This is the last post for about two weeks. I will be wintering in Florida for about 10 days and “working” in Barbados thereafter. I will recommence early April.
Today’s title comes from the famous comic strip Pogo. After much political strife in the US (no can remember what the specific events were) Pogo makes this declarative statement. We are our own worst enemies. And why bring this up now? I read an article in the Globe and Mail by Jeffrey Simpson entitled “The Truth About Attach Ads: They Work” (See: (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-truth-about-attack-ads-they-work/article1934235/)
A short summary of his findings on political attack ad strategy is that (1) they fire up the party base and, (2) they misinform (or is it dis-inform) the uninformed. Nothing new here. Politicians have been slinging mud since….well, since there have been politicians.
However, that begs the question. There used to be public floggings, hangings and the English sheriff dropped the accused down a well to prove his innocence in a trial by ordeal. I am more interested in the overall social context of negative political advertising and personal attacks.
It is well know that 50 years ago the press exercised considerable restraint in reporting on the various and varied sexual escapades of President Kennedy. Kennedy's deed were important not his personal life. They were less restrained when it came to President Clinton. Now, every peccadillo is reported in the press and the insatiable maw of "news" television.
So why complain? I complain because of the general loss of civility that seems to plague society. There appears to be nothing that is sacrosanct. Every fall from grace whether by entertainers, actors and politicians is reported. We draw the fine line between the right to know to the right to be nauseated. TV sitcoms depict family life that is, frankly, bizarre. Some of the viewing audience can't distinguish between fantasy and reality. Bizarre behaviour is taken as the norm.
Some time ago I read a book that posited that there are eternal truths that are learned in kindergarten. These are truths like sharing, not speaking when others are speaking, respect etc. This is what we teach children who are very young. Unfortunately by the time they are adolescents, or even earlier, they have become jaded and skeptical. There is almost no reasonable ethical standard of behavior that isn’t violated by politicians, entertainers, athletes and others in public life. The documented evidence of adolescents cheating on tests, plagiarized papers, life threatening bullying and other antisocial acts has a serious effect on conduct in later life. Some writers have linked these behaviours to predatory business practices in later life. What happened to the eternal truths that we learned in kindergarten.
Political negative and attack ads are just a part of the overall incivility that increasingly occurs in society. These ads have two negative effects that are long lasting. First it demeans politicians. The Parliamentary system is all we have. If a private member’s bill to bring more civility to question period can’t get off the order paper we are lost. Second, it brings a level of skepticism to politics and politicians that repels young people from public service. And that’s not good. Because good people people will not stand for public office we are confining the pool of prospective politicians to those who believe that the cesspool of name calling and finger pointing is justified. Thirdly it reinforces an attitude that the means, no matter how despicable, justify the ends. This is not the kind of values that we want to transmit to our kids and grandkids. Perhaps we should have kept them all in kindergarten.
Bernie.
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