The politics of alternate reality

OAKVILLE, ONT.—According to a quantum physics theory (my understanding of which is based mainly on what I learned from watching Star Trek), there exists an infinite number of alternate Earths and thus an infinite number of alternate realities. It’s a fantastic, mind-boggling concept to be sure, but one which should actually be familiar to people who work in politics. After all, pundits and politicians and political partisans sometimes create their own alternate realities and their own alternate Earths. And it’s a tendency, unfortunately, which usually leads to mistakes. Last year, for instance, many pundits had created an alternate reality where the American election was a foregone conclusion: Hillary Clinton would clobber Donald Trump. And pundits fabricated a similar alternate reality during Britain’s “Brexit” referendum, a reality in which the British people would never spurn the European Union. Plus, let’s not forget, here in Canada, many pundits were sure NDP leader Thomas Mulcair was an odds on favourite to win the 2015 federal election, Of course, in all those cases the pundits were wrong, their realities turned out to be not so real. What caused this failure is simple: too many pundits allowed their own biases to distort their view of the world. In short, they saw reality not as it was, but as they wanted it to be; so, in effect, they created their own versions of Earth, versions which made sense to them. And this can happen to politicians too. Take the case of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his recent controversial interview with Rolling Stone magazine. What made that interview controversial were Trudeau’s own ill-chosen words, i.e. he bragged about how, in that celebrated charity boxing spectacle, he had dished out a beating to aboriginal Senator Patrick Brazeau and about how he had planned it. Said Trudeau: "I wanted someone who would be a good foil, and we stumbled upon the scrappy tough-guy senator from an Indigenous community. He fit the bill, and it was a very nice counterpoint." Not surprisingly, many saw this comment as insensitive. Cindy Blackstock, a prominent activist for First Nations children, told the CBC that Trudeau’s remarks “reinforce this whole dichotomy, colonial dichotomy, of the savage and the civilized. The savage being Indigenous peoples and the civilized being the colonial forces.” Trudeau later expressed regret for causing offence, but the fact that he didn’t foresee the negative reaction his statement would trigger is a sure sign he was living in his own alternate reality. In this case it was a reality where people are endlessly fascinated by political tactics and by the “inside baseball” of communication strategy. And this was Trudeau’s reality because, let’s face it, the prime minister is always surrounded by people like pollsters and consultants and journalists who do care about that kind of tactical stuff and who do enjoy getting “behind-the-scenes” stories. So when Trudeau boasted about how he had set up the fight with Brazeau, he probably assumed Canadians would praise him for his strategic brilliance. Certainly, that’s what would happen in his alternate reality. Instead, in the real world, lots of people saw his remarks as the crowing of a cynical politician. Mind you, if quantum physics theory is right, then it’s possible that in some other dimension things are different. Maybe an alternate Earth exists where Trudeau’s comments in Rolling Stone were lauded as genius and where president Hillary Clinton recently met with prime minister Thomas Mulcair to discuss Britain’s ongoing love affair with the EU. Who knows? All I do know is political strategists living in this reality should stay in this reality. Gerry Nicholls is a communications consultant. www.gerrynicholls.com The Hill Times