anne's dispatches from sydney

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Its hard to understand a place when you haven't lived there all your life- I just can't work out the mood here in Montreal. Or maybe I just can't work out MYSELF and how I jarr with this place sometimes.

I am accustomed to living in places like Sydney where there is a deep-seated anxiety, where people are extremely busy, and where government scare- tactics have traction among most suburban inhabitants. I am accustomed to noticing symptoms of bigger malaises, like racism or consumerism, which make me think about our broken society - and I become motivated to change things and be involved in activism.

However in Montreal, I am not as motivated by my surroundings- there is an attitude that I can only interpret as complacency (and perhaps even irresponsibility)- where people are doing frivolous things like rollerblading, going to art galleries and other pointless aesthetic events, and being immersed in their immediate realities- their relationships with their friends and lovers...

[dont they know that we all hafta BE VERY SERIOUS?]

All the evidence seems to suggest that I am the one with the problem and it is really a healthy society- but I can't help thinking that Montreal is a bubble- where they can all congratulate each other for being so tolerant- when they are so privileged-

Perhaps it is something to do with a conversation I had with activists at a party last night- where Rachel was talking about how most people feel that their ethical domain of power and leverage is in their individual actions- "How I relate to that underprivileged person", etc. - Whereas my ethical domain of power and leverage that I feel responsibility for is the BIG PICTURE- and hence I seem to under-react at the SMALL PICTURE-  we might see one tree getting cut down and not really care- whereas another person (such as my sister who was upset when our neighbours were pruning a liquidamber) does; likewise, we may not respond to the single homeless person, but we want to solve homelessness IN GENERAL.

Yet is there a problem with having such a large domain of ethical judgement? Does this abstract political attitude tend towards dehumanisation, -ignoring individual people who my daily actions impact on- and hence to utilitarian (the ends justify the means) and unethical behaviour?

That is a hard question. It's something that really would challenge my attitude- which I feel has become increasingly divorced from the everyday to the extent that I do not feel a great duty to my family and friends hence perhaps do not prioritise spending time with them.

[what is that poem about seeing the whole world in a grain of sand? Is that related to this? Is it a resolution of the dilemma between the big picture and the small picture?]

posted by: anneinchaosland at 19:52 | link | comments |

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