The bullies are taking over our politics and our culture

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We need to talk about the way we talk – to each other, at each other.

The public discourse has sunk to nauseating depths, and it’s affecting more than our Twitter feeds (for those of us still on Elon Musk’s platform, as its new owner hurls insults at users and posts then deletes a crude conspiracy theory).

We are living in what is increasingly a culture of meanness and bullying. And that bullying is infecting not just the public discourse, but the way government operates.

Witness Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Keeping Students in Class Act, so named to earn sympathy from parents and the public. Using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ notwithstanding clause to suspend workers’ rights and impose a contract a union rejected – as the Ford government proposed – is a bully move, and it is being threatened against education support workers.

These are the support workers who clean up your kids’ vomit, who track you down when your child is sick, who pick up discarded needles from playgrounds before children arrive for school. These are the educational assistants who help special needs students learn with their peers. These are the early childhood educators who care for your children in the tender kindergarten years.

Even before inflation sent prices through the grocery-store roof, the pay for these workers – mostly women – was insufficient. Now, they face a government willing to pass a bill to suspend their right to demand better through fair bargaining and striking – an extraordinary move, and an extraordinarily nasty one.

On Monday, as this bill was in the works, Mr. Ford posted a video of his smiling self in his Muskoka sweatshirt, carving a pumpkin and reminiscing about Halloweens past. Leave it to Beaver‘s Eddie Haskell came to mind: grinning politely at Mrs. Cleaver, but when her back was turned, picking on Beaver and Wally – the children.

You want to see what happens when the bullies take over? Check out the Emergencies Act inquiry. The “Freedom Convoy” rode into Ottawa and harassed the city with its horns and its hot tubs. And its participants and leaders are now trying to gaslight the country by claiming the protest was a positive event, not meant to disrupt the city. It was like Woodstock! Peace and love, baby!

A description of a stuffed dummy with the face of a howling baby and the word “honk” on its chest outside the inquiry was a perfect illustration of the immature behaviour this gang was – and still is – up to. The mocking laughter, the childish memes they post, their profane flags targeting the Prime Minister – these were the actions of people who suddenly felt powerful, and decided to use that power in the pettiest of ways.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, I suppose, that this culture of meanness has infected the hallowed halls of governance, given that that’s where it got its big boost, south of the border. When you have a presidential candidate who mocks a disabled reporter, or suggests women accusing him of sexual assault were not hot enough for him to have done so, and people actually laugh and, worse, go on to elect him – something’s up with society.

Donald Trump is gone from power, but the nastiness remains. In the American south this summer, I saw a billboard that read, “Every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord – Even the Democrats,” next to a picture of a devil’s pitchfork. I saw a bumper sticker on a pick-up truck that read, “This truck runs on liberal tears.” At a wholesome theme park, one patron wore a T-shirt declaring, “I’m not one of the sheep,” over a map of the United States.

Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in a home invasion last week, and instead of receiving unanimous cross-party condemnation and expressions of concern, this vicious assault was used laughingly by certain Republican elements. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a photo of a hammer over a pair of men’s underwear with the words, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” Imagine amplifying something crude and cruel like that to score political points? Imagine something like that having the ability to score political points?

Earlier this week, I wrote that I was considering leaving Twitter because of the seemingly increasing nastiness under Mr. Musk’s leadership. I received responses, public and private, calling me a baby, a whiner and much worse. Who are these people behind these keyboards? Do they chuckle and think they’re smart as they name-call and finger-point? Do they not know how they appear to be quite the opposite?

And this was nothing compared with the harassment many of my colleagues have experienced.

It’s gross. And this toxic culture of incivility is not simply unpleasant. The bullying from on high is bad for democracy, as we are seeing in Ontario. There’s a word for this kind of systemic bullying, with its cruelty and oppression: It’s called tyranny. This needs to stop before we get there.

Editor’s note: A previous version said the legislation was the Keeping the Students in School Act. It has been changed to the Keeping Students in Class Act.