Freedom Convoy: Some Observations

 

Observations Based on the Truckers’ Convoy

I am writing this at a time when the Ambassador Bridge is being cleared of trucker demonstrators with little or no violence and the Liberal government has just set the Emergencies Measures Act into motion.  

At the Bridge a few truckers were arrested, trucks were removed and some fines given up.  The bridge was not bombed and no trucker, civilian participant or police officer was injured during this protest.  I think this part has been very Canadian although one person I was following on Facebook said, Trudeau brought in the storm troopers to put down a peaceful demonstration .

In a democracy we all have freedoms. We can be free to think our personal thoughts about religion for example.  We may believe that Mohammad was the last prophet, or that Jesus Christ lived amongst us on Earth and then died for our sins or that our ancestors look out for our well being .  These are all personal beliefs that individuals hold onto.  In addition to this set of personal beliefs that may seem objective to us there are also scientific facts that transcend borders and cultures.  For example, the value of pi is universal, the theory of relativity is the same anywhere on earth. There seems to be a universal divide between the rational analytical and the emotional, pseudo-science adherents when it comes to Covid 19.

 I think one big take away from the Freedom convoy is that first of all it is a misnomer.  Any convoy or collection of trucks that systematically through a process of parking their vehicles where they are not welcomed or allowed, in normal circumstances, does not to me represent my concept of freedom.  It is more like a Ignorance forum or a stupid train, perhaps a national tail gate party.  I’m sorry I lack the eloquence for a good and suitable name for how these long haul independent drivers are abusing the sensibilities of the country while waving the Canadian flag in our faces along with some other flags that should never be seen on any continent, ever. 

My conclusion is that some demonstrators are simply whiners.  Because of the mandates they can’t get into Denny’s on a Sunday afternoon if they don’t have a smart phone to show their proof of vaccine for scanning purposes and are therefore inconvenienced.  And they are and have a right to by annoyed, but to say the “government is beating down on them… I think an over statement.  If most of these truckers/ anti science/anti-vaxer/ crowd actually had to put up with a real crisis like the Spanish Flu, polio, famine, World War, Depression, Revolution, Drug Cartels, racism or voter suppression then they would know what a crisis really is.  To have the right to convoy their grievances in front of a government who, given its mistakes, whatever they may be, is basically trying to save these people from themselves.That is a pretty formidable task when these are self educated internet fools who think they know science immunology and epidemiology better than any Phd, who can wrap themselves in a flag like the best of them and plead their rights by choking the economy and holding the majority as hostage to their whims.

These people generally deny that vaccines do any good at all, in fact vaccines are satan’s work and direction from the government is to be ignored because anyone knows direction comes from God.  It’s like the Moses and the Ten Commandments model of governance without the middleman, Moses.  Just as Flat Earther’s equate a round earth concept with words and thoughts from the devil or do the convoy gang make the association with the evil of science and vaccines.  They are Republicans at heart and have patriotism, the flag and God on their side.  The rest of us are stuck with a liberal government who systematically is trying to beat us of our freedoms because apparently that’s what liberals historically do.  As I argue my case for “Hey let’s stand united and fight covid…you know together…”  I have been told covid does not exist, to use a simile it’s like a truck on an interstate and it has taken an exit we need not worry, life goes on.  I have also been told, often rudely that vaccines in addition to not working are actually not vaccines.  Can’t say I even understood that line of reasoning, but they at least quoted the CDC so I was mildly impressed.  

Another argument put forward is that covid mandates are ruining our supply chains.  While there may be an element of truth to that as everything is slow at all borders blocking a bridge that moves over a billion dollars of trade per day between our two countries does not free up supply chains.  And while I support free discourse and peaceful demonstration harming the economy over several weeks is only shooting ourselves in the collective foot.  If we want to do anything productively and in a collective sense it should be getting vaccinated.  

The American rate of death by covid per million is roughly four times what it is in Canada, soon republicans there will be celebrating the first million deaths due to covid as they”beat down” mandates and support financially and in other ways our truckers and their various supporters to do the same.  I have seen presentations why students should not wear masks, four Canadian provinces do not support the emergencies Measures Trudeau is bringing in as they feel they are not needed and are removing many of the covid mandates in their own provinces perhaps very prematurely.  

There is science and there is politics and in this case their followers seem to be beating to several different drum beats.  People who often don’t understand rhythm of any kind but seem to love the sound a honking horns are trying to call the shots, directing discourse through their ignorance and waving flags in our face. 

The worst pandemic to ever hit us, as a human population, was the Black Plague killing likely tens to hundreds of millions.  It appears to have originated from a bacteria not a virus starting like our own Covid pandemic in China.  It spread across the Silk Road and other trading routes and only stopped because people isolated themselves, literally closing the city gates to outsiders.  We call this a quarantine and those who practiced it lived.  In the 1300‘s there was no science to speak of, no vaccines, little hope.

Today, we have truckers travelling our own Silk Roads protesting loudly against measures that can potentially slow the spread of Covid. This would be one of those examples where we really don’t learn anything from history, yet excel in the follies of our present path.  Now vaccines are available, yet people value a version of freedom over science and go so far as to deny science. Perhaps, Covid didn’t hit us hard enough, plague-like, to shake us into reality as people still deny its existence or equate it to a flu.  

“Closing the Gates” today means taking precautions, as ignorance and bravado will not save lives.  Trucker protesters and their supporters are being irresponsible.  They should stay off the Silk Road or get vaccinated.