Judge, Jury and Executioner Pretty Much Defines Us All These Days

I live in Canada, where unlike may other countries in the world, the big time scandals are relatively few and far between.

Out current scandal, dubbed Lavscam, by someone in the news media involves the government, in the form of the Prime Minister, his main assistant and some other people allegedly pressuring the then Attorney General into going easy or looking the other way regarding criminal prosecution of this big construction company called SNC Lavalin.

So far we have only heard testimony from the Attorney General. The other side, or what’s currently known as the defendants in this case, will be heard from this week, hopefully.

But from the very outset of this case, about which very little was actually known, the Conservative opposition party, as you would expect, has hurling accusations like they were proven facts.

What’s even worse is that Canadians have, as a result of these accusations, been making up their minds that the government is nothing less than a scandal ridden nest of vipers, totally beholden to the might and power of the private sector corporations. Yadda Yadda.

This of course is to be expected, especially these days when people can plant all kinds of accusations, rumours and innuendo to create the impression of a done deal, when it actually is anything but.

This is a subtle form of brainwashing that the right seems to be much more adept at than the left. And as with anything that finds its way to millions of people, all you have to do to be believed is to keep hammering away at the aforementioned accusations, innuendo and rumours.

Oh The Rubes!

I guess that most people have always been pretty easy to influence one way or another since the beginning of society as we know it.

But in today’s world, there seems to be a much greater inclination to rush to judgement, as has been amply demonstrated by the polling that’s currently being done to measure just how much people trust their government. As you would expect, it’s not good for the Liberals.

There is also a certain amount of selective amnesia that goes on in cases like this as well. Like, just how many scandals of even greater magnitude took place during the previous nine years, when the Conservatives controlled the government. There were a lot.

Truth Takes Time

The reality of this particular situation is not completely known because both sides have not been heard from. And it doesn’t matter how credible one side may appear to be until it is measured against the position of the other side.

The fact that so many seem to have already made up their minds is a testimony to how much influence social media and partisan propaganda have on the minds of most people.

Not Just A Canadian Thing

Since the advent of social media, this has become the case on all kinds of issues all over the world.

There was a time when cooler heads would prevail and people actually had the patience to wait for the entire story to be told before making their judgement.

That fact that I am one of them is a function of my age, I suppose. I did not grow up with social media. And a lot of the people I know who are of the same era feel the same way about this particular scandal as I do.

I want to hear both sides.

I may very well decide that the government is a nest of vipers and deserves to be brought down over this. But I don’t know that right now, because I simply do not have enough information.I have lots of opinion. But, as the old saying goes, opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one.

Because I am also a bit of a Liberal I am willing to be even more patient, because if the government really is at fault here, there will be a certain amount of emotion attached to that reality for me. Mainly because I happen to thing that Conservatism in this country has skidded off the rails, and appears to care less and less about individuals and more and more about the businesses who give them money.

But until I know everything there is to know, I will wait. And I will encourage everyone I know to do the same.