The most interesting part of the “Manning Centre Barometer 2010”—an annual compendium of conservative values—was not the fact that 89 percent of Canadians feel that “nothing is more important than family” or that 60 percent strongly agree that abortion is morally wrong. Even the fact that 67 percent of Canadians strongly agree that marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman, wasn’t terribly startling.
The report, based on the results of 1,000 phone interviews conducted February 1 – 10 of this year, is intended by the Calgary-based Manning Centre (founded by Preston, late of the Reform Party) to highlight small “c” conservative principles in Canada.
While the report did reveal a strong trend towards conservatism, the most interesting part of the document was findings that the Manning Centre filed under “dissonance”. For example, while majorities believed abortion is wrong and marriage should be a male/female affair only, a mere 31 percent of Canadians felt that “government should play a major role regulating individual behavior and morality”.
In a similar fashion, 84 percent of respondents felt that “government should have an important role in managing the economy”, but only 34 percent of Canadians said that government policies had a big impact on their daily lives. Likewise, less than 40 percent of Canadians felt government can be “very helpful”.
George Orwell might have blasted such results as an example of “doublethink”.
In his classic novel, 1984, Orwell defined “doublethink” as the ability to hold two totally contradictory opinions on a subject and believe fully in both.
Far from being something only found in fiction, “doublethink” is an ingrained aspect of Canadian society.
Prime Minister Harper demonstrated as much during his recent YouTube interview. While coming out strongly against legalizing drugs, he added “there’s lots of crimes a lot worse than the casual use of marijuana.” Translation: dope will remain illegal, but Ottawa recognizes it’s not the crime of the century to smoke a spliff now and again.
In a similar fashion, a majority of Canadians might find abortion repugnant but would draw the line at a complete ban on the procedure, lest one of their loved ones get impregnated by sexual assault. While a majority might prefer to see traditional marriage preserved, few people want Saudi Arabian-style “morality police” enforcing laws on private consensual adult activity.
This might be an example of “doublethink” in action. I regard it as simply a reflection of the fact that Canadians generally shy away from black and white extremes, even while embracing the kind of conservative values espoused by the Manning Centre.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/duncan/225963043/
