democracy Archives | Kyle Wierks

Wet’suwet’en vs. Conservatives

Kyle Wierks — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 18:06:19 +0000

The real fight is not with Canadians; it is with the people in power who have created a system whereby they can exploit our country at the expense of those who live here and claim the moral high ground because the law is supposedly on their side.

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Questioning power dynamics

Kyle Wierks — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 00:52:37 +0000

By refusing to accept the socially-accepted balance of power, we can begin to shift the balance of power away from institutions and pre-existing structures back towards the people.

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Question everything

Kyle Wierks — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:02:38 +0000

For most of us, we were taught to accept truth without questioning it, because we did not have the authority to question it, even though a truth that has not been questioned, reasoned, and investigated is not a truth but an assumption.

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The futility of modern political protest

Kyle Wierks — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 03:31:56 +0000

The problem with modern political protest is that it, on its own, plays according to the existing rules of our political system and has little, if any, impact on policy or political action. Come see what political action requires to be successful.

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Exclusionary politics and power

Kyle Wierks — Sun, 26 Jan 2020 01:58:17 +0000

The problem isn't that millennials, women, and people of colour don't want to be involved in politics and governance; the problem is that social barriers have been specifically constructed to keep us on the periphery.

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Meaningful debate

Kyle Wierks — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 23:52:44 +0000

Modern debate teaches arrogance and inflexibility, which is about as conducive to gaining knowledge and understanding as covering one's eyes is to learning to read. Meaningful debate is when two opposing sides commit to coming to a solution together.

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Political posturing and deteriorating debate

Kyle Wierks — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 23:25:12 +0000

Political debate has become nothing short of a tragic display of showmanship for an audience of one's peers that has little if any effect on policy. Debate is integral to the function of our democracy, and as long as it is broken, our democracy will suffer.

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You might be offended

Kyle Wierks — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 00:34:43 +0000

Ideas are offensive. And it is these offensive ideas that challenge us to change, that inspire us to improve. But we have an obligation to engage respectfully.

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Climate change debates

Kyle Wierks — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 23:00:46 +0000

We will never be able to address climate change as a whole society until we humble ourselves enough to accept and discuss different perspectives and engage on the topic rather than shut down debate because of close-mindedness.

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Absolute truths in perspective

Kyle Wierks — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 23:17:04 +0000

Truth is a humbling thing. We should all of us seek to know the truth - that search is at the heart of all learning and inquiry - but it requires that we first acknowledge that we may not know the truth and that we may never know it.

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