O Canada on Trump, Fat, and Secularism

Time Spent on book: 6 hours
Words written: Collecting
Grade for the day: B+


Canadians. They gave us Rush, the Tragically Hip, and Arcade Fire. They also gave us Nickelback and Justin Bieber. Not sure if that negates the rest. Something to ponder.

But Canada also gave us Ideas with Paul Kennedy, a gem of a show from CBC Radio. Earlier this month, they ran an excellent episode on "The Donald Trump Phenomenon." Perhaps my favorite segment is an interview with Eric Foner, who does a deep dive into the history and legacy of nativism in America. 

The entire show is worth the listen. Aside from offering a perspective from north of the border (USA!), I appreciate how the host provides guests with the time and space to fully elaborate on their ideas. Ideas. Get it?

Anyway...

If you are all Trumped out, there is plenty more good listening on their site. For all of you who remember the fat-free craze of the 1980s and 90s, their show on "fat and sugar" proves enlightening. What you will discover is that money and politics--rather than science and evidence--did the work of demonizing fat and making carbs the sine qua non of healthy eating. 

My personal favorite is a seven part series entitled, "The Myth of the Secular."

The description:
In modern Western societies a powerful ideology divided the world into two opposed domains, the religious and the secular. Religion was private; the secular was public and political. As societies modernized, they would become more secular, and religion would gradually lose its remaining public significance. Until quite recently this was the story told in Western social thought. But it no longer seems to fit. Religion, far from fading, has grown ever stronger. And modernization has developed along different lines in different societies The Myth of the Secular is a 7-part series presented by David Cayley.... Theologians, anthropologists, sociologists and political philosophers talk about why the old map of the religious and the secular no longer fits the territory. And about how it might be redrawn. 

This one takes some time and patience to plow through. But it's absolutely worth it.

"O Canada," indeed...

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