One year later? Ten years? Who cares? It's Canada!“The Government of Canada has committed to a COVID-19 response review and more information will be communicated in due time,” said Maryse Durette, a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada.One year ago.On October 18th 2022, the National Post and writer Catherine Levesque headlined: “Theresa Tam welcomes a review of Canada's COVID pandemic response, stresses need for 'humility.' This week, the Post tells us 54% of Canadians, outside the prairies, think the government got the pandemic response right. (On the prairies, the response was less favourable to the government.)Those of us constantly scratching our heads at our fellow Canadians in this strange la-la-land try and understand the insanity. How does one live in a world that has gone completely insane? It was only three years of hell. It only divided our country. It only led to widespread suspicion of scientists, health experts and institutions that not a few Canadians now view as “captured.”We have to accept that lies are preferable. Stay in Plato's Cave. To our friends, and in those late-night hours talking to ourselves, or the ceiling, we rehearse what we were told for three years:1. They said the vaccine wouldn’t be mandatory.2. They told us drug companies had conducted clinical trails that proved the drug was safe and effective.3. They said there would be two shots. Then a booster. Then another booster. 4. They told us the vaccine would prevent COVID-19. Then they told us the vaccine would prevent serious COVID. Then they said the vaccine would prevent death.5. Any talk of myocarditis, blood clots, or even any ineffectiveness of the medicine they labeled as misinformation.6. They said lockdowns worked; just look at China.7. They told us even if you weren’t sick, you could give COVID to grandma.8. They said it was a pandemic of the unvaccinated. They said the unvaccinated were spreading the virus and creating mutations. They said the emergency rooms were overrun because of the unvaccinated.9. They said that nurses who refused the shot were COVID idiots.10. They said the science was conclusive.Then Biden got COVID. Fauci got COVID. Trudeau got COVID. We all got COVID. And 54% of Canadians still believe them.Sometimes when looking at propaganda in class, I like to make use of Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent and Jacques Ellul's Propaganda; the formation of men's attitudes. It's all pretty fundamental stuff: We are in the soup of propaganda when criticism of the government and its bureaucracy becomes taboo, when our leaders achieve an infallible status, when the media will not critique the government's policies and when the university will not critique the government's policies.But increasingly, things get really quiet. Crickets. Sideways glances.What's clear is conversations that even hint at the government response to the pandemic are taboo and anti-social: “You don't care about safety and health.” Of course, tyrants have always draped themselves in the flag. They do all they can to appear as the enlightened embodiment of their country's ideals and of 'the right people.' An attack on the leader becomes an attack on the country. A criticism of Trudeau's pandemic response is an attack on Canadians, all those Canadians “who stepped up and did the right thing.” Those heroic frontline workers, say. And from that fateful day in March 2020 when the army of groupthink cliches first invaded our homes and roosted permanently among us, our leaders have drummed into our overwhelmed psyches that criticism of the government's handling of the pandemic was not allowed, for the sake of safety. (There's precedent: It always strikes me funny the French Revolution's bloody Reign of Terror was led by The Committee for Public Safety.) Now Canadians can't separate health and safety from the government. To critique the latter means being cavalier with our health.You think the Chinese and their 'social cohesion' is a heavy billy club? How about concern for your neighbour's health?A recent survey by the Cato Institute speaks to this further. They asked if respondents would favour the installation of in-house cameras to help head off 'domestic violence, abuse, and other illegal activity.' It was a small sample size — 2,000 respondents — but it suggested that 14% of Americans would accept these cameras, while 10% weren't sure. But, importantly, 30% of GenZ-ers want the cameras.They want to feel safe. They are not worried about government spying. They feel safer when being watched.Who am I (and Edward Snowden) to tell them differently? Safety is sacrosanct.The National Post of a year ago reported “Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has hinted that a broad review on Canada’s pandemic response in the past two and a half years would be coming up shortly, but his office was not able to provide more details on the government’s intentions immediately.”And still not a year later. Why would he? They can wait it out. As long as there is no pushback they will keep it up. The Conservatives won't push them on it and neither will most Canadians.For the rest of us, we are left to try and explain why, after all that we went through, everyone still gets COVID-19.
One year later? Ten years? Who cares? It's Canada!“The Government of Canada has committed to a COVID-19 response review and more information will be communicated in due time,” said Maryse Durette, a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada.One year ago.On October 18th 2022, the National Post and writer Catherine Levesque headlined: “Theresa Tam welcomes a review of Canada's COVID pandemic response, stresses need for 'humility.' This week, the Post tells us 54% of Canadians, outside the prairies, think the government got the pandemic response right. (On the prairies, the response was less favourable to the government.)Those of us constantly scratching our heads at our fellow Canadians in this strange la-la-land try and understand the insanity. How does one live in a world that has gone completely insane? It was only three years of hell. It only divided our country. It only led to widespread suspicion of scientists, health experts and institutions that not a few Canadians now view as “captured.”We have to accept that lies are preferable. Stay in Plato's Cave. To our friends, and in those late-night hours talking to ourselves, or the ceiling, we rehearse what we were told for three years:1. They said the vaccine wouldn’t be mandatory.2. They told us drug companies had conducted clinical trails that proved the drug was safe and effective.3. They said there would be two shots. Then a booster. Then another booster. 4. They told us the vaccine would prevent COVID-19. Then they told us the vaccine would prevent serious COVID. Then they said the vaccine would prevent death.5. Any talk of myocarditis, blood clots, or even any ineffectiveness of the medicine they labeled as misinformation.6. They said lockdowns worked; just look at China.7. They told us even if you weren’t sick, you could give COVID to grandma.8. They said it was a pandemic of the unvaccinated. They said the unvaccinated were spreading the virus and creating mutations. They said the emergency rooms were overrun because of the unvaccinated.9. They said that nurses who refused the shot were COVID idiots.10. They said the science was conclusive.Then Biden got COVID. Fauci got COVID. Trudeau got COVID. We all got COVID. And 54% of Canadians still believe them.Sometimes when looking at propaganda in class, I like to make use of Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent and Jacques Ellul's Propaganda; the formation of men's attitudes. It's all pretty fundamental stuff: We are in the soup of propaganda when criticism of the government and its bureaucracy becomes taboo, when our leaders achieve an infallible status, when the media will not critique the government's policies and when the university will not critique the government's policies.But increasingly, things get really quiet. Crickets. Sideways glances.What's clear is conversations that even hint at the government response to the pandemic are taboo and anti-social: “You don't care about safety and health.” Of course, tyrants have always draped themselves in the flag. They do all they can to appear as the enlightened embodiment of their country's ideals and of 'the right people.' An attack on the leader becomes an attack on the country. A criticism of Trudeau's pandemic response is an attack on Canadians, all those Canadians “who stepped up and did the right thing.” Those heroic frontline workers, say. And from that fateful day in March 2020 when the army of groupthink cliches first invaded our homes and roosted permanently among us, our leaders have drummed into our overwhelmed psyches that criticism of the government's handling of the pandemic was not allowed, for the sake of safety. (There's precedent: It always strikes me funny the French Revolution's bloody Reign of Terror was led by The Committee for Public Safety.) Now Canadians can't separate health and safety from the government. To critique the latter means being cavalier with our health.You think the Chinese and their 'social cohesion' is a heavy billy club? How about concern for your neighbour's health?A recent survey by the Cato Institute speaks to this further. They asked if respondents would favour the installation of in-house cameras to help head off 'domestic violence, abuse, and other illegal activity.' It was a small sample size — 2,000 respondents — but it suggested that 14% of Americans would accept these cameras, while 10% weren't sure. But, importantly, 30% of GenZ-ers want the cameras.They want to feel safe. They are not worried about government spying. They feel safer when being watched.Who am I (and Edward Snowden) to tell them differently? Safety is sacrosanct.The National Post of a year ago reported “Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has hinted that a broad review on Canada’s pandemic response in the past two and a half years would be coming up shortly, but his office was not able to provide more details on the government’s intentions immediately.”And still not a year later. Why would he? They can wait it out. As long as there is no pushback they will keep it up. The Conservatives won't push them on it and neither will most Canadians.For the rest of us, we are left to try and explain why, after all that we went through, everyone still gets COVID-19.
