About the Pickup Convoy

Trigger Warning: If you are rabidly supportive of the trucker convoy, this post may upset you. That being said, although I am strongly opinionated, I don't think I am too offensive.

Disclaimer: These are my thoughts about the protest before it reaches Ottawa  and not what is actually happening at the moment, be it good or bad. The post reflects what I think of the reason for the protest and also for the way that the protest is being implemented. At this point, I don't know what will happen, but I fear that there will be bad things.

Acknowledgement: Political protest is extremely important to a viable and functioning democracy. The truckers have the right to peaceful protest. However, I think this one is very poorly conceived and could go very wrong..

Here We Go↓

As I write this on Friday, truckers are descending upon Ottawa. As you read it, on Sunday, they are here, which might mean that I will need to post an addendum or even another, separate post. Or perhaps not because it is the concept that I find ridiculous, and I can post about that now.

This is the reason for the protest as I understand it. The Americans are not permitting unvaccinated, Canadian truckers to cross the border. As a consequence, our government decided to impose a vax mandate on our truckers. 

Let me say that the vaccine mandate makes sense to me.

Some are against mandates of any sort, but I am all for almost anything that keeps most of us safer. Also, in this case, it is a mandate that will help keep the economy moving to bring us the things we both want and need.

Keep in mind that when I write almost anything as I did above, this is in terms of COVID and the measures to combat it. I am not saying that anything goes now or at any time. The pandemic is something new, huge and not just any old thing, and we're still figuring out how to deal with it. 

I am not worried about a mandate such as this at this time, for generally speaking, strict government interventions just don't happen and will never will.  No Canadian  government is going to say "You'll all be safer in bulletproof vests, so you all have to wear them all of the time." There is no slippery slope here, for COVID is a unique and, hopefully, one-time event.

Mandates are not new, for at one time, governments everywhere decided that from then on we'd have to wear seatbelts. Now we all wear our seatbelts contentedly because it is the law but also because it makes sense. This vaccination mandate also makes sense. If you want to work for the government or any other employer, they have the right to expect you to act safely for the benefit of all. This truckers' vaccine mandate is just like that in my opinion.

Let me point out that most truckers, are vaccinated (it is said to be 90%), and those like the non-protesting trucker below, think the protest is "ridiculous" (his words). I wish that I could embed the video, but I don't know how, so here is the tweet that will lead you to it, and I'll post what he said, below, in italics.

“You want a job? Get vaccinated.”#cdnpoli

pic.twitter.com/ESvwtjYVtK

It's ridiculous. We need to be vaccinated. You want to bring it back and forth across the border? Yeah? You want a job? Get vaccinated.

I have a few more thoughts about vaccinations before I get back to the protest itself.

We have  90-year-olds rolling up their sleeves for a 4th dose. Five-year-old children are bravely getting their first jabs. What then is the problem with this small group of truckers? For as we have seen above, it sure isn't all of them: just a minority.

Also, we're not working in the dark here, for the vax has proven benign after literally billions of jabs.  It never was experimental. Even if someone was leery at the beginning, how many billions of jabs does it take for people to give up their unscientific notions?

The data shows that more than half of the world's total population has been vaccinated. That is more than 4 billon people, who have been fully vaxxed (two doses, I assume), and more than 10 billion doses have been administered overall.  https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

That's a lot of billions, but this isn't enough evidence for these big, burly truckers. What is the problem? Do they not follow the science, or are they just afraid of the needle?

However, as much I have gone on, I didn't really intend to make it mostly about vaccinations and mandates but more about what I think is the silliness of the convoy. 

Truckers are driving long distances, some from as far away as the west coast. It is more than 3500km/2200mi from Vancouver to Ottawa They are hoping that they can do something to overturn the vaccination mandate at the end of the gas-guzzling journey, but they are mistaken.

They seem to think that if they can talk to our unelected Governor General and then also get our unelected Senate onboard, that they can somehow overturn the will of our elected parliament. What?!

I do think that is absolutely dumb to spend a week driving an empty truck across Canada in winter and wasting time and fuel for a reason that makes no sense. And while that is dumb, I fear that the protest has been hijacked by fringe elements. I hope I am wrong, but this seems to always happen.

Most of the trucks that I see aren't even the big rigs that are the carriers being affected, for there are many more little pickups than big rigs. I tell you this for free; pickup guys are not the ones being affected by the mandate. I grant you that there are probably some guys in pickups who are, otherwise, legitimate truckers. In any case, pickups driving aimlessly around the capital are simply not not going to impress many people. In addition to the waste of time, money and fuel, the optics, especially the pickups, are all wrong.

Could it be that a large number of drivers, particularly the pickup drivers, are rednecks spoiling for a fight? I don't know the answer, but I ask the question, for I fear that they been inspired by the infamous January 6 insurrection. As some proof of their ill will, this is what one member of parliament has posted.

The convoy crew have told me I will be jailed, charged with war crimes and sent to hell.
Now we are being warned they are targeting our staff and our homes.
I have work to do in Ottawa and my staff are there to help people through this pandemic.
I will not be intimidated.

— Charlie Angus NDP (@CharlieAngusNDP) January 27, 2022

The evidence seems clear to me, that the convoy has largely become a trail of redneck pickup drivers. If you think me harsh, some trucks have been seen flying the Confederate flag — in Canada, of all places.

Whatever you and I think of the original intent of the convoy, which in my opinion was not clever to begin with, the protest seems to have been hijacked, and I don't think it is going to go well. These things seldom do. But perhaps I am as wrong about this as I am about most things.

I am not sure what the original organizers truly believed that they could accomplish (perhaps get wealthy on the 8 million dollar GoFundMe pledges?) other than driving around the city, inconveniencing people, getting into mischief, and pissing off good citizens.

But this is Friday, and I don't know what is going to happen. Mainly, I think it is all really dumb. Just roll up your little sleeves and get the jab. It's free and it is over in a jiff, and you can take a minute afterward to wipe your big tears away.

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I am seeing some funny stuff like this ↓ though:  funny, but with a lot of truth. 

Someone did write that they were putting up PortaPottys for the boys. Yeah, you can bet that they are more than 90% boys.