Watch our conversation with Jon Kay here:
Canada has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the world’s most stable, prosperous, and sensible countries. Polite, practical, and largely free from the political turmoil that often characterises its southern neighbour, Canada projected an image of calm competence.
Yet in recent years - just like many other relatively benign countries (I’m looking at you, Ireland, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand!) - something changed.
Many Canadians found themselves living through a period of collective hysteria, with each mania even madder than the last. Institutions that once prized thoughtfulness and debate suddenly embraced ideology and moral panic. Citizens who raised concerns were dismissed, shamed, or excluded from public discussion.
What happened?
In this week’s episode of Beyond Gender, Mia Hughes and I speak with Canadian journalist, Quillette editor, and podcaster Jon Kay to explore one of the most remarkable cultural shifts in the Western world.
Our conversation begins with the events surrounding the Kamloops announcement in May 2021, when claims of hundreds unmarked graves of children at a former residential school triggered months of national grief, outrage, and self-recrimination. Jon explains how the story rapidly became a defining moment in Canada’s national consciousness and how many institutions abandoned basic journalistic and evidential standards in favour of emotionally satisfying narratives.
From there, the conversation takes off in all directions. Jon is one of those rare guests who can be both funny and insightful, so while we spend much of the episode laughing, we also explore some serious questions about the cultural landscape many of us now inhabit.
Even though we are laughing most of the time, we still manage to discuss the atmosphere of fear that developed around public disagreement, the power of identity politics, and the ways in which social media amplified moral certainty while discouraging scepticism. Jon reflects on the extraordinary pressure placed on teachers, journalists, academics, and ordinary citizens who found themselves questioning fashionable beliefs.
Our discussion also explores trans ideology, child safeguarding, media culture, and the role of humour in societies that appear to be losing their capacity for self-reflection. Jon examines the social and psychological dynamics that can lead entire institutions to participate in events that would have seemed preposterous only a few months earlier.
We also discuss the vulnerabilities of the modern West, including some striking parallels between Canada and Ireland. Although the two countries have very different histories, both have experienced rapid cultural shifts that would have seemed difficult to imagine a decade ago. If a country as stable and prosperous as Canada can experience such a dramatic shift in public culture, what does that tell us about the societies we live in? And perhaps more importantly, what comes next?
This is a wide-ranging conversation about media, ideology, national identity, group psychology, and the challenge of maintaining independent thought during periods of intense social pressure.
Watch the full interview below and please let us know what your thoughts in the comments below.
Recommended reading -
Jon’s arson thread:
Jon’s Dublin adventure: https://quillette.com/blog/2024/12/10/no-good-deed-travel-ireland-blog/
Barbara Kay’s article, “Hosing Down the Biggest Moral Panic in Canadian History”, published by MercatorNet.