Yes, kiddies, Andrew Lawton said all those nasty things and then some. And now that the shit has finally hit the fan, he’s scrubbing his tweeter and asking us to be forgiving, and compassionate, and just trust him, he’s not really so bad, and blah blah blabbity blah blah. His excuse? He was mentally ill at the time. Suicidal, even.
Hmmm…
But hey, let’s give Andy the benefit of the doubt, shall we? I’m pretty sure his depression drove him to make an entire stinkingly odious blog called Right-Wing Canada, eh?
Well, speaking as person who’s actually BEEN suicidal and depressed at various points in my life, I’d have to go with NO.
I’ve been a progressive shedding the shackles of conservatism since my university days (holy shit, that’s about 30 years, now!) and have steadfastly remained one, whether sick or well. My politics didn’t deteriorate with my mental health.
I’ve also been well for over 20 years now, and if anything, I’ve become even MORE of a leftist as a result of my experiences. I didn’t call myself a socialist at first, but I do now. And I do so with pride.
Even when I was deathly ill (and I do believe that wanting to make like Anna Karenina every time a freight train is rolling by counts as such), I never spouted a single racist, sexist, or homophobic epithet. For one thing, I didn’t have the Internet then. (And even if I had, I still wouldn’t have been tempted to let my hate flag fly, because I don’t have one.) But more importantly, I didn’t have the energy! Between panic attacks, suicidal ideation, and just clutching the rags of my dwindling sanity around me while going through school and doing my job, I was all tapped out. Whenever I got home, the first thing I did was collapse on my bed. I didn’t have time or energy to sit down and write odious screeds and pretend to be all about that sweet, sweet liberty. I was too busy simply struggling to live.
So yeah, I’m not buying Cowboy Hat Andy’s idiotic excuses for his far-right shitposting. And neither should you, whatever your politics. His “depression” excuse is as much of a put-on as his hat. If you want to know what real clinical depression looks like, read Wil Wheaton’s blog post on the subject.
And if you care about keeping Ontario politics real as well, sign North99’s petition and help get Andrew Lawton out of politics.
