It's Time to Take it Down a Notch

Well it happened, it was only a matter of time, 6 dead, a US Congress woman, considered a rising star in the Democratic Party along with 14 others, gravely injured. Angry rhetoric being cited as what may have influenced a troubled young man to take innocent lives.

Angry rhetoric --- the same angry rhetoric that is sweeping across the globe used as a political tool, the same angry rhetoric that has taken over Canada's political discourse,  the same angry rhetoric that is turning off generations of voters and creating a chasm between the political class and the rest of the population. Civility in politics has quickly become an oxymoron.  

This is the same stuff that if you care to watch, has become the tool of choice in our House of Commons. Insults, heckling, dramatic posturing, testosterone politics; the stuff we learned was inappropriate in elementary school, used commonly in the House to shut down any thoughtful dialogue.  Acting lessons are now part of the political procedure 101.  Question Period is no longer about answering questions, it's about who lobbed the best salvo.

It's become so personal, so ugly, politics these days ---- it used to be respectful, honourable: they have ideas, we have ideas, we have policies and they have policies, we differ and respectfully debate. We have allowed our democratic institutions to erode to the lowest common denominator, we tune it out and carry on with our frenetic lives convincing ourselves it doesn't matter, when the fact is, it's never mattered more.

We have to recognize that anger is fear's mask, mediocrity in leadership breeds fear. Fear of losing power drives so much of the rhetoric we hear today. It's used as tool to create the us and the them. Used as a tool to build allegiances, and spark interest in what could easily seem banal.  So you rant, complain, and the magic in that you realize, you don't even need to put forward solutions. Solutions and policy are too convoluted for our sound bite culture. Plus, you have to fight for air time these days, fighting for attention on a pretty crowed stage. So again, the angry rant is a perfect tool, dramatic, inappropriate and the theatrics will most certainly get you a clip on the insatiable 24 hour news circuit. It's nothing personal,  it's just how the game is played.

Just how the game is played, until a troubled young man takes your words and translates them into an unspeakable act, the mediocre leaders will undoubtedly come out quickly with condolences, condemning violence, pretending that this had nothing to do with them. And then by then next 24 hour news cycle what's that we hear?  You bet, the same angry rhetoric, re-emerging by the same mediocre leaders, in the end that's all they know. It's time, Canada, let's demand more.