Cynics Unlimited

Making the weekend rounds, I came across a rather heated post from Dust My Broom’s raskolnikov concerning derogatory anti-native posts made by fellow conservative bloggers:

Dear Kathy Shaidle:
This non-gas-huffing, student-loan owing, non-smoking, casual-drinking own-dough-earning Indian has one thing to say to you… its disgusting, ignorant racist c*nts like you that make me ashamed to say that I was once a conservative.

Most of the post is exceptionally profane, but not totally out of line when one considers Kathy’s original post:

Canadian Indians take rare break from gas huffing…to disrupt the lives of other Canadians who have actual jobs, and whose extorted tax dollars keep said Indians in booze, smokes and junk food. Not to mention free everything else, including university educations they don’t bother getting…Dear Indians: we gave you liquor, you gave us smokes. I call it even. Now get off your very sizable butts and earn your own dough.

Girl on the Right added her own shots –

When the Natives do absolutely nothing except smoke, drink and f*ck their daughters. This Friday will mark the Native Day of Action(tm) here in Canada. It’s their chance to whine and complain that us white guys who pay 45% in income tax to support their smoking, drinking and daughter-f*cking are ripping them off.

Strong words, certainly devoid of the “political correctness” that everyone is rebelling against these days (to the point where it would be more rebellious to exercise political correctness, whatever that may be). Reading the comment sections of the first and third threads reveals far more complexity in these exchanges than can be covered in one blog post (or five), but the surface battle illustrates the inherent dualism that goes along with being conservative and a minority.

The political left has traditionally used past injustices to minority groups as a call to arms and a recruiting tool. Socialists and leftists figured heavily in the civil rights movement for blacks as well as solidarity movements for natives. Where right-leaning Christians steadfastly upheld segregation and supported police brutality, it was the anarchists and Marxists who marched during the 1960’s under threat of assassination and ostracism from their own ethnic communities. They offered -at least in words- an equal political and social platform for minorities that was previously unknown.

It is no surprise, therefore, that the first large wave of revolutionary intellectual and political action in the black community was infused with Marxist ideals. After working for hundreds of years as slaves and then underpaid laborers with second class citizenship, anything that purported to be “equal” would have sounded good. Having the (mostly) ex slave owners, KKK and segregationists on the side of the big business (re: capitalism) didn’t hurt the leftist cause either.

Around the same time, Pierre Elliot Trudeau was furiously implementing his vision of a just society in Canada via several legislative measures – most notably the Official Languages Act, wage controls and finally The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Aimed at forcing equality on a reluctant Anglo population, these measures proved popular with natives and other historically oppressed groups. Conservatives conversely recoiled at the upset of the old social hierarchy (to this day one can still read complaints about the Charter), while the fiscally-minded were equally horrified by “equality’s” impact on Canada’s national debt, which swelled from $17 billion to over $200 billion. Once again, the minority groups were on one side while conservatives and free-market proponents were on the other.

However, the terms “black”, “native” and “conservative” are big-tent terms that belie many gradients of political thought (the two former terms of course have no political implications). The excessive cost of North American socialist programs combined with the economic failure of Socialist and Communist states (ex: Russia, North Korea and the former East Germany) and the radicalization of the left caused these neatly divided lines to blur:

• The cycle of dependency caused by welfare and similar “handout programs” lead some prominent black thinkers like Thomas Sowell to decry the “generosity” of socialism and favour more market-oriented solutions to poverty.
• The rise of neo-conservatism in the 1980’s promoted a platform that was strongly opposed to the welfare state but was at least initially devoid of the southern-fried bigotry associated with traditional conservatism.
• The increasing secularization and anti-religious sentiment on the left marginalized the traditionally devout Christians in the black population.

Thus the so-called black conservative and native conservative were born, with a dedicated sect of conservatives eager to welcome them to the fold. As someone bold/foolish enough to publicly admit voting for Stephen Harper, I can attest that members of historically-oppressed groups that dare to regard prominent conservative politicians as anything short of the devil will be in for hard times from their own people. The rationale is that the leftists in favour of offering freebies while our ancestors were robbed of earned things … so of course history will be righted by us receiving those things in the form of welfare, social programs, and ultimately reparations.

The problem is that all the reparations in the world can’t create motivation, organization or discipline. A common observation is that these well-natured set-asides are only effectively used by those who would have otherwise found a way to “make it” within the system (ex: in 2005, fewer than 30% of native males aged 25-44 had completed post-secondary education, despite numerous bands offering free tuition and in some cases expenses). The large group of self-destructive, self-pitying “oppressed” types thus continue to neglect their families, engage in disproportionate violence / substance abuse and generally prey on their own people while community activists insist that more taxpayer money will solve all these problems.

Hence, a few brave souls like raskolnikov risk their rez/ghetto passes by daring to criticize the pathologies in their own communities and simultaneous utilize the “evil” market system that has enriched so many incoming Europeans who chose to embrace it. Many are very successful financially and are able to join the Canadian mainstream At this point a critical mistake is made – since so-called conservative philosophy (which is actually classical liberalism) worked for them they believe that they can therefore become actual “conservatives”.

My observation is that this is still not possible. While some conservative thinkers have proven great allies or genuinely seem to care about the plight of certain groups (albeit with different solutions than the leftists who think they have a monopoly on compassion), conservatives are still generallyan old boys network that regard all natives/blacks/etc with equal contempt. The blogosphere is the easiest place to observe raw hatred, particularly in the comments section of posts that were seemingly created for no reason other than to incite hatred. However, contemptuous attitudes can even be found among mainstream commentators and of even politicians (ex: Ralph Klein’s fellow PC Party members quipping that, without his political power, she would be “just another Indian”).

So how should the so-called minority conservative/centrist [I consider myself the latter] approach this situation?

1. Firstly we must acknowledge that we will be forever trapped in a 2-front war. The socialists are only interested in us when we’re broke/needy while the conservatives are only interested in using us as attack dogs against our own groups. Frustrating as it may be, we need to attack and/or ignore the negativity on both sides.
2. We must never presume our allies. INDIVIDUALS and not groups will aid us over time. Some will be on the right and some may be on the left.
3. We should never confound the ideology to the people promoting it. The market system has a proven record of creating greater and more evenly-distributed wealth than any other economic system in history (including, ironically, systems that favor mass redistribution). This doesn’t mean that free market supporters from social privilege won’t still regard us as gas-huffers and gangsta rappers. Bigotry has no economic system or religion.
4. Don’t join in the mindless minority-bashing. This will some fans among the good ol boys in the short term but in the long term we’re all the same to them
5. Don’t join the Victim-Beggar Complex in reaction to right-wing negativity. To do so would virtually prove them right and only add to the prolonged misery caused by social dependency.

The unfortunate consequence of this approach is that every once in awhile we’re going to have to “take the piss” for stupid comments that come from the right, but we can control their actions no more than a mild-mannered Catholic in cottage country can control the murderous acts of the IRA. It is worse to sell out your own principles than to sell out the artificial constructs of your assigned “group”.