Hatred is a Threat to Democracy

Anger, hatred, rage, contempt—why do these emotions pose such significant risks to democracy? While they may seem like different faces of the same coin, understanding the distinctions between them is crucial for grasping their impact on civic life and democratic institutions.

Anger, when managed constructively, can be a powerful force for change, but when left unchecked or fueled by misinformation, it can escalate into hatred and rage, ultimately leading to contempt.

Hatred and contempt, in particular, erode the very fabric of democratic society by dehumanizing others and fostering division.

Last night TVO Today Live aired a televised townhall discussion on the question, "Can Angry People Be Good Citizens? ", hosted by The Agenda's Steve Paikin .

Esteemed panelists included Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Shoemaker, CEO Sabreena Delhon (Samara Centre for Democracy), Joel Syrette Director (Mikwa Waakaa'igan & PT faculty at Algoma University), Michelle McLeave-Kennedy (District Labour Council Executive & VP, Ontario Federation of Labour ).

As a panelist, I had the privilege of highlighting the threat that ancient civic leaders and philosophers recognized in unchecked anger and presenting a model of constructive anger from classical antiquity , demonstrating how citizens today can harness their anger for the common good.

This approach was vividly illustrated through a real-life example of a citizen who successfully channeled her anger into constructive action, saving their city's YMCA from closure.

In 2019, I published an article on this topic in my Municipal World civic academy column, called: "Hatred is a Threat to Democracy," which I have shared below as a resource.

In the article, I argue that rising anger, incivility, and divisiveness are early warning signs of a society veering towards contempt and authoritarianism. By recognizing and addressing these emotions early on, we can prevent the descent into hatred and dehumanization that threatens our democratic values.

Civility: An Antidote

In my book "Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community & What to Do About It ," I argue that civility is an antidote to the destructive forces of unchecked anger and contempt. Civility fosters respect, dialogue, and understanding—key components for a thriving democracy.

By promoting civil behavior, we can create a foundation of mutual respect and cooperation, which is essential for addressing conflicts and building strong, resilient communities.

An effective tool in promoting civility and measuring the health of our civic interactions from contempt to dignity is Timothy Shriver 's Dignity Index. It provides a framework for evaluating and improving the quality of our interactions, ensuring that even in disagreement, the fundamental dignity of each person is maintained.

The need to counter misinformation fuels much of the public anger we see today. Governments at all levels are working hard to find ways to address this issue. The Local Government Management Association (LGMA) has recently published an edition rich with resources for local government leaders titled "Public Engagement in the Age of Misinformation ." I was honoured to contribute to this edition, which explores strategies and tools to combat misinformation effectively.

Civic leaders who want to learn more about "Tackling Toxicity, Cultivating Civility " are invited to join the first-of-its-kind global summit hosted by Kalen Academy and supported by the Victorian Local Governance Association ( Chris Eddy ). This online summit will bring together experts and practitioners to share insights and strategies for fostering civil discourse and building resilient communities.

Together, we can cultivate civic skills and citizen education needed urgently today to safeguard our democracy against this "threat from within".

ARTICLE: Hatred is a threat to democracy

Article below originally published in Municipal World , July 2019 edition.

On Sunday, March 24, 2019, Calgary's Mayor presented 98-year-old Second World War hero Marthe Cohn with the covered Calgary White Hat.

As the mayor spoke about her stand against "injustice and intolerance" despite "living in dark times," Cohn interrupted him to say that the political climate today is the same as it was in pre-war Germany when fascist forces were picking up steam.

"It's as bad as in the early 1930s, and I remember exactly what happened then ... they took the rights from us," said Cohn.

We have heard this warning before. We all should recognize the signs - the rising anger, incivility and divisiveness, the scapegoating, dehumanizing language, and vilification of groups of people.

The statistics support the anecdotal evidence all around us. It was international news when it was reported that hate crimes in "peace-loving" Canada surged 47 percent in 2017. It was the fourth consecutive annual increase, with the nature of attacks becoming more violent. Hate crimes in the U.S. also rose by 17 percent in 2017, the third consecutive annual increase.

In 1923, German Jewish philosopher Martin Buber gave a similar warning - essentially, human relations that dehumanize starve us of strength and spirit and lead to our collective end. In that year, he published his most well-known work, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), where he presented his view that we are relational beings and that we experience relationship in one of two ways:

• I - It: A subject-object utilitarian relationship between a being and a thing; or
• I - Thou: a subject-subject mutual and reciprocal living relationship between two beings.

In the second approach, Buber believes it is only by truly meeting the other to experience each other as human beings that we avoid being reduced to mere objects to be used betrays our humanity and destroys hope of collective human flourishing.

Too often we forget that, at its core, community building is a human-centric project. If the people don't thrive, we have failed. A central purpose of local government, according to municipal legislation, is to foster the "social, economic, and environmental well-being" of the people.

It is instructional that for the ancient Greeks, ethics was impossible to divorce from politics. They reasoned that since man is a political and social animal, the study of politics must be the study of ethics - namely, how we best relate to each other. Our ability to act with justice, courage, and humility toward each other determines the well-being of our community.

Our chosen political system—democracy—requires us to consider and seek the well-being of all. Not the well-being of only one class, one race, one gender, one caste, one state, or a set of ruling families. Democracy becomes a farce if we allow one group to systematically oppress, exploit, exclude, or abuse the other.

Radhanath Swami, the acclaimed author, community builder, and spiritual teacher, summed up the principle outlined by Buber clearly in a recent talk he delivered:

"In an evolved human society, people love people, and use things. But unfortunately, so much in this world, people love things and use people to get them and keep them. There cannot be inner satisfaction in life in such a state of consciousness."

Swami's call is the same as Buber's call for reverential or agapic human relations. A universal love lived out in the way we see and treat each other, as we wish to be treated, regardless of circumstance or difference, rather simply because we are human.

It is the ultimate public servant ethos - we commit to treating people as they ought to be treated based on their membership in the human family - not just because they are tax-paying citizens. Democracy is founded on this principle as well as our sense of justice and equality before the law.

In the end, we didn't heed Buber's 1923 call. Instead, the world descended into the unthinkable barbarism of the Second World War. Today may be our last chance to say, "Never again."

Never again means finally delivering on what Martin Luther King Jr. calls the promissory note contained in the founding documents of democratic nations. The one that guarantees the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. Our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms adds, "the security of the person and the right to not be deprived thereof."

This democratic dream includes living in a place where the exists a genuine "brotherhood of people" and a place where people are not, through poverty and discrimination, cast as exiles in their own land.

Across the world today, former democracies are "peacefully" transitioning into various forms of authoritarianism. According to the The Samara Centre for Democracy 2019 Democracy 360 report, Canada is only one of 19 "full democracies" out of 167 countries surveyed.

The health of our democracy was given a B-, above the U.S. but below most Western European countries due to low political participation. This same study found that 46 percent of Canadians felt our democracy is getting weaker.

First World War hero Marthe Cohn's revelation is "terrifying." Naheed Nenshi further adds that "we all need to be terrified about it, and we need to ensure that we are working every day to stamp out intolerance wherever we see it."

In a Calgary Herald headline the next day he called on all political leaders to "pick a side in the fight against racism and intolerance." Are you on the side of democracy and freedom, or something else? Silence, as always, is complicity.

If you choose democracy, then keep marching until, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, "freedom rings from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city."

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