People in society have become disturbingly disconnected from each other

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

What is happening in our world right now should scare you.

Conservatives are fighting with conservatives, liberals are fighting with liberals, Christians are fighting with Christians, and we’re also seeing families break up all over the place.

We are witnessing the icing of hearts, conflict and discord leaving us wondering about what things will be like when economic conditions in this nation really start falling apart in the months ahead.

Given that we have become disturbingly disconnected from each other, we tend to focus on what’s happening with our special people; you know friends and family, and then we forget the narratives others are living. When we take a step back and take a deeper look at our current situation, the extent to which our society has already deteriorated is quite shocking.

It doesn’t help that our leader has been at the helm of the division in our country: Justin Trudeau complains about polarization and anger in Canada, purposely distracting us from the fact that he is one who has created this polarization and anger. His rhetoric has become the breeding ground for an environment of anger, chaos, and division.

In March 2022, Angus Reid Institute in partnership with CBC, found that 48% of Canadians say Trudeau had done a “good” or “very good” job during the pandemic so far. Another 48% said Trudeau had done a “bad” or “very bad” job.

Among those who said Trudeau has performed poorly, 31% said he’s handled the pandemic very badly — twice the number of respondents who said he’s done a very good job.

Four per cent of respondents said they didn’t or couldn’t say how well Trudeau has performed.

Although we like to see Canada as being open to diversity, and allowing people to have their own: thoughts, opinions and beliefs recognition must be given to the fact that our society may not be living up to these ideals: in fact, it appears that there is an even greater divide on beliefs throughout the community then we once thought.

In some places, this disharmony has risen to the level that people think their fellow citizens no longer disagree simply over policies, but also over basic facts, and this is something that is being recorded worldwide. In: France, the U.S., Italy, Spain and Belgium, half or more think that most people in their country disagree on basic facts more than they agree. Across most societies, those who see conflict among partisans are more likely to say people disagree on the basic facts than those who do not see such conflicts.

The quarantine has caused some serious social consequences, physical distancing may be a natural reaction to infectious disease, but it can unfortunately give rise to some of the ugliest human tendencies: partisanship, prejudice, and xenophobia, actions that we are witnessing more often than not.

We choose to treat others in such an unkind and disrespectful way. It’s true we all have opinions. We all believe we are doing what is right. We all ultimately want what’s best for ourselves, and our loved ones.