Where is Progressivism Progressing To?
Progressive politics was a very important part of our history, it lead to where we are at now, where you can basically live your life how you choose. If you are a career woman, homosexual, trans, a visible minority, whatever the case, progressivism has broken down most of the barriers you would have faced say 50 years ago. I will admit it’s not perfect, but we’re human, it never will be. Prejudice will always exist, and all we can do is to teach younger generations to be better. In Canada I think the only area we still need to work on is Indigenous issues, as the Indian Act is still alive and well, so our native communities still do not have autonomy from the federal government. So while this movement was very important, the question is, has it become as toxic as the religious fundamentalist views it was created to fight?
One example of this is the trans rights movement. Trans people have always had rights, rights based on their biological sex. Once homosexuality was made legal, there were really no barriers for them beyond those that protect women. These rights that women were given are explicitly based on the fact that more than 99% of men and women fall into neat sexual categories, where men are more aggressive due to testosterone, we’re built with a bigger upper body, we’re typically taller, our muscle growth is enhanced by testosterone. All of these are biological facts, and as much as it would be nice if we lived in a world where every man is a perfect gentleman, that will never be the case. We are human and therefore flawed, so we have created all sorts of rules to protect women from the worst of the male sex. Not only that, but to give them a space to compete against other women. This is not about female bonding, this is to promote female greatness.
So why, in 2017, did we pass a law that conflicts with women’s rights? The answer is progressivism. While the debate was largely about compelled speech, the bill C-16 had much more dangerous implications. What it did was give people the same rights for gender discrimination as sexual discrimination. The problem with that is in reality, gender rights often conflict with sex rights. The people suffering from gender dysphoria, which is a mental illness, are now given the ability to enter women’s spaces. Not only that, but because it is a mental and not physiological condition, there is no way to determine if the person is genuine, or if they are using the distinction for personal gain. The bill has made conversation about this in Canada almost impossible, because if you even imply that there is a difference, and that this creates a problem, you can be charged with hate speech and brought before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
So you can see how progressivism is leading now to what people think being more important than scientifically proven realities. This is now moving us away from a society based on reason and science, and towards a religious type of thinking. It is what it is because I say that it is. Critical Race Theory has created these type of thinkers as well, people who have convinced themselves that what goes on within the minds of people creates a different reality for different people based on skin colour. Outside of statistical differences which also refute the central argument that racial disparities are because of white supremacy, there is no proof that racism is a core problem to success of BIPOC. There is much more proof that things like broken homes and a terrible school system have more to do with failure for any race, yet progressives parrot the talking points of both of these toxic progressive groups just like religious people chanting “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” This has created a toxic environment for young black and indigenous children, where they are taught they are at a disadvantage based on their skin colour, instead of teaching them that what they do in life will determine their outcomes.
Even in the realm of politics, we see the Liberal Party becoming a socialist party, openly endorsing UBI, and flirting with the idea of free college, even while many college students now don’t actually find a job in the field they studied, because they were taught to go to college for what they want to do, not for what there are openings in the job market for. The shift away from a merit based system in schooling under the guise of inclusivity is also becoming popular. We are now progressing from a reality based middle ground between right wing and left wing thinking, true liberalism, and towards one that is solely to make progressives feel better because their activism has accomplished something. The only problem is, we as a society have stopped asking if they have accomplished something that is better for the people they claim to be fighting for, and society as a whole.