The return of (in)significant encounters

Olivier Niquet studied urban planning before becoming a radio host for Radio-Canada in 2009 on the programs Le Sportnographe and La soiree est (encore) jeune. He is also a columnist, author, speaker, screenwriter and all sorts of other things. He is particularly interested in the media but defines himself as an expert in versatility.

The results of the first two years of the pandemic are numerous these days. One may have the impression that the exercise is futile so much the question has been covered at length. We all remember what happened. For a long time, following the evolution of the number of cases, watching the press conferences of the public health authorities and worrying about the distant coughs of our fellow human beings were our main activities. We were intermittently cut off from normal life. But beyond the “medical” assessment of the pandemic, one effect of this cut particularly interests me: polarization.

When our daily routine got derailed, we had to resolve to save the world by staying at home and doing nothing. We missed the chance encounters around the coffee machine, whether working in an office, a factory or a joke and tricks store. Even if everyone has to be on their guard, I’m sure that meetings between co-workers in a joke shop are very rich. These social interactions took us slightly out of our inner circle.

But there is even better way to get out of your cocoon. There are the encounters that we have at children’s soccer games, in pottery classes or in softball leagues. It’s the best way to expose yourself to realities other than our own. To meet people from all walks of life. A garage league is the perfect place to bring together an ophthalmologist (if there is one) and a cabinetmaker. These appointments have been reduced to a strict minimum for the past two years, which has resulted in a weakening of the social fabric. Even if they are less significant, these relations remain essential.

To be surrounded only by one’s own and to access the other only through virtual worlds, as Serge Fiori would say, disembodies our relationships. Our vision of others is distorted because we only hear those who speak the loudest. We forget that there is also the guy or the girl that we meet at hot yoga and with whom we have enough affinity not to shout names at the slightest difference of opinion.

Two years of relative isolation will have exacerbated the polarization by pushing many people to their limits. We classified everyone in one camp or the other, without distinction. It is generally much more difficult to turn against a part of the population when one of its representatives is drinking a beer with us in underpants after a hard-fought match. As coach Bob Hartley once said, « A hockey player is a human being on two skates like everyone else. » And we’re much more willing to water down our wine (or Coors Light in this case) face to face with a human on skates.

This famous cleavage has reached unprecedented heights in the United States. The two-party system means that once people choose sides, they support them, regardless of their positions. In his book Why We’re Polarized (I haven’t finished it yet, no spoilers please), American journalist Ezra Klein recalls a 2004 advertisement aimed at denigrating Democratic candidate Howard Dean. An elderly couple could be heard discussing the politician’s intention to raise taxes. The man said: “What do I think? I think Howard Dean should take his gang of tax freaks, latte drinkers, sushi eaters, Volvo drivers, New York Times…” and his wife to continue the enumeration, “bearers of piercings, Hollywood lovers, leftists, and going back to Vermont. Fairly precise as a way of defining a clan.

The chances of a latte drinker and a Tim Hortons coffee drinker having a moment together have been missed during the pandemic. Yet it’s the best way for people who are stuck in their positions to relax a little and realize that they are not so far from each other. A few milliliters of milk, to be precise.

The lines are more diffuse in Canada. Supporters of one party can agree on many points with supporters of another party. Moreover, politicians change their allegiance and the different formations welcome them without problem, knowing that their supporters will support their ideas, no matter which ones, now that they are on their side. It is enough to see the number of defector candidates in Marie-Victorin’s by-election to see that it is not harmful to move from one party to another. And what about Jean Charest who navigates between the conservative and liberal ranks, environmentalism and oil? Nothing, if possible. This weather vane is frustrating and fuels cynicism, but demonstrates that our society is less divided. Our polarization has several poles that are not too far apart. So much for the laws of physics.

Brassens sang: “Let us die for ideas, okay, but a slow death. Exactly, most ideas aren’t worth dying for. They do not even deserve that we launch invectives to who better better. They simply deserve that we discuss them a little and that we continue our game of ball as if nothing had happened.