We saw it again this past weekend.
A photo of Justin Trudeau filling sandbags in the flood-ravaged Ottawa area was lambasted by the right-wing media and social media types as nothing more than an insincere photo op, while a similar photo of Doug Ford doing the same thing was hailed as a concerned and caring premier lending a hand.
Of course, left-wing media and social media took the opposite view, praising Trudeau as the good guy and Ford as the insincere interloper.
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To some, it might just appear to be partisan political banter but it’s, in fact, symptomatic of a festering problem.
Sadly, it’s the new normal of the twisted political discourse that dominates the airwaves and social media.
There has always been — and will always be — political disagreement and, oftentimes, a healthy dose of acerbic rhetoric to frame contrary points of view.
But, these days, it’s no longer enough to oppose contrary opinions: the new rules demand that you must hate and condemn those who hold different views.
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That kind of toxic discourse is unhealthy in so many ways and can have serious consequences.
It not only serves as a platform for extremist groups to spew their vile and hateful rhetoric but it also seems to foment the heinous acts of violence and mass killings that are happening with increasing regularity.
Time and time again, the perpetrators of those reprehensible crimes have been found to have an affinity for extremist websites and chat rooms.
It would be easy to blame the loathsome trolls on social media for stoking the flames of division, and they certainly are culpable, but the more egregious sin is how so many elected officials pander to that blatant racism and misguided hatred, all in the name of securing political support.
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History has shown us that the rise of political despots is often predicated on instilling a sense of hatred toward a particular ethnicity or religion and blaming them for the social or economic problems of the time.
We are rightly outraged by those dark pages of history, but today’s extremist events make us wonder if we’ve learned from them.
As the Spanish philosopher George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
We need a societal course correction to prevent that from happening.
The politics of division has become the politics of hatred, and it’s tearing us apart.
It’s time that we held our politicians — and ourselves, for that matter — to a higher standard.
Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML.
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