Hi everyone,
Hope you are doing well. As you may know, there is an federal election campaign right now in Canada. We have elections every four years, with three main political parties: the Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP. I was reading this article about third interest political parties active during the campaign period, and how they have garnered power in influencing voters and shaping our viewpoints.
Ontario Proud is a grassroots organization, who according to the Globe, receive funds from groups barred from donating to political parties, have less regulations (as opposed to formal political parties), and don’t have to disclose where they get their funds from. The way they are operating is similar to a lobbyist organization; the difference is that for lobbyist organizations, their agenda is clear and they are not actively trying to persuade voters during the campaign period. The issue that the Globe hints at is how they are masquerading as a grassroots advocacy when in reality, they receive funding from Conservative donors and can be viewed as a political hate group; that they are anti-Liberal as much as they are pro-Conservative. They claim they are entirely legal (which they are) and that they are non-partisan.
Analysis:
My thoughts are that yes, for the time being they are legal because the law has not evolved quick enough to respond to the proliferation of social media and influence of technology on our every-day lives. Sure it’s legal, so let me offer another indicator to persuade you why it’s not okay: because it is disrespectful to insult a politician personally (physical appearance is personal). That particular meme has been removed from their website, but has been reposted on other sites, such as imgur and pininterest. Criticizing their decisions is different than insulting their appearance. Kathleen Wynne probably has a family and people who care about her- I wonder how people would feel if somebody insulted their family member on something unrelated such as their appearance because they did not agree with their political views. I am surprised that that’s all it took for somebody to be hateful, and to use a platform such as Ontario Proud to conduct themselves in such manner. I think we can hold ourselves to a higher standard, to act civil and be accountable to ourselves because we want to, not because the law says we have to. I understand that there is freedom of speech, though because this realm of third party political interest groups is fairly new, it is up to us to draw the lines and boundaries of what is acceptable (constructive criticism) and what is not (personal insults and attack ads).
Secondly, they claim to be non-partisan, though here I would ask the reader to analyze a situation based on actions and not verbal claims. I think that it is clear to anyone, whether they have a vested interest in politics or not- that their content is biased and heavily favours the Conservative Party while creating memes to insult Kathleen Wynne, former leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario. Ontario Proud can say whatever they want (including how they define themselves) though I think it is up to us to think critically, or at least, see what is in front of us and make judgements for ourselves. Even the name Ontario Proud takes an authoritative position for the province of Ontario; does that mean people who disagree with their stance are anti-Ontario?
To be fair, the Working Families Coalition (WFC) was a similar case, though they were pro-Liberal and anti-Conservative political interest group and active in 2003. Besides that, the other two main differences is that WFC was large and heavily organized, as it was made up of other unions, and that it was active in a pre-social media era. Ontario Proud is a grassroots organization that started with just one person, but was successful because of how technology plays a bigger role in our lives in 2019 as compared to 2003.
And lastly, I affirm the significance of why we should care. Just because it is legal (for now) does not mean that it is a legitimate political authority; clearly they cross the boundary into a political hate group at times. This because dangerous because hate can become normalized when it is first accepted and legitimized in a structured entity, such as a political advocacy group. History remembers WW2 and the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany. I also chose to analyze this topic because it relates to other issues in the past, such as Russian social media trolls interfering in the US elections. The difference is that the first instance was convert, whereas this is entirely legal- third party political interest groups have the authority to persuade voters and voting behaviour. In this situation, I’m not Pro-Conservative or Pro-Liberal, but I a support respectful offline and online behaviour. As someone who’s been affected by online bullying, I empathize with Wynne and would not want anybody to go through that- regardless of their political beliefs. For them, I suggest focusing on doing what they say they are: advocacy instead of anti-Liberal. To continue advocating for positive change that they think would benefit most Ontarians. To be positive instead of hateful and anti-Liberal because clearly their insults are meant to hurt, not help.
Hope you enjoyed this post, and talk to you soon,
Guest
