Worshipping At The Wrong Altar

We live in a world where major events offer the average person little influence. Wars, rumours of wars, starvation, mass displacements of population, all are part of a daily menu of woes that reminds us of our impotence. It is enough to make many shun news and current events and embrace ignorance.

Some, I believe, try to counter that impotence through what is often called performative politics. Essentially empty gestures, they allow practitioners to delude both themselves and others into thinking what they do really matters. That flattering balm undoubtedly assuages the egos of some, but at bottom, in my view, it means little or nothing.

We all know there are positions people are loathe to publically take for fear of rebuke. Instead of calling Israel genocidal, for example, we say the opposite - it has a right to defend itself, as if one has anything to do with the other. Thus we are spared the inaccurate but damning label of anti-semite. Lest we want to be cast with the right wing rabble, we say nothing or little to question the wisdom of allowing children to begin gender reassignment. Transphobe is not a term we relish if it is applied to us. 

Neither of the above examples is to suggest that I have become some kind of reactionary. What I have become however, is appalled by the fact that honest discussions and disagreements have been become weaponized to the point of suppression. Group think is demanded; non-compliance with a putative truth is met with punishment, usually in the form of stigmatization.

The story that set me off is the resignation of Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale. Gale most recently drew attention to himself by trying to open discussions on amalgamation of a number of local governments in a search for efficiency and cost-saving. In doing so, it would appear that he is paying an unanticipated cost. 

Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale has abruptly resigned, just hours after anti-racism groups in Niagara demanded he apologize for owning a signed copy of Adolf Hitler's infamous manifesto, Mein Kampf.

The Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA) and Justice 4 Black Lives Niagara said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they condemned Gale for purchasing and owning the book signed by Hitler, the leader of the German Nazi Party and architect of the Holocaust, in which six million Jewish people were systematically murdered along with millions of Roma, 2SLGBTQ+ and other victims.

"[We] demand a public explanation and apology," the groups said.

I am troubled by this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Gale describes himself as one who collects historical documents. His collection consists of acquisitions from across the political/historical spectrum: 

"[M]y collection includes an 1859 letter from anti-slavery advocate John Brown, a letter from George Washington, a letter from Winston Churchill and Vatican archives."

By this measure, Gale is not a crypto fascist extolling the Third Reich, but in these fraught and performative times, that apparently does not matter.

That reality is perhaps best exemplified by the NRARA's Saleh Wazzirudin:

"Bob Gale needs to explain himself publicly and apologize for owning one of the most notorious pieces of antisemitic hate.”

Sherri Darlene, founder of Justice 4 Black Lives Niagara, said in the joint statement that it's no secret that racism has been a problem in the region for a long time.

“It’s shocking but not surprising that Niagara’s highest elected municipal official owns hate literature," she said.

Joining in that group-think pile-on are Niagara NDP MP Wayne Gates and Premier Doug Ford, both of whom approve of Gale's decision to resign, which just shows that political courage is absent across the spectrum.  

The times in which we live leave little room, even among progressives, for nuanced, subtle thinking or reasoned discussion. It is almost as if we have grown allergic to anything possessing shades of gray. And that is something, unfortunately we have in common with the reactionaries we claim to oppose.