Little pictures, big ears, and bad examples

Opinion

What are we teaching our kids?

One of the pillars of a thriving democratic society is exemplified through the civil conduct of our elected political leaders. The ethos of honesty, humility, and empathy are becoming increasingly relinquished in lieu of posturing public vitriol and moral indifference.

In this era whereby dehumanizing language has become so routinely normalized, I ask my fellow citizens: What moral lessons are we teaching our youth? If we readily embrace the hostile spirit embodied by our elected officials, how can we reasonably expect any different conduct among our young people?

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has been exceptionally successful in desensitizing the discourse of name-calling and divisive politics.

A recent example was demonstrated through the President’s Easter Holiday message, posted to Truth Social, extending his well-wishes to the “Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country.”

Such ignominious rhetoric has also been strategically targeted to discredit his political rivals and critics. Monikers such as “Crooked Hillary,” “Pocahontas,” and “Ron Desanctimonious” are but a few examples of such juvenile mannerisms.

Name-calling practices have lamentably begun to manifest in Canadian political contexts, as evidenced in recent “Sneaky Carney” and “Sellout Singh” titles.

We would not tolerate such bullying behaviour in our public schools, and yet why are we so willing to tolerate this among our elected officials?

Degrading asylum seekers and newcomers has, likewise, been purposefully utilized to sow fear among political bases. The U.S. president has recurrently asserted baseless claims that immigrants are eating pets, terrorizing neighbourhoods, and has equated such humans with “vermin” and “lesser than animals.” Denigrating our fellow humankind is overt and purposeful, coinciding a grander collective effort to advance the agendas of these aspiring demagogues.

A further precarious development in American politics has been deporting U.S. residents to El Salvador prisons without judicial process. In essence, the president is conditioning young people to disregard others’ humanity and to embrace dogmatism, as exemplified through his concerted efforts to assert guilty verdicts without the presence of judicial review or evidence.

Public school teachers are bestowed with an enormous responsibility to cultivate critical-thinking capacities, a sense of democratic citizenship, and facilitate historical learning among our youth to better understand our present reality.

However, many of these areas in cognitive and attitudinal development have become so contentious and politically laden.

Teaching the history of the Jan. 6 insurrection, as an example, is so peculiarly ambiguous. Was this event a criminal conspiracy to invoke insurrection or was it the manifestation of American “patriotism”? Even though U.S. courts resoundingly rejected the president’s desperate “election fraud” assertions, his political base remains adamant in trusting his word over fact or judicial process.

We, as a global society, have become desensitized to the president’s pathological lying, a worrisome precedent that suggests integrity and honesty are no longer relevant qualities among our political leaders. We have navigated approximately a decade with the concept of “alternative facts” and the politicization of “truth.”

The president is conditioning our young people to disregard the insights of academics and scientists, while embracing the perspectives of conspiracy theorists and neophytes.

Evidently, our youth is being increasingly subject to a culture that embraces dogma and negates critical thinking capacities.

Policies pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have been further problematized by the president and his MAGA acolytes. Such attitudes have been curiously equated with being “woke,” spoken against with disdain, and have been disregarded for meritocratic mindsets whereby the strong and hardworking earned their social and/or economic status.

And yet, if we are truly committed to an equitable and inclusive democratic society that celebrates our diversity, why is there such vehement opposition to such policies and practices?

In public schools, would we not expect equitable learning environments for our children so that all youth are included, may grow, pursue dreams, and otherwise fulfil their human potential?

Do we not value the rich diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, histories, and cultural practices of our fellow neighbours?

In sum, the ethical character of our elected officials is increasingly disconcerting and a sinister example for our youth to emulate. Hateful conduct would be deemed reprehensible, not tolerated by youth in our public schools, and would be hastily reprimanded. And yet, many world leaders are acting in such derogatory fashion.

Cognizant of these despondent political developments, I ask my fellow citizens: what example are we setting for our youth?

Jordan Laidlaw is a public school teacher, union activist, and Ph.D. candidate in Educational Administration.