A few weeks ago now, the whole Trudeau-blackface issue came to the fore.
Shortly after, pictures of Stephen Harper emerged, wearing an indigenous headdress and face paint, with the headline: “Stephen Harper is astounded at Trudeau’s racist costume from twenty years ago.”
What the original poster didn’t know was that the pictures were from a ceremony in 2011 when Harper was named an Honourary Chief of the Blood Tribe, and he was bedecked so because he was inducted by elders of the tribe into their cultural and religious ceremony.
Pointing and laughing at Harper, in this instance, backfired upon the people who were pointing and laughing. Instead of insensitively aping another’s culture, Harper had been invited into it, the headdress and face paint applied by a Blood Tribe elder, and the people who pointed and laughed, were instead pointed and laughed at.
A few weeks ago, Justin Trudeau took to the waters in a canoe to show up to a press conference.
At the press conference, he promised to create a national Experience Canada program that would help 75,000 lower-income families spend up to four days in one of Canada’s national or provincial parks every year, including camping accommodations and a travel bursary of up to $2,000 to allow lower-income families to experience Canadian National Parks.
A few days after, a raconteur posted a pictures of Trudeau, kneeling behind the bow seat, facing the stern, with the labels “front seat” (pointing to the seat behind Trudeau), “back seat” (pointing to the seat Trudeau was facing) and the word “forward” with an arrow pointing the opposite way Trudeau is heading.
As far as memes go, it’s only moderately amusing, not terribly biting and 100 percent wrong.
It’s inaccuracy has nothing to do with its politics, and everything to do with its watercraft.
You see, if you know anything about canoeing, you know that there are multiple ways to paddle a canoe.
Indeed, if you were to watch Bill Mason’s classic “Path of the Paddle”, you would see that the most stable paddling position is kneeling mid-ship, braced against the bow seat. Kneeling with both knees to one side is the classic cruising position. Exactly like Trudeau is paddling in the photo.
It’s not the only way to paddle a tandem canoe solo, but it’s foundational.
I mentioned to a friend who shared the meme that he wasn’t really showing how foolish Trudeau was, but instead revealing his own ignorance of proper paddling techniques.
He, of course, thought I was somehow supporting Trudeau’s policies and politics. No, I said, it’s not about politics, you just don’t look like you know what you’re talking about.
But here’s the deal, I said to him, if you are going to make it about politics, you are in a very weak position, and open to having someone use Meme-su against you.
Meme-su, like Jujitsu, is the art of using an opponent’s attack against them.
Here’s how it could work in this case, theoretically. The meme of Trudeau paddling the wrong way feels right, but is factually wrong. And, by jumping up and down and saying “look at the idjit, doesn’t know how to paddle a canoe,” a person is, in fact, revealing their own ignorance on the topic of canoeing.
And, since the person sharing this meme is using it as a metaphor on how Trudeau is taking the country in the wrong direction, this too can backfire. “Hmm,” thinks the person who understands canoeing. “They seem to have got their facts wrong about canoeing. Could they also be wrong about the facts about whatever political issues they are trying to comment on? Perhaps they are as ignorant about politics as they are about canoeing.” Or even: “Hmm, Trudeau is actually doing it right in the image. Maybe he’s doing it right, politically.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not a Trudeau apologist. (May I point you to my editorial where I compared him to a poo that needed flushing?) The issue that I care about is around the way we communicate information.
Don’t like the plan he announced? Let’s hear the reasons. Have a debate about the perceived merits and/or faults of the idea. But we’ve reduced the most important issues that we face as social groups—from politics to the future of life on this planet—to memes.
I remember when the big issue a few years back was the fact that politics was reduced to sound bites on the evening news. Now we don’t even get sound bites, just bitingly sarcastic images on Facebook.
But of course, nobody wants to read reasoned, well-considered think pieces. They just want to see funny images on facebook that support their political ideals.
We’ve apparently lost the secret of civil discourse. We’re not communicating with each other; we’re withdrawing into our own informational silos, firing memes at one another, cultivating our friend lists around the people who share our political views and demonizing the other.
Another friend of mine also commented on the thread. He points out that politicians, social media posts, mainstream media, etc. are moving farther away from making rational and well reasoned commentary on what’s important to us all. This applies to all sides of the political landscape.
Instead, he says, we’re getting spoon fed propaganda on all fronts and very little substance.
“It’s become a team sport with the winner going to whoever seems to whip up their following using manipulation,” he says.
And therein lies the trouble. When we approach politics with that attitude—us vs them, win at all cost—the fact is that a large percentage of people lose. Because politics are not a contest. It’s not a wrestling match. It is the collective lives of all of us at stake here, and if we can learn to sympathize with the “other”, we might be able to figure out how to move forward for the good of all of us, no matter race, creed, religion or political affiliation.
