane increases. Neither of these have happened.

Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenage activist, predicted a 10 year tipping point to climate disaster. Again, there has been some elements of climate change, but no indication of any disaster.
On the other side, there are those who refute the disaster scenario. Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish economist acknowledges that the climate is changing but does not believe that disaster is imminent. Rather, he says that we, as humans, can
manage climate change fairly well and civilization will carry on quite nicely.

Finally, if interested in this area, you need to read Steve Koonin’s book titled Unsettled. He is a former Undersecretary of Science under Obama, and his conclusion on the cause of climate change is the book’s title. It is unsettled and
so all the things we are doing to address man made climate change and all the trillions spent and to be spent is a waste of our resources and money. I highly commend the book to anyone who has an interest in this area.

Post Script – As I conclude this section I have just read that our Prime Minister has been gushing over China’s climate policy saying that China is very sincere and engaged in this area. If he accepts the reality and perils of CO2 causing much of climate change, he must have missed the most recent data. This shows China as being the number 1 contributor of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions at 31%, up 4.7% from 2022. Also, China has, to date, built approximately 1,200 coal power plants – coal burning being a major contributor of CO2 – and has plans to build at least 300 more in the near future. Canada’s contribution of 1.5% of the world’s CO2 emissions is miniscule compared to China’s, U.S.’s, and India’s.

4. Political Polarization
I have become increasingly concerned about the political polarization we are seeing in Canada, and even more so, in the U.S.A. Personally, I am trying to become more “non binary” in my political beliefs. By this I mean that both major
parties in both countries have certain redeeming qualities. While my personal bent is conservative, I am trying to maintain respect for the federal governing party and its leader. I am trying to hear what people who hold opposing views to
mine have to say. This is not easy, but is needed, I believe, to help diffuse the increasing animosity and polarization we are seeing.

To provide an example, I will look at President Trump. Many people see him as wrong and evil in every respect in everything he says or does. I try to take a more non binary approach. I don’t agree with how he insults others. Likewise, I don’t agree with much of his criticism of Canada and his actions which are detrimental to Canada. On the other hand, Canada has been slack in terms of how we have treated the United States. We have been too easy on our border security. We have not upheld our end in the military defence of North America, and our NATO partners in Europe. Additionally, I quite like the President’s firm action on border security and drug trafficking. I respect his firm action opposing DEI (which the best studies in Canada indicate is ineffective and costly), and on gender fluidity, which I have addressed above – gender fluidity is unscientific and the recognition of it potentially harmful, even dangerous, for young people especially.

The bottom line, I believe, is to maintain values and beliefs you feel strong and secure about, practice ongoing consideration of those you are unsure of, and to do all of this in a manner which is respectful of others, including those who insult and attack you.

Let me conclude this blog by taking another look at secular humanism and its foundational belief that there is no God, that mankind is all on its own. Elon Musk’s AI presence is called Grok. Grok is portrayed as a three-dimensional female personage in voice and appearance – head only. When Grok was asked, based on mathematical probability and observational science, what the odds of a “living” cell to come into existence over a period of 4.5 billion years are, its
answer was one over ten to the power of 200 which means the fraction 1/10 followed by 200 zeros.
When asked about the odds of a single cell evolving into all of the life forms we see today, Grok pronounced the odds at one over ten to the power of 600 – 1/10 followed by 600 zeros. Grok described this as being like picking a single atom from all the atoms in the universe, in other words, impossible. 

Written by Wayne Bernakevitch

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine and not necessarily those of RCAAN or anyone associated with RCAAN.