Stereotypes: Everyone’s got them, and conservatives are no different! What do you imagine when you picture the standard conservative? For me, it’s a white, straight, middle class, Christian man who lives somewhere down south or in the middle of the country on some rural farmland or a small town with not much diversity. Guided by his deep faith, he wants America to become more traditional again, like in the days of his grandparents or his boyhood. He’s a blue collar salt of the Earth guy who works with his hands and provides for his wife and children. He may not be college educated, but has a wisdom that goes far beyond any formal “education”, lessons shaped by living life and wisdom only gained through years of experience. He doesn’t have much material wise, not many comforts, but his family is rich in love and devotion and his faith fulfills him….
Now, I’ll say right off the bat, despite this image being mostly positive, it can also come off as patronizing and condescending for some, casting the conservative into some sort of romanticized version of some ignorant hillbilly! To put this in less flattering terms, as the Left believes we are:
He is utterly ignorant, barely passing high school and if he were college educated, would be on the Left. His rural settings have not exposed him to other sorts of people, causing his bigotry and xenophobia, or his southern heritage made him come from generations of racists. His religion preaches hatred towards gays and anyone who isn’t white and just like him. His family are oppressed by his patriarchal attitude and his wife nothing more than good breeding stock, like his cattle. His children mere property, especially daughters, with which he does as he sees fit. His only “wisdom” is how to be a complete ignoramus and fear all differences. He votes with his emotion, not his mind at the polls. He’s have a better job, but shuns education as elitist and prefers to make barely above minimum wage. He idolizes and venerates his poverty in mind and material as a virtue…
If you’re not steaming out of both ears by now, kudos to you 😉 This is not in fact, a wild exaggeration of a conservative stereotype, but true, insinuated by much of the radical Left! The Left has indeed openly mocked the faith of many conservatives, mocked many for their blue collar background and yes, implied that they are utterly ignorant and embrace an anti-intellectual stance! To the Left, we are mainly some Bible Thumping fundies who seek to impose our faith on the universe through guilt trips and hell fire, or some deep south hillbilly, or some high school drop out who with more education, would vote Left! We’re little more than knee jerk bigots who recoil at anyone who’s different than ourselves. We hate gays, minorities, oppress our women, and refuse to listen to science! Our blue collar backgrounds are derided and mocked from their ivory towers. In essence, to the Left, we’re the party of ignorance and embrace it!
However, like any stereotype, some fit the mold, others don’t… See, being a conservative myself, I can attest that I fall out of several of their stereotypical categories! For one, I’m an atheist! I don’t look to any god to tell me what my morals are or what society should be like. I have non-religious reasons for condemning things like promiscuity, broken homes, immodest dress, and such that often are criticized by religious groups. Many of my values line up with conservative Christians, and several have made amazing allies and fellow conservative friends and comprise of many of my loyal followers. They, in fact, unlike the bigoted “hell fire and brimstone” stereotype of them, are amazingly open minded and accept me as a fellow ally too despite knowing I’m non-religious. It’s funny when Lefties online try to attack me from a religious angle and are thrown in for a loop when I tell them I’m an not religious! (No, I don’t care about what a 1st century Jewish rabbi from Roman Palestine might have thought about immigration in 21st century America! 😉 )
Another thing, I’m a woman (hence a “Lady” of Reason 😉 ). Indeed, not all women subscribe to the pulls of radical feminism! I don’t respect those who screech profanities, wear vulgar vagina hats and hold signs with toilet jokes! I prefer the lady of generations past over the “Nasty Woman” of today. I don’t agree that men are in a world wide mass conspiracy to oppress the other half of humanity, or that they succeeded as much as the Left think they did. Men and women are equal in dignity as human beings, but not identical in their aptitudes, natures, and abilities. Men are not “sexist” for voicing an opinion contrary to radical feminism, nor are women like me “gender traitors” for voting Republican or for Trump! Women like me and many others who are conservative think their chromosomes don’t determine what they must think, their brains do 🙂
In addition, there are plenty of other things too that make me and others exceptions to the rule: Many conservatives do live on the East Coast or out in California. We just don’t voice it as openly in a sea of rabid liberals. Many conservatives are in white collar jobs, and we know this by how many got forced out by the Left once exposed! Many have gone to college and graduate school, and make up our scientists, teachers, scholars, etc… Indeed, some even created their own journal to publish controversial ideas the Left won’t let them publish in mainstream Left-leaning journals! I myself treasure education, and have always had a life long passion for science and history. Many conservatives are not straight. I know several gay conservatives, and they are well known on social media platforms such as Twitter. Many of us embrace them as we share similar values, and don’t just write them off because they’re gay! Speaking of gay conservatives, they don’t use their sexuality as a political platform or victimhood status…
Many conservatives are also minorities too. Conservatives such as Michelle Malkin, Candace Owens, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, etc..etc… They don’t let their race define their opinions, and decry the hypocrisy of white Leftists condescending their race as victims in need of saving! And, not all conservatives are Christian. I know several who are loyal allies and followers on my blog who are Jewish, despite claims that conservatives embrace or condone antisemitism. There even is a Muslim conservative (despite being very rare since the Left aligns with the Muslim community heavily, even radical Muslims) I know about on Twitter who runs The Washington Pundit! Then of course, there’s me having no religion 😉
However, even if a conservative fits the stereotypical mold, it that necessarily negative or bad? It’s true that many who aren’t college educated have more wisdom than 20 college kids put together! People who are down to Earth, and work with their hands are some of the most honest, hardworking people with integrity to a fault! Being blue collar or middle class should not be a sin… Living in the South or in the Midwest does not mean you’re a caveman, and is demeaning and condescending to those who live there and in rural areas to cast them as ignorant hicks! CA and New England aren’t the only places in the country worth noting… A person who is conservative as part of their deep and sincere faith deserves no more mockery, disrespect and derision than you do for your deep heartfelt beliefs. Nor should be forced to violate their deep moral tenets in the name of “inclusion”. People who are poor in possessions aren’t necessarily poor in morals and the love of their family and the fulfillment of their faith or other life philosophy, nor does it mean they should be targets for patronizing scorn for not being as materialistic or as fortunate as you! Plenty of conservative men, such as my father would never oppress a woman or think to treat his wife and daughters as property! Nor turn to white supremacy. Being a white male and conservative is not an indicator of racism and bigotry.
So who is a conservative? A conservative is like anybody else! We’re your neighbors, friends, and family. We’re the ones you invite to the barbecue, over for the holidays, the ones you comfort during the hard times, and laugh with during the fun ones. The ones who you feel you can confide your deepest fears, joys, aspirations, secrets. You may not even have a clue what our politics are, but you do know that when we’re with you, we light up the room and embrace you wholeheartedly with no regards to your skin color, gender, sexuality etc… We’re your coworker. Your colleague. The ones you see in church, or synagogue, or even in your mosque perhaps! Your cashier, waiter, bank teller, realtor, mechanic, lawyer, doctor, teacher, and a multitude of people you will see every day. And yes, I can’t help but also mention, your president! 😉
A Lady of Reason 
Excellent points all around and I hope some Liberals who read this will think back to before November 2016 when they dumped all their friends who voted for Trump, or like me (who opted not to vote), got dumped for merely congratulating the winner (never mind these same people saw me congratulate Obama twice). Remember how fun it was before, having a diversity of friends with whom you could pal around and banter with? Remember when you didn’t have to panic about what pronoun to use with someone? To not feel like you’re going to accidentally “microaggress” against someone? Life for you is bound to have become narrow and claustrophobic, with only a sense that you’re being virtuous as your guide. Meanwhile, you’re macroaggressing against Conservatives you don’t know, and won’t know because you deliberately closed yourself off into your Echo Chamber where the large number of “Likes” on your Twitter post means more than having a large variety of friends. You made politics more important than friendship, and instead of trying to change a mind, you went and joined with other minds who are little more than mockingbirds, literally repeating word for word what they’ve heard on TV. But then, you’re validated by this narrow chasm of people and don’t have to TRY seeing another point of view. You’re confirmed daily that you are “right” while joining atrocious riots or committing fascist crimes with Antifa. You sin against your fellow man by doxxing him, following him around and harassing him. And you think that’s somehow going to make that person change?? No, it’s going to radicalize that person against you. Why do you think so many Muslims becone Islamists? So you’re basically forcing Conservatives into their own Echo Chamber wherein most don’t really want to be. Making your world an “Agree With Me Or Get Out” kind of place is limiting and it’s gotta be BORING AS HELL.
As to degree-less Conservatives being “dumb hicks”, my father dropped out of college and worked in the oil field for one of the Majors. He was hardworking and learned every job out there and picked up a lot of knowledge. He always did favours for people he met out there and made friends with, like running by their wells so they didn’t have to hire a pumper. Years later, one of those friends wanted to retire, and in return for all the years of friendship and loyalty, he handed over three wells and told my dad to let the wells pay themselves off, which they did and are still our three best producing wells. From there, in a mere ten years and during a bust that nearly crippled West Texas, he turned those three wells into 80 as he bought up leases being auctioned off dirt cheap. He could take a well that had been shut-in for ages, throw down a mix of acid and chemicals, and have it back to producing in no time! He was truly a Mozart in his field, and his funeral was standing-room-only and spilling out into the parking lot. And at least half of those people were Democrats. Why? Because my Old Man left his politics at home. He didn’t need a political party to tell him if someone was a good person or not. And he wasn’t especially religious, having come from a family of Jews who overtly converted to Lutheranism. He believed in God, but I think he communed with Him better out in the oil field under a spacious blue sky, amongst the cactus and mesquite than he ever did in a church pew. I’m the same in a lot of ways. I didn’t let my political dander get all riled up this past summer when I heard and saw the hypocrisy of a group that says it’s anti-fascist, yet ironically let’s Antifa reenact Kristallnacht in Berkeley at the behest of Maxine Waters and harass people on the streets of Portland for the mere colour of their skin. I couldn’t believe the sheer sanctimony of people who claimed to be about love and inclusion. They failed to mention the caveat “as long as you think and talk like me and agree with everything I say!” It actually makes me long for the days of moderate Democrats who at least DEBATED issues, not shouted down their opposition with cries of “Racist!” As a Jew, I get great joy out of informing people I’m not ethnically “all white” AND Conservative and, alternately, I laugh when I see Lady of Reason being accused of Fundamentalism, as if that’s the badge all Conservatives have to wear!! Sorry to inform you, Dear Democrat, but we come from ALL walks of life, and you don’t need to know how we voted to get along with us. You just have to open your world back up and rejoin us, because things always work better for America when Democrats and Republicans work together.
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This is a beautifully written article! Thank you!
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It was a gay man I worked with who was conservative who enlightened me that I was at the time a closet conservative altho young and wild at the time. He and I are from NYC and it is very true that conservatives from an urban environment differ greatly from those “typical” conservatives as you described. And it’s all very true.
They also bring a lot on themselves by their behavior as they ARE INDEED bigoted, misogynistic, and ARE as ignorant as all get out. How can say this? Because I’ve lived with one and his kind for 12 yrs. They were and are the first ones to throw me in front of a train just because of where I’m from without even getting to know me. All their knowledge is limited by their own experiences which are limited by a perspective of a people who refuse to evolve or get involved passing judgement before learning all the facts. There is no excuse in this day and age to remain in such ignorance. But I guess it’s hard to see and hear what’s going on in the world when one has their so far up their own butt they’re in the dark! This is the ignorance that gave Obama 4 more years because far-righties had issues with someone being a Mormon.
The left demonize Trump representing conservatives because of the false narratives that we allowed the far right to define us as! This is why your writing is so important; especially this piece!
They had and still have pre-conceived notions about who and what I was this terrible person from the big bad city with no values. I have more values in my little finger than some of them. They act so righteous when they have the sleaziest of skeletons in their closets and get offended when exposed. smh As big if not bigger hypocrites than some on the left. Two opposite sides of the same coin.
Therefore until they change their ways, the left will always have some validity to their arguments, however, THEIR delirium clouds the primary issues most important to our nation to the extent that they too cannot be taken seriously.
Great entry as always and I hope we can ALL gain some reason thereof from it!
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Thanks so much for liking it! I’m glad my stuff resonates with people 🙂
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I read it when you shared it under someone’s post. As always you’re so insightful! Great work!
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Its important to remember that stereotypes are substitutes for actual information about a person. We observe certain characteristics and we tell ourselves a story about the person based on our preconceptions. Our distant ancestors who lived in tribal groups had to do that because identifying a stranger’s tribe to determine if he was friend of foe could mean the difference between life and death. The question is how useful is that propensity in modern times.
I’m generally conservative and most of my friends and acquaintances are as well. Based on that, I can say some of the aspects of the stereotype are applicable to those friends and acquaintances while others are off the mark. Those who are rely on such stereotypes, really need to get out and meet more conservatives. When I look at a map of the 2016 election results broken down by county, I see relatively small, highly populated areas that voted Democratic and large, more sparsely populated areas that voted Republican. Geographically, most of the country is conservative but many on the Left are dependent on stereotypes as their source of information about conservatives because so many on the Left live in very liberal enclaves and meet only other leftists in their day to day lives.
Unfortunately, conservative versus liberal stereotypes often are a reversion to our distant ancestors’ use of stereotypes as a way of identifying friends and foes. The stereotypes tend to be definitions of the good guys and the bad guys. Because of that, it is easy to include a lot of unwarranted negatives into the stereotypes of the “bad guys.” That is one of the basic techniques of propaganda. A good propagandist seeks to have the target audience identify with one side and to view those with opposing arguments as the enemy. That way, you can manipulate your target audience into adopting your side without them assessing the actual pros and cons of a particular position. You get them to identify as a group and convince them that their stances on various positions are properties of the group. The desire to identify with a group serves as a substitute for reasoned analysis of issues. That is especially attractive to those who have little interest in doing the research and analysis needed to form an independent view.
Of course, many on the Left will be tempted to point out that stereotyping isn’t just something that the Left does about the Right and, they are correct in saying that. Conservatives see the negative stereotypes that the Left puts out about them and those insults form a large part of their view of the Left. To many conservatives, a liberal is someone who thinks we conservatives are a bunch of ignorant hicks who don’t have the sense to defer to our Leftist betters.
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You have some very interesting points about stereotypes used for propaganda.
Stereotypes *should* be based on reality. They are basically an abstract representation of a particular group that the majority of that group generally fits into. It’s an “average” of that group. Of course, in reality, averages don’t really exists; they are a representation of a middle ground, but they are broad enough and close enough to be useful.
I think, for a lot of conservatives, their stereotype of the typical leftist is more based on their own personal experiences and/or what they have observed first hand. Lefts’ stereotype of conservatives, I have found, is not based on reality, but their *perception* of reality. If hard evidence is produced to counter their narrative, I have found they are far more likely to outright reject that evidence in favour of their preferred perception than conservatives. (And yes, I have seen that on both sides, but in my observations and experience, it is much more rare among though who identify as conservative.)
Which makes the leftist view of conservatives not so much a stereotype, but a caricature.
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It’s a strange time. Although I’m almost entirely apolitical, if pressed to label myself I would say that I’m a classical liberal. Even so, I’m called alt-right (whatever that even means) by those who’ve veered far left and there’s no place left for any kind of open dialogue: your either with them or your against them.
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Exactly… That’s the issue! They label you as bigoted and immoral simply for being more moderate than they are, which is why many moderate Democrats are walking away too…
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Oh I can SO relate!
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It’s been … interesting… watching politics in the US from Canada. Our liberal/conservative divide had not been very wide; liberals (the Liberal Party) and conservatives (the Conservative Party of Canada) were both more centrist, and the NDP (New Democratic Party) were the hard left. Our conservatives are considered liberal, by US standards, I’m told. One of the common insults people would throw at the parties they didn’t support during elections was to accuse them of “American style politics”, meaning they were rude and crude liars who made personal attacks on others (ironically, it’s the ones who made those accusations that were being rude, crude liars making personal attacks).
In recent years, however, things have changed dramatically. Liberals are no longer liberal. They have become leftists. Even the NDP are hard pressed to stay to the left of todays’ Liberals!
The stereotypes here were a bit different, and pretty much based on reality. Liberals tended to be Easterners, urbanites, with university degrees. Conservatives tended to be Western (except the south west corner of BC, aka California North), rural with trades or vocational training. Conservatives were more likely to be business owners, farmers and tradesmen. Liberals were more likely to be government employees or teachers/professors and journalists.
I noticed a sharp increase in division when Stephen Harper was elected as Prime Minister. Leftists called him Bush’s “Mini-me”, and the attacks were amazing. The opposition parties blocked everything they could, and when things went wrong because of it, SH was blamed by the very leftists that cheered the blocking of policies that would have worked in the first place. It was then that the leftist stereotype you describe above began to kick in. Then Trudeau got elected, and it didn’t get any better, but it did get a bit quieter – until Trump got elected. Then, the veil fell and the hatred of anything to the right of Mao and Stalin became labelled as alt-right, far right, far right extremist, and any conservative became all those things, as well as homophobes, islamophobes, racists, and assumed to all be old, white, male and *gasp* Christian.
It’s been an amazing thing to watch happen. Like some sort of mass psychosis.
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Yep! Insane and helped solidify my conservative identity!
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Thanks for that outside perspective. Usually I am smug about such things and don’t tend to care what other countries think. Me n Trump, we’re the same! lol! NY attitudes I guess! Funny, coming from an extremely diverse environment makes us think we have the corner market on many various perspectives and in some ways we do. Some cultures outside of American can be very narrow-minded in their politics and judgements about various ways of life.
Your perspective lends a fresh look from outside our “house,” without the cultural biases.
It has been difficult to have to hear over and over again people who come here to our country, and then bad mouth it to the nth degree constantly saying where they’re from is better. My comeback to that was always so what are you doing here? Go back to where you came from and DO let the gate hit you in the butt on the way out for good measure.
Oh..am I bad?
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Thanks.
An anti-US attitude is almost cultural for Canadians – it was always just sort of “there” when I was growing up, but I never quite knew why.
I’ve had other Canadians attack me for all the US political stuff I share on my personal Facebook page. Why do I care, since I’m Canadian and it doesn’t effect me? Except, of course, it DOES affect us. Our two countries are so closely aligned in so may ways, geographically, economically, politically… what happens in the US affects us.
I’ve developed a strong respect for the US, though I still prefer Canada in many ways (though our current leadership is doing much to destroy the very things that make us “better”). There is a lot of misinformation, both way (no, we are NOT a “socialist” country – at least not yet). But it is the ex-pat Americans who have hated on me the most. They loathe the US, but they keep their citizenship, so they can vote in US elections. Now, they’re all pissed off because, after all these decades, suddenly they have to pay US taxes! *L*
They are why I now think dual citizenship is something that needs to end.
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Just beautiful and thank you. I am clear as to what a conservative means. Now I know what to say to anyone who says, I am afraid to say I am a conservative. I say believe in your foundation!
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If the left would collect funds from those that support their programs. Kind of like how churches get money from those that support churches, I would have less issue in a free society.
But the left demands more and more tax money and they have many things people on the left do that implicate the lives of other people.
I have no desire to do many of the glorified fun ideals of the left. They don’t interest me at all. I don’t want to drink or smoke drugs random sex.
They are all pointless, dangerous or else gross for health and safety reasons. They really gloss over the diseases from sex hookups.
Being thoughtful and wanting to enjoy a longer r life and avoiding harmful situations is not a bad thing and in many ways that represents being a conservative. If someone tells a conservative to jump we look at the situation first then maybe we will
On the left they are more likely to jump and try to deal with the result after.
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Exactly! There are many detriments to hook up and an entitled culture of I want instant gratification or never to feel obligated to others! We should do what does good, not what feels good!
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Thank you for verbalizing such simple yet deep wisdom. As a conservative, I’m tired of being stereotyped as an uneducated hillbilly (although there is nothing wrong with that either). It’s not me nor anybody else I know.
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Same here! I hate being thought of as anti intellectual by the Left 😡
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The Conservatives were those who largely wished to Conserve the status quo , they were happy with things as they are , why progress when progress means breaking with tradition. These days classes are breaking up and wealth and prosperity has spread to the working classes.
The old stereotypes are becoming more and more meaningless as the population intermingles .
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I don’t think it’s “why progress when progress means breaking with tradition” (though there is certainly those who do feel that way – I wouldn’t use the term conservative to describe them, though!), so much as “don’t try and fix what ain’t broke.” Progress just for the sake of progress is rarely beneficial. Genuine progress is a very organic process, and conservatives have historically been quite adaptive and participatory in that. Once people start to force artificial progress, it’s rarely a good thing!
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I’m not sure what you mean by artificial progress but I hazard a guess it’s progress you don’t like . My uncle a rough and ready working man had a favorite saying I’ve never forgotten ; ‘ you’ve gotta take the rough with the smooth boy ‘ and he set the example by doing just that .
Compromise is a part of life and along with all the new comes some unpleasant shocks . It amazes me how resilient we humans are we have learnt to live in the complex modern world and make the most of it.
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I’m talking about progress that is forced. But if it makes you feel better about yourself to project motives onto me… whatever.
I do agree on the amazing resilience of humans, though the staggering speed of change in the last few decades has not come without cost. 😦
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I won’t press you but if you can see your way to give an example , as I see it all progress is forced on society but not on us as individuals .
The Amish have carefully selected and rejected much of modern technology.
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An example of forced progress, in Canada, is the government changing the legal definition of marriage, despite the majority of Canadians being against it. Most people – both or and against SSM – were actually in favour of civil unions, which would have been a closer example of organic progress. The forced progress continues with increased persecution and demonization of anyone who supports OSM, and the forcing of people and organizations to support SSM, penalizing them if they don’t, since the change. Despite the popular narrative, the change resulted in exactly the slippery slope people (both for and against SSM) predicted. The “live and let live” attitude we were told would happen flew out the window as soon as the legal definition was changed, and now people and organizations are being forced to not only accept SSM, but celebrate and validate it. Freedom of thought and opinion has been lost. Similar examples can be made about the legalization of abortion (Canada has no abortion law at all), or even about things like anthropogenic climate change (our federal government’s carbon tax just kicked in, and those provinces that are against it as say they will not implement it are going to be penalized if they don’t), etc.
I’m not sure how the Amish are an example of anything, since they are an outlier group.
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I checked it out it looks to me as if the majority were in favour of the change , apparently public opinion had shifted between 1997 and 2002.
Across the world people’s attitude to same sex relationships is changing . Of course we are entitled to our own opinions but the law is the law and has the final say.
I point to the Amish since they are a fine example of a group who live as they wish .
I did not agree with the abolition of the death penalty and still believe we should exercise that right by law , but the majority rules in democratic societies.
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You missed an important detail; the part where what people objected to was changing the legal definition of marriage. People were just fine with couples doing as they pleased.
And yes, there was a shift of opinion; that shift has more to do with propaganda and indoctrination than any sort of natural progress. Hence my using it as an example. You are, in fact, helping illustrate the point I’m making by citing that.
Also, “the law is the law and has the final say” is a very dangerous attitude to have. Laws are made by whomever is in power. There are a whole lot of bad laws out there; just look at the laws of any totalitarian state to see how laws are used, not for the benefit of a society, but to place and keep control of that society in the hands of an elite few.
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Aside from the fact that over 70% of Canadians currently approve of SSM, how does legal recognition of SSM demonize, persecute or penalize those who prefer OSM? Can you provide examples of this occurring?
And the number of abortions performed in Canada has actually declined since the previous laws restricting them were struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1988.
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re: abortions, we do not have accurate numbers of how many abortions are performed, as reporting by the provinces is not required. Some flat out do not report any numbers. There are more abortions in Canada than are reported. If there really is a decline in abortion in Canada, it has nothing to do with the previous laws being struck down. Also, when it was struck down, the court put it in the hands of the politicians to come up with a new law. None have had the balls to do it, which is why we still have no law at all.
re: examples of persecution in Canada over SSM
Trinity Western University – a private, Christian school, lost its battle for an accredited law school due to their stance on SSM and their code of conduct required of students and teachers.
Toronto city council, removing the nomination of a Catholic school trustee to the city’s Board of Health, due to the person’s position on SSM and GSAs.
The province of Alberta trying to force home schoolers to teach their children what the province demanded, in regards to SSM and homosexuality. This including removing the accreditation of the province’s largest home school board on what turned out to be false charges of financial impropriety. Only after massive protests from the home school community (which was fractured and divided on the issue in the process) was able to get the province to back off. Now, they are going after private Christian schools, instead, imposing GSAs and indoctrinating curriculum on the schools, threatening to shut them down if they don’t obey.
Those are just a few examples. Also, I’m done doing your research for you. DuckDuckGo is your friend. Use it (but not Google; they now censor search results quite severely).
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The compilation showing declining abortion stats came from a pro-life site which cited numbers compiled by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). In its notes, the CIHI site states that:
– hospitals are mandated to report all hospital activity, and
– although reporting for clinics is voluntary, the only provinces and territories that didn’t report data from abortions performed at clinics were those which had none (Nova Scotia, PEI, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut).
On SSM, none of the examples cited constitute demonization or persecution. As for punitive measures: given that sexual orientation is a protected charter right in all provinces and territories (Source, pdf), it only makes sense that Canadian law schools would be required to uphold the laws of the land in order to receive & retain accreditation. Ditto for public officials and school boards.
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Do you even read what I’ve written, or just bits and pieces?
http://abortionincanada.ca/stats/annual-abortion-rates/
Which says, right at the top,
“In 2010, the latest year on record, 64,641 abortions were performed on Canadian women as reported by hospitals and clinics. According to The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), who have taken over the role of disseminating abortion data from Statistics Canada, this number does not include abortions performed in Quebec, clinic data for British Columbia is incomplete due to voluntary reporting, and abortions performed on women who reside outside Ontario but who have received an abortion in an Ontario clinic are not included, meaning that the actual figure, while unknown, is much higher.
Even with underreported and underrepresented figures, it is clear that more than three million abortions have occurred in Canada since 1969, when abortion was first decriminalized. Statistics Canada tables show a recorded total of 2,838,328 abortions between 1974 and 2006. CIHI tables show a recorded total of 353,034 abortions between 2007 and 2010, which means that the total number of “reported” abortions that took place between 1974 and 2010 in Canada is 3,191,362.”
So, it’s saying what I said; that the actual numbers are higher than those reported. *If* there is a drop (1% per year falls into the zone of statistically insignificant), it’s not because the law was struck down. We don’t even know if there’s really a drop.
Regarding my examples, how did I know they wouldn’t be good enough for you? *L* You don’t think they constitute demonization or persecution? Why? Really? Try being a home schooler, or a parent whose kids are in a Christian school, in Alberta, right now.
And the TWU case was absolutely one of demonization and persecution; they were not actually doing anything against the “law of the land”, but slandered ridiculously for having a code of conduct that matches their Christian beliefs (one with LGBT students in the TWU defended, btw). Their position is actually protected under the Canadian constitution and the bill of rights as a religious right. But these days, people’s feelings trump human rights.
Also, citing the “law of the land” doesn’t magically make persecution something else – the laws themselves (or twisted interpretations of them) are being used as tools to engage in that persecution. Another tool is the “human rights” tribunals that are nothing but kangaroo courts used as weapons by the though police. That’s a whole other kettle of fish.
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The table in your own link shows that abortions increased from 52.3k in 1974 to 111.5k in 1997 before dropping back down to under 100k in 2005. And this occurred despite the fact that the population of Canada increased by 43% from 23 million to 33 million within the same time span — a clear and irefutable indicaion that per capita abortion rates have declined. Moreover, the Quebec & BC data was only missing for 2010. CIHI stats from the following years include it again.
The school boards of each province have a mandate to set guidelines and establish systems of accountability in accordance with sound educational practices, regardless of where that education takes place.
TWU instituted a policy that disallowed students from cohabiting (even off-campus in the privacy of their own homes) unless they were married but denied married same-sex couples the same considerations as married opposite sex couples. In turn, the The Law Society of Upper Canada (“LSUC”) denied granting recognition of TWU law graduates on the basis that the law school’s mandatory “Community Covenant Agreement” violated the LSUC’s “overarching interest in protecting the values of equality and human rights in carrying out its functions.”
As one petitioner in the hearings noted: “If we allow religious freedom to trump other rights, then no other rights can be protected. There are no protected rights that cannot be sidestepped or sidelined under the guise of religious freedom.”
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*facepalm*
What part of “abortions are under reported” do you not understand? Which still has nothing to do with my main point: that even if there is a drop, it’s not because they became easier to get.
As for TWU, all you’ve shown me is that you’re not seeing the persecution, because you support it.
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What evidence is there to support the claim that the number of abortions performed is under reported? Because the data shows a clear trend with a steady rise leading to a peak and then a gradual decline. If anything, the abortion data prior to the law being struck down is under reported because it doesn’t include abortions procured illegally or outside the country. And the reason for that decline is largely attributable to comprehensive sex education and better access to birth control.
As for TWU, there is no persecution. The institution is still free to implement admission rules congruent with its religious convictions, just as the Upper Law Society of Canada is free to implement admission rules congruent with its stated social policies.
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In the UK we have two main political parties Consevative and Labour . The Labour party was initially the party of the uneducated working man
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