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Wednesday 29 September 2021

Bad Person Politics



Are you a bad person? Politically you may well be, as I am.

Nobody can possibly have missed the climate change debate which has been going on in a one-sided manner for decades now. The most interesting aspect has been a very common political strategy lying behind the official climate narrative.

It’s a very old political strategy we see all the time. People who do not accept the official climate narrative are presented as bad people. Frequently this is done overtly by the use of such terms as ‘climate denier’ and sometimes covertly via insinuation, but this is the real core of the climate debate.

Most of us have no wish to be a bad person, but increasingly this means not being on the minority side of certain political debates which mass media have made very one-sided. The effect is probably much stronger than not wishing to be a bad person. More a case of absolute refusal to be a bad person at any cost. It applies to organisations and institutions too.

Naturally enough, political debates are defined in this way because it works. As a direct result, many people are induced to go along with absurd, damaging or even malign political projects. The desire to avoid being a bad person overrides the critical faculties and even self-interest.

In particular, middle class people appear to be powerfully influenced by bad person politics. So much so that conventionally intelligent, well-educated people give their assent to narratives which are clearly dubious, false or even meaningless. The official climate narrative is a blend of all three.

The Donald Trump presidency was an example, where openly supporting an obviously capable president made one a bad person politically. So much so that it did not matter to millions of people how capable he was nor what he achieved. Many people saw Trump as capable but many were quite unable to see it. To see it would be bad.

An even more bizarre situation has emerged with the Joe Biden presidency where openly supporting an embarrassingly incapable president does not make one a bad person. The whole world seems to know how incapable Biden is, but it does not matter. It appears that most people refuse to be classified politically as a bad person, even at the expense of their own integrity.

We saw the bad person strategy during the coronavirus debacle. Bad people examined the data and questioned containment policies instead of accepting the official view backed by officially selected experts. As a result, policies were not as rational as they should have been. In the UK, bad people did not clap the NHS.

Of course there are other shadings to bad person politics. A bad person in this sense may be viewed as stubbornly misguided, incompetent, feckless, obtuse, or even evil, but at the very least a bad person is slightly beyond the pale. There are many words used to classify bad people so conformists need not argue with them if it is too painful – which it often seems to be.

9 comments:

Woodsy42 said...

You are right - but at least us baddies won the EU referendum.

Tammly said...

Another very astute article from AKH. Actually for my part, I have never cared about appearing to others as a 'good' person, and as a 'climate change denier', I don't care what they think one way or the other. Indeed a couple of months ago, my partner and I went to Gt Yarmouth with a gang of friends for a short holiday- we like the Victorian Hippodrome show there. One of our number is an old school friend of my pnr's, I've known thru her for 30 years. She is very left-wing and green agendering. She' always makes me very uncomfortable and she has very strong views. She (liked) me which is all the more disconcerting and over a meal, she told me I was a good person. No I'm not, I replied. Yes you are she insisted.

Back home and we get a phone call from her to say she's tested positive for Covid. You must get a test, tell everyone else and self isolate she informed me. I let slip that Iwould do no such thing. A huge and bitter row followed, harsh words were exchanged and she told herself that she couldn't come to any outings any more if I was present and she was dismayed that I had said that I'd never liked her. So now I'm an even less 'good person' but I feel a lot more comfortable.

Sobers said...

I take a great deal of comfort from the fact that dogs seem to like me, which I regard as the best character assessment there is. What people think about me I couldn't give a toss.

Scrobs. said...

I have a lovely leftie friend, with whom I disagree on just about everything where politics are concerned.

Somehow, we've never let such differences get in the way of a frindship like this, and anyway, she shuts up when I challenge her - in the nicest possible way...

DiscoveredJoys said...

One of the benefits of "old age" is that other people do not see you as threatening or in competition with them for partners or jobs. I've found that you can say true things that younger generations blanche at, and exclaim "You cannot say that!"

Perhaps it's a political movement, Silver Populism? It's always been around but there is a greater proportion of us in the population than before. I'm an Old Git and proud.

James Higham said...

With you all the way on this one, AKH.

A K Haart said...

Woodsy - and it still surprises me that we were allowed to do it.

Tammly - thanks - your experience sounds like a rupture waiting to happen. It's amazing how far some people will push their opinions. We could have had a milder a version of your encounter but avoided it.

Sobers - I've never had a problem with dogs but my father was a real dog person. They seemed to latch onto him immediately.

Scrobs - it's best that way, otherwise how many people would we avoid. Too many congenial people have mainstream views they think are soundly based.

DJ - I think you are right, although if you do say true things to younger generations maybe they are liable to discount them as dated.

James - sounds like we have the nucleus of a virtual Bad Pride march (:

djc said...

Most perceptive.

We see this also with mask wearing, people whose behaviour when not on show suggest they only do it for appearances sake.

A K Haart said...

djc - thanks and yes, masks seem to be a badge of compliance rather than a practical measure.