Barbara Bout @barbout
Retired educator; soccer mom, fighting destructive C19 hysteria. Toastmaster; partial to contrarians, counter-intuitives, innovators; chorister, cyclist, skier.
Not being one to attend protest rallies I was nevertheless compelled to attend my first one in Waterloo on Mother’s Day with a relative who has been attending more of these of late. Along with her husband (a retired internist/respirologist who knows a thing or two about infectious diseases) we wanted to hear what the speakers had to say about the troubling public health response to COVID-19.
Our mothers are no longer with us so this was the next best thing to honour them as they would be horrified at the abuse of power being foisted on a frightened populace that has been fed nothing but media fear propaganda for the last 15 months.
One of the most compelling speakers was an hospital administrator who expressed shock and disappointment at how pre-2020 pandemic management plans, carefully and thoughtfully crafted over many years, incorporating evidence from previous pandemics, were ignored and shelved in favour of draconian, harmful and ineffective lockdowns.
It appears that only some protests are acceptable and not others, so media misrepresent these legitimate and peaceful protests. There is little evidence of outdoor spread as dire predictions of surges in cases never materialize even though the “chicken littles” cluck disdainfully at all those irresponsible, selfish people gathering outdoors to protest. Many such demonstrations have occurred all over the world with hundreds of thousands in attendance. The people who come out can’t all be on the fringe.
Those who care enough to protest are concerned about government abuse of “emergency” powers and ignorance of constitutional rights. There has been no accounting for or cost/benefit analysis of lockdown harms, just censorship of medical professionals and others who raise concerns.
There is no evidence of how small businesses, exceedingly compliant to keep customers “safe” (whatever that means anymore), contribute to viral spread. Our Dear Leaders capitulate to special interests while ignoring the real harms of closed schools, and dismissing evidence that schools are among the safest workplaces around.
Governments and their advisors use our aggregate cell phone location data against us to deny our mobility rights because we’re all moving around too much. How diabolical!
The retired doctor I accompanied to the rally held a sign that read: “The Charter isn’t a wish list. It’s a guarantee.” He knows all about the dangers of respiratory infections. Yet he is considerably more concerned about where government overreach and abuse of power can lead. There is much more to say. It’s time the media reported on it.
