Critical Perspectives and Reflections

This nation just went through a Hillbilly Insurrection and yes, folks paid attention. We got to see with our own eyes what this “Freedumb” Fighter, deliberate anti vaxxer cult really is. Basically, an episode of Beavis and Butthead only the white supremacist version, with trucks and a hot tub. Have we not expended enough energy on this cult of fools?! Yes, I know we have to deal with their temper tantrums. Lord knows the Chinese makers of their flags thought it was the 4th of July in Canada. For all the flag waving over the past three weeks, as a nation, I am ashamed to say… We have yet again all but forgotten about the first Canadians, the First Nations. Perhaps going forward we need to spare some of that pent up energy in righting the wrongs of all Canadian governments, including the current versions. Off hand can anyone tell me the number of First Nations children’s graves that have been located thus far? Even a guess, say within 20? No? At what point can we start thinking seriously...

THOUGHT ONE: THE YEARNING FOR NEUTRALITY Every so often I run into someone, see a letter to the editor in a newspaper, or a post on Facebook suggesting that the person thinks it is important to stay neutral in terms of the various convoy/blockade actions. They may not trust the media, at least unreservedly; or they may see “faults on both sides” (How many sides are without fault in any political issue?); they may be concerned that they will only “add fuel to the feelings of anger and polarization in society”; finally, others want to stay neutral because they don’t believe in talking about politics. Frankly, while I can have some minor sympathy with the concern about the media, but not a whole lot in this case, the others seem naïve and self-serving at best, cowardly at worst. And the idea of avoiding political discussion, even when it is contentious, seems to me to be a raw dereliction of civic duty. Fortunately, I am in good company. Many thoughtful, social-political philosophers have...

So, the so-called “freedom convoy” descended on the nation’s capital on the weekend. Though not as many as Fox, so-called, News would like to pretend, there were many, many, participants of the truck convoy assault on Ottawa, protesting vaccine mandates and generally swanking around like a gang of bikers invading a small town (See the film, The Wild One). Some, though a minority, were even truckers. Here is a list of the major actions for which they will be duly remembered. The production of one of the most undemocratic and dumbest manifestoes ever written, the misnamed, “Memorandum of Understanding” in which they demanded that our unelected Governor General and the unelected Senate join forces, “fire” the duly elected government and roll back all mandates that the authors didn’t like. In practical terms they: * Defiled the Terry Fox statue. * Defiled the National War Memorial. * Flew Confederate flags. * Displayed Nazi swastikas. * Intimidated and hurled insults at fellow Canadians. ...