Sunday 20 October 2019

Fear-Mongering? Or Warning?

I have heard many people accusing others of "fear-mongering", often conservative-leaning folks accusing progressives when we try to warn you what Scheer will do. What he has actually said he would do... You want fear-mongering? Scheer is giving us all an example. 
Scheer is making stuff up out of thin air! Fear-mongering (or scare-mongering) is when you say something that is not true to gain some sort of advantage, such as influencing people's opinion about a person or party. 
Warning is saying something that is true and it is done out of concern. "Be careful! It's slippery out!" is a warning. Because you know it's slippery. It isn't meant to intimidate or influence, except to encourage the other person to take appropriate action to avoid a fall. 
When people point to parts of the CPC platform, constitution, and Scheer's own leadership platform and history, and encourage others to consider the ramifications of some of the items, it is warning, not fear-mongering. 
Andrew Scheer and the CPC endorse loosening firearms laws. They do it in their constitution and Andrew Scheer did it in his leadership platform. This is a plan. It is real and telling people who don't know about it yet all about it is warning. 
He says he will not re-open the debate, yet there are a number of large and powerful anti-abortion lobby groups who feel confident that a CPC government will pass legislation making safe, legal abortions a thing of the past. 
Things have been carefully worded around "free votes" to ensure that, while the party does not bring forward anti-abortion legislation, back-benchers can, and the caucus will not be directed to vote against them, as happened in Harper's tenure. 
The CPC have been quite up-front about their plan to bring in boutique tax credits for kids' sports and arts classes, and so on. It is not fear-mongering to explain that such tax credits only benefit those with the money to put their kids in sports and arts programs. 
It's not fear-mongering to point out that tax credits for home renovations are only useful to people who own homes. Tax credits help people who already have money for these things. They do nothing for the many for whom home-ownership is well out of reach. 
So, it's not fear-mongering to express concern over what seems a very likely possibility. It's cautioning. It's making sure people understand what they are buying into. We need to be able to have conversations in this country about the issues we face. 
I know it's hard to hear unpleasant things about a party you support. It's a normal defensive posture to say that it's fear-mongering, or fake news. Many of the things a lot of Canadians are concerned about are contained in Scheer's own writings. 
archive.is/coU2z 
If you are considering voting CPC on Monday, please think very carefully. Please examine all the information available. Look at the issues from all sides. We are not fear-mongering. We are deeply worried and want all Canadians to make choices they won't regret. #elxn43 

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