This article explains and analyses the issue of public apology and Trudeau; why we should accept, how changing positions can be good, populism, why you should never apologise today, and why that’s wrong.

Despite my initial hazing of Justin Trudeau for his recent behaviour, this article outlines the following points:

1) We should not judge people by behaviour from 20 years ago if they have changed and made efforts to change;

2) If we want people to change their opinions and stances, then we must allow them to change their opinions without attacking them for it.

3) Under current circumstances, the smart move is to not change your opinion, but double down, deny evidence, and claim fake news.

4) Due to this, we can see a movement into populism, and without the ability to leave your previous position (which would deflate the number), we shall see nothing but growth in the area.

5) We also highlight successful examples of people who have forgiven others, and brought them away from the radical fringes or suicide cults.

So in short, while it is very funny that Prime Minister Trudeau, a person who has spent a lot of his time trying to be as politically correct as possible, has a list of allegations of racism, sexism, and corruption, we shouldn’t hold his pre-political past against him, but be glad he has moved past it. Dislike him for his economic or immigration policies, sure, but not for things he has apologised for from over two decades ago.

The Amusing Irony of P.M. Trudeau

Let’s enjoy this first, though. Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada has been caught in blackface three times so far, and cannot remember if there had been other instances of wearing blackface (Cecco, 2019a). This is a curious statement; I can easily recall how many times I’ve dressed up as Jesus (once), as a horse in a nativity play (once, and I was the front), and how many times I’ve decided to wear black face (I haven’t). So it leads to the amusing conclusion that there are likely other photos out there of Trudeau being, shall we say, less than racially sensitive.

Especially amusing because Justin Trudeau pinned his politics on equity, equality, and fairness (Kassam, 2019). He also criticised remarks by racist remarks by Trump, saying that’s not how Canada does things (Perreaux, 2019). What is worse; words or actions?

Trudeau is known as a feminist. When asked why he had a cabinet half-female, he responded with his famous:

“Because it’s 2015” (Kassam, 2019)

Again, amusing because in 2000, he groped a female reporter, and apologised for it when confronted. Previous cabinet minister Philpott said that she felt that:

“The whole listening to women, ‘diversity is our strength’, that kind of image…And yet I didn’t feel listened to, and my diverse views didn’t feel like they had a place – those kinds of things were disappointing.” (Kassam, 2019)

The Prime Minister who said he respected the rule of law in the case of the Huawei executive; also found by a watchdog to have unlawfully pressured a prosecutor to not prosecute in a case where Trudeau had a conflict of interest (Cecco, 2019b). This is perhaps the only real criticism we should take seriously; it shows a serious breach of conduct for him to perform his public duty, and it is recent; the other behaviour is nearly 2 decades ago, and he has apologised for all of them as soon as he was confronted with them. He has:

1) Apologised for the behaviour

2) Acted in a manner that would improve these issues; e.g. hiring more ethnic minorities and more immigration, hiring more women on his cabinet.

As such, we could say he has (other than the corruption charge) properly apologised and changed his behaviour enough that he has likely changed as a person, and we could say this regardless of whether we like him or his politics.

It seems that a lot of his behaviours are beginning to be brought to light just before the election. This is nothing new; look at the storm of labels, libel, and ‘Breaking News’ that makes up the U.S. media coverage for the next (and last) election, but we should be more concerned about the pressure that faces him now for other reasons.

The Internet Has No Mercy

Now, everyone who lives online is likely aware of the ‘Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory’, now part of generally accepted internet culture (Krahulik and Holkins, 2004):