Kindness, these days, is in short supply

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This article was published 30/03/2024 (581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘He (King Charles) will say how Jesus set an ‘example of how we should serve and care for each other’ and how as a nation ‘we need and benefit greatly from those who extend the hand of friendship to us, especially in a time of need.’” — Manchester Evening News, March 27.

On this Easter weekend, King Charles is advocating kindness.

Cynics who receive the message may think he is picking a fight with media organizations that generated headlines recently, trafficking in conspiracies about the King’s daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, who most people still refer to as Kate Middleton.

I am not here to rehash the misinformation, generated by the public absence of the princess. Responsible journalists knew she had abdominal surgery last year and intuited that her lack of public activities meant something very serious was going on privately.

We now know the reasonable presumption was correct. The princess has cancer. She is receiving chemotherapy.

Kind and decent people wish her well and I will take the liberty in one of Canada’s most venerable newspapers to wish the princess a full recovery on behalf of this columnist and the kind and generous Manitobans and other Canadians reading this.

I hope the Princess of Wales and her family have a Happy Easter. I hope that the kindness the King is calling for extends beyond the holiday.

But I am a news analyst, not a pastor. So I have to say the evidence suggests that while there might be a ceasefire in the misinformation feeding the tabloid and social media, it will expire soon.

One of the best movies ever made — starring one of history’s greatest British-Irish actors, Daniel Day Lewis — is based on the Upton Sinclair novel There will be blood.

In the spirit of Sinclair, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and social activist, I’m here to tell you there will be rumours, scurrilous stories without any factual foundation about the Princess of Wales, her cancer fight and her marriage to the eldest son of a former Princess of Wales who a former British prime minister referred to as “the people’s Princess.”

If resurrections were available to people not named Jesus Christ, I would root for the resurrection of Diana, the late Princess of Wales, killed nearly 27 years ago in a Paris crash precipitated by some of the most aggressive hounds who assist the misanthropes of misinformation, the paparazzi.

Kindness may be a Christlike virtue and a highly appropriate subject for the King to be offering during the holiest week of the Christian calendar.

But kindness is not what any objective observer would call a dominant feature of today’s politics and media.

Earlier this week, I posted a comment on my X (formerly known as Twitter) account about a Canadian politician who attracts a great deal of my attention and respect, former mayor of Calgary Naheed Nenshi.

He is running for the leadership of the Alberta NDP. I messaged some thoughts about why he would be the perfect opponent to Premier Danielle Smith.

I posted a picture of a packed house for the candidate in Edmonton. One of the messages that was publicly posted by a tweeter called Kathy, asked if it was me in the front row of Nenshi rally in Edmonton. “Charles is that you sitting in the front row with the oxygen tank?”

I sometimes respond to that kind of snark, if I think it might make a constructive contribution to Canadian democratic dialogue. And so this was my reply: “The person you are mocking isn’t drunk tweeting. They’re showing up — participating in democracy, despite their medical condition. What’s your condition, Kathy? Is cruelty just a side on your conservative menu, or the main course?”

I will never be able to write like Upton Sinclair, but I think the message works.

Cruelty isn’t just a bug. It’s a feature of today’s conservative populism. Whether it’s Donald Trump in the United States or the various Canadian wannabes who worship at his blood-soaked altar, cruelty is on offer every day in the misinformation ecosystem that threatens democracy everywhere.

To my Christian readers, I hope your heart is filled with the peace of Christ.

May you and your family rejoice in the Easter miracle. May all of us, in His name practice love, charity, and kindness.

Charles Adler is a longtime political commenter and podcaster.

charles@charlesadler.com