Surveying the American and Canadian cultural and political landscapes is a brutal occupation these days. For a progressive, the fun has escaped the balloon we were riding for so long. As progressive Canadians, we've been much more fortunate than the US, whose fear of personal freedoms and love of authoritarianism has a long an ignoble history. But Canadians are no longer immune to the far right wave of fascism that is engulfing the States. We are now part of that never-ending stream of hate and intolerance down south.
Ford, Fantino, Cherry are the new Palin/Fox News voices of Canada. Sure, they've always been there but now it's serious. With the right wing having taken over our airwaves and newspapers - even the CBC now regularly hosts voices of hate - Canadians, especially new Canadians which we thankfully have many, are subject to a low-brow, easy-to-comprehend form of gutter English and gutter politics.
See, no thought needed. Thought is highly discouraged. Trust god, trust your boss, trust your political leaders. Be afraid - be very afraid. These simple soundbites hit home with people whose primary language is not English and with those who are uneducated or uninterested in complexities.
We live in a age dominated by anti-intellectualism. Actually, it's not anti-intellectual - fuck, I'm anti-intellectual - it's anti-intelligence, anti-thoughtfulness, and worse, anti-intuitiveness. If any problem is needing analysis or tough thought, fuck it. That's over. Just yell, bellow and speak like an angry kindergartener and Canadians will listen..and vote for you.
I realize politics is a an up and down affair. The right has the power for awhile and then hands the reins over to the left. But this salvo of the far right over the past few years is just too strong to overcome. They own the media, they own our minds. Despite the fact that the Cons only have the support of a third of Canadians and Nenshi has become mayor in arguably Canada's most conservative big city, how can we recover without having a fair media and an informed populace? How long before the Cons become a majority and we won't recognize the place anymore? We're already hated around much of the world. Our former good selves are now persona non grata. And Canadians don't seem to care.
Has the western world become so controlled by the monetary policies of the richest so that any hope of sustaining a vibrant, compassionate, prosperous-for-all country is now impossible? It's looking more and more that way. The US still has an open press - despite Murdoch's attempts to close it down - but Canada I fear has lost that democratic edge.
With CBC being taken over by the whining, sputtering, bellowing right, there is no longer any outlet for the masses to receive information and decide for themselves. The Aspers, the Stevensons, the Levants, the Blatchfords, the Goldsteins have a monopoly to extoll right wing policies and dissuade decency.
Is it over for us? Probably not. But at the moment it sure looks that way.
Cross posted at Sister Sage's Musings.
6 comments:
Jymn I think you're right, for now at least. Even Carole James told The Province today that she was booted because she was trying to take the NDP to the right by cozying up to big business.
That said the essential perspective lies in realizing these right wingers are operating on borrowed time. Their policies are not viable, sustainable and they don't have answers to the major, inescapable challenges that will confront society in this century - threats that are already setting in. That's not to say they can't cause a great deal of damage in the meantime.
Ask yourself this. How many Liberals seriously object to Ignatieff's move to the centre-right? It was always Harper's express, prime objective to shift Canada's political centre well to the right and the Liberals tolerate a leader who facilitates Harper's fundamental goal. Then these same Liberals get indignant when they're quite fairly called "Conservative Lite." Sorry but that shoe fits, it truly does.
Some knowledgeable types have posited that the 21st will be a century of revolution and I'm increasingly coming to believe they may be right. Rapidly spreading income inequality in the United States and, to a slightly lesser extent, in Canada too is like a solvent to social cohesion. Something has to give and it will, it always does. Yet the right's policies only add to the heat under the pressure cooker.
I would guess that these conditions increase the likelihood that the transition back to a progressive centre won't be as orderly and gentle as we've experienced it in the past. But it surely will come and, in that, it's not a matter of choice.
It's taking longer than I thought it would, but things ARE going to turn around.
They are so close to discrediting themselves that the mushy middle is going to reject them soon.
"With CBC being taken over by the whining, sputtering, bellowing right,"
When did that happen? Yeah, there's Don Cherry, but that's sports, not news.
And Rex Murphy and Andrew Coyne sometimes have suspiciously conservative views, but they are on only a few minutes a week and at any rate are always worth listening to.
So how has the CBC been taken over?
Power & Politics skews very right since Evan Solomon took over. And Kevin O'Leary's ubiquitous - on Dragon's Den every week, the Lang/O-Leary exchange every weeknight, & frequently on very early morning segments on Newsworld.
Rabbit - you may be right, you may be wrong. The only time I watch CBC nowadays, all I see is Megan Mcardle or Ezra Levant or Coyne or Murphy. I don't see a dissenting voice. Solomon doesn't challenge, let alone ruminate.
You may be luckier than I am and hit that unusual day when HNIC does not have Cherry or CBC's P&P does not host Levant but whenever I tune in, that's what I get. I congratulate you on seeing things the way you want to see them. Wish I had that talent. I envy you.
Now Rabbit, would you please write ugly responses to Sun Media, PostMedia, Macleans, Globe & Mail for all their 'fair and balanced' presentations of the news? Oh. I got it, you think that is fair. Haha. End of argument.
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