Another incurable, ugly disease: Far-right populism

Scientists have successfully fashioned a vaccine that may inoculate the world against future outbreaks of Ebola - an ugly, insidious and incurable disease. News of the life-saving breakthrough comes as a relief for a few obvious and not so obvious reasons.

First, of course, the vaccine will be a tangible tool to finally avert the slow, merciless deaths of countless people and the courageous souls who tend to the gravely sick in parts of the world where preventable death remains, sadly, all too common.

The vaccine is also powerful testament to the quiet, deliberate work of good people, armed with knowledge and perseverance, who set about to confront a modern-day pestilence and conquer it.

Taken together, word of the Ebola vaccine is a desperately needed - if only a temporary - tonic to the deluge of bad, hope-sapping news that has been a singular aspect of 2016.
A more serious disease

This past year has been marked, or more accurately, scarred by another persistent contagion - the resurgence of far-right "populism", which has infected nations on disparate continents on such a scale that we're confronting what constitutes, in effect, a hate pandemic.

The use of the benign-sounding term - "populism" - has had the largely intended effect of diluting the sinister character of a malevolent "nationalist" crusade defined by hate, ignorance, intolerance and an incoherent allegiance to flamboyant demagogues who not only embrace these qualities, but embody them.

"Alt-right" is another more palatable phrase in vogue these days to describe the dangerously unpalatable nexus of xenophobia, overt racism, and anti-intellectualism that has metastasised like an ugly, insidious and incurable disease.

Whatever the genial label, United States President-elect Donald Trump is the global movement's titular leader given the outsized attention he attracts and deftly exploits to generate more attention and disciples.

Absurdly, Trump denies harbouring any sympathy for the wretched political pathogen he has helped resuscitate and foment. His long, now familiar ledger of notorious deeds and words, however, indict him.

So do many of his loyal, fervent supporters, who not only share but also revel in their often profane attachment to Trump's signature illiteracy, jingoism, and, above all, naked bigotry.

Predictably, there have been attempts - including by "progressive" voices - to absolve Trump voters of their culpability in not simply extolling, but violently channelling the odious beliefs of a racist they have elected president.

And by any objective measure, Trump is a racist. His racism is plain to see and hear. To suggest that Trump voters were motivated principally by their sense of alienation from, and objection to, a "rigged" political and economic system - although inviting - strikes me as conveniently exculpatory.