A Short Treatise Regarding Conservatism

Conservatism is an umbrella of sociopolitical ideologies encompassing a desire to preserve traditions. It looks a little different everywhere; many are familiar with American conservatism, championed by the Republican Party. Canadians such as myself are accustomed to Canadian conservatism, associated with political parties like the Conservative Party of Canada and a few other provincial and federal parties. I will write on conservatism as seen in the West due to being a Westerner myself.

My Relation to Conservatism

I have never really thought of myself as a conservative beyond edgy childhood jokes or considering myself religiously conservative regarding most aspects of my Sunni Islamic faith. I certainly have never called myself a conservative as a general label. Regarding many sociocultural issues, I adopted a fairly libertarian outlook growing up.

Reading and personal experiences have pushed me more left on the political spectrum in my teenage years. Even then, I clash with leftist ideologies like orthodox Marxism. Perhaps I ascribe to leftism in the sense of the kind preached by figures like Geydar Dzhemal.

Part of what always prevented me from aligning with rightism was the Zionism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia openly flaunted by conservative ideologues, particularly in Canada, the United States, and Europe. I am a proud Canadian Muslim of Palestinian Arab heritage, the son of an amazing father and an amazing mother (may God bless them both and give them the highest level of Heaven) who productively contribute to an unfamiliar society. I am seen as the sign of changing times, not a sign of "tradition," in the Western conservative worldview. Why would I align with a belief system fundamentally opposed to my existence?

Another thing distancing me from rightism growing up is how un-Islamic (and hence how immoral) a lot of it is. Zionism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia are obviously all anti-Islamic in essence, but there is more that always put me off. Racism (including anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, which Western conservatism is rife with) is anti-Islamic. So is sexism (i.e. treating women like cattle and reducing them to baby-makers), and prioritising the upper-class over the poor. My Platonist philosophy has made me even more insistent on morality and justice, and hence anti-rightist.

What Irks Me About Conservatism

What inspired me to write this article was the following Quranic verse:

"وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ قَالُوا۟ بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَآ أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ ءَابَآءَنَآ ۗ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ ءَابَآؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ"

Translation:

"When it is said to them, 'Follow what God has revealed,' they reply, 'No! We [only] follow what we found our forefathers practicing.' [Would they still do so,] even if their forefathers had [absolutely] no understanding or guidance?" - Surat al-Baqarah, Verse 170

The verse concerns non-Muslims (perhaps Jews or ancient Arab pagans), and criticises them for only following clearly false religions only because their ancestors followed such religions. This verse is often cited as a warning against only following Islam out of familial and societal pressure. I think it can also apply to conservatism; conservatives will constantly use the appeal to tradition logical fallacy, not rationally explaining why traditions their forefathers upheld must continue to be upheld. I do not care if your father treated women as cattle or thought of ethnic minorities as cultural zits, as such traditions must obviously be progressed past and can never be justified by being multi-generational.

Western conservatives have recently started switching the appeal to tradition fallacy for the appeal to fear fallacy. The modern rightist can only fearmonger about heavily exaggerated or completely fictional scenarios: the Muslim will conquer your country and sexually harass your daughter. The immigrant will steal your job and your wife, replace you, and kill you. The transsexual will rape your son and groom him into a new gender identity. The Black man will steal your tax dollars via government welfare programs and commit crimes. None of this has a statistical basis in reality. The conservative will take one case of one member of a minority doing something bad, greatly exaggerate it, and use the hasty generalisation fallacy to show why anti-minority traditions must be conserved no matter what. He does not care if you intellectually disprove him, because the selfish commoner will fall for the fearmongering instead of taking time to think things over.

Another thing greatly annoying me about conservatives is how little many of them actually uphold conservatism. In Canada, our Conservative Party's policies are not actually that different from our Liberal Party. Before the last few years, American conservatism was heavily libertarian, promoting a "live and let live" philosophy for many issues. The "conservatism versus liberalism" divide is stupid; it would be better off being called the "conservative liberalism versus progressive liberalism" considering Western conservatism wishes to uphold classical liberalism ("conservative liberalism"). I am not saying I wish to see any conservatism being promoted (besides maybe paleoconservatism, because at least it is consistent and non-interventionist), but rather, I am saying I do not respect someone with inconsistent beliefs.

Conclusion

Conservatism may look appealing at first, especially since like all ideologies, it may make a couple of great points. However, it has no rational grounds to stand on. It wishes the immediate destruction of anyone outside of the in-group and the slow poisoning of the in-group itself (particularly its lower-class members and women), and then victimises itself when more and more people (particularly from minorities outside of the in-group) start hating it back. It may claim to oppose regressive barbarism, but in fact supports it as long as your father did it. There is no reason for me or anyone else to ever align with it.

Sources

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