The last 75 years have seen the shattering of social and cultural norms.  For the most part, changes have been positive: reductions in racism, sexism, homophobia are examples.  However, at the same time formerly authoritative voices – religions, communities, neighbourhoods, families, relationships – all have had their voices muffled if not silenced.  Lacking such anchors, what has replaced those voices – especially in the academic and governmental world – is a sense of relativism and individualism: not the truth, but my truth; not community moral values, but my values.  Social media also provides fertile ground for the expression of personal values, as well as the development of ‘mob morality’, where voices of reason and tradition can be shouted down by an avalanche of tweets and memes.

The relativism and subjectivity of society is most prevalent among those with the most years of education.  I do not say higher education, as that implies a degree of approval which I do not share.  Nonetheless, those with more years of education are more affluent, less prone to violence, disease and addiction, and lead longer lives.  As it is those people who are in positions of power, they are the ones who promote – sometimes dictate – ‘correct’ values and personal truths.

The triumph of personal – subjective – truths, rights, and values tends to lead society towards a Hobbesian state of nature, where lives are “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”.   We are far from that state today, but the rejection of objective arguments and community values leads in this direction.  Into this environment comes the power and hurt of globalization, the rise of competing world powers, the challenges and harms of climate change.

Especially for those who are experiencing economic decline, and who are nonetheless obliged to adhere to distasteful social and cultural trends, it may seem that society is drifting towards dystopian chaos.

The power of populism is the promise of order.  And, for many, it is acceptable that authoritarian measures be used to restore order.  Populist measures must present themselves as simple and practical (whether in public policy they are in fact simple and practical is another matter): ‘Build the Wall’, ‘Engage in mass deportations’; ‘Fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada’.

The promise of order must also involve the fixing of blame and shame.  Nefarious forces – the elites, the deep state – must be brought to heel.  Curiously, blame and shame are strategies also used by those who proclaim the primacy of subjective truth.  And there is a case that ‘blaming and shaming’ historical figures (e.g., Sir John A) in a distorted relativistic indictment is the very sort of cultural chaos that invites populism.

So long as the progressive movement disparages those of lesser education and simpler values – the deplorables – they incite the very movement they condemn.  The so-called deplorables tend to have more conservative community values, to be more religious, yet to defend fiercely their independence from government intrusion.  There are indeed a number of socially regressive policies – ‘right to life’, ‘right to bear arms’, as examples – which are prominent among those of lesser education, but in these cases the reaction should be to condemn the policies not the people.

Let us acknowledge that progressive governments share some accountability for the current state of economic, climatic, political and social affairs.  It is right to challenge the status quo.

Let us not disparage the lives and social practices of those with lesser education or qualifications.  Encouraging the stratification of society will not build the social cohesion to create a less polarized society.

How to reverse the polarization is another topic entirely.  However, at a minimum, it will require:

• Consultation outside the various sealed bubbles into which society is siloed; the elites must talk more with the rest.
• More practicality and less prestidigitation in political discourse.  Many of the challenges ahead will not be pleasant to meet and overcome.   People need to know.