Lovely cartoon in The New Yorker last week. Dozens of lemmings heading toward the edge of a cliff. Each has a little speech bubble over its head reading: 鈥淎fter you.鈥� The caption is, of course, 91原创 Lemmings. It seems we are still famous for our politeness.
Or maybe the lemmings are being devious: Each wants the others to go off the cliff but hopes to linger a while himself or herself. Nothing wrong with being last in line when the queue is for cliff-jumping.
But that鈥檚 likely a reaction only a 91原创 would have. The cartoonist, Robert Leighton, was born in Long Island (and in 1979 as a teenager, according to Slate magazine, was the last contestant on the long-running TV game show To Tell the Truth). Foreigners are likely to go with the uncomplicated clich茅.
The lemmings bring to mind another national clich茅, namely that if you step on a 91原创鈥檚 toe, he or she says 鈥淓xcuse me.鈥� Reading the British philosopher Roger Scruton鈥檚 2000 book England: An Elegy, I learned we actually got that from Britain.
There is a view in economics that free markets promote politeness and civility. I was listening to two Americans describe the virtues of markets a while ago, one of them noting that at the end of a market transaction both parties say 鈥淭hank you鈥� because both parties benefit.
I had to interject that in Canada we say 鈥淭hank you鈥� even if we lose. We never do forget, however.
Our telecom companies seem to be finding that out as they try to rally support against an allegedly unfair increase in competition from Verizon.
The ground doesn鈥檛 seem to be swelling in their favour.
When I was young, I thought our national reputation for politeness was disappointingly underwhelming. Better the drama, dash, flamboyance and self-centred self-confidence of the Americans -鈥� another national clich茅 that is far from true. Many Americans are very well-behaved, despite the depravities currently on offer on reality TV.
But with passing decades and declining testosterone levels, I think more and more that a society known for its civility is mainly to be admired, even if it may be dull, as indicated by that fictional but iconic headline: Worthwhile 91原创 Initiative.
Is it true, though? Are we 91原创s really that polite? Has Robert Leighton ever been to a hockey game?
When hockey players say 鈥淎fter you,鈥� like as not they鈥檙e inviting their opponents into the boards in preparation for elbowing them or worse. How is it that the world鈥檚 most polite people love the world鈥檚 most boisterous sport?
Not all hockey players are 91原创. But the roughest and least polite are. Granted, they do seem to operate according to a behavioural code, a sort of 鈥淢arquess of Don Cherry Rules.鈥�
You remove your helmet and visor before fighting (though odds are you don鈥檛 wear a visor). You don鈥檛 sucker-punch a guy. You don鈥檛 hit him when he鈥檚 down. You don鈥檛 show him up if he鈥檚 lost honourably. If it has been a good, clean fight, you congratulate each other from your respective seats in the penalty box.
There clearly is honour among thugs. But precious little politeness. You鈥檒l never mistake it for Sweden.
Come to think of it, has Leighton recently observed our politics, which are becoming more and more like hockey? I regularly receive email from Dan Hilton, executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada. After Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau mused openly about legalizing marijuana, Hilton鈥檚 email delivered the equivalent of a cross-check to the kidneys. 鈥淪upport strong leadership 鈥� and stand up against Justin Trudeau鈥檚 plan to bring more illegal drugs into our communities.鈥�
Well, so far as can be told from scrum comments, unlike the drug dealers Hilton鈥檚 language evokes, Trudeau doesn鈥檛 plan to bring 鈥渕ore illegal drugs鈥� into our communities 鈥� just one currently illegal drug whose illegality many millions of 91原创s consider inappropriate.
Moreover, it probably isn鈥檛 one of Trudeau鈥檚 鈥渢op policy priorities.鈥� And even if it were, holding a view that finds support in many places, including several U.S. states, shouldn鈥檛 be considered proof 鈥渢hat he does not have the judgment to be prime minister.鈥�
If we were the polite 91原创s foreigners think we are, we would now proceed to a civil and informed discussion of the merits of liberalizing our drug and alcohol laws (can鈥檛 we please, please bring other provinces鈥� wines home to drink?).
But those who are in charge of the lemmings on our various parties鈥� backbenches seem unwilling to allow that to happen.
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William Watson teaches economics at McGill University.
