UPDATED: Misanthropic Leanings

In these days of the tail wagging the dog and the rabble seemingly having taken over the public square, and often the agenda, I find myself feeling increasingly misanthropic. At one time, the crazed and profoundly ignorant amongst us were merely tolerated; now, however, we see them apparently in the ascendancy.

While watching some of the recovery efforts going on in both Florida and North Carolina after climate-induced hurricanes wrought havoc, I was, to put it mildly, bemused to hear one victim of the destruction opine she wasn't sure about climate change, as "not all scientists agree on it." Similarly, many vow to rebuild, despite the obvious fact that wider and wider swaths of the U.S. are quickly becoming inhabitable.

I grow weary, astounded by the fact that in the U.S., a man who has proven his manifest unfitness for public office still has a good chance of being returned to the White House. Many complain that they don't know Kamala Harris's policies and can't vote for her. Apparently Trump's many articulations of his post-election vision of mayhem and revenge satisfy many on the policy front.

I grow weary, too, of the great unwashed in Canada that have taken over public discourse. Given their thick and untutored minds, a disdain for Trudeau translates into unqualified support for the repugnant and pugnacious PP. Seemingly, no other parties exist with which to park one's vote. 

I grow weary here in Ontario. Doug Ford is being quite successful in his outreach to the benighted; like Pavlovian dogs, they salivate copiously at his decision to limit cities' ability to establish new bike lanes while raising the speed limit to as high as 120 kph on some highways, the consequential increase of greenhouse gases gaining nary a notice.

In today's Star, Bruce Arthur surveys some of the landscape being driven by those least fit to lead:

Two-and-a-half years later, and elements of the [convoy] movement are being embraced by politicians more than ever before. What if the convoy is succeeding at changing our governments for the worse?

Former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall gave convoy leaders advice, and they met with CPC leader Andrew Scheer in Regina, and various MPs cheered. Then-Conservative leader Erin O’Toole took a half-hearted approach in meeting organizers, and was criticized for it. He was ejected for many reasons, after which interim CPC leader Candace Bergen saw an opportunity, and so did Pierre Poilievre. He glad-handed with convoy folks, and is now the leader of the Conservative party, and quite likely to be our next prime minister, at some point.

Poilievre has dutifully lined up with some of the most deluded members of the public: marching on the day before Canada Day in 2022 with anti-vaccine veteran James Topp, or his private member’s bill that would have banned vaccine mandates for travellers and federal employees, marketed in anti-vaccine code words that implied more than COVID vaccines.

But it’s worsening. In Alberta, Danielle Smith’s government fired Alberta’s then chief medical officer of health Deena Hinshaw, which Smith justified by saying of public health, “they shut down the economy, they put on masks, they put on restrictions, and I thought, we’re not going to let that happen.” 

The Alberta Human Rights Act was updated to include the right to refuse a vaccine or to not wear a mask, and Smith plans to do the same with the Alberta Bill of Rights. Her new deputy chief of staff, by the way, owns a restaurant that in 2022 accepted puppy pictures instead of vaccination passports for entry. 

And in B.C., Conservative Leader John Rustad crossed into a different place. He has not only told an anti-vaccine group that he regretted getting vaccinated, but in a video unearthed by the indefatigable PressProgress, he was asked about a concept that the most angry and deluded anti-vaccine activists use: Nuremberg 2.0.

“Are you for or against a Nuremberg 2.0?” asked anti-vaccine activist Jedediah Ferguson, making it sound like “Newemberg.”

“A do it bigger 2.0, sorry?” asked Rustad, confused.

“Nuremberg 2.0,” repeated Ferguson, smiling.

“Nuremberg 2.0,” said Rustad, a smile spreading across his face. “Ah, yes. That’s probably something that’s outside of my scope.”

I rest my case. 

UPDATE: A new pandering initiative from Doug Ford that will likely will ensure his re-election: 

Premier Doug Ford is poised to send cheques to 16 million Ontarians to offset rising costs as a possible early election looms, the Star has learned.

Sources say the premier’s gambit will be announced in Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s fall economic statement on Oct. 30.

While the precise amount of the rebate cheques is still being finalized, it should be at least $200 for every adult and child in the province.

That means it could cost the provincial treasury about $3.2 billion when the cash flows out the door in January or February.

Of course, few will wonder about the true expense of this initiative - less money for schools, medicine, social programs, etc. But hey, at least it proves Dougie is for "the little guy', doesn't it?

A Sunday Reflection

 

Nothing like shining a light on the ignorant and the benighted, eh?

When You Think About It

... this makes perfect sense for the times we find ourselves in:

You’re watching Sportsmax. The network for REAL Jets fans. pic.twitter.com/Y5rGuZMLez

— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) December 13, 2020

A Thought For Today

“He was not of an age, but for all time!” - Ben Jonson

The above quote, written about William Shakespeare, is as true today as it was in Jonson's time.

I am currently reading a book about The Bard. Given the power of the unhinged evangelicals, the rise of Doug Ford in Ontario, and, of course, the madness in the Benighted States of America, the following sentence by Stephen Greenblatt resonated with me:

"Shakespeare was fascinated by the crazed ranting of those who hate modernity, despise learning and celebrate the virtue of ignorance."

Not much has changed in 400 years, eh?

Harper's Thuggish Contempt For The Environment

This video probably speaks for itself, but for its full context, click here.

H/t rabble.ca

Unions After Bill C-377

In my favorite Shakespearian play, Hamlet, there is a scene wherein his erstwhile friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, explain that an acting company that used to enjoy great popularity has fallen on hard times. Thanks to a new craze in which troupes of child actors have become the rage, and "are most tyrannically clapped for", adults have had to go on the road to earn a living. Hamlet wonders about the child actors' futures, because their current success means they are in fact "exclaim[ing] against their own succession", since they will be out of work once they grow up.

I can't help but think about human nature's shortsightedness when I read those lines. We pursue things that aren't good for us, while we denigrate that which, in the long term, is of benefit. Take, for example, the public's attitude toward unions. More days than nought, there are columns and letters published condemning unions and their well-paid members, envy and resentment seeping through the pages, seemingly in a senseless quest to bring people down to the lowest pay and working conditions possible.

It is, of course, this irrational impulse to which Bill C-377, the thinly-disguised union-busting legislation passed on Wednesday evening by the Harper government, plays. Clothed in the rhetoric typical of a workers' rights-hating regime, the law will require labour organizations to provide extensive details, such as the salaries of top union leaders, to the Canada Revenue Agency, which will publish the information on its website.

All designed, of course, to stoke even more public contempt for those enjoying better working conditions and pay than those in non-union environments.

And yet, as observed by Thomas Walkom and David Climenhaga, unions themselves must bear some of the responsibility for this current sorry state.

Writes Walkom:

What’s really killing unions is not the political right. It is that, for too many workers, organized labour is no longer relevant.

In 2011, federal figures show, 31 per cent of Canadian workers overall were unionized. Of these, the vast majority are middle-aged or older. For younger workers between the ages of 15 and 24, the rate of unionization is just under 16 per cent.

Compounding the problem, says Walkom, is the fact that union membership is concentrated in the public sector, with only 16 per cent of private sector workers belonging to unions, largely due to the collapse of manufacturing jobs and the proliferation of part-time and contract work in North America.

He adds,

Unions — which understandably pay attention first and foremost to their own members — haven’t lobbied hard enough to tighten up the employment standards legislation that allows these low-wage practices.

Nor have most unions figured out a way to deal with a new kind of workplace, where people no longer labour in large factories and where strikes can be circumvented by technology.

Echoing this idea, in The Rabble David Climenhaga writes:

Ironically, while most unions don't do enough to represent working people beyond their own membership, what little they do to fight for the powerless in society is why authoritarian neoconservatives like Harper have such a hate on for labour and other groups that speak out for traditional Canadian values.

So one worthwhile response to the effort by the Conservatives to smother unions in red tape is to fight harder for real progressive causes, not to mention never again signing a lousy two-tier contract that leaves young workers with the short end of the stick to preserve the past victories of older workers. No, an injury to one remains an injury to all, people!

Perhaps the final consideration should be given to those who "most tyrannically clap[...]' for the kind of repressive legislative agenda epitomized by Bill C-377. In a jurisdiction near you, you can probably look forward to more of this.