A superspreader event is happening in Ottawa and everybody is joining!?
Plus, a question for the politically homeless.
Well, look at that: thousands of unmasked protesters standing side by side, talking face to face, smiling, chanting, drumming, and dancing in the streets and on Parliament Hill. I have heard and read the highest praise (from eye witnesses and citizen reporters) and the lowliest slander (from politicians and the mainstream media), but the one thing I have not seen are concerns about virus transmission among the protesters in Ottawa.
Could it be that this is not about a virus any more? Many have asked this question before, and I like to give the benefit of the doubt to public health officials and decision-makers. I have argued many times that they may have the best intentions and just be plain old wrong about the state of the science, optimal outbreak management, and ethical and legal aspects of the “pandemic”. But it is becoming very challenging to defend “these people” who do not seem to know pandemic from panic, or logic from whim.
On The Line, journalist Matt Gurney has just published an honest account of the people he encountered at the trucker protest, “Dispatch from the Ottawa Front: Hot dogs, horns and hard men” (no, not what you are thinking right now!). He concedes that the vast majority of protesters are lovely and kind, while a small number of shady individuals are sticking around and mentally ill have joined the crowds. Gurney notes that the presence of the latter two groups would be sufficient to make local residents scared of the rally as a whole, while the excess of good people can lead supporters to overlook the dark side of the events entirely. What I find most interesting is that Gurney compares the convoy with his experience of the 2011/12 Occupy Toronto protest. Reading the Wikipedia article about Occupy Toronto, I can’t help but be amazed by the similarities and shocked by the antithetical responses across the political spectrum.
Speaking of politics, the Ottawa protest seems to have cost the wavering federal conservative leader Erin O’Toole his job last week. One of the contenders, Ottawa MP and finance critic Pierre Poilievre, has spoken with measured support for the truckers. The above snippet is quite amusing, as he responds to a question from a journalist about extremist elements among the truckers by pointing out that CBC employees charged the broadcaster with systemic racism allegations yet it would be wrong to call the entire CBC a racist organization on this basis, wouldn’t it? Just a couple of days ago, Poilievre issued a video statement announcing his candidacy for the top job in party and country. Maybe I need hearing aids, because all I hear is about protecting hard-working families, supporting blue-collar workers, and working together against international elites. Did conservatives and social-democrats switch programs? I need to know whether my remaining left-wing ideals have been reassigned to the conservative side of the aisle. It sure seems so.