My Favourite Reads of 2017

You have to admit, there is a lot of good writing out there. Such is the wonder of the internet and the ability of people to give their ideas and opinions a voice. I’m a proponent of this, particularly of those writers (professional and ad hoc) who have something truly meaningful to say. 2017 was, to my mind, a seminal year for some very excellent writing, largely to the shifting world around us. Below is the list of the top five articles which both inspired and challenged me last year, despite the fact that we are well into 2018.

Coming in a number five, ‘Why Expertise Matters.’ What with ‘fake news’ and, sadly, the terrible opinions based on conjecture and absolutely no fact, people with actual expertise have to compete not just with other people with expertise, but more often than not, people who know nothing about anything but like to feed their egos. Differentiating fact from fiction used to be a simile, but now? It is a full-time job and rarely does that mean that fact (and expertise) will win at the end of the day anyway. Understanding why expertise matters, and why it is consistently being challenged, helps us to understand the literal chaos we find ourselves in at every level of society these days. It’s good food for thought.

Climate change terrifies me, and despite trying to be pragmatic about what we need to do, the terror often seeks in to take hold of my thoughts, often when I’m laying down with my small children to put them to bed, worried about how much longer their innocence about the world will last, about what the future may hold for them was we destroy the world around us. So this article, number four on my list, Writing About Climate Change: From Detachment to Panic, struck a chord deep inside, and somehow made me feel safer. The realization that others understood and felt that same as me? It’s reassuring. And it makes you want to work harder, and do more, to ensure panic does not become reality.

Number three on my list is a public letter from my former colleague to my former professor (incidentally, his former colleague). You don’t often see/hear people within your network call each other out quite to this degree – and certainly not quite so publicly. I read it as morality versus power. I know which side I came down on, despite my respect for the work that one (used) to do. This certainly holds no punches, and most importantly reminds us that we can be silent because we’re ‘professionals’ or we can speak up when we witness injustice because at the end of the day, we have to live with our own conscience.

At number two, ‘The Case Against Democracy’ was both terrifying and gratifying. If you pay attention to global trends, you see the slow erosion of everything ‘traditional’ (ie: Post Cold War) liberal democrats held dear (I say ‘held’ and not ‘hold’ because things have really changed when it comes to what liberal democrats care about). I have tried to argue some points here with friends and colleagues, but not nearly so eloquently. So I advise setting aside 30 minutes of your time, over a coffee, to give this article a chance and challenge you to think about what we, as a society, need to do better.

Tied with number two is ‘Millennials Are Rapidly Losing Interest in Democracy.’ The main point argued here is that people have become complacent. We are fed a media diet of how democracy won the Cold War and it will always be king. There is nothing for current generations to compare it to, what with ‘democracy building’ and the idea that elections is all it takes to be democratic (or for someone, likely the US, to simply say country X is democratic). Millennials (oh, how I hate that term with a passion) don’t know what it is like to not have democracy. They’ve always had free speech so don’t know what it means to really lose it (I do); they’ve always been able to questions politicians so have no idea what happens when public debate is stifled (I do); they’ve always had elections (I have not); they’ve never really had to worry about corruption (I have); they don’t have a clue about censorship (oh boy, don’t get me started). This article set me on a collision course with family members who claimed that I am in no place to question how complacent millennials have become because people don’t have to care about history the same way I do (!!). Sigh. Nonetheless, this article should be the wake up call we ALL need.

Both personally and professionally, I was very tied to the crisis (for lack of a better all-encompassing term) in Myanmar last year (and which continues to this day). I wrote extensively on this blog about our moral bankruptcy in letting ‘never again’ happen yet again. So much was published about the genocide of the Rohingya in 2017 that it is difficult to pick the most compelling article. So difficult, in fact, that I’ve opted instead for the best article – the one that highlights the hypocrisy of the Myanmar government and Aung San Suu Kyi so well that an article like this may never be repeated. Kudos to Jonah Fisher of the BBC for absolutely going for it with this one: BBC Correspondent Fact Checks the Heck Out of ASSK.

Runners up:

Unlearning the Myth of American Innocence. Damn, this was a good one, and I went out and bought the book it was based on, Notes on a Foreign Country (the actual book, not the ebook), and read it like reading was going out of style.

In a world of mistrust and hate, we really need to remember and learn from our history. Spain’s Moriscos: A 400 Year Old Muslim Tragedy is a Story for Today was an excellent reminder that we’re pretty quick to condemn history to irrelevance, much like the millennial and democracy issue.

While I have much respect for religion as a guide for morals of love, trust, respect, aid, and compassion, it does (they all do) have a dark side. This article spoke volumes in terms of how easy it is to use religion to control what people do and what they believe. And, surprise, it’s not about Islam and the Middle East. Read Fundamentalism, Racism, Fear and Propaganda

Finally, the answer I was seeking three years ago, received and only now understand: why did my daughter get cancer? Random genetic mistakes. It is the best, and only, explanation I’ve ever received and does little to abate my anger about why science can treat a disease by not explain why you have it. However, I have had to learn to control that anger otherwise it controls me. And there are far too many more important things to be doing with my time: watching my child grow.

There were many articles on climate change, on Trump, on the shifting balance of power with the rise of China, but they didn’t challenge me intellectually or morally. Surely, they informed me. But I appreciate those articles that push the boundaries of my intellect, and help me to form and reform opinions, to question what I know, what I understand, and push me to learn more. I hope you enjoy the articles as much as I did.