I thought political delusion was America’s worst export. Then I met Mike.
Today I learned, rather depressingly, that the MAGA contagion does not respect national borders. Like a particularly stubborn fungus, it spreads wherever there is fertile ground for grievance, ignorance, and the intoxicating perfume of certainty without evidence. I had, perhaps naively, assumed that the peculiar American talent for manufacturing political delusion might remain largely domestic—our own homegrown carnival of paranoia. But no. Apparently, even Canada has exported or cultivated its own disciples of this strange religion.
I met one of them today.
We shall call him Mike, partly because that is his real name, and partly because I see no reason to protect the identity of a man who treated ignorance like it was an Olympic sport. Mike was a short, stout little man, somewhere around seventy, with the confident posture of someone who has never once doubted his own conclusions, no matter how catastrophically stupid they might be.
At first, the conversation was harmless enough. Dogs. Weather. Florida humidity. The banal rituals of small talk between strangers pretending civilization still exists. For a brief moment, I thought perhaps this would remain pleasantly superficial.
Then came the sacred catechism.
“Are you a liberal?”
There it was, the question delivered not as curiosity, but as a kind of tribal password, as if he were asking whether I had accepted the blood oath of some clandestine order. It landed with all the subtlety of a brick through a church window.
I answered yes.
Not because I particularly enjoy reducing political philosophy to bumper sticker labels, but because I refuse to perform ideological gymnastics for the comfort of men like Mike. And from that moment onward, the floodgates opened.
Out came the usual greatest hits of FOX News theology, recited with the conviction of a televangelist collecting donations from the dying.
“Obama gave Iran $150 billion.”
“Obama wasn’t born in this country.”
“We should wipe out Iran completely, kill them all.”
Imagine saying that so casually, as though discussing lawn maintenance. Not diplomacy, not strategy, not even war in the conventional sense but extermination. The complete moral vacancy required to reduce millions of human beings to disposable insects is staggering, though sadly not uncommon among people who confuse cruelty with patriotism.
Then came the obligatory defense of Donald Trump, that patron saint of grievance and self-pity. Mike insisted that E. Jean Carroll’s case had been “reversed,” that somehow she had been forced to repay Trump the damages she won, as though reality itself were now negotiable depending on what one heard between pharmaceutical commercials on cable television.
It had not happened, of course. But facts, for men like Mike, are merely rude interruptions to belief.
As if this were not enough, he wandered cheerfully into Holocaust denial, declaring it all a hoax—because apparently when one is already drowning in conspiracy theories, one may as well swim to the bottom. There is something uniquely grotesque about denying industrialized genocide while standing comfortably in the civilization built partly by those who survived it.
“Facts, for men like Mike, are merely rude interruptions to belief.”
– Civil Heresy
I attempted, in vain, to explain some of these things. I pointed out the actual facts. I tried to distinguish history from fantasy, evidence from propaganda, civilization from barbarism.
But reason to the indoctrinated is like sunlight to a vampire, deeply offensive and to be avoided at all costs. My words passed through him with all the resistance of wind through an open window.
And lest he spare his own nation from his deranged analysis, he informed me that Canada was collapsing because “Carney” or “Corbon,” as he managed to mangle it, was a communist, and that everyone would love to live in Russia because of its glorious freedom, low prices, and abundant jobs.
Yes, Russia. That celebrated paradise of liberty where journalists mysteriously fall out of windows and opposition candidates develop sudden and inconvenient illnesses. Apparently, in Mike’s geopolitical atlas, Vladimir Putin is running a Scandinavian wellness retreat.
Most of the time, I simply listened, partly out of anthropological fascination and partly because interrupting madness often only encourages it. But then he said something that gave me a strange and almost euphoric sense of relief.
He was leaving.
Returning to Canada next week after spending three months here in Florida marinating in sunshine and misinformation.
And then, with the same casual tone one might use to discuss trimming hedges, he mentioned that he had “a few things to do” back home, possibly involving the execution of small animals around his property.
Of course.
Because why should a man who casually dehumanizes Iranians, dismisses rape accusations, denies genocide, and romanticizes authoritarianism suddenly discover moral sensitivity when it comes to defenseless creatures? Compassion, after all, requires imagination, the ability to recognize life outside oneself as possessing value.
Men like Mike do not suffer from too much thought. They suffer from the complete absence of it.
There were countless other vile and uneducated things he said, but honestly, cataloguing all of them would feel like writing footnotes for sewage. Some things are beneath analysis.
What struck me most was not merely his ignorance, but his absolute pride in it. His certainty. His triumphal delight in knowing nothing and mistaking that for wisdom. It is the defining characteristic of the MAGA cult: the worship of ignorance as authenticity, the suspicion of expertise as elitism, and the belief that cruelty is somehow a form of strength.
If I learned anything from this encounter, it is that stupidity has become internationalized. It now travels freely, no passport required.
And perhaps the most radical policy proposal I can offer after meeting Mike is this: compulsory higher education—not merely schooling, but actual education. The kind that teaches history, evidence, skepticism, empathy, and the revolutionary notion that being loudly wrong is not the same thing as being brave.
Because if civilization is to survive men like Mike, it will not be through louder shouting.
It will be through teaching people how to think before they open their mouths.
Why It Matters
This isn’t just a story about one man. It’s a case study in something larger and more dangerous.
What you captured here is the global export of a mindset:
- Certainty without evidence
- Identity over truth
- Cruelty mistaken for strength
The real threat isn’t misinformation itself, it’s the celebration of ignorance as virtue.
Because once ignorance becomes identity, it stops being correctable. It becomes defended.
And when that spreads beyond borders, it stops being a national problem.
It becomes cultural.
Key Takeaways
- Ignorance today is often performative and prideful, not accidental
- Political identity increasingly overrides factual accuracy
- Conspiracy thinking spreads easily across borders through media ecosystems
- Cruelty and dehumanization are often framed as strength or patriotism
- Attempts at rational correction often fail because beliefs are emotionally anchored
- The real issue is not misinformation, it’s the rejection of critical thinking itself
Key Question to Consider
Q1: Is MAGA-style ideology spreading outside the U.S.?
Yes. Similar patterns of populism, conspiracy thinking, and distrust of institutions are appearing in multiple countries.
Q2: Why do people believe misinformation so strongly?
Because beliefs are often tied to identity and emotion, making them resistant to correction even when evidence contradicts them.
Q3: Can facts change deeply held political beliefs?
Not always. When beliefs are identity-based, facts alone are often insufficient to change minds.
Q4: What is the biggest danger of widespread ignorance in politics?
It undermines informed decision-making, weakens democratic institutions, and makes manipulation easier.
Further Reading – books.org
- The Cult of Trump. Explores how political movements adopt cult-like dynamics that reinforce belief over evidence. https://civilheresy.com/cult of trump
- Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire. A deep dive into America’s long history of magical thinking and its modern consequences. https://civilheresy.com/fantasyland
- The Paranoid Style in American Politics. A classic analysis of conspiracy thinking and its enduring role in political culture. https://civilheresy.com/paranoid style in american politics
When ignorance gets louder, clarity becomes rebellion. Civil Heresy gear is for people who still choose to think. https://civilheresy.com/shop civil heresy
