Critical Perspectives and Reflections

Starting with Discontents Ideology is one of the more misunderstood terms we have commonly heard enunciated and/or thrown around in common daily discourse. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember. It has been, and is, described by many as a “straight jacket’ on our thinking, or some set of beliefs that work so that people misunderstand the world, as in, “Well, that’s just his/her ideology talking”, or “s/he is so ideological”. This is a charge that I hear particularly about those of us who use a left wing, socially progressive framework in attempting to make sense of the world.1 We also see the same charge levelled at those who consider themselves conservatives or liberals. The assumption is that the person has been tricked or browbeaten into believing some irrational or harmful notion, by elites or charismatic leaders or by reading some unfortunate literature that was found lying around. Of course, this can be true. It happens. A Definition My colleague Mirna Carranza and I h...

While not in great numbers, there are Canadians going to Ukraine to fight Russians. I certainly understand folks with Ukrainian heritage wishing to go, and to a lesser extent, veterans of military age wishing to join the fight. But beyond concerns about what will happen if they get captured…, simply put, the Russians will shoot them on the spot, bet on it…my thoughts on totally untrained civilians wishing to go to war are certainly a horse of a different colour. I’m here to tell you war isn’t a game. War is miserable, vile and shows mankind at our worst. War is best left to professional warriors or folks with skin in the game who have no choice. Ukraine is openly recruiting foreign nationals with experience, rightly so, in the profession of arms. While totally untrained folks, with high ideals or a sense of adventure wish to join, the Embassy of Ukraine is doing the wise and responsible thing; turning these well-meaning civilians away, with a thanks but no thanks. Indeed ex-military pe...