[Advisors] Let community re-think community

[James Van Leeuwen]

It says that Canadians still don't have the emotional and intellectual =
maturity for substantive discourse around morals and values.

It says we need to grow up.

James



On 2012-05-05, at 1:22 PM, Garth Graham wrote:

> On 2012-05-05, at 12:19 AM, James Van Leeuwen wrote:
>=20
>> Garth asks:
>> What kind of a society do we want? =85  I think the very essence of =
the challenge we Canadians face today is that we have so many =
conflicting visions of what we want our society to look like. =85  What =
we lack is sufficient moral capital to bind the nation into a common and =
cohesive society with a meaningful purpose and a coherent vision for =
itself.  =85  Without an appealing new moral vision and narrative to =
bind us together, collaboration and cooperation across groups will be =
next to impossible.
>=20
> James, I congratulate you on risking discussion of values when, from =
my experience, the tolerance of Canadians for matters philosophical is =
pretty limited.  The first and only time I dared wade into that debate =
about narrative was in June of 1994 (see attached report of a workshop =
on electronic democracy).  The report predicts, accurately, that without =
ongoing discussion of values there would be no real basis for effective =
public policies about Canada's transformation into a digital society.  =
What does a silence that's now 18 years deep say about the current =
content of public policy?
>=20
> GG
>=20
> <Values debate.rtf>