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

FORSETH -- Given the noted infractions of this agreement with OneBC leader Dallas Brodie, I request the Party immediate suspend the leadership campaign of Yuri Fulmer

I have personally emailed the following to the Board and Administration of the Conservative Party of BC:   TODAY (03/30) Yuri Fulmer, a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of BC, made a pact with ONEBC leader Dallas Broldie, that if he is elected will commit the Conservative Party to the following. Specifically, the pact states : This Memorandum of Understanding outlines the definitive electoral and governing alliance that will be executed upon Yuri Fulmer’s election as Leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia OneBC Party commits to not nominating or authorizing candidates in 88 of British Columbia’s 93 electoral districts. In exchange, the Conservative Party of BC, under the leadership of Yuri Fulmer, commits to not nominating or authorizing candidates in five (5) specific electoral districts . OneBC will be the sole standard-bearer for the right in those five districts. The specific ridings will be determined through mutual negotiation and fin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delays to the replacement of the Red Bridge? Kamloops North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer says they are, “Totally Unacceptable.”

I think it’s totally unacceptable that on one hand the Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) is saying they’re going to be responsible for putting together multiple replacement options with public engagement, and then in the same breath they're saying, ‘Oh, and by the way, we're going to start our geotechnical environmental and archaeological site assessments on both sides of the river, possibly beginning this summer.’ According to Stamer, that should already have been done. “Obviously, we're pretty sure it will be in the same location because there's really no other place to put it. So, if you're going to put in a bridge, you think that at least you'd be doing the archaeological assessments first off”, stated Stamer.   “If it's determined it has to be a free-span bridge, and it can't have anything or very minimal impact in the riverbed, they should already be determining that. It would help in the design, wouldn't it?” Stamer indicated...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your government has a gambling problem (Troy Media)

Provinces call it “revenue,” but it looks a lot like exploitation of the marginalized The odds of winning Lotto Max are about 1 in 33 million. You’re statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than to win it. But your government is betting that statistics won’t hold you back; they’re counting on it. Across Canada, provincial governments not only regulate gambling, they also maintain a monopoly on lottery and gaming by owning and operating the entire legal market. That means every scratch card is government-issued, gambling odds are government-set, casino ads are government-funded and lottery billboards are government-paid. And these are not incidental government activities. They generate significant revenues that governments have powerful incentives to expand, not constrain. It would be one thing for our governments to encourage us to engage in healthy activities. We can quibble about whether the government should be trying to convince us to be more active or eat more vegetabl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more