C is for Canada and Creativity

C is for Canada and Creativity

Canada is the country of "Peace, Order, and Good Government." Those are words from our founding constitutional document. Not very inspiring! It is the land of the hierarchical, British Tory touch that has for too long prized conformity above individual genius. We are a G-8 country with all the tools to become one of the most creative countries in the world. Yet, from the academic world to politics and literature to journalism we respect the pack, the herd, the common positions rather than the solitary instincts of the man (or woman) of genius. For Canada to be more than a mere satellite of our powerful US neighbour, we must begin to breed more of our own geniuses. We must, I dare say, emulate the US in its striving for individual genius and greatness.

All great changes of historical consciousness occur because individuals swam against the tide of mass conformity. Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Marx, Nietzsche, Herzl, and countless other figures all swam against the tide of their respective societies. All produced sea changes in the way we see, feel, and live in the world. These changes are ultimately more important than mere alternations of political power, argued Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Marxist that died in a Fascist jail in 1937.

I began my blogging experience, hoping to make a difference and create a sea change in mentalities in Canada and beyond. I combine academic, journalistic, and poetic insights as a way to break boundaries. I want to swim outside the narrow terrains of academia, the insular journalistic politics of the right or left, or the cliques of the literary and poetic worlds. Like the anarchists, who insisted that they want neither masters nor followers, I fight for the right of the creative genius to say no to the herd. Society often crushes geniuses. I write to fire the imagination, to inspire, to mould creative genius. The geniuses will save the world with love, poetic intoxication, a longing for social justice, the struggle for fairness and balance, or merely a new perspective.

Now please do not call me an elitist. I will insist that I can learn as much from a taxi driver or garbage collector as a university professor. Our greatest teachers are often outside the walls of our working lives. Our greatest teachers are usually our most difficult adversaries. Yet, if we give prizes to all those that participate in public school contests, valorise political correctness above substantive discussions, or breed conformity in politics, literature, or academia, we sell ourselves short. We kill those individuals that can make Canada grand, bold, expansive.

Grand and bold thinkers are those that are optimistic, open to change, compassionate, visionary, and radically individualistic. They see the greatness and potential of Canada, but also its weaknesses. And they express these truths openly and with equanimity. Henry David Thoreau was bold and visionary because in the 19th century he refused to pay his poll tax to a US government that supported institutionalized slavery. Barack Obama is a visionary because he had the "audacity of hope," the willingness to reach the highest office of his country despite the obstacles associated with a history of anti-black racism. Gandhi and Martin Luther King were visionaries because they harnessed the powers of love and non-violence to free their peoples from the yoke of oppression.

Canada needs its Thoreau, Gandhi, King, or Obama. Are we ready to elect a black prime minister? How about an Arab or a Jew? Are we ready to publish authors that do not say popular, predictable, nice things about Canada? Are we ready to open all our key positions in the state, civil society, or business to the most competent people? Are we ready to support free thinkers that even challenge their own institutions?

Admittedly, we have our Irving Layton and Leonard Cohen, our Marshall McLuhan and George Grant, our Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Yet, too much of Canadian politics, academia, journalism, poetry, and music is filled with conformists. Try publishing a non-leftist article in a left-wing newspaper. Or vice versa, although it might oddly be easier to publish left-wing views in a right-wing paper like The National Post. People that are successful in swimming through Canada's institutions play a game and a role with a precise political agenda. These are clever people, but they are not necessarily great thinkers, visionaries, or even people with noble spirits or characters. The time to follow the herd has past. We live in a global village with many models. Let us learn and be open to the world. Let us rise to the challenge of creating free thinkers. It will be fun, democracy will explode, and the culture of mediocrity protected by the strong and weak alike will fade into mist. Are Canadians up to the challenge?

Tamir Bar-On