The real danger to our country is from the tyranny of ignorance
By Lethbridge Herald on February 23, 2022.
Editor:
We have all endured enough. It is time to get back to normal. The government has abused it power and is infringing on our inalienable human rights to personal freedom. Throughout this winter, the city has mandated a reduced speed limit of 60 km/h on Whoop-Up Drive whenever it snows. They tell us that the reduced speed limit is to ease the burden on the health care system, but the hospital is not at capacity – there is still room for more crash victims, and most of them survive anyhow. The economic impact of this restriction has been unbearable, with countless people being forced to be late for work. People should be able to make their own decisions on what a safe speed is for their family. If someone wants to drive slowly, let them, but don’t force your rules on me. My freedom doesn’t end at your fear.
I’m calling for a demonstration to block traffic on the bridge until the City of Lethbridge removes all speed limits. This is our democratic right. Well respected politicians from our local MP to former Calgarian Ted Cruz agree that this is a good way to make our voices heard. Be sure to bring your Canadian flag – after all, what does the maple leaf symbolize if not that personal freedom is more important than the good of society? Wrapping yourself in a flag also emphasizes that all true Canadians are on our side. Similar blockades by brave freedom fighters across the country are getting international media coverage. Soon the maple leaf will be recognized everywhere just like the confederate flag is!
We all know that this is all Trudeau’s fault and that he is just trying to divide Canadians. Just look at the overreach of the federal government in putting double lines on the highways. My freedom to pass shouldn’t be limited by other drivers’ fears. And the real victims, remember, are the kids. We need to eliminate child seat laws so that kids can just be kids again. When I was young, we didn’t even need to wear seatbelts. We need to eliminate these restrictions now before our children’s mental health is damaged any further by being cruelly restrained in the back seat.
I’m thankful that my family and friends will recognize the sarcasm in the preceding text, and that if they thought I actually held these views they would tell me I was a selfish fool.
I’m saddened that there are so many people participating in the recent illegal blockades that obviously don’t have similar support. It is comforting, somewhat, that the individuals blocking our ports and attempting to intimidate our capital are an insignificant minority and we still live in a democracy governed by rational thought and the rule of law, even if some of these laws apparently don’t apply if you are a potential voter that might secure the premier’s political survival. What everyone should be worried about is the insidious threat to our democracy posed by the malignant echo chambers of social media, dark money and unprincipled politicians that have empowered this new generation of freedom fighters.
The idea that Canadians are currently justified to rise up against oppression from our government, and in the process infringe on the rights and freedoms of others, is farcical. What we are in danger from is the tyranny of ignorance and selfishness, and that is in no small part what we have invented government to protect us from.
Our premier recently drew an analogy to the Spanish Flu. He said that variants of that pandemic strain are still circulating today, so we should therefore just get used to COVID-19 and “learn to live with it”. People 100 years ago had no weapons against the virus beyond the common-sense tools of wearing masks and reducing social contact that we know so well today. Just as today, there was strong objection then as people grew weary of public health measures. Today, however, we have the previously unimaginable power to create vaccines in a matter of months and to detect genetic signatures of viruses in a matter of minutes with inexpensive tests.
Through the miracle of science, we have been given the tools to eradicate viruses like COVID-19 before they get a foothold, but we have squandered this opportunity by being too slow to act at the outset of the pandemic and being too quick to surrender at the end. It is not us who will be learning to live with the virus, it is the virus that is now learning to live with us. Let’s hope that our descendants 100 years from now won’t still be living with the new variants created by todays political dithering now that the spread of COVID-19 will be left unchecked.
Brad Gom
Lethbridge
12-11
Given Dwayne Lich made an appeal to his “First Amendment Rights” in court, the tyranny of ignorance, of which you speak, is very real and present, as is the dark undercurrent which motivated and continues to motivate those who associate themselves with and/or support the trucker occupation.
https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/fascism-is-as-canadian-as-the-maple-leaf/?fbclid=IwAR1Ynxw17XcN-BI5thiEExBiOVqROfa19uhmvXwZX2R9M8nlSZleRvo-qXg
I heard about the reference to the 1st Amendment too. Just goes to show that you can’t teach stupid.
What a long winded letter! Almost 800 words that rambled on and on- that’s what I call sloppy writing. How did it get past the Herald?
What?? You’ve never read ‘biff”s posts? It’s all he does!
you remain a clASS act.
Oooo …you used some capital letters! Could there be hope for you? No, you’re still a ranting buffoon.
Letters in the past were limited to 400 words and were edited to reflect that. Presume space is no longer an issue do you get short stories and the occasional novel.
LOL . . . I like it! Satire! At first I thought you were serious!
Brad, excellent letter. Well done! As I abide by the “sign’s” advice to reduce my speed when driving down Whoop Up Drive on snowy days, I guess you can count me amongst the state-brainwashed, mindless sheep kowtowing to what can only be called government over-reach.
yup, the miracle of covid vaxes that ended up offering a fraction of the protection promised. even multiple shots of the poisons did not get to the initial protection promised. they have made people sick, very sick and nothing to do with covid getting them. they barely offerd up more protection than a placebo effect. nothing like pharma science to undermine the veracity of real science. then again, what would one expect from crap borne of serial animal torture. great idea. amounts to a chef trying out recipes on rats, pigs, and monkeys – if it works for them people will for sure like it, too.