Freedom to hear the other side of the politicians’ stories - Alcyonenews

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Posted September 10, 2021

Freedom to hear the other side of the politicians’ stories

Recently there is much talk about “freedom”. Of course, you and I know what “freedom” is, and so does everyone else - problem is that not all of us “know” alike. Ask any “graduate” about the definition of “freedom” he or she learned in school...

This diversity of perception has caused a mini “Tower of Babel” syndrome, resulting in mild chaos. But neither despair nor turn meek, it is not your fault, it is the confusion induced by those who profit from it. Anyway, I went to the Dictionaries, our trusted word-authorities, and look what I found:

Collins: “Freedom is the state of being allowed to do what you want to do”.

Hell ... Nooooooo!

OED: [freedom is] “1. The power or right to act, speak, or think freely. 2. The state of being free”.

Even the mighty are occasionally silly ...

The Merriam - Webster: “The absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action”.

Yes and thanks for reassuring us that not all Dics are simultaneously silly.

For the usage of the word, I will look at three currently prominent cases: Fairy Creek, a re-run; the Pandemic anti-vaxx & mask wave; and the road-hazards to Trudeau’s re-election.

The first is clearly “understood”, it being an objection to logging ancient forests. This is the clear-cut call to stop “logging ancient forests”. In 1988, we had the Carmanah Valley episode of the series where a contingent of fierce Raging Grannies in flower-laden hats joined the protest melodiously singing the message. Police rounded them up, loaded them in Black-Marias and drove them to the courtroom of Justice John Bouck who dished out to them 40 to 80 days in jail to cool off. Oh the Age of Flower Power ... Very nostalgic.

The Anti-Vaxx wave is closer to home and its significance extends Earth-wide. It is also a tad complex. For various reasons certain people refuse the jab. Among them are the usual conspiracy-theorists whose ranks appear swollen due to the recent substantial erosion of public trust in government. This phenomenon of public distrust for the government is a crucial problem because it imperils democracy. It is not our fault, it is due to politicians conducting themselves in a manner conducive to public distrust and often disgust.

Anti-vaxxers & anti-maskers talk in terms of “freedom”. Society is violating their freedom to refuse the jab and the mask, say they. But it ain’t so. Up to now, we have no compulsory vaccination in Canada. In a year and a half of pandemic, no one has been jailed or lashed for refusing the jab or the mask. Yes, tickets were given to un-masked folk, but not for being unmasked as much as for imposing their unmasked selves on masked folk. In other words, the tickets were penalties for violating the freedom of people and scaring them with the prospect of COVID19.

Protesters were seeking to prevent being denied entry into restaurants, theaters, airplanes and cruise ships. But letting them in would force out the COVID-fearing folk, and worse. Freedom of Association is freedom of “birds of a feather to flock together”. It comes with no obligation of “inclusion”, at least it does not this side of military conscription.

The other leg of this protest trio is the interruption of the Trudeau re-election campaign. While Trudeau struggles to lure voters to keep him in the job he likes, protesters flash-mob the events seeking to persuade people to dump Trudeau.

The scope is wider than that. Politicians engage mostly in a monologue due to the “System” being designed to de facto suppress the Freedom of people to hear the other side of the politicians’ story.

No, we the people cannot go to Trudeau’s rivals for the other side of the story. Their modus operandi is common. They all deploy “pollsters” and PRofessional persuaders to ghost-script the skit they would play the next day on the campaign trail. In effect, the System is designed to empower the politicians to keep us in ignorance on vital election matters and prevents us from gauging political corruption.

Brightly illuminating this reality, is the scene of “leaders” swallowing their tongues in sync on Quebec Bill 96. This is a matter crucial to the future of Canada, it being substantially the “Charlottetown Accord” Canadians rejected in the 1988 referendum ushered in by the back door. A few months ago, Quebec unilaterally commenced a process to alter the Canadian Constitution. Trudeau lead the other “leaders” in a fiddling concert while Canada was burning. None of the party “leaders” would stand up for Canada, as they all salivate for some Quebec MP seats.

It is a sad state of affairs when it would take a flash-mob to disrupt the Politicians coalition to suppress information on an act of subversion of Canada.