Had a depressing conversation last night with a long-time acquaintance who declared that since he had concluded Justin Trudeau was a simpleton, he had no viable option in any upcoming Canadian election. Why not vote Conservative, I asked him. But “conservatives” are all a bunch of intolerant/racist/misogynist a-holes, he answered. Inasmuch as we had never really discussed politics, I was shocked by his response.
While of course granting that there are those on the Right whose character and motives I would not choose to defend, I asked him to clarify the basis of his gross generalization. What immediately became apparent was that he rarely actually investigated the major issues of the day but simply accepted the biases spewed by the mainstream media as the gospel truth. His politics, in other words, consisted of hurling insulting epithets at “conservatives” while knowing very little of the moral/intellectual substance of their point of view.
Trying not to be overly aggressive, I introduced a number of subjects whose complexities, I thought, might cause him to moderate his perspective. He knew of and loathed Ron DeSantis and his homophobic “don’t say gay” piece of legislation. When I informed him that the edict in question was simply designed to deter Florida’s teachers from discussing issues of Gender Identity with children 5 to 8, he sheepishly expressed his approval. When I said that attempts to tighten up voter registration laws in the States were based not on racism but on a legitimate concern for the integrity of America’s Democracy, he admitted he could see my point. When I explained the intellectual arrogance and absurdity of condemning figures such as Canada’s first Prime Minister for his failure to subscribe to Postmodern principles, for his assumption, that is, that the Indigenous were by all rational, Humanist standards less civilized than their European invaders and in need of a Western education, he granted that the Left’s narrative on our Residential Schools was perhaps grossly simplistic. Over and over again he responded to my observations with: “Oh, I didn’t know that!”
The individual to whom I have been referring is older and not self-evidently stupid. Yet in his late fifties he has not yet submitted his political views to serious, intelligent scrutiny. The Right, we are constantly told, is populated by religious fundamentalist simpletons who believe the universe was created in 6 days. I believe this to be a gross exaggeration. At the same time I believe many of the rank and file of “progressive” voters, those who have swung Western Civilization towards the Neo-Marxist Left over the last several decades, are of the same level of ignorance as my simple-minded friend, having no idea of the ramifications of the fascistic, ant-democratic ideals they so solemnly support or indeed of the efficacy of the rational “conservative” views they so smugly consign to the trash bin.