Transcript Exploring Loyalties

Exploring
Loyalties
To What Extent Do Contending
Loyalties Need to be Reconciled?
Contending Loyalties
Loyalty to
Country
Loyalty to
Family
Loyalties
Loyalty to
Religion
What other types of
loyalties might
people have?
Loyalty to
Environment
Nationalism & Loyalty

Nationalism requires that people feel a sense of
loyalty to, commitment to, and identification with a
particular nation.

How deep does one’s loyalty to a nation have to be?

Does this depend on the nation?

Does it depend on the circumstances?

Are there times when your loyalty to a nation might
be challenged?
Conscription Issue
A poster in favour of
conscription
A poster opposed to
conscription
The Battle of
Thermopylae
300 Spartan soldiers
fought the invading
Persian army to the last
man with the intention of
sacrificing their lives.
There was no hope of
victory, only a hope of
drawing the rest of Greece
into the war through their
courage and sacrifice.
Contending Loyalties in Canada

Canada is a
nation of nations.

Canada was
founded on the
basis of three
distinct nations

First Nations

Anglophone

Francophone
Laura Secord
warns
Fitzgibbons,
1813
Loyalist Laura Secord warning the
British (Lieutenant - James
FitzGibbon) and First Nations of
an impending American attack at
Beaver Dams June 1812
Population Demographic of
Contemporary Canada
What does the demographic variety suggest to you about
loyalty in modern day Canada?
Contending Loyalties of French
Canadians

French Canadians may feel a variety of loyalties:

Loyalty to other Francophones, loyalty to the
province, and loyalty to their cultural or historical
backgrounds

Are these loyalties exclusive? Can a Québécois
citizen maintain loyalty to both the federal and
provincial governments?

Bill 101 entrenched in the Quebec charter the belief
that loyalty to Francophone culture was integral to
the maintenance of Francophone identity.
Non-Nationalist Loyalties

Non-nationalist loyalties are loyalties that people
feel towards things such as religion, region, culture,
and race that are not necessarily part of their sense
of nationalism toward a nation.

A good example of non-nationalist loyalties are
religious loyalties.

Often one’s religious beliefs can come into conflict
with loyalties expected from one’s nation.
Conscientious Objection in Canada

During the middle of the 19th century the federal
government provided special privileges for certain
religious groups – Hutterites, Mennonites, and
Doukhobors- all of whom were pacifist.

These people were encouraged to emigrate to
Canada and settle and farm in underdeveloped
areas. In exchange, they were promised religious
freedom, including exemption from military duty.

However, individuals from these groups faced
problems during WWI & WWII when some fellow
Canadians their loyalty to Canada.
Global Loyalties

Many people feel loyalties that extend
beyond the nations to which they
belong.

Internationalism is the belief in cooperation among nations for the
benefit and well-being of humankind.

Many international organizations
focus solely on the well-being of the
global community.

Oxfam

Doctors Without Borders

Greenpeace

World Wildlife Fund
Environmentalism & Contending
Loyalties

An issue that has gained momentum in the last
decade is the growing concern regarding
environmentalism.

This focuses on the belief that our loyalty to the
well being of our planet should supersede our
loyalty towards other considerations.

Is this belief in environmentalism a reality? Or do
other loyalties trump environmental concerns?
This is an ad from the
WWF. Note how it links
environmental and
ecological well being to
individual health and well
being.
Alberta Oil
Sands
This image should hit really hit
home…. Literally. How do we as
Canadians, and Albertans,
reconcile our dependence on oil
with the reality that we are one of
the single most polluting regions
on Earth.
Thom Yorke on the Alberta Oil Sands

“so yes rumour has it
that the canadians came
to the copenhagen
summit demanding to
increase their co2
emmissions. principally
cuz of the tar sands and
how much money the
faceless motherfu@*ers
in the oil industry stand
to make out of it.. who
are obviously
bankrolling the
government there. i find
it hard to correlate this
all with the canadians i
know who are very
forward thinking”
Humanitarianism & Contending
Loyalties

Humanitarianism is a philosophy based on the belief
that all humans deserve to be treated with respect
and dignity.

That all sounds nice, but how do we actually
enforce this in our day to day lives?

The deteriorating situation in Libya reinforces the
reality of humanitarianism and the challenges it
faces.
Libyan No-Fly Zone

The UN security Council was debating whether or not
to establish a n0-fly zone over Libya.

The rationale is that this will prevent the Libyan
government from using military aircraft and weapons
on its dissenting people (they have already dropped
bombs and fired machine guns on protestors).

Seems like there would be little opposition to
establishing this no-fly zone; however, several
countries including Germany and the USA are opposed
to the establishment of a no-fly zone.

Why would this be? What loyalties could be preventing
these nations from backing a Libyan no-fly zone?