Anthony Rota, speaker of the House in Parliament made a big mistake. He invited a nazi into the revered space of Canadian power, claiming him (Yaroslav Hunka) to be both a Canadian and Ukrainian hero. Although he took responsibility for his actions, he cannot claim ultimate responsibility. Ultimate accountability is at least shared by the leader of the party in power as well as the party itself. An ethical leader would acknowledge, while having no part in the invitation, or planning of the blunder, he/she will by virtue of their authority rectify the situation. If someone has the power to do this, they are effectively saying the buck stops here. There is no shame in a leader correcting the mistakes of his MP, only in pretending that he is without culpability. Stepping up and into the mess, demonstrates a willingness to own every aspect of leadership including maintaining and repairing the relationships with those that are trusted. Embarrassment is a given, repair and reconciliation are rare.
Missouri vs Biden: A Win For Science
In the Missouri vs. Biden case held a little over a month ago, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was a witness against the Biden Whitehouse. This historical case saw Dr. Bhattacharya witness what the Supreme Court in 1949 said was “the vitality of civil and political institutions: free discussions… free debate.” According to Dr. Bhattacharya and as a point of fact, “the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that COVID-19 pandemic policy critics weren’t imagining these [censorship] violations. The Biden administration did indeed strong-arm social media companies into doing its bidding. The court found that the Biden White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. surgeon general’s office, and the FBI have “engaged in a years-long pressure campaign [on social media outlets] designed to ensure that the censorsohip aligned with the government’s preferred viewpoints.”
What was dismissed by the media and government as conspiracy theory was in truth a conspiracy. The shocking aspect of this common story is not the collusion between government and powerful entities/corporations. The shocker is that so many people fell for the media’s trickery in describing it. If someone dared to question the government (and thus media) sanctioned version of events, that individual was labeled with the shameful words ‘conspiracy theorist.’ And what followed these diseased, simple minded science deniers was ex-communication from the church of right think. A single day in court has come with much vindication, but as usual little “free press” coverage, no accountability, and absolutely no apology. Worst of all, a lack of interest which breeds forgetfulness and in turn a repeat of history.
Madness Revealed
Two decades ago, one of my university professors asked the class of students I was in how many bathrooms we had in our homes. It quickly became clear that the fewer bathrooms we could boast, the greater the currency we possessed in order to purchase observable virtue. When it came my turn, I asked if the fact that I had an outhouse until I was seven years old counted in my favour: it did not. After reading Douglas Murray’s book The Madness of Crowds, I have a greater understanding of what was happening in that room 20 plus years ago, and what continues to happen in the strange rooms we find ourselves in today. In the new world order a small class of people have risen to defend the underdog, which would seem to be anyone in the minority category: black, gay, immigrant, trans, and so on. According to Murray this elite class views privilege based on external characteristics as the new enemy: namely skin colour and possibly bathroom count.
Murray explains that this new upper class colludes with tech companies to extract pre-determined conclusion about people, for the purposes of weeding out their thoughts from public engagement. Apparently, the belief that a proclivity toward racist, homo/transphobic, right extremism have a higher incidence found in those individuals encased, for example, in the males with white skin is just one tenet of the new religious elite called woke. This group of individuals, while standing above everyone else in judgement and privilege feigns a self loathing (of trivial offenses) to highlight their righteous moral high ground that dare not be questioned; while at the same time hiding their real sin: racism, hate, hysteria, the very things they project onto their victims.
I work now with over 100 volunteers in a thrift shop to raise money for a good cause. A short while ago I asked a fellow worker if she heard the term woke. She had not. There exists a myriad of reasons why conflicts in one intellectual sphere bear little image to the lives of those in another. But without question we live in an era that until such time that certain issues flood the commons through powerful systems of release, they would otherwise go unnoticed. The export of ideas from powerful story makers (in concert with tech censorship of dissenting thought) must not be underestimated. An understanding of how information is produced and which way it flows to create policy is crucial to decision making for the every day citizen. Without an examination of conclusions that are arguably divisive, hateful and novel, the masses buy into “the science” that masquerades as an output of independent thought in a democracy.
Murray’s point is well taken. The speed at which media infects a person’s thoughts is overwhelming. Suddenly the consumer through “illusion of consent” via tech distortion, thinks he has a read on the popular sentiment of the day. Not wanting to be viewed as a bigot, racist, homophobe, he retweets the meme or slogan and then castigates anyone who thinks differently. The ruling class who orchestrated the issue and interpretation(s) to begin with, then relies on the population to enforce their perspectives and policies through this cunning flow of story formation. We fall into a trap; that being the illusion that the concerns of the common people are informing our leaders when in fact they do not. Instead, the everyday man and woman are unduly pressed upon, through the calculation of narrative flow, to nudge yea even force conclusion conformity aligning to those who hold the power.
As I read Murray’s book, I get a picture of our future that is more sinister than the stories of our past. The new colonizer’s strategy employs weapons “heretofore unimagined.” The new monarchs target the cyber space not with weapons of material destruction but social weapons of “emotional annihilation that shuns its victims into oblivion.” Shame, toilet counting, skin inspection, word-redefinition, outright cancelation and the like are the new nuclear threats. The gain from this madness? Less! Less unity, less thinking, less white influence, less science, less fact, less truth, less manliness, less men.
Murray skillfully illuminates a swath of taboo questions that challenge the set of unscientific assumptions that holds woke in a state of play. This book is a must read to help us think and question our way into sanity. We may even find ourselves in dialogue with someone other than ourselves.
Empty Box, Full Heart
Inherently, ministry life is lonely; add repressed grief to the situation and it produces a tale of gut-wrenching isolation and all the neuroticism that ensues. If you thought that it’s tough to be a leader in a church setting, The Box Must Be Empty dispels such silly notions: it is downright brutal. Kriete invites the reader to share in her messy experience of catharsis while she skillfully cradles the shock in humor and wit. This author will not disappoint. It’s not just her authenticity you’ll connect with, her epigrammatic elegance is left on every page.
The Trial Begins
–Many of you, no doubt will disagree with me in what follows. You are welcome here. Let us do again what Canadians once did best: carefully, thoughtfully, at times heatedly discuss important issues while remaining united.
Like the rest of Canada, I watched countless hours of the inquiry into the use of the Emergency Act, and still, the COVID saga continues. I just finished Tamara Lich’s Book Hold the Line. If you have forgotten, or never knew, Ms. Lich is the key leader of Freedom Convoy. Not the “so called Freedom Convoy” that corporate media like to refer to the movement as. She and Chris Barber, another leader of the Convoy now stand trial for the charge of mischief, and inciting others to mischief.
This kind of mischief is not the dictionary definition which reads “playful mis-behaviour or troublemaking especially in children.” Although the three weeks in the Ottawa capital saw the protesters engaging in a great deal of playful, joyful, inclusive and communal activity. Mischief under the criminal code is written as follows:
section 430 (1) Everyone commits mischief who wilfully. (a) destroys or damages property; (b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective; (c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property…
For this false charge, Tamara Lich was arrested, stripped outside a police station in sub zero temperature and put in jail twice for a total of 49 days, some of which she spent in solitary. Non consenting solitary confinement is now considered torture by most mental health professionals.
Before you say to yourself, “good she deserved the police to take off her winter jacket steps away from the warmth of the inside of a police station and search her in the cold and dark” please, Canadian, read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Before you say to yourself, “Oh good, this genuine Metis grandmother deserved to be thrown into a cell freezing, wet, exhausted “with a cement slab for a bed…that sucked the little warmth [she] had left in [her] body…” and refused even a blanket: please, my fellow Canadian, take a moment to reflect.
Sometimes, when emotions run high and horns are disturbingly loud, making it difficult to think, sleep and be, we can forget that Canada is a democracy where even cold-blooded killers are afforded certain dignities and rights under our laws. It is easy to forget that in Canada we are innocent until proven guilty, especially when main stream media is paid for by its government to forget the role of journalism. CTV, CBC and Global characterize this legitimate peaceful protest as
- Foreign Funded (Which in part it was. However, there was no desire to focus on the Canadians who donated the bulk of the funds. Ironically CBC complained that those who claimed they retracted their ‘foreign fund story’ never contacted them to get the real story. Talk about a kettle/pot problem),
- Swastika flag waving (One flag not a part of the protest: against millions of Canadian flags),
- Designed as an Insurrection (Not one move was made to overthrow the government by the Freedom Convoy, who made countless attempts to engage in dialogue that was met with a Prime Minister who fled the nation’s capitol),
- Fringe (how 6 million vocal Canadians and how many more silent can be called fringe is the result of What Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University calls “illusion of consent”)
- Unacceptable movement. (Unacceptable to whom)?
- Dangerous (The Freedom Convoy Participants not only cleaned downtown Ottawa, fed the homeless, frequented businesses, they were continually dancing, drumming, hugging. The Freedom Convoy cooperated with the police unil the last days when they attempted to stand their ground while kneeling, unarmed holding the charter in their hands before a brutal display of force).
Although Canadian corporate media refused to understand and capture the essence of the protest with its grass roots emergence and the learning curve that comes with it, much of the wider world saw it as a free and fabulous demonstration of Canada’s Citizens exercising their constitutional right to a peaceful protest.
Peaceful, until Trudeau’s army of force stepped in with intent to do violence should Canadians refuse to back down from their lawful, albeit highly disruptive presence. The Emergency Act police crushed the process. Independent news sources captured the violence: pepper spray, horses, batons and body slams, kicking and punching to many, including veteran’s calling out as they were brutally taken to the ground. One veteran pleaded “I’m not resisting, I’m peaceful” yet his fellow Canadian in uniform slammed him to the ground. He asked for a different position because of wounds incurred during battle for your freedom and mine. He was denied.
What took place in Ottawa was an amazing moment of the people peacefully speaking truth to power.
The 16 – day trial of these two freedom leaders is an opportunity for the media, government, and judiciary of Canada to redeem these institutions. In the service of protecting a just, free and democratic society, the court shall find both individuals innocent of all charges. The media shall honestly explain why, and the government shall soon change hands as the people of Canada elect officials who will never again allow this political prisoner incident to ever darken our way again.
Join me as Conversation Café continues this discussion. Please contact me using the ‘Contact Page.’ I welcome your engagement. If you wish your response to be posted, we will determine that together.
–Many of you, no doubt will disagree with me in what follows. You are welcome here. Let us do again what Canadians once did best: carefully, thoughtfully, at times heatedly discuss important issues while remaining united.
Like the rest of Canada, I watched countless hours of the inquiry into the use of the Emergency Act, and still, the COVID saga continues. I just finished Tamara Lich’s Book Hold the Line. If you have forgotten, or never knew, Ms. Lich is the key leader of Freedom Convoy. Not the “so called Freedom Convoy” that corporate media like to refer to the movement as. She and Chris Barber, another leader of the Convoy now stand trial for the charge of mischief, and inciting others to mischief.
This kind of mischief is not the dictionary definition which reads “playful mis-behaviour or troublemaking especially in children.” Although the three weeks in the Ottawa capital saw the protesters engaging in a great deal of playful, joyful, inclusive and communal activity. Mischief under the criminal code is written as follows:
section 430 (1) Everyone commits mischief who wilfully. (a) destroys or damages property; (b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective; (c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property…
For this false charge, Tamara Lich was arrested, stripped outside a police station in sub zero temperature and put in jail twice for a total of 49 days, some of which she spent in solitary. Non consenting solitary confinement is now considered torture by most mental health professionals.
Before you say to yourself, “good she deserved the police to take off her winter jacket steps away from the warmth of the inside of a police station and search her in the cold and dark” please, Canadian, read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Before you say to yourself, “Oh good, this genuine Metis grandmother deserved to be thrown into a cell freezing, wet, exhausted “with a cement slab for a bed…that sucked the little warmth [she] had left in [her] body…” and refused even a blanket: please, my fellow Canadian, take a moment to reflect.
Sometimes, when emotions run high and horns are disturbingly loud, making it difficult to think, sleep and be, we can forget that Canada is a democracy where even cold-blooded killers are afforded certain dignities and rights under our laws. It is easy to forget that in Canada we are innocent until proven guilty, especially when main stream media is paid for by its government to forget the role of journalism. CTV, CBC and Global characterize this legitimate peaceful protest as
- Foreign Funded (Which in part it was. However, there was no desire to focus on the Canadians who donated the bulk of the funds. Ironically CBC complained that those who claimed they retracted their ‘foreign fund story’ never contacted them to get the real story. Talk about a kettle/pot problem),
- Swastika flag waving (One flag not a part of the protest: against millions of Canadian flags),
- Designed as an Insurrection (Not one move was made to overthrow the government by the Freedom Convoy, who made countless attempts to engage in dialogue that was met with a Prime Minister who fled the nation’s capitol),
- Fringe (how 6 million vocal Canadians and how many more silent can be called fringe is the result of What Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University calls “illusion of consent”)
- Unacceptable movement. (Unacceptable to whom)?
- Dangerous (The Freedom Convoy Participants not only cleaned downtown Ottawa, fed the homeless, frequented businesses, they were continually dancing, drumming, hugging. The Freedom Convoy cooperated with the police unil the last days when they attempted to stand their ground while kneeling, unarmed holding the charter in their hands before a brutal display of force).
Although Canadian corporate media refused to understand and capture the essence of the protest with its grass roots emergence and the learning curve that comes with it, much of the wider world saw it as a free and fabulous demonstration of Canada’s Citizens exercising their constitutional right to a peaceful protest.
Peaceful, until Trudeau’s army of force stepped in with intent to do violence should Canadians refuse to back down from their lawful, albeit highly disruptive presence. The Emergency Act police crushed the process. Independent news sources captured the violence: pepper spray, horses, batons and body slams, kicking and punching to many, including veteran’s calling out as they were brutally taken to the ground. One veteran pleaded “I’m not resisting, I’m peaceful” yet his fellow Canadian in uniform slammed him to the ground. He asked for a different position because of wounds incurred during battle for your freedom and mine. He was denied.
What took place in Ottawa was an amazing moment of the people peacefully speaking truth to power.
The 16 – day trial of these two freedom leaders is an opportunity for the media, government, and judiciary of Canada to redeem these institutions. In the service of protecting a just, free and democratic society, the court shall find both individuals innocent of all charges. The media shall honestly explain why, and the government shall soon change hands as the people of Canada elect officials who will never again allow this political prisoner incident to ever darken our way again.
Join me as Conversation Café continues this discussion. Please contact me using the ‘Contact Page.’ I welcome your engagement. If you wish your response to be posted, we will determine that together.