The system has been exposed.

The emperor’s new clothes is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson in which the emperor is offered a set of clothes that don’t actually exist. The weavers who make the suit tell him that the new suit is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions—ignorant and incompetent people. This means that everyone is induced to pretend that they can see the clothes, believing that the clothes are invisible to them because they’re not smart or good enough to understand. Eventually a child makes the whole facade visible by yelling out that the emperor is, in fact, naked.

The pandemic and resulting state of emergency is essentially the child and our nakedness is the erosion of the social security net that’s supposed to hold us in times of crisis. 

This didn’t happen overnight. This is the result of decades of neoliberalism, the slow but steady rollback of benefits and programs and rights that were meant to protect us, especially some of the most vulnerable in our communities. It has been the privatization of health services – from hospital cleaners to seniors care. It’s been attacks on unions, meaning that many (most?) grocery store workers are now minimum wage and part time without the robust benefits packages that workers used to have to support them in times of trouble. It has been the transition to the gig economy where people are independent contractors without rights or benefits (Naomi Klein wrote No Logo in 1999 and I’m sure she’s not really relishing the “I told you so” right now). It’s been burying our heads in the sand about increasing homelessness, the healthy immigrant effect, and poisoned drug crisis. It’s been problems that we’ve been too timid to solve like stronger protection for renters and a more progressive income tax rate for the super rich. Allowing corporations to buy virtue in the form of charitable donations rather than creating a more fair system. 

Neoliberalism has led to incredible wealth inequality leaving many people and families in a precarious position.  

And don’t get me wrong, we shouldn’t be striving to return to some romanticized past. We’ve never had comprehensive disability legislation like they have (shockingly) in the States with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We had systems of discrimination and a wage gap (still do). For a lot of folks, it’s better and safer now in Canada than it’s ever been before. But we shouldn’t mistake or conflate the social freedoms and rights we’ve gained with an economic system that is targeted at condensing wealth in the hands of the already super rich. 

These systemic problems existed before this crisis and they will continue to exist afterwards. 

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I don’t know about you, but I’m coming out of this kicking and screaming for a better system. We now all know how badly the current system is failing us—most especially the least privileged and most vulnerable of us and as a result it’s badly failing all of us. I’ll say it again: It doesn’t have to be this way. This is not the natural way of the world, this situation has been caused by political choices. We can do so much better. Let’s imagine that world together and then let’s fight like hell to make it a reality.  

P.S. I have three more issues I want to highlight:

1. We need better media literacy! Like so many folks, I am distrustful of mainstream media. I’m concerned that under resourcing has led to quick journalism that doesn’t dig deeply enough into stories and leads to clickbait. But that doesn’t mean we need to throw it all out, rather we need to ensure that the media is independent and not funded by big business. We need to teach everyone how to differentiate between real stories and propaganda, clickbait and important information. This is crucial. We also need to support teaching critical thinking rather than memorization, but that’s a whole other rant.
2. Capitalism is eroding our community networks. This pandemic is highlighting that we truly need each other more than ever. We need people to support isolated seniors. We need people who work in sanitation and folks who stock the shelves in grocery stores. We need friends who check in on us. We need care aids and we need good neighbourliness. In the age of quick information and social media, we are more isolated than ever. And it’s hurting us. When all else fails, we need people who will help look after our kids and bring us toilet paper. 
3. We need art. We need art and artists to challenge us and expose the weaknesses in our current system. And we need them to help us envision a better future.