By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The hate-filled verbal assault on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Grande Prairie, Alberta recently, should (sadly) not come as much of a surprise.
Attacks on male politicians have clearly ramped up in the last year or two so it only follows that women in public roles will be even more impacted.
Indeed, it was no surprise at all to a great many women in public political life and journalism, especially those who also happen to be BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour).
This disgusting underbelly of Canadian society is not new, it’s always been there. But the lid on this hateful ignorance has been largely kept tamped down and edged out of mainstream discourse by the decency and embracing nature of Canadian society. Don’t get me wrong it’s a far from a perfect society, but one that I like to believe shares an unspoken verve of continual social improvement.
There clearly is some retrograde in the mix, however.
There’s been a discernable slow slide in recent years fuelled by the power of social media harnessed by those who can spin financial (Fox ‘News’) or political capital (Donald Trump, Maxime Bernier or Pierre Poilievre) from social and political polarization.
The spinning of perpetual outrage and grievance is the lifeblood of ‘further’ right spectrum politicians in Canada and this takes on even greater toxicity with the extreme right when woven with conspiracy theories, fear-mongering and outright untruths.
At its very worst it’s unadulterated rage-farming. It’s the weaponizing of racism, misogyny and ignorance disguised as enlightenment by the far right all aided and abetted by Zuckerberg’s algorithms.
The pandemic hasn’t helped one bit. In a recent conversation I had with a mental health practitioner who despaired over the mental health crisis that has gripped not only Canadian society but many other western liberal democracies, she put it plainly: “People are losing their shit.”
Impassioned debate with our elected officials on the snow-banked sidewalks of our nation is practically a time-honoured tradition of the Canadian socio-political landscape, but it has typically been one guided by decency, decorum and at least some degree of mutual respect.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Justin’s father, Pierre Trudeau who took it to a whole new level, throwing up his middle finger and ‘fuddle duddleling’ the protestors as they threw tomatoes at his train carriage. Still, pretty darn harmless, not to mention comical.
Unfortunately, now, the lines between legitimate criticism of elected officials, online harassment and direct fact-to-face harassment are becoming increasingly blurred. Is it only a matter of time before this escalates to outright physical violence? Let’s hope not.
One can only speculate what drove this Alberta man, or those who came before him and the ones who will unfortunately follow, to spew such vile hatred.
Perhaps unhinged, or maybe just lacking the most basic critical thinking skills causing him to suck up so much hate and disinformation from the digital cess pool that it has rendered him incapable of even fathoming reality anymore.
The bigotry displayed by this individual is surely related to the events around the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ movement earlier this year. It seems improbable that they exist in different ideological universes.
The clarion warnings were sounded on many fronts at that time, including in this space, that this was a proverbial Trojan horse of American far right extremism. Of course, we cannot ignore our own domestic product otherwise known as the Proud Boys, now considered a “terrorist entity”. At what point will these hate-spewing bigots themselves be considered domestic terrorists?
As I’ve argued previously these are the real threats to our freedom, our liberty and all that is good about Canada.
Harassment, threats and vile bigotry bred out of gut-wrenching ignorance and sinister social media manipulation threaten the very fibre of our nation-state, our democratic ideals, our peace, security and yes, our freedom.
If we’re not careful – and we neglect to stand up to it – we will surely be propelled down the American path of hateful, hyper-polarized tribalism. We cannot let that happen. We must stand against this hateful bigotry.
