Debating Fascism
There seems to be quite the groundswell of protest against the The Munk Debate on The Rise of Populism tonight (between the infamous Steve Bannon and the intellectual David Frum), demanding that his hate speech not be given a platform.
I’m a Munk Debate supporter and I’ve always been fascinated by those who choose to join me spending their Friday night listening to the leading voices of the day debate the important issues of the day. And I’ve been curious to hear a lot of people I respect saying, the debate should be boycotted, and the ideas proposed by Steve Bannon not be given a place to be heard in Toronto.
I wrestled with this because of the names I saw objecting, and how often I’m aligned with their thoughts on other matters, but I went the other way here. I’m going to the debate.
If a White Nationalist Dictator rose (has risen?) to power, I’m not sure I’d want his henchmen and propagandists hung in the public square without anyone ever hearing a word they had to say. With the internet plagued with intentional misdirection and deception, many just go off the headlines, and don’t have more than a surface-deep grasp of the agendas being pushed by ideologues and those with deep pockets behind the scenes.
I think I want his racist, xenophobia and hateful garbage put in front of people (some of them quite influential) tonight. I want to see if we have the courage to respond. We cannot deny that Steve Bannon is one of the faces of a growing Alt Right movement in our culture. A movement that precedes any “Make America Great Again” campaign in its foundation and seeks a far more fractured people subdivided by races, creeds, genders, and most importantly, money. Now I’m not saying my next-door neighbour is an alt-right extremist seeking a Handmaid’s Tale revolution with the dinks in charge, but I hear a whole lot of justification for discrimination and xenophobia in my life and ministry in 2018 than in any year that preceded. I’ve seen members of my family and friends begin to feel more comfortable dropping a racial slur, or assert our importance is of more importance. I’ve even found myself having reactive thoughts with hate aimed in ways I had never imagined. Cultural negatives can be normalized. Steve Bannon and the Alt Right have changed our culture in recent years. That’s not up for debate.
The question is how does it get changed again?
Only three things can happen tonight, because the debate will happen, and the auditorium will be full. Bannon will be show himself the fool many of us know he is, Frumm will assist in showing us what’s wrong with his arguments and nationalist world view, while the assembly will likely boo him or mutter under their breath or go away with the notion that many of us share, that his ideas are dangerous. Or, Bannon will fool the some of Toronto’s wealthiest and most influential, students and professors and debate lovers alike, and we’ll all be wearing MAGA hats in the morning. Unlikely, I know. The most likely scenario is that the majority of us will hear Bannon’s white nationalist agenda, reject it, hear Frumm offer helpful ways of dismantling it when people we love who share such opinions. We’ll see with our own eyes that Bannon is spewing hate. Because, frankly, I want to see any sympathizers brought back from the edge, not pushed off the cliff. I want an opportunity to learn more language to stay in dialogue with many for whom I love and disagree, and not see a hateful agenda bought into.
I don’t think you always silence hate by yelling so loud that no one can hear what the hate says. Because sometimes the more you shut the mouth of the hater, the more you throw fuel on the fire of the hate’s frighteningly growing following as they get louder, and angrier, and more frustrated by the day. Sometimes you silence the hate by letting it get red in the face and blowing steam out its ears, and say, “No. You are wrong. Here’s why and how.”
Originally Penned by David: November 2, 2018