Jeff Burgar
Is it any surprise most news stories about the Freedom Convoy and associated protests are almost all critical of those nasty truckers?
And is it any surprise the opinions wagging along with those stories, are also coming from big city eastern media?
Why have we not heard how many protesters are sick with COVID? How many protesters are in hospital, on death’s door? How many of the 30,000 downtown core Ottawa people supposedly horribly impacted by the protesters have asked for a hospital bed? How many have asked for rapid testing, due to the sniffles they just caught from the Convoy, and are fearing for their lives?
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told us all to “follow the science.” Newsflash to some people, including the prime minister of Canada: There is no “science” about COVID-19 to follow.
“Following the science,” as many political leaders these days advise, is a concocted myth. The more control-freak politicians used it, and found it repeated endlessly by breathless media, the more they come back to it. Sort of like sheep or cattle coming back to a comfortable and safe place to sleep.
People may recall, among our first reactions to the COVID threat, namely, closing borders, was decried by many politicians as racist and xenophobic. As infections skyrocketed, “science” stepped in with a bromide: Flatten the curve! Closures became the flavour of the day internationally. Both Canada and America jumped on the bandwagon and followed.
Then came lockdowns.
Even while “science” argued over how COVID was transmitted, we locked seniors in care homes. Even while we allowed health and care workers to freely travel between hospitals, home, and infected care facilities. Where was “science” then?
The fact is, the world, and politicians, despite all the studies and plans for pandemic infections, acted as there were none. Action politically, as always too slow.
Real world evidence is right in front of us. Freedom Convoy. How is data collection and analysis going with them? Nothing. The fact is, almost all “science,” even today, is opinions and precautions based mostly not on science, but on experience gained from earlier experiences with different viruses and bacteria.
If Trudeau truly believed “science” needs following, he should not worry about trucker protests. This week, the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa should be decimated by COVID. Ambulances should be rushing protesters and their children off to hospitals. Healthy, frightened truckers, seeing their brothers and sisters falling, will be locking themselves in their trucks. Or driving away, hoping to find a hospital not jammed by those same brothers and sisters.
Trudeau can immediately meet with Parliament. Explain how laws will be applied to all Canadians in the future, everywhere in Canada. Then, if he truly believed in “the science,” let the trucker protests wither away due to COVID, as they surely must.