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In 1998 former Liberal Cabinet member and Canadian elder statesman Mitchel Sharp came to my OAC politics class and spoke.
In the thank you card that circulated my khaki wearing, young conservative ass wrote “Go Reform”.
What I learned being a right-winger in high school
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In the thank you card that circulated my khaki wearing, young conservative ass wrote “Go Reform”.
What I learned being a right-winger in high school
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My parents were definitely left-leaning in their politics growing up. My mother is 1st gen immigrant and raised my to lead with my heart.
By age 16 however I was doing a co-op at a brokerage on Bay St and money was definitely on my mind.
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By age 16 however I was doing a co-op at a brokerage on Bay St and money was definitely on my mind.
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Conservative politics appealed to me because I wasted to be rich. The traders and brokers I looked up to were hard hearted men and women.
It felt like a tough and individualistic political outlook would help me rise in these circles.
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It felt like a tough and individualistic political outlook would help me rise in these circles.
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Back at school I didn’t have strong connections due to some frequent family moves.
By grade 12 I started rolling with a slightly outcast crew of smart asses and guys who wanted to be in the Canadian Forces.
It resembled a 4Chan board except with more alcohol and less memes.
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By grade 12 I started rolling with a slightly outcast crew of smart asses and guys who wanted to be in the Canadian Forces.
It resembled a 4Chan board except with more alcohol and less memes.
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We took a draconian take on world politics, following a might is right view of history and current events.
At that time the death penalty and abortion were still debated as serious policy and I leaned in hard as the opposition to the majority of my peers.
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At that time the death penalty and abortion were still debated as serious policy and I leaned in hard as the opposition to the majority of my peers.
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There was a teacher strike and build-up that a friend and I chose to engage in a walk-out.
However we realized we were marching with “leftists” and decided to make some counter-protest signs and line up down the block.
His said “We Love Mike [Harris]”
Sound familiar?
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However we realized we were marching with “leftists” and decided to make some counter-protest signs and line up down the block.
His said “We Love Mike [Harris]”
Sound familiar?
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By the time graduation came around, as teens are know to do, I realized this was NOT the path for me.
I’d love to say it was a moral change of heart but what really did it was to see how my rhetoric and worldview impacted women esp the young ones I was interested in.
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I’d love to say it was a moral change of heart but what really did it was to see how my rhetoric and worldview impacted women esp the young ones I was interested in.
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Once I realized that my politics was killing ANY change of teenage romance I dropped my bullshit and decided to go another way.
Big up to the girls of Gloucester High School student council and drama club for rejecting my khaki wearing conservative ass.
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Big up to the girls of Gloucester High School student council and drama club for rejecting my khaki wearing conservative ass.
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Another thing that really helped me see politics from a place of compassion was a group of friends who introduced me to psilocybin.
The combination of a non-judging band of musicians, poets and comedians and the magic medicine went far to dilate my pupils and my heart.
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The combination of a non-judging band of musicians, poets and comedians and the magic medicine went far to dilate my pupils and my heart.
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Why this thread? Why am I sharing this?
Well I feel that what’s missing from the discourse on what to be done with our quite serious far right-wing problem is what to do with the people themselves.
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Well I feel that what’s missing from the discourse on what to be done with our quite serious far right-wing problem is what to do with the people themselves.
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Like with any extremist movement, domestic or otherwise, the process of de-radicalization is the whole ballgame.
Direct confrontation of far right movements is at time’s required.
Yet I am curious, how many could be peacefully separated from their ideological beliefs?
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Direct confrontation of far right movements is at time’s required.
Yet I am curious, how many could be peacefully separated from their ideological beliefs?
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How many youth who are flirting with far right ideas but could be swayed with opportunities of connection and healing?
I’m not naive to think that the hardest of hard core racist and terrorist will be lured by the joy possible from leaving that life behind.
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I’m not naive to think that the hardest of hard core racist and terrorist will be lured by the joy possible from leaving that life behind.
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