Ottawa police assault and arrest a very old man - for honking
Our great divide is between the legacy media and reality, not each other
As I write this:
I have one daughter — the vaccinated one — who, along with her vaccinated husband, is down sick with Covid.
I have another daughter — a doctor who is vaccinated for all sorts of diseases but knows full well that nobody knows the long-term effects of this experimental vaccine and so chose to remain unvaccinated for now — is healthy and well.
Both the vax’d and the unvax’d can pass along the disease equally. The vaccine mandate will not protect either of my daughters. It will not protect you. What it has done is set up 2 classes of Canadian citizens: the Clean (vax’d) and the UnClean (unvax’d).
What the useless vaccine mandate has done is divide families and friends and citizens from supporting each other as adults who have a right to make health decisions for themselves.
What the truckers have done is show all of us how foolish this is. We need to stand together no matter what our vaccination status. We are citizens of a free country, and the truckers are reminding us of this.
Canadian Truckers in Ottawa have calmly asked for support from people who believe in peaceful protests and democracy. Evidently, the government plans to issue a telecommunications blackout so that we can’t see what the police are doing to peaceful protesters who — of all things — brought in bouncy castles (which put the Mayor of Ottawa over the edge), have been clearing the sidewalks of snow, and feeding everyone for free. And hugging each other. That’s for another post.
For this one, please at least be aware there is a great divide in Canada — the divide between what the legacy media is telling us and the reality of the situation on the ground.
Here is just a small example of what’s happening and why the government will need take the extraordinary step of a telecommunications blackout so that citizens will literally be kept in the dark.
Canadian truckers rolled across this great, big country by the thousands. Tens of thousands of us attended rallies and many thousands stood in -20 C weather to cheer. We stood on windy bridges, by the sides of the roads, and felt pride in our hearts as the trucks rolled slowly by on their way to the nation’s capitol, Ottawa.
Our media painted them not as citizens exercising their constitutional charter rights as citizens but as right-wing white supremacists. Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister, referred to the truckers and those who support him as a “small, fringe minority with unacceptable views.” Then, as all cowards do, the day before the truckers arrived, he ran away (claiming he’d been exposed to covid) and called all of us names from his secret location: misogynists, racists, transphobes.
Pardon?
The Leader of the Opposition, Jagmeet Singh, claimed the truckers were led by people who hold the “white bloodline” supreme and view Islam as a “disease.”
Double pardon?
A friend of mine is furious about all of this - not at the media, but at the truckers. “They’re vaccinated, most of them. Why are they doing this?”
Because like the good citizens they are, truckers do not want our country to normalize the notion of a “second class citizen”. A Canadian has the right to decide what gets shoved into their bodies. Truckers do not want vaccine mandates that force people out of jobs if they don’t comply with medical treatment demanded of them. People have a right to choose their own medical care and it downright shocks me that so-called “educated” people don’t understand this very foundational concept in human rights legislation.
Many in the Laptop Class seem to support forcing everyone into getting the vaccine or suffering job loss and social exclusion.
The truckers know better, and they care. So they’ve put their money where their mouth is. While those in the Laptop Class are comfily sitting at home and complaining, the Working Class are putting their livelihoods on the line and saying “enough”.
Gerry cans converge on the capitol
On Sunday night, February 6, the Ottawa Police, assisted by a sniper squad that circled truckers and their families, were directed to remove gerry cans of fuel from the protesters. The police then warned the public that if they provided fuel or food to the protesters, they are liable to be arrested.
The next day, people converged in Ottawa with gerry cans — some empty, some filled with water. One was filled with windshield wiper fluid and he got arrested (I heard).
I plan to bring the truckers cookies. Let’s see if a grandmother sharing cookies with fellow Canadians gets arrested. I’m willing to die on that hill, by the way.
My grandfathers fought wars to protect our right to live in a democracy. The foundation — absolute foundation — of any democracy is the right to free speech.
Ottawa police have arrested people for honking, walking around with wiper fluid, and may possibly get me for passing out cookies.
Take another look at that old man getting knocked to the ground for the crime of honking. I bet those police officers mothers are proud of them today.
As for this mother, I love my vaccinated and unvaccinated daughters equally. I respect their different choices, choices that each of them came to thoughtfully as adults. In a democracy, that is their right.
Ottawa police assault and arrest a very old man - for honking
I started with FREE the POPCORN and am going through your brief archive. I'm so glad you started writing again (and I found you in the comments of Heather Heying's Substack)! As an Ontario-born American I've sent $ to the truckers (hooray for GiveSendGo!) and am cheering on all you brave Canadian souls. Until the silly government recognizes natural immunity for Covid I can't cross the border, but my heart is there in the spirit of peace and the march for freedom. May justice—NOT Justin—prevail!
Excellent. I, too, started with 'Free the Popcorn'. I've been horrified from afar at the division between what's happening on the ground, and the legacy media's many attempts to vilify and their outright lies. Thank you for your writing, and sharing your valuable perspective. <3