But if you paddle a little bit on the left side, then paddle a little bit on the right side, you keep going right down the middle.
Ummm…That’s not how your supposed to paddle a canoe. I know this is just an analogy, but if you have to say, “It’s just an analogy, stop taking it so literally,” it’s not a very good analogy!
For anyone who might not know, only amateurs rely purely on switching sides. Even novices taking their first lesson will be taught the j-stroke so they don’t waste time switching sides constantly. I wonder if this analogy could be extended to the j-stroke and the energy wasted by constantly switching sides?
That’s assuming that the point of all this is to move forward as efficiently as possible. In fact, the analogy works all the more because switching sides is less efficient, but gives the impression to untrained eyes of going down the middle.
I don’t canoe, but it sounds like the j-stroke serves its analogical purpose too. It’s when you want to be seen as being on the left (or the right), but, unbeknownst to the untrained eye, you’re paddling in such a way as to counteract being on the left, so that you actually end up going down the middle.
Oh, this take is so cynical, but I like it!
haha, I didn’t mean for it to sound cynical. “Moving forward as efficiently as possible” isn’t necessarily always good. Not all shores are worth reaching. In a representative democracy, politicians often paddle on both sides to appeal to the median voter.
It reminds me of the line by the ancient Athenian statesman Solon: “No more good must be attempted than the nation can bear”.
I think it absolutely can be extended. Just keep paddling to the left while making corrections to ensure you’re headed where you want to go
If the meaning of the analogy is clear to a general audience, then criticizing the analogy based on technical details like this is silly.
I didn’t realize canoeing was so obscure to an American general audience, but I guess my Canadian is showing. I don’t think it’s “technical details” when I’ve seen overseas tourists see a canoe for the first time ever and after a 15-minute lesson, executing j-strokes.
It’s like a politician using the “bowling theory” (I assume most Americans are familiar with bowling) and describes that theory as, “It’s like bowling. You want to keep both hands on the ball to gently guide it towards it’s target.” Basically any first timer should be throwing the ball with one hand (with a few exception in those too young/disabled/etc.) to get the best results.
If you assume everyone can afford canoe lessons, that comes across as pretty entitled to those of us who don’t have expendable income like that.
Where I live, most public school students will at some point in their education will go on a (free) field trip to a nature preserve or national/provincial park which often includes canoeing. Even in downtown Toronto, there’s a notable push to expose students to nature and they’ve been bussing classes out of the city for a day.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just lucky (though I wouldn’t say entitled), that paddling around in a canoe/kayak is pretty normalized. I looked up some rentals around me and they were <$50 for a full day. Of course some can’t afford that, but it feels like a pretty good value for a full day of family activity.
Canoe theory: never stand.
