Why I Disagree

 

            Who am I? I'm an Alberta born, fourth generation rancher living within sight of the Porcupine Hills and the Highwood and Livingstone Ranges of the Rocky Mountains. My wife and I own a small herd of Black Angus based beef cattle and live not far off of Highway 2 in Southern Alberta.

            Because we're a small operation, I've worked off-ranch for several years to supplement our income. I drive a truck for a local company that hauls ag commodities for surrounding farms and ranches. This includes grain, fertilizer, livestock feed such as hay and bulk feeds, and livestock itself. While I often describe myself as a truck driver, my job has very little in common with over-the-highway transporters hauling consumer goods.

            That in a nutshell is a rough description of my physical presence.

            I'm right of center politically but am increasingly feeling disenfranchised by the trajectory of Conservatism as it flows farther and farther away from center. I don't know that I've moved left so much as the Right has moved away from me.

            I'm troubled by that trend; it has resulted in increased division, tribalism, and toxic partisanship. I'm now regarded by those moving to the fringe as a traitor to Conservatism.

            So, here I am in the Right Wing heartland, surrounded by a community of friends, neighbors, and relatives, many of whom believe Covid 19 is a scam and Ivermectin is the cure. Not to mention the ones who insist that those vaccinated will be dead in two years because of the vaccine.

            It is simply this ignorance that has driven those friends, neighbors, and relatives into the cause of the Freedom Truckers' No-Mandates parade. I share a fenceline with one of the participants in this demonstration and it's pretty clear that his motivation is an extension of his anti-vaccine ideas, nothing more, although he claims to speak for all of Canada he believes is being oppressed, one facemask at a time.

            A qualifier: I absolutely believe in the right for Peaceful Protest. It is an important component of our democratic system meant to give the citizenry a method of displaying their displeasure and to keep Government or other powerful institutions connected with the masses. Protest is a reminder that the power comes from the people; an important keystone of Democracy.

            Here's my problem with the Freedom Truckers' protest. The premise behind it is deeply flawed. Originally sparked by a change in policy that requires truckers crossing the Canada/US border to be vaccinated against Covid, it quickly morphed into a pseudo civil-rights movement that seeks to eliminate all public health related mandated restrictions. It gathered huge public support as roadways across the country were lined with adoring fans waving signs displaying their frustrations about REP programs, facemasks, and of course, vaccines.

            It's a mass gathering of people who don't understand science. Or civics. Or the concept that a free democracy is not about entitlement, it's about obligations to community and society. It's a mass gathering of people who claim to be exercising those obligations by protesting in defence of the rest of us when in fact, they're promoting the very actions that will do the most harm to their friends, neighbors, and communities.

            It has been painfully obvious that populist ideals have confounded the response to Covid 19 and nowhere is that more apparent than in Alberta. The leverage of the anti-science component of Southern Alberta population has led on more than one occasion to a reduction in diligence of public health measures which has allowed the virus to spread and to overburden our health care system (which is another can of worms entirely). It has also polarized Alberta into tribes. Those who adhere to the Great Barrington Declaration or "Let 'er Buck" covid response, and those who would have everything buttoned up tight, damn the costs. Again, I'm regarded as a traitor if I speak in defence of those who are the most vulnerable among us who would be in grave peril should we Let 'er Buck.

            I say Traitor as if I feel that's how I'm being treated. I say Traitor because I've actually been called a Traitor. I've been called a fascist, a communist, a nazi, and I've been urged to learn Chinese seeing how I seem to want to cede my country to them. It's this rhetoric of hate that clearly demonstrates the blatant ignorance of people I once regarded as friends. The hatred doesn't stop there, a casual conversation with these guys around a campfire would curl your hair with its racist and misogynist content. They would also be those ableist goons who border on Eugenicist by stating that the vulnerable are expendable and that "everyone who died was old or had co-morbidities". Except for their kid with asthma or autism or diabetes or who is obese. "No damned way are they going to vaccinate my kid".

            To paint the whole movement with these characterizations is not necessarily fair. I'm sure there are those among them who sincerely believe they're doing right even if the premise is inherently flawed. I'm sure there are reasonable minds among them who do not share these hateful characteristics. For those people, I'll defend their right to protest to the end.

            While there is much to be personally offended by what I've described, what offends me most is the accusation that I don't understand Freedom. I'm offended when I'm told that what I believe is disrespectful of those who died in the cause of Freedom. Again, it's a demonstration of civic illiteracy to regard Freedom as an entitlement which this movement seems to promulgate.

            My uncle who served described Freedom as a side effect of sacrifice. It's not an entitlement. It's strength is because it's delicate. It exists only because of obligation. It lives only because we sustain it, not because we expect it.

            It doesn't exist because it's spray painted on a piece of cardboard from a big screen TV box and is zip tied to the grill guard of a Peterbilt truck. Ironically it exists because that same truck can display a banner that says "F*ck Trudeau" on a 53 foot long trailer. In a society that is not free, that driver would be renditioned off to a small dark cell and fed moldy bread for the rest of his life.

            To suggest that young men and women died in defence of this kind of protest is disrespectful. To suggest that their sacrifice was so that people could put individual needs above their obligations to their communities is offensive. To suggest that their sacrifice was given so that people could become cynical contrarians instead of skeptical critical thinkers is disingenuous.

            My opposition to the Freedom Truckers' convoy is not that I object to Peaceful Protest. My main opposition is that the rule of the mob is quickly subverting the Rule of Law. A concept of our society that our forebears fought and died to defend.

            So here I am in my office putting these thoughts to page for your consideration. You might think that if I stuck to my principles, I would feel obligated to share these words publicly. Funny thing, though: My off ranch job is in jeopardy should I dare publish these thoughts in the immediate public square. My boss has already told me I'm not welcome in some customers' yards due to my social media posts in opposition to the convoy or in support of vaccination or public health orders. My relationships with local businesses has been impacted by those very same thoughts. My relationships with family has been strained because I criticized their hyperbolic rantings equating public health restrictions with the Holocaust, or tyranny, or communism. My online presence on social media is no longer a place where I can elicit a healthy discussion or debate. Outrage and hate is the default reaction to a post that references a rational statement from high quality verifiable sources. So I've withdrawn.

            So, the irony is apparent. The privilege of Freedom I enjoy has now been damaged by my arguments that support it. My obligation to sacrifice for that privilege comes with a personal, social, and financial cost. I'm ashamed of myself for not having the courage or resolve to pay those costs. That dishonors those very people I mentioned above who had that courage - damn the costs.

            It's a significant internal struggle. There will be a point when I'll have to do what I believe to be right.

            This is a dark day for Canada. Nationalism and Sectionalism and Individualism are replacing Patriotism. I never thought I would see the day when I would cringe when seeing someone display a Canadian Flag. I never thought I would cringe when I hear a group sing the National Anthem. I am ashamed to be associated with a group of the population that has weaponized both in their selfish cause. I am ashamed to pilot a truck down a highway knowing that people might regard me as a hate-filled insurrectionist or conversely, a champion of the civically illiterate mob who's feelings are hurt by having to get vaccinated or wear a bit of cloth over their face.

            There should be no shame in being Canadian. If what the world sees paints a picture of what we are, I'm ashamed. And for that I don't support the Truckers' Freedom protest. Shame on them.