Like any good beginning I still like to open with a little quote. Today is an example of how I am viewing the contrary nature of these so called “Freedom Rallies” I quote Albert Camus with “Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.”
I am going out on a limb here however this is my take on the continuation of these crazy “freedom protests”. Weather being as nice as it was yesterday I did a good wheel and wound up at the Lougheed House. The Beltline community counter protest were gathering there to, again, make these “freedom protester” aware that the community is tired of the disruption these idiots have been creating since they started their “incursions” into the community. I am a resident of the Beltline who has a life time of “freedom protests” however my protesting history has been built on social justice issues. I am tired of sugar coating a bunch of white nationalist hiding behind the banner of “freedom”.
The contrarian nature of these “freedom protests” are written all over this but it is so much easier to white wash the facts of the contrarian nature. Just a quick review, there is a world of difference between fighting for “personal rights” and invading a community to feed your need for “personal entitlement”. Those two concepts are not even close. We need to start calling this for what it is, civil disobedience being encouraged by a handful of morally corrupt politicians. On a more macro level that is like the world wanting to belief Putin will act in a rational way and stop killing Ukraines. On the micro level we make excuses for a bunch of “protester” (and I am really stretching it to even assign that label to them).to invade our community every weekend.
When someone can stand in front of the press making statements like “I don’t want that poison injected into me” (meaning vaccination) while they suck on a cigarette, well that’s a poster child for contrary. This crap about vaccinations being a plot to implant trackers in you, get over it. I hate to bust your bubble but in the grand scheme of things you are not that important. And as far as tracking you, think about that the next time you “track your package” from whatever online site you have ordered your “Gadsden flag” from.
Another contrarian factor is how Calgary, in general, seem to believe this is only a Beltline issue. It isn’t, who’s tax dollars do you think are paying for all of the extra security (like police, ambulances, even saw a fire rescue truck)? Your’s, not just the residence of the Beltline. Every business that persevered through the pandemic restrictions now face those same economic threat created by a bunch of self righteous , self-entitled individuals who haven’t quite got the guts (so far) to start burning crosses again.
Calgary, and all Calgarians, (plus other parts of the country where this continues be played out) have to start calling this for what it is, this is not a protest nor civil unrest. This is “civil disorder”. The truth is, this isn’t a “protest”, it’s an incursion. The Charter may protect our rights to protest but it does provide you the right to an incursion. It’s this very contrarian thought process that allows the like of Putin to get away with his incursion. While world leaders are busily denying the truth solely for the purpose of confronting an issue makes all of us complicit. We have allowed the Charter to be weaponized by those who don’t like or respect the rule of law. The Charter was never designed to pit one persons concept of freedoms against someone else’s, it does allow compromises to work. Compromise, something I honestly believe the City and the Calgary Police Service attempted to do with the injunction. There are those who use the tools available to “destroy” not rebuild, those that would deny the truth and, to me, this freedom “protest” is like comparing civil unrest with jaywalking.
As Jack Nicholson’s character (Colonel Nathen Jessep) put it in the 1992 movie “A Few Good Men”, “you can’t handle the truth”. That’s the truth I am seeing is the few are better than the masses. The truth I am seeing is someone is organizing, paying and coordinating this on a much bigger scale than anybody cares to admit. Never has there been a bigger need to adhere to the old adage “Follow the money”, get to the manufacturer, not the dealer. And as far as costs are concerned, the City needs to demand some of that $10 million plus that was collected on the Ottawa incursion Go Fund Me campaign to use some of that money to fund the additional costs we, as tax dollars, are having to pay.
I am tired of having to fight for every bit of decency and freedom I have worked hard at over the years. Until we get to the root, the bank roll, of this so called protest the Beltline, and the the rest of Calgary by extension, will be consumed by civil unrest.
Words matter and now is not the time to be looking at ways to sugar coat the level of contrarian actions we are witnessing now. It is beyond time to take an “informed stand” and quit the bullying from continuing. This includes a mind set that goes from Calgary to the Ukraine. You want to talk freedom, tell that to the Ukraine. This scourge of weekly Beltline incursions is no more likely to end than Putin’s push to remake the Soviet block. Calgary is just one piece in the puzzle of peace but by getting our piece in place eventually the whole world will see the completed puzzle next time .
Until next time…
A Poster Child's Perspective 