Author: Shawn Whatley

The Truckers’ Freedom Convoy 2022 has forced a clash of law and morality.

At the start of the pandemic, it seemed reasonable to suspend citizens’ constitutional rights of movement and association. We were willing to try anything.

After two years, it is now the norm to override The Constitution. The slightest possible benefit to health legitimizes the most illogical mandates.

For example, Ontario announced this week that students can play basketball, without masks, but they must wear masks on the bench. Panting, yelling, and close contact on the court is okay. But resting on the sidelines requires a mask.

Constitutional Conundrum

When, where, and how to suspend citizens’ constitutional rights remains an open question. If the courts and parliament get around to debate, pandemic mandates might even turn out to be constitutional in retrospect.

Will The Constitution require amendment? Maybe it is not clear enough where final authority lays.

If The Constitution is not clear, maybe we need a new, separate process — something to guide politicians, when they take the law into their own hands for public safety.

Laws aside, politicians still have to convince voters. Does current research support current mandates?

Researchers have debated the value of non-pharmacologic pandemic interventions (masks, mandates, stay-at-home orders, etc.) for over a year now.  One thing is clear, we have much less control than we think. The new Johns Hopkins’ study settles one point: lockdowns reduced Covid deaths by only 0.2 per cent.

Is It Nonsense?

Most people do not debate The Constitution or current research. They just need to know if something makes sense.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau softened his tone and showed more compassion this week. But he did not soften his message. He said, “Mandates are the way to avoid further restrictions…” (see video below).

Trudeau is triple-vaccinated. He tested positive for covid last week. Canada is one of the most vaccinated populations in the world. Almost 100% of the most vulnerable citizens are vaccinated.

Citizens can see through this.

Unanswered Questions

• Is it right to continue suspension of The Constitution in light of current evidence?

• Are the mandates good laws? Is it immoral to oppose them?

• Should political leaders denounce protesters?

• Should police arrest protesters or just steal their gas and firewood?

• Do bridge blockades change our opinion of the protest?

State of Emergency or Incompetence

Premier Ford declared a State of Emergency this week. He implied he had no other choice.

The Toronto protest came one evening and was gone before morning. Leaders met with protest organizers before it arrived in the city. Negotiation worked.

Most Canadians support the right to protest, and a large portion supports the Freedom Convoy. At least they did last weekend.

On one hand, a blockade is a blockade, and it is unlawful. By this measure, blocking railways, pipelines, a community in Caledonia for 16 years, or the Ambassador Bridge is unlawful.

But law is not so simple. Intent matters.

People are breaking the law because they want the government to leave them alone. That is wrong. But is it immoral?

The Constitution of Canada

When truckers blockaded the Ambassador Bridge, I doubted my support for the protest.  I support law and order. It rests on The Constitution and the Rule of Law. Government must uphold both.

For those who lost jobs due to unconstitutional mandates, citizens have a duty to fight back. They should use all peaceful means at their disposal.

What more should citizens do when governments ignore the supreme law of the land?

Politicians could have ended this weeks ago. As we discussed last week, there is Only One Rational Response to the Truckers’ Freedom Convoy 2022. Let’s hope it is over soon.

Photo credit: Detroit Free Press

“Mandates are the way to avoid further restrictions…”

 

 

 

Anyone who serves the public learns how to manage upset customers.

When someone says you hurt them, do not argue. Listen. Apologize. When people are angry, upset, or heart-broken, you must stay silent. Offer support.

There is no other rational response.

Of course, listening has limits. Threats, yelling, or swearing must end the conversation, with help from security if necessary.

Truckers Freedom Convoy 2022

Doctors and nurses deal with upset people every day.

We allow room to express and grieve, even if we do not like or value the content. We embrace expression and limit inappropriate behaviour.

Politicians and journalists should do the same with the Truckers’ Freedom Convoy.

There is only one rational response: help the people speak.

Facilitate peaceful protest.

Hear them out.

Be ready to limit bad behaviour — with force if necessary.

Win or Lose — You Choose Your Own Fate

The only way to win the moral high ground in the face of protest or complaint is to help the aggrieved party.

If the aggrieved party refuses help, you win.

If they refuse to talk or negotiate, you win.

If they become violent or irrational, you win.

If you attack the aggrieved party, you lose. You become a combatant, not a leader.

If you slander the aggrieved party, you lose.

If you try to twist their message, you lose.

If you argue, you lose.

If you refuse to meet and speak with them, you lose.

Let them speak. Even better, help them speak! Amplify their message.

If they speak nonsense, it makes your position stronger with the larger audience.

If protesters speak truth, you win support having helped expose the truth and changed your own mind in the process.

You win either way.

The strength of your argument or the righteousness of your position does not matter as much as your response.

If you attack, slander, dismiss, or silence your enemy:

You. Will. Lose.

Force will be your only option remaining, and that is all people will remember. No one remembers the justice of your cause.

Can Anyone LEad us?

Many Canadian elites have shown an unexpected level of incompetence, in response to protest.

The Prime Minister chose to attack the Truckers’ Freedom Convoy 2022. Listening was beneath him. He slandered instead of showing compassion. He refused to meet. Trudeau only listens to those he likes.

Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP, did the same.  Many individual MPs hurled insults. The media made us dizzy with spin.

This response eliminates any winning option.

It does not matter if the upset party has no case. You lose the larger crowd if you do not listen.

Even if the larger crowd leans your way, you still risk losing its support — your attack creates martyrs of the minority position.

Of course, listen with limits. Do not tolerate violence or bad behaviour.

But if you refuse to listen and foment frustration instead, the larger crowd watching may turn against you, if they haven’t already.

Losing the Convoy Narrative

The elites may have lost the larger crowd already.

Thousands of regular people have gone to see the Convoy for themselves. They find a happy celebration. They sing and dance and play soccer in the street. They wave flags and exchange high fives. People hand out free hot food on every corner.

Close family and friends return with pictures and videos of a moving, patriotic event. I now have dozens and dozens of first-hand reports from people I trust: this is not a violent protest.

There is only one rational response — only one positive way forward. Let’s hope a leader rises up to guide us there soon.

 

“Hey Doc … so should I get the booster or what?”

He had just recovered from COVID — for him, a mild flu in a fully vaccinated man. Public Health advises boosters. Docs have been warned to avoid saying otherwise.

The average person is smarter on many things than most elites allow. Patients know vaccine mandates make less sense at the end of the pandemic than they may have at the beginning.

Good today, Bad Tomorrow

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised truckers at the beginning of the pandemic and encouraged all Canadians to do the same. Now he calls truckers a “small fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.”

Stop for a minute.

This sounds like a dream come true. Trudeau should cheer. Welcome the fringe. Get them to the capital, ASAP. Show the world the nonsense of their fringe views.

“Fringe” Views vs. traditional liberalism

JS Mill argued we should welcome views we oppose. Let people speak — they will prove the stupidity of their position without you having to say a word.

But Trudeau is not a traditional liberal. He is a modern man, intolerant of those with whom he disagrees. His ideas are true and righteous. Others are fringe, ignorant, or maleficent — “unacceptable”.

The illiberal elite slice society into good and bad, sheep and goats. Intolerance is just. We must not tolerate evil. Herbert Marcuse, philosopher, called it “repressive tolerance.”

Masks and Mandates

“Excuse me, Dr. Whatley. Should we wear N95 masks for this patient.”

Of course. Yes!

We need gown, gloves, goggles, and N95 masks. This patient may have been in contact with someone who just tested positive!

But so could any of the last ten patients.

We wore regular masks for them. Many of the those patients — all potential ‘contacts’ — wore cloth masks … or surgical masks soaked through with dirt, snot, and who knows what.

Reason and Fury

For almost two years, a crowd of doctors have pounded the COVID drums. Their fury swells as severity wanes. They alone are right. They are protectors of healthcare. Do not talk about cancelled surgeries — COVID counts are all that matter.

Reason fails in the face of illiberalism.

Indeed, liberalism depends on reason too much. It forgets about emotion.

“Once at the center of the study of politics, emotions have led a shadow existence for the last three decades [since 1970], with no place in the rationalistic, structural, and organizational models that dominate academic political analysis.”

(see Passionate Politics – Emotions and Social Movements)

Truckers Freedom Convoy

Sunlight improves almost everything. The best way to keep something festering is to cover it up.

Letting people talk has been an essential ingredient to the success of parliamentary democracy.

Absolutely, it has been messy and confusing. But it has delivered incomparable human flourishing. No other approach comes close.

Canadians are finally speaking up. Smiling. Waving flags. Joining together.

If the truckers freedom convoy is wrong and misguided, the error will show through immediately. There is no reason to worry. No need to be upset or irritated with them. Truth will prevail.

But if this movement has a point to make, we should listen. Even if we disagree, we should tolerate the difference in opinion. Silencing difference never turns out well.

I hope the truckers freedom convoy brings out the best in what it means to live in a free, parliamentary democracy. Society is only as good as those who get involved.

Photo credits: Freedom Convoy, Snopes: Did it set a world record?