A child’s perspective
Tale of 2 protests
My daughter is literally frightened to attend a freedom rally with me. I couldn’t understand why. In fact. She doesn’t even want me to go. She begs me not to. She gets really upset.
I incorrectly assumed it was because she didn’t understand what I was fighting for. Why I was so upset with our government and their policies. Why, for the first time in my life, I was willing to practice my right to peaceful protest against our government.
I kept asking her, more and more frustrated as time went on - why she refuses to come with me. She has never behaved like this about anything else. She demands I take her everywhere with me and let her participate in any and all activities. Doesn’t it matter to her how important I think this is? Shouldn’t she witness what I believe in so strongly. Even once. Witness it with her own eyes and form her own opinions? Even if it’s just so she remembers when she’s older?
Well, I finally got my answer. It was like pulling teeth. Her answer floored me.
I don’t want you to get hurt or killed daddy.
Why on earth do you think peaceful protests are dangerous sweet heart? It’s like a party. Sometimes there’s even singing or dancing. There’s lots of other kids there. I promise you that we will have fun - you will love it!
Daddy, I saw them on TV. Please don’t go. Please don’t make me go.
So let me get this straight…
These protests…
They were considered righteous. According to our omnipotent public health officials, they represented absolutely zero threat to public health and safety with respect to COVID. They were so righteous that the violence was ignored and instead, were positioned as “mostly peaceful”. They were so righteous and peaceful, that they were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Our Prime Minister attended the event and kneeled before them, while they were tearing down our statues and labelling us all bigots. They were so brave, powerful and uplifting, that watching them frightened my daughter. She quite literally was fearful of death if she were to attend a peaceful protest and participate in the democratic process.
These protests however…
Are dangerous “far right wing” protests.
Dangerous anti-maskers causing massive community viral spread and prolonging tyrannical government lockdowns. Selfish, greedy, white supremacists. These people should be charged, arrested and refused medical treatment. No punishment is to severe, they are a threat to us all.
There is something very wrong with our society. We have allowed malicious, politically motivated and tax funded propagandists to twist our perceptions of reality and mess with our minds.
Shame on all of us.
As someone who escaped from an emotionally abusive relationship (my first wife was a high functioning sociopath), I see parallels between the relationship between Canadians, our governments & our media...
We "choose" our politicians by voting but we don't choose the bureaucracy. So the elected government is like marriage; the bureaucracy is the in-laws... The media are what are euphemistically called "flying monkeys" kinda of like the reactionary friends of the abusive partner who are along for the drama.
For most of us, once we've cast our vote (if we even bother to do so), that more or less puts an end to our involvement. We sit back... watch & complain... but rarely (if ever) provide feedback to the politicians about what we wish to see... and wish to NOT see...
In my case, escaping the abuse led to a substantial time in counseling... not a bad thing since I also had a good bit of "stuff" to deal with from my career in policing... The lessons learned are a bit more than can be easily shared... but a few tidbits on point to the analogy might help.
-We teach others how to treat us more by what we tolerate silently than by anything we say.
-We never deserve to be abused and those who abuse rarely acknowledge this was their intent.
-Flying monkeys live for drama and the only way to be rid of them is to starve them out.
-One of the first words we learn as a child is "NO" and, as adults, we need to use that work more often and more effectively.