How you're being manipulated 101: ELITE

Conservative supporters will frequently complain about being labelled racist, for using "dog whistle terms" that are racist code when in fact all they're trying to do is state "their voice isn't being heard." I acknowledge that. Rural voters make up only 20% of Canada's population. People of rural backgrounds represent less than 40% across the country. Any democratic system that allows the majority to rule isn't going to harm the majority to benefit a spread out minority. Even taking the diversity angle out of it, the Rural voice in Canada has less impact. The Greater Toronto and Montreal areas combined have three times the population of all of Alberta. And Alberta has almost 1/10th the population of Canada. So a law that benefits only Alberta isn't going to fly. Period. And facts are used on long-term decisions. Like the one where it costs taxpayers half as much money to feed and house someone then it does to police, imprison and provide emergency medical care to them because they're living on the street. Which seems counter-intuitive to most, to anyone, unless you see the facts. But ELITE is a bad word for Conservatives to use and they need to know why: The average educational background of a Conservative supporter is High School with possibly some trade school following that. There's nothing wrong with this, I'm in that boat. But the trap of it is that real life experiences are more likely to prove a counter-intuitive idea that works is more valuable than a theory based on statistics and facts that don't seem to have any direct positive result. Because of this, lower education folk trust facts less than higher education folk do. And often lower education folk see facts being used against them. Because when you look at facts you're looking at the whole of a problem, not the isolated bits. And it's easy to convince people that someone else is getting a benefit they're not, particularly when that "benefit" is actually just trying to level the playing field but you're struggling to stay afloat. I believe if you want to understand why Trump and Doug Ford got elected this is a core to it. These people feel marginalized, they feel like their opinions are under attack, they feel like they're not allowed to express their feelings and concerns and when they do they're ignored. And no one likes to lose ground. Then along comes an idiot who is happy to be their voice and since he's far less eloquent than they are and apparently seems happy being a lightning rod for negative attention, and he pushes the bar so far that it liberates them to open up, be themselves, say the things they can only normally get away with around the kitchen table after a case of beer. Otherwise they're constantly being told their opinions are wrong, overblown and unimportant. Even when its true, no one wants to hear that. In short, white males without university degrees now feel the way every single woman, minority and immigrant has felt pretty much throughout history. Payback's a bitch. I get it. That sucks. So there's a distrust among such people of anyone with a degree or facts or words they have to look up if they could be bothered, because if you don't understand the science and process or the theory used to make a decision, and the decision seems to hurt you, even in the short term, then you're going to hate the decision and the decision maker and lets face it, the process those decisions are made with. So far, ok. However, the term ELITE is also used in reference to urban areas, it's used like it's talking about where the rich, and highly educated live. I heard the term "416 Elites" used a lot by Conservatives on their boards to slam the fact downtown Toronto doesn't vote Conservative, so doesn't share their values, so to hell with them (fun fact: oddly most conservative wonks that form policy for the party live in areas that vote Liberal and NDP. Maybe that's opposition research but it's sounds pretty "elite" to me). In reality the 416 isn't where most of the wealthy live, the first thing a person does with wealth is get away from cities. Cities are where most of the poor, lower middle class and immigrants live. It's where people who have to take transit live. It's where old people who walk to grocery stores live. It's where people who need social assistance and subsidized daycare just make rent with their low paying job live. And because the urban areas have so many seats they either control things or have a much louder voice at the table. Which has gotta suck for people not living in the 416 who have pick-up trucks and boats and cabins because they don't live in cities where most of low paying jobs are, or because they have family and savings to rely on to get ahead. But it's how a democracy works. And it's why ELITE is a dog-whistle racist word, since instead of rich it actually means poor and instead of educated entitled it's actually referring to immigrants and people who get carded by police for sitting on a bench in a park.