In the Globe and Mail, we can read an opinion article by a columnist, called Ms. Erica Ifill and entitled “Ottawa claims diversity is our strength. So why is it being sued by Black civil servants?”
First, here is the article in question:
The article is full of funny claims, such as the following:
First, notice the language: Black deserves a capitalized B, but not white :).
Plus, what does she mean by black and white? Are all blacks or whites (or Blacks and Whites :)?) interchangeable? Is their hue colour the only identity characteristic that matters here? For instance, how would this author classify one of Bambi’s former peers who happens to be both African (with a black skin) and Lebanese. Where does she fit? As a Québecker? Canadian? Human being? Herself, period…. or from ancestry from both Central Africa and Lebanon? Yes, she has a black skin, but she was (probably still is) wise enough in order not to fall into the trap of reducing the richness of her individuality to just a skin colour!
Second, the author uses the term “racialized”. This terms is heavily charged with a connotation of victimhood, to begin with. So, these federal employees in question suing the government are not Canadians like the rest of us? Are they just holier because they are “victims”… Therefore, they are. Just because of that, they would deserve to go to the top of the pyramid fast and faster than any other hard-working colleague? Bambi does not know the details of this story. This article seems to be telling us that they are suing our federal government now for the sake of or in the name of equity.
Now, equity is usually a good concept or value in life. However, one must be mindful of the equity of what? For example, the equity between people? Or the equity of the outcomes (of a sport competition or of a career milestone or a merit-grant competition)? Or the equity of success of a business in life?
In this particular situation and beyond it in a society, is it the equity of outcomes or of opportunities of public servants? If it is the former (i.e., outcomes), this is unrealistic in life (on paper, it may sound appealing like communism, but this is not feasible… and likely not even desirable from an evolutionary perspective). If it is the latter (i.e., opportunities), Bambi is all for it. Providing basic rights to all, respect for all, opportunities and training to employees to help them further their skills, etc.
Perhaps MOST importantly to our public servants, we need to fix their Phoenix pay system to pay them all on time and with the accurate amount. To be truly fair, we need not to be paying those at the top of the pyramid (our own PM et al.) with a different functional system than the rest of the public servants at lower positions in the hierarchy of services with Phoenix. This being said, Bambi has not followed updates about the latter problem for some time now. She hopes the problem has been finally fixed now.
Third, and related to the point above, what happened to hard work in life? What happened to ambitions? What happened also to personal and family choices? Not everyone wants those jobs at the top as they come with more leadership responsibility. Plus, are these employees suing our government now ALL competent and fit for the positions they are claiming they have been prevented from getting because of the so-called “systemic racism”? Perhaps some are. Perhaps some would be with more equitable opportunities (e.g., training, more professional development skills, and support from their managers, etc.).
So, no Ms. Ifill, not everything in life is to be blamed on what you call “intersectionality” of victimhood. If there is one thing that life has taught Bambi thus far, is that she refuses to see herself as a victim. She takes full responsibility for her choices in life, both professional and personal. If we start playing the victim card for any unfair situation we find ourselves in, we fall in the trap of narcissism in life. We risk becoming the abusers of those we claim we have been abused by. Of course, by no means, Bambi is saying that people should not seek justice for themselves! However, she is just saying the following: no one is immune to such a trap, no person, no group, no society or part of a society.
So, a piece of advice to all of us or anyone of us, human or deer citizens of Canada: Enough of cultic levels of wokeness, whether we are truly illuminated or pretending to be so to either keep one’s job or de-stress (like perhaps your media employer or our institutions, etc.). Why don’t we take a break, at least until the holidays to see more clearly. Perhaps this pause will help us in realizing that we are ruining our country with our own stupidity.
