Given the current situation in Canada: a poly-crisis where many feel like they’re just not making it out well in life, it’s the perfect conditions for fascists and populists to come in and peddle hate and false solutions to a confused and angry public, and Smith plays very well in these sorts of situations, as a serial liar who will lie for anything that would benefit herself and her benefactors. And it’s especially easy these days, with the States and various far-right parties around the world as samples of what she can do.
Unfortunately, the Western world is becoming more and more polarized due to how effective right-winged leaders have been able to sell to a lot of people a convenient false reality, and capture and direct their hatred towards incumbents, and sell themselves as the solution to all their problems, a common fascist tactic we’ve seen many times in modern history by now. Trump’s supporters down in the States are very much captured by this and would believe almost any reality Trump would propose, and we all know Trump is a successful conman that will bend his interpretation of reality to whatever fits his narrative. Smith is playing exactly that same game here. Frame every problem as an existential crisis and label dissuaders as enemies for the force that’s threatening your wellbeing, and you have a group of supporters whose minds will be difficult to change by others.
And the unfortunate reality is that for many many years, internal politics in the Western world has been relatively calm and stable enough that many have become complacent and think that world events and politics aren’t important to their lives, and have ended up taking politics for granted. When they can’t find a job, can’t earn enough to live, or can’t get to live the life that they’ve come to expect to live in, blaming the incumbent is an easy answer, even if they don’t necessarily understand what or why their situation has anything to do with government policies, especially when they don’t even know which level of government is responsible for their plight.
And some recent publications have revealed that people will gladly support whoever that speaks their plight, and rationalize whatever problems there are with the speaker. In the case of Trump, people support him in spite of his crimes, and you could even say it’s because of his crimes, as they see him as a rule breaker that will do whatever it takes to do what he says he’ll do for them. Christian evangelicals rationalize their support for Trump by using their history about a king who wasn’t a Christian in the past who purged their enemies. There are also many amongst the Republicans who believed they could keep Trump reigned in once he helped get them into power, and we all know how that turned out in Trump’s first term. And we see similar episodes playing out, not just in the States and Canada, but also in the EU.
This whole situation around the world is just nasty and sad. In some ways, it’s not too different from the many past empires where a significant group of people are essentially brainwashed into supporting the very people who are making their lives worse, and be used to further the agenda and pockets of a few.
I’m part ranting, but all I want to say that it’s just really difficult to have other Canadians convince Albertans that nobody else is out to get them and take advantage of them like Smith is claiming, aside from Smith and her cronies and those behind her, precisely because of how the propaganda machine is ran. And I want to say thank you for actually coming in and voicing your thoughts as a non-Canadian (though, I’m actually not one myself either, though I am a PR living in Ontario). Unfortunately, lemmy.ca is mostly left, and are frequently technologically inclined, whereas people who’ve bought into the right wing narrative are generally on Meta’s services, X, and Reddit, so your voice might not reach them from here.
Given the current situation in Canada: a poly-crisis where many feel like they’re just not making it out well in life, it’s the perfect conditions for fascists and populists to come in and peddle hate and false solutions to a confused and angry public, and Smith plays very well in these sorts of situations, as a serial liar who will lie for anything that would benefit herself and her benefactors. And it’s especially easy these days, with the States and various far-right parties around the world as samples of what she can do.
Unfortunately, the Western world is becoming more and more polarized due to how effective right-winged leaders have been able to sell to a lot of people a convenient false reality, and capture and direct their hatred towards incumbents, and sell themselves as the solution to all their problems, a common fascist tactic we’ve seen many times in modern history by now. Trump’s supporters down in the States are very much captured by this and would believe almost any reality Trump would propose, and we all know Trump is a successful conman that will bend his interpretation of reality to whatever fits his narrative. Smith is playing exactly that same game here. Frame every problem as an existential crisis and label dissuaders as enemies for the force that’s threatening your wellbeing, and you have a group of supporters whose minds will be difficult to change by others.
And the unfortunate reality is that for many many years, internal politics in the Western world has been relatively calm and stable enough that many have become complacent and think that world events and politics aren’t important to their lives, and have ended up taking politics for granted. When they can’t find a job, can’t earn enough to live, or can’t get to live the life that they’ve come to expect to live in, blaming the incumbent is an easy answer, even if they don’t necessarily understand what or why their situation has anything to do with government policies, especially when they don’t even know which level of government is responsible for their plight.
And some recent publications have revealed that people will gladly support whoever that speaks their plight, and rationalize whatever problems there are with the speaker. In the case of Trump, people support him in spite of his crimes, and you could even say it’s because of his crimes, as they see him as a rule breaker that will do whatever it takes to do what he says he’ll do for them. Christian evangelicals rationalize their support for Trump by using their history about a king who wasn’t a Christian in the past who purged their enemies. There are also many amongst the Republicans who believed they could keep Trump reigned in once he helped get them into power, and we all know how that turned out in Trump’s first term. And we see similar episodes playing out, not just in the States and Canada, but also in the EU.
This whole situation around the world is just nasty and sad. In some ways, it’s not too different from the many past empires where a significant group of people are essentially brainwashed into supporting the very people who are making their lives worse, and be used to further the agenda and pockets of a few.
I’m part ranting, but all I want to say that it’s just really difficult to have other Canadians convince Albertans that nobody else is out to get them and take advantage of them like Smith is claiming, aside from Smith and her cronies and those behind her, precisely because of how the propaganda machine is ran. And I want to say thank you for actually coming in and voicing your thoughts as a non-Canadian (though, I’m actually not one myself either, though I am a PR living in Ontario). Unfortunately, lemmy.ca is mostly left, and are frequently technologically inclined, whereas people who’ve bought into the right wing narrative are generally on Meta’s services, X, and Reddit, so your voice might not reach them from here.