Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

Cordelia Barber: The paradox of authenticity in the transparent society

The paradox of authenticity in the transparent society.

Everybody wants their politicians to be transparent and authentic.... Until they see the real human. Then it's "No, no, no; not like THAT".

In the transparency society, we not only crave authenticity, but we punish things that are not "smooth", and seemingly easy to understand. The harder an issue, the less we like it.

We live in an era where there is so much information, and we crave being able to sort and make sense of it as quickly and easily as possible because, well, we're all really rather busy. What we make time for in the world of today says a lot about us. What we absolutely do not have time for ends up now saying *more* about us, because it is the opposite of transparency or smoothness. 

When politicians refuse, deflect, or don't address something, it becomes a larger elephant in the room, even if only to those that it matters to. 

People on the right are stoked Carney isn't as focused on the environment as he began claiming he would be -- on the left, they're furious.

When inconsistencies arise, this is "roughness", or I'd call it more fine-grainededness or granularity. The more granular something is, the less likely we are to chew on it unless we have a really good reason to. It just goes unprocessed because we're busy. We overlook things that don't matter to us, and hyper focus on the things that do. 

This isn't "new", but it is increasingly more common to not be able to see the forest for the trees in politics. But everyone *insists* that the granular thing they're chewing on is one of the most important, or is an indicator, or is the heaviest thing in a weighted average.... Whatever it might be.

We've lost nuance, and politicians (especially the non-politicky ones) have a LOT harder time actually governing now (per the article) than they did before. Everything is about perception, because of the transparency society.

And what led us here, to this age of burnout, exhaustion, living in the swarm, in an era where Eros is in absolute agony, where love is disappearing to the margins?

Read some Byung-Chul Han. There's something in there for everybody, I swear.



Cordelia Barber is an outspoken Canadian-born citizen who has regularly volunteered and worked with political parties in Alberta and BC. Currently residing in Vancouver, she is beginning her career and will have her substack publishing about Canadian and world culture in 2026

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Budget 2027: After a Decade of Decline, NDP Budget Delivers an Assault on Seniors, Working Families, and Small Businesses

Peter Milobar, BC Conservative Finance Critic, condemned the NDP government’s latest budget as the result of a decade of decline that has left British Columbians broke, unsafe, and paying more for less.   “After ten years of NDP mismanagement, this budget is an assault on seniors, working families, and the small businesses that drive our economy,” said Milobar. “The NDP have turned their back on the people working hardest to make ends meet and the seniors who built this province.” Milobar pointed to a new $1.1 billion annual income tax increase and warned that the government is piling new costs onto households already struggling with affordability.   “This government keeps asking British Columbians for more, while delivering less,” Milobar said. “The question people are asking is simple: Where has all the money gone?” Milobar noted that BC has gone from a surplus in the first year of NDP government to a projected deficit of more than $13 billion this year, while prov...
Post a Comment
Read more

WARD STAMER -- Those are REAL forestry numbers, not just made-up numbers

The following is a condensed version of remarks Kamloops – North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer’s made, regarding Forestry, in the BC Legislature, on Tuesday afternoon (02/24/2026)   Let’s talk a little bit, when we talk about Budget 2026, about the forest industry, which is near and dear to my heart. Forestry remains one of British Columbia’s foundational industries. It’s a pillar that built this province. Entire communities depend upon it. Interior towns, northern communities, Vancouver Island regions, the Kootenays, the Lower Mainland, with manufacturing facilities in Surrey and Maple Ridge, just to name a few — everywhere in BC is touched by forestry. One word that was not mentioned in Budget 2026 was forestry. That’s a shame, an incredible shame. It wasn’t an oversight – it was intentional. This government has driven forestry into the ground .... INTO THE GROUND! We can talk a little bit about some of the initiatives that this government has brought forth, to try to resurrect ...
Post a Comment
Read more

FORSETH -- Before anyone gets excited about one poll showing a candidate with a 25 percent lead, and 44 percent support overall, let’s give it a few more weeks

Is this based in reality -- how accurate are the numbers? In the past couple of weeks a couple of candidates, for the leadership of the BC Conservative Party, have been presenting polling results that they lead the pack – one even going so far as to say they have a lock on 44% of those who will be voting, and a twenty-five percent lead over the individual ranked second. I am going to say that this one, from Kerry-Lynne Findlay, is highly suspect. First of all the company conducting the poll, ERG National Research, is not a Member of Industry Bodies (the Canadian Research Insights Council), meaning they do not adhere to established industry standards for research, such as transparency, privacy, and methodological rigor. AI Overview states that ... based on alerts from the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC) and reports, ERG National Research should be treated with extreme caution regarding its reliability, and legitimacy, in conducting political polling. Before I even read this in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more