On the Unbearable Lightness of Neo-trudeaumania

The Liberal leadership convention has come and gone, and conventional wisdom has suffered another setback. Stéphane Dion has proved that nerdy nice guys CAN finish first, and that two successful former friends CAN spoil each other... For all the the game theorists out there, note that the choice faced by Ignatieff and Rae before the fourth and final ballot was a Nash equilibrium (neither had an interest in letting the other win). The most obscene undercurrent of the Liberal leadership convention, as it played on television, was the neo-trudeaumania that was in play. Delegates posed for pictures with Justin Trudeau, gushed over him, and urged him to run for leader. Journalists hovered, and perpetuated the hero-worshipping.

I thought I might be the only one reacting allergically to the treatment Justin Trudeau suffers in the media and the public. No, after some discussion, I am not alone. So here I explain our sentiments. This has virtually nothing to do with Justin Trudeau. This has everything to do with the psychotic emotional attachment that many Canadians and media have to the biological remnants of Pierre Trudeau's legacy. This has nothing to do with Pierre Trudeau, who was an entirely rational and admirable human being. This has everything to do with the irrationality of hero-worshipping of Justin Trudeau, a man who has inherited presumably much of his father's wealth and little of his intellectual credentials.

In Americans, hero-worshipping is cute and adorable. When they elect dynasties, I find it amusing. When they choose sons to replace fathers, and wives to replace husbands, I smile at the aristocratic logic of it all. In my own country, I am alarmed at the apparition of the Kennedy-cult. Why? Because merit is very rarely genetic, and it normally is not transferred via conjugal relationships. I judge a man on his deeds. I hope to be judged on my deeds, and not my parentage (this levels the playing field, since not all of you had the chance to have the best parents in the world as I did). The reason I feel pity for Justin Trudeau, in his un-earned fame and star appeal, is that he will likely be convinced that his star-power is merit in, and of, itself.

A note to all the Trudeau-worshippers out there. Get out off the couch, write an article, go canoeing, make love to beautiful women... Do as Pierre did. But don't perpetuate a political dynasty for the sake of your emotional attachments. Pierre wouldn't approve.