Another great post. I live in Ottawa, and although it has now been several years since the Convoy came to town, I still feel queasy when I see the Canadian flag. In the hands of those truckers, it was supposed to be a call to arms, an armed revolution in the capital: putatively over vaccine mandates, but rapidly expanding to all the things that that group found wrong with Canadian society.
Like you, I have problems with the Palestinan flag. But I try to draw relevant distinctions. There is a Palestinian Office in Ottawa (the equivalent of an Embassy for non-countries). When I see the Palestinian flag flying over the Palestinian Office, I am no more bothered than I am to see any foreign flag flying over its Embassy.
But when I see a bunch of "white" university students flying the Palestinian flag, I know what they mean. And I walk away, because I know they mean me harm.
Excuse me but I believe the Truckers were Canadian Patriots that pushed back on government tyrany. It was over the top to have a professional truck driver who works by themselves in their truck 99% of the time, to take the vaccine that was not safe and was not effective and did not even stop transmission. Yes they honked their horns and had Canadian flags on their hockey sticks and bouncy castles for the kids.... coldest time of the winter.
I also tend to view the truckers in a generally positive (albeit not idealized) way. During the COVID period, it was almost impossible to have a critical discussion about COVID measures. People who expressed differing opinions were often demonized. At the same time, I found it disappointing that a few people who were vocally opposed to COVID measures also turned out to be anti Israel (but this is by no means true of all people who were critical of COVID measures).
Thank you for so eloquently calling out the ‘benevolent bystanders’ for enabling the hatred which they surely share. We Jews, who constitute one fifth of one percent of the population of this earth, need more people like you in OUR world.
Yet another eloquent piece that brings painful truths to light. You express exactly why the actions of ‘Free Palestine’ activists since Oct 7 are far from non-violent. That these disingenuous ‘humanitarians’ don’t have any concern for the very real victims of Hamas and ‘pro-Palestinian’ terror is sadly obvious. Calling them out on their cruelty at least means they can’t feign ignorance.
What you write is all true, but I think it’s even worse. This was one of those music festivals that used to be a peace and love event. The young people there are not poor or poorly educated. They are generally well off, and it’s a good guess that most went to a university. But what did we see here? We saw something analogous to the old Nazi Nuremberg rallies, perhaps even worse. Here we had a mob of thousands chanting almost in ecstasy what amounted to “Death to Jews”. Even the Nuremberg rallies were not so crude. And let us not forget that this happened in the land of Churchill. We need to look at events as symptoms of a culture’s health or sickness. What we are witnessing is the slow suicide of the West, for this is barbarous and pagan.
Then we had across the Atlantic an election where the Democratic party chose a far left, antisemitic, communist Muslim. This fellow Mamdani is the image of the alliance between the left and Islam. But this didn’t happen in some small town. This happened in New York, one of the great cities of the world, a cultural capital in no small part because of its Jewish population. This is what we might call an attempt at a cultural murder and an event that in some ways mirrors the Glastonbury music festival. They are both signs of something that goes far beyond the antisemitism. It’s anti-Western and anti-civilization itself. It is an attack on any sane moral sensibility, even a attack on beauty because of its total ugliness. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are in the midst of a kind of collapse of the West, a West that is caught in a sort of pincher movement with the left on one side and radical Islam on the other. All is not lost, but to defeat this, we must recognize what we are fighting and not be intimidated into silence.
In the immediate aftermath of October 7, many landmarks around the world were illuminated with Israeli flags in solidarity and compassion--before the hate took over. Was that a swan song?
This year’s more robust sense of patriotism may be a response to the US president’s tariffs, economic bullying and threats to Anschluss us. So there are extenuating circumstances.
I love your writing!
But
How about Canada’s massive Tariffs on imported dairy products?
Trump had zero interest in Anschlussing us.
It was adopted by the Liberals and MSM as a means to distract us from the ongoing damage they perpetrated the last 10 years
I remember during the Freedom Convoy of truckers in Ottawa the Canadian flag being vilified as a symbol of far right extremism. Online comments I read at the time had some folks suddenly suspicious of neighbours who were displaying a flag. Fascists lurk among us, especially those waving flags. Now, of course, the 'enemy' is external so the flag has been resurrected and thoroughly cleansed of any such association, those same folks waving and displaying it themselves.
Another great post. I live in Ottawa, and although it has now been several years since the Convoy came to town, I still feel queasy when I see the Canadian flag. In the hands of those truckers, it was supposed to be a call to arms, an armed revolution in the capital: putatively over vaccine mandates, but rapidly expanding to all the things that that group found wrong with Canadian society.
Like you, I have problems with the Palestinan flag. But I try to draw relevant distinctions. There is a Palestinian Office in Ottawa (the equivalent of an Embassy for non-countries). When I see the Palestinian flag flying over the Palestinian Office, I am no more bothered than I am to see any foreign flag flying over its Embassy.
But when I see a bunch of "white" university students flying the Palestinian flag, I know what they mean. And I walk away, because I know they mean me harm.
Excuse me but I believe the Truckers were Canadian Patriots that pushed back on government tyrany. It was over the top to have a professional truck driver who works by themselves in their truck 99% of the time, to take the vaccine that was not safe and was not effective and did not even stop transmission. Yes they honked their horns and had Canadian flags on their hockey sticks and bouncy castles for the kids.... coldest time of the winter.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I also tend to view the truckers in a generally positive (albeit not idealized) way. During the COVID period, it was almost impossible to have a critical discussion about COVID measures. People who expressed differing opinions were often demonized. At the same time, I found it disappointing that a few people who were vocally opposed to COVID measures also turned out to be anti Israel (but this is by no means true of all people who were critical of COVID measures).
Thank you for so eloquently calling out the ‘benevolent bystanders’ for enabling the hatred which they surely share. We Jews, who constitute one fifth of one percent of the population of this earth, need more people like you in OUR world.
Yet another eloquent piece that brings painful truths to light. You express exactly why the actions of ‘Free Palestine’ activists since Oct 7 are far from non-violent. That these disingenuous ‘humanitarians’ don’t have any concern for the very real victims of Hamas and ‘pro-Palestinian’ terror is sadly obvious. Calling them out on their cruelty at least means they can’t feign ignorance.
What you write is all true, but I think it’s even worse. This was one of those music festivals that used to be a peace and love event. The young people there are not poor or poorly educated. They are generally well off, and it’s a good guess that most went to a university. But what did we see here? We saw something analogous to the old Nazi Nuremberg rallies, perhaps even worse. Here we had a mob of thousands chanting almost in ecstasy what amounted to “Death to Jews”. Even the Nuremberg rallies were not so crude. And let us not forget that this happened in the land of Churchill. We need to look at events as symptoms of a culture’s health or sickness. What we are witnessing is the slow suicide of the West, for this is barbarous and pagan.
Then we had across the Atlantic an election where the Democratic party chose a far left, antisemitic, communist Muslim. This fellow Mamdani is the image of the alliance between the left and Islam. But this didn’t happen in some small town. This happened in New York, one of the great cities of the world, a cultural capital in no small part because of its Jewish population. This is what we might call an attempt at a cultural murder and an event that in some ways mirrors the Glastonbury music festival. They are both signs of something that goes far beyond the antisemitism. It’s anti-Western and anti-civilization itself. It is an attack on any sane moral sensibility, even a attack on beauty because of its total ugliness. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are in the midst of a kind of collapse of the West, a West that is caught in a sort of pincher movement with the left on one side and radical Islam on the other. All is not lost, but to defeat this, we must recognize what we are fighting and not be intimidated into silence.
It also seems to be the case that when people are chanting, they aren't thinking.
In the immediate aftermath of October 7, many landmarks around the world were illuminated with Israeli flags in solidarity and compassion--before the hate took over. Was that a swan song?
Yes, that lasted minutes.
This year’s more robust sense of patriotism may be a response to the US president’s tariffs, economic bullying and threats to Anschluss us. So there are extenuating circumstances.
I love your writing!
But
How about Canada’s massive Tariffs on imported dairy products?
Trump had zero interest in Anschlussing us.
It was adopted by the Liberals and MSM as a means to distract us from the ongoing damage they perpetrated the last 10 years
It’s not 1940 anymore. We have guns now. It’s the anti semites who should be worried.
I remember during the Freedom Convoy of truckers in Ottawa the Canadian flag being vilified as a symbol of far right extremism. Online comments I read at the time had some folks suddenly suspicious of neighbours who were displaying a flag. Fascists lurk among us, especially those waving flags. Now, of course, the 'enemy' is external so the flag has been resurrected and thoroughly cleansed of any such association, those same folks waving and displaying it themselves.
There are plenty of us who have ridiculed both groups.
The truckers should have not been vilified. This was a divisive mistake.
Yes, it was. Thanks.