In yesterday’s column I intimated that given the chaos and distrust voters now have of our traditional institutions (particularly the media), perhaps it’s time that we stepped back from this precipice in order to find out at what point in our evolving social progress we “missed something in translation”, and corrected that misguidance.
Given that I tend to analyze events from the “left” side of the political spectrum, some might argue that the events I may choose as being “examples” of where we lost our way are themselves inappropriate and “biased”. However, after we have reviewed the recent CBC Fifth Estate story on events tied to the February 2022 border occupation at Coutts, Alta, we’ll have sufficient content to set aside such suspicion.
For such doubt to be set aside, we have to recognize that a political “message” can itself be neutral, although it’s likely to be there somewhere within its contents. For instance, the first immutable “fact” coming from the Fifth Estate story is that it has its origins in the social upheaval created by the rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus and the panic this event evoked. The second point is that by our progressive progress in moving our society forward, we have inadvertently nurtured in the mindset of our now privileged citizenry an increasing unwillingness to accept historical events, especially when our acceptance must rely upon our being able to distinguish between whether that news item is challenging our belief that what is actually a human “right” is only a privilege.
Yes, there are political motives subliminally driving the unrest underpinning the story’s background, but they by and of themselves do not tell the “story” this column is trying to tell. For instance, whether you want to accept climate change as being real or a hoax, too many weather stories, be they about Category 5 hurricanes sweeping through the Caribbeans or weather “bombs” such as the atmospheric river now hitting the Oregon coastline, allow the topic to become a part of that story.
In a similar fashion, our former lovefest with Big Oil is now a family feud, as carbon emissions from our excessive usage have effectively trapped solar provided energy in a carbon dioxide “shield”. Governments are now moving towards “green” solutions, even as petroleum’s immense lobbying forces try to convince a skeptical public that what they already knew in 1951 was not the case. Yet even as these two bodies collide, we are already beginning to realize that for EVERYONE living on this planet to eventually be able to receive even the smallest fraction of what our overprivileged “first world” countries waste, we have now begin forcing our energy providers to increase funding research in fusion-related supply.
In the Fifth Estate’s analysis of events that took place at Coutts AB in February 2022, what IS the story is that a group of our over-privileged and younger blue collar workers, resentful that their need for social interaction and job security being increasingly threatened by the pandemic took a mandate put in place by the U.S. government requiring them to show proof of vaccination against the spread of Covid before being allowed to practice their cross-border trade, believed that this mandate was actually instituted at the behest of the already hated Trudeau regime, and decided to form a “Freedom” Convoy to protest its existence.
Many already involved in cross-border transportation saw this action for what it was – a ruse to increase tension between the federal government and Alberta / Saskatchewan premiers desperately attempting to keep their royalty “fix” profitable. Over 93% of such truckers were already vaccinated, and simply refused to engage in the demonstration. Later we would learn that the convoy was being funded some $9 million by either individuals with heavy ties to the petroleum industry or extremist organizations such as Diagolon.
Talking heads at FOX News, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson would seize the moment to cheer Convoy participants on, heavily armed American militia groups joined the protest. But as the “Conspiracy in Coutts” documentary would later show, that protest had now moved to what was a principally politically partisan demonstration to one in which the very tenets of what is now known as “Chistian nationalism” continue to drive its existence.
One of these protestors now serving time, Tony Olienick, eventually revealed the thread of conspiracy theories emanating from Revelations heresy. To him, the pandemic’s very existence was “a sign of an inevitable collapse of society”, where eventually protestors “would have to defend their fellow protesters against an invading, tyrannical authority…disguised as UN (i.e.: Chinese) troops.” Moreover, he would eventually write that following the Rapture and “a 1,000-day war against Satan or the Antichrist…”God will see my efforts and sacrifice and grant me into heaven.”
The popularity of such religious tripe has only strengthened Donald Trump’s ability to win a second term as President, as he has inextricably tied himself to the “evangelic” nationalist movement. These “true believers” in turn insist that the United States is destined to become the home of “true” Christians awaiting the next coming of Christ. So, here we stand, awaiting our own destiny as a nation, in which two of our premiers, Ontario’s Doug Ford and Alberta’s Danielle Smith (to soon be joined by Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe?) seem only too willing to prostrate themselves before Trump in a Chamberlain-like action to simply “drop” Mexico from the NAFTA Act’s intentions to integrate the North American market, thereby being seen as protecting their own economic interests.
There’s a point to be made here, and it’s not really one that invokes optimism for our future. Trump’s threats of retribution against his “enemies” are not a joke; they are “real”. In seeing such capitulation of interests even before taking back power, it is far more likely that he will take that opportunity to then attempt to extract even more concessions from Canada, thus threatening the economic intent of provinces who have nothing of a similar kind to offer.
Which is the topic I’ll have to pursue in a future column…