Misdirection - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Kids are smart. This is something that I’ve learned over the past four years or so as Jess and I have had two of them. Oh, they may not be smart in the sense that they nap when given the opportunity (an opportunity, might I add, that their parents would gladly take 100 times out of 100) or by taking the initiative to get jobs and chip in around here, but they are certainly perceptive.

 

Jess and I have endured an absolute bear of six-week stretch in the parenting arena. It began with starting year-and-a-half-old Cooper in daycare and four-year-old Tallulah in Junior Kindergarten and has continued through numerous bouts of sickness and a teething process that, at this point, seems like a cruel joke for Cooper not resembling anything Tallulah experienced in any way whatsoever. During this time, and others, there have been periods of tension and frustration among all four members of the family. And, at times, those periods have boiled over. 

 

Tallulah, especially, can tell. She knows that a certain tone can mean one of her parents is frustrated or losing their patience. She knows the difference in the sound between a utensil normally placed in the sink by a calm person and one with a little bit more mustard on it as a grumpy parent and not-listening child clash. And yet, Jess and I have both done our best to assure her that, despite what she may think she’s seeing or hearing, we are being calm and handling things in a normal, patient manner.

 

This is the old parenting and leadership trick of asking people to do as you say, not as you do, which we’ve all heard before in one context or another. Its more succinct cousin says that actions speak louder than words. 

 

It is through this lens that I couldn’t help but view some of the recent extreme right wing thinking creeping into Huron County and Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh (ACW). 

 

There, we have a council that voted in a new three-flag policy to shut down any flag-flying requests. Of course, they’re all shut down, but the only request to fly a flag ever formally received from the municipality was to fly the Pride flag in June in recent years. This has been a real cracker of a debate for local council bodies, not just ACW, with many turning down the requests. ACW had voted in favour of the request in the past, but now, with this policy in place, requests seemingly won’t even make it to council anymore. And yet, there was Huron County Warden and ACW Mayor Glen McNeil reminding us all that both ACW and Huron County are places of equality, diversity and inclusion. “Everyone is welcome in Huron County. And everyone belongs in Huron County. There is no place for discrimination or prejudice against anyone,” he said.

 

Without singling out McNeil, who has been a champion for inclusion individually, it’s hard not to hear those words ringing a bit hollow. A welcoming community would, theoretically, do welcoming things, not vote against them. 

 

It kind of reminds me of the discussion in Moneyball when Billy Beane’s scouts assure him that a player with mediocre statistics is a good hitter. “If he’s a good hitter, why doesn’t he hit good?” Ah, the eternal question.

 

Then there’s the matter of the nasty billboard just north of Goderich, as tackled capably by CTV’s Scott Miller. A racist billboard proudly created and displayed by someone who assures Miller that he’s not a racist. Got it.

 

Debating prowess, a willingness to gaslight, the delusion to earnestly question whether the sky is blue and dusting off the old fascism dog whistle will not pass the smell test for the smartest among us. Just ask my daughter.