Thread by @sunnshiiny

Today I had a lot of time to ponder ethics, worldview, morality, and other philosophical issues because of the Bill Moreau admission that WE covered some of his personal expenses.

I see a lot of people giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I’m not going to defend him.

What he did was unethical and calls into QUESTION his judgement.

Defence of unethical behaviour is itself unethical.

People make mistakes, lapses of judgement and some purposely bend ethics.

I don’t have enough info to make judgement which one of those scenarios is true.

I came upon a question asked in defence of Bill Moreau:

“What's more likely; Mr.Morneau/Trudeau, both very well off already & esp PMJT risking his family rep for a few bux - relatively speaking -“

The answer I gave wasn’t what many would expect.

The problem with asking that question are our assumptions.

A liberalist values trust, faith, duty, honour, integrity and responsibility as positive attributes in a leader.

Far right values don’t believe those attributes exist. They believe every human is only self interested.

Many liberalists/centrists assume ALL people share the basic understanding that most people are good natured and value those attributes that produce an equitable society.

The far right does not share those values or beliefs regarding human nature. At all.

The far right values cunning, strength, power, wealth, & advantage.

The far right believes most people are self interested, and given the opportunity and power of political office, will perform acts in their own self interest, including padding theirs & their friends’ pockets.

A centrist liberalist and a far right conservative view the world so differently at the foundational level, the answer to the question from either is unequivocally biased.

A liberalist would presume the answer is no, because they value integrity and honesty and altruism.

A conservative would presume the answer is yes because they value wealth, power and self promotion.

Neither actually answers the question adequately.

That is the conundrum most people face when viewing politics.

Most assume foundational beliefs and values are similar. They aren’t.

Those who value power and self promotion will find it impossible to believe that a politician has integrity, honour and enough wealth.

Because the far right values greed as a virtue, they find it difficult to imagine passing up an opportunity to personally gain, especially if one is in a powerful position. That’s what power is for, right?

This is the influence the far right has brought to politics.

Cynicism.

But the far right conservatives asked the question already have a talking point answer & are indoctrinating others with their response. Cynicism.

All politicians lie.

That’s what they are propagating. The belief that truth & integrity doesn’t exist. Only self interest.

For a liberalist, this is a troubling challenge to their worldview. It presents a difficulty many liberalists are poorly equipped to process. Have they fooled themselves all their life believing most people are basically good, when there is so much bad being exposed?

Are they deluding themselves believing unquestionably that Morneau is innocent? Are all politicians liars and corrupt?

If you listen to CPC & MSM right now, that is probably what you are ruminating about in your mind. Repeatedly questioning Morneau’s motivations.

Maybe your pondering if it was a mistake. Mistakes are neither good nor bad. But they can have bad consequences for others. The fact 37,000 youth have no aid, no experience and no chance of obtaining either anytime soon is a negative consequence of a mistake. A big one.

And since youth haven’t completely solidified their world view, due to their age & inexperience, they’re open to persuasion and influence.

Which is what this WE scandal is all about.

Influencing cynicism across the nation, in the 18-25 electorate & the progressive electorate.

The worldview of cynics is despondency, apathy and hopelessness.

CPC is conducting voter suppression tactics right now. Right in front of our eyes, right under our noses.

This negative method is how voter suppression is conducted. This is the Finkelstein Method.

Create a scandal.

Propagate the belief that goodness and positive attributes of character are really fake and only for show. Pile on incendiary encouragement to feel rage, disgust, fear.

And wipe out youth approval for the LPC. That is how disaffected youth are manufactured.

Smear campaigns work because people refuse to use critical thinking skills to examine the context of a lie or omission and prefer to take opinions that support their worldview at face value.

That and the populist’s favourite weapon: Group Think, aka adult peer pressure.

Believing all politicians lie is lazy thinking. I’ve got news for you.

ALL PEOPLE LIE, including politicians.

But people lie for different reasons and those reasons and the context of the situation is what is used to discern character, veracity and integrity.

Saying all politicians lie is like saying the sky is blue. It doesn’t reveal any pertinent truth. Is the sky blue today? Does the presence of clouds negate blueness of the sky? Or is the sky always blue but sometimes it’s difficult to see the blue through the clouds?

By observing the regularity of blueness and the relevant context (a rainy day, sunrise, sunset, night) we can determine the sky is indeed blue most of the time. Clouds and the rotation of the earth obscure blueness, but overall blue is the colour of the sky.

Today it’s raining in my neck of the woods. The colour blue is nowhere in sight. But I trust that the nature of the sky remains blue. Because my lifetime and experience have informed me that it is the nature (the inherent character) of the sky.

That’s how to determine character, integrity, truth.

It would be disingenuous to point out the grey clouds obscuring the sky represent the overall nature of the sky. They don’t. And I know and trust from my experience that the sky is blue on the other side of those clouds.

The same process can be used to determine character of a human being.

A broad view of the history of behaviour is required to discern character. Not one negative act.

It rains occasionally & in winter the sky is often grey for days. But I still know the sky is blue.

I know because of 52 years of observation and the constancy of blue sky. Not because a politician tells me it’s blue.

I also know if a politician tells me the sky is inherently grey because it’s raining today, that politician is attempting to colour my perception.

Context viewed over time is how we determine integrity. Experience and familiarity determine veracity.

The younger you are, the less exposure you have to draw upon regarding context, experience and familiarity.

Chronological age and experience does influence wisdom.

It’s quite easy to disaffect youth and those who don’t use their critical thinking skills because of this dynamic.

Being aware of this dynamic is protection from nefarious politicians using populist weapons to deceive and manipulate you.

So let’s look at the context.

Since February 2019 (since 2015 really) CPC, NDP & GPC hammered away at the integrity, character and trustworthiness of LPC. Daily verbal assaults, memes, MSM opinions, on-line far right and far left “news” articles, trolls, bots & foreign actors.

But LPC had delivered on 91% of their mandate. Still, the central issue on the far left was Proportional Representation and electoral reform. The central issue on the far right was perceived integrity and corruption.

Both the left and right have attempted for years to damage the brand of PMJT and LPC. Because they have the most support of the electorate.

Those issues were repeated ad nauseum and saturated the political milieu, drowning out climate change and indigenous issues.

The election delivered a minority government. All that smearing and accusations of corruption had an impact. But he faced the partial loss with courage and rolled out his mandate.

Then 3 major crises back to back started January 2, 2020.

I wonder what his perception is like considering he had a threat of WW3 in January, a standoff between Natural Gas investors and First Nations in February, and the COVID worldwide catastrophe in March. He’s yet to publicly denigrate anyone, but has made stern comments.

So that’s the context. PMJT is mostly blue sky. There have been a few clouds, but he’s dealt with them admirably. Bill Morneau’s is similar. Both MPs have been delivering a AAA credit rating and dealing with the diplomatic and finances of three significant issues back to back.

Mr. Morneau did not pay back WE for a vacation he took with family to build a school. Unacceptable. He’s now apologized and paid it back. Here’s a suggestion Bill. Pay all your own expenses. Don’t accept offers to cover expenses. Then you never need to remember to pay them back.

Now let’s look at the context of opposition. Repeated lies and disinformation offered as dirt to smear LPC and several MPs beyond PMJT. For literally years. From Scheer, Poilievre, O’Toole, Rempel, Kenney, and Conservative senate.

NDP and GPC are no better. Singh, Ashton, Angus, former leader Mulcair. Green Party Elizabeth May have all cast aspersions like giddy gamblers rolling dice waiting for the big payoff.

Denigrating LPC has become a multipartison sport.

Lies and disinformation roll off the tongues of opposition MPs like water over Niagara Falls. It’s difficult to comprehend the frequency and absurdity of some accusations.

The motive for all? Win support for their party, because they don’t really offer alternate policy.

I don’t want or need to defend Bill Morneau. Seems he made a mistake. A lapse of judgement.

Last year I forgot to pay my registration on my car. It was due in the summer, and my son was pulled over by police in mid January. My ticket was an expensive lesson.

I made a mistake and a lapse of judgement. I forgot because I got caught up in a funeral, back to school preparations and hockey tryouts. Then, I just kept living. Until I was reminded of my lapse in memory.

Yep, PMJT lied. He promised an end to FPTP, but didn’t deliver when national interest remained low. Yes he admitted to breaching ethics by demanding a solution to SNC corruption that would preserve jobs across the nation.

Some in the Indigenous community criticized his reconciliation efforts. Castigating him for being unable to reverse the wrongs of colonialism in 4 years. I believe he’s just a human being, not a performer of miracles.

The worst anyone could find that tarnished his character was having to pay for sunglasses, a finger wag for accepting the invitation of a family friend and vigorously defending Canadian industrial infrastructure and jobs.

He did once express exasperation and frustration when a group crashed a fundraiser and he made light of the awkwardness, at the event crasher’s expense.

Oh and he was a typical insufferable wealthy male teenager in high school and donned black face.

And took dress up too seriously at a teacher’s Halloween party.

But otherwise his character has held up over his lifetime. He acts earnestly, politely and occasionally arrogantly when questioned by media.

His communications staff might want to teach him some new strategies to avoid difficult questions when the answers and their details are still being worked out. He sometimes sounds evasive when he just repeats his talking point.

He and his family members have been active supporters of charities for decades. PM has his favourites. As a former teacher he’s been fond of youth programs and youth issues. WE being a favourite he has given support frequently. Along with his family.

When the bureaucracy requested a term contribution agreement for an external administrator of the student aid program during COVID, he saw no reason to recuse. A mistake, a lapse in judgement? I don’t know.

Bill Morneau should have recused himself, but I fail to see how the Minister of Finance could not be involved with approval of close to $1B in an aid package.

Did he or his daughter personally benefit? It doesn’t appear to be so.

I see a cloudy rainy day after months of blue sky. Take some time to rest and get some perspective, like a weekend, and can we please focus our attention on the fear mongers trying to depose this govt because their approval rating was in the 40% range

I’m seriously disgusted with their disinformation campaigns, enraged by their constant accusations and political opportunism and quite fearful that many in the electorate are too lazy to think for themselves.