The danger of romanticizing political figures
Although much of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has been scientifically disproven, it proudly lives on in popular culture through the sexualisation of the word ‘daddy.’ In recent years, parental prose has extended to the realm of politics, and Mark Carney is now Canada’s ‘daddy.’ While the thirst traps on Instagram reels are entertaining, these trends are indicative of a deep-rooted patriarchal structure and an extension of colonial attitudes.
To see the effects of our self-infantilisation in action, we look towards the current economic situation, which is approaching recession. Unemployment is at an all-time high, jobs are nonexistent, and the cost of living exceeds what most of the population can afford. One social response to this dire situation has been the rise of the ‘tradwife aesthetic’ on social media (and in real life). Many women are romanticising men who can provide for them and allow them to live at home without having to work or worry about money. The sexualisation of simple provision allows us to ignore the deteriorating economic situation and our responsibilities within it. We can shift the responsibility onto ‘The Man,’ surrendering our autonomy in doing so. This over-reliance on strong, ‘traditional’ male figures is exactly what draws people to superficially engage in politics without responsibly contributing to democratic society. It is our job to remain educated and engage in politics through the news, government surveys, or activism—just to name a few.
However, these romantic and sexual trends minimise the gravity of our responsibility and justify our inaction by relying on father-like figures to take care of us. Videos of Carney taking his jacket off or flipping his hair are wonderful for the thirsty Carney fans out there, but romanticising our politicians contributes to a dangerous trend. Gaslighting ourselves into loving our situation dismisses the horrible impacts these people are having on the world, similar to concerns with the tradwife trend. The Carney government has been passing many controversial pieces of legislation, such as Bill C-5, which will only further the corruption allegations our government is facing. Making edits of him does not provide any educational value, and in a time where anti-intellectualism is rising, it’s more important than ever to promote awareness and education over blind desire.
The patriarchal notion of a strong man as the head of the household is rife in our current political system as well. Everyone in the house is second to the man, and whoever disobeys is ‘othered.’ It is the same for our government: people rely on a strong man to save them. Indeed, this is exactly the rhetoric that was common during the previous federal election. Anyone who wasn’t a white man was ‘othered’ —one example is immigrants. Anti-immigration attitudes are becoming dangerously prevalent in the public sphere. The fantasy of a white man coming into power to save us from immigrants is simply a repackaged version of the colonial attitudes that we are actively trying to fight. It’s white supremacy in disguise, and yet our romanticisation of political figures glosses over all of this to make our ‘heroes’ palatable. Part of why people like Carney, Trudeau, and Harper win elections is because they appeal to people’s subconscious ideals of what a good leader looks like—a strong white man who people can blindly rely on, as the patriarchy and colonialism have taught us to believe. Why should we elect a woman or a person of colour—someone who is inherently ‘other’?
At a time when our media is being heavily controlled and anti-intellectualism continues to rise, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves, to remain cautious of who we idolise, and be cognisant of the consequences. Of course, I’m not entirely condemning all fun related to politics, but we must be careful when consuming information that can become propaganda. The last thing we want to do is copy the rise of authoritarianism in our neighbouring country, which is only possible when our lack of education allows others to take advantage of us.