Bewildering — after a week of heat, it's now 6 degrees with a possibility of flurries. On Saturday, I walked the packed Woodbine beach with Anne-Marie; 29 degrees, men in shorts, women in bikinis playing volleyball, sunbathing. Now windows are shut, sandals put away — for now. But it'll be 16 on Friday.
Today, an article in the Star about Tucker Carlson, one of the most reprehensible liars on earth, who has a new documentary ranting about how the US should march in to liberate Canada from its tyrannical socialist authoritarian government. And another on Poilievre's rabid campaign against the CBC.
Fellow liberals, we have a gigantic, terrifying problem. The right — Fox, the Repugs, the violent fringe — has moved so far into looney-land, lies, calumny, libellous absurdities, that the centre has shifted far to the right. How do we counter lies spouted with absolute confidence that many millions swallow?
A terrifying piece today quoted by Heather Cox Richardson, written by Sarah Longwell in Bulwark, about how Trump's victory in 2016 signalled not a temporary shift but a permanent change in American politics; the majority of Republican voters are far-right and will never go back to the relatively moderate conservatism of someone like Mike Pence, whom they despise as weak, not extreme enough.
Can you imagine one of their far-right guys in charge now, in this volatile world, dealing with Putin, China, North Korea, et al? Miraculous that we got through four years of the orange blowhole without a world war, but the whole planetary mess is far worse now. Can you imagine snapping, snarling Pierre Poilievre, who only knows how to attack and rip apart, in charge of this country?
And yet people on my side of the spectrum speak with hatred of Trudeau, a flawed politician and man but definitely, totally, on the right side, with a conscience, a soul, a heart. You don't know what you've got till it's gone. Look what happened in this province when snooty lefties turned on and ousted Premier Kathleen Wynn. Look who we have now, smashing health care, education, the Green Belt, Ontario Place, and much more. As with Mike Harris, most of the damage will be permanent.
The vile Poilievre, imitating the Repugs, seems to be succeeding in dragging this country to the right. It's nauseating and frightening. How did the world get so ugly? I watched a doc last night on Michelle Obama, her generous open warmth, idealism, courage in tackling race and poverty. Hard to believe such a fine person and her fine husband were in power in the United States so recently. No question that tragically, Obama's success provoked the reactionary white right to mobilize.
Another travesty, that they call themselves Christian.
RBC, my bank, is more heavily invested in fossil fuels than any other bank. Have written my disgust to my bank manager; should I take out my money? Twitter is increasingly unhinged; I do read the site though never tweet myself; should I drop out? I should get rid of my furnace and get a heat pump, replace my gas stove with an induction stove.
On the list. The world is too much with me.
Tonight, something to take my mind off all this: a film at Cineplex about the Vermeer exhibition in Amsterdam. Take me away, Johannes.
Now:
In four months:
Oh Beth - you sound like me, so disheartened doesn't matter what you talk about from health care to education to environment to politics the world is just one big mess. It's hard to stay positive some days -- sometimes I wonder whether I'm just an old disillusioned hippee. Ginette
ReplyDeleteGinette, many people are feeling this way. Just listening to the news - war, violence, and vitriolic rage from Conservative politicians in Ottawa - it does feel like a dark time. I've said for years that Trump lifted the top from the Pandora's box of human vileness, made it permissible to be crass, racist, sexist, stupid, and more. Ah well. Let us be kind to one another.
Delete