Silver lining in so-called Canadian truckers' protest? Canadian exceptionalism exposed

The repugnance north of the US border, from trampling on Canada's War Memorial through hijacking the Terry Fox statue to repeated comments and acts of racism, all in the name of #FreeDumb? Yes, it does have a silver lining of sorts, or should, both for many Canadians and tea-sipping Democrats down here.

It undermines Canadian exceptionalism.

And, yes, there is such a thing.

It's like American exceptionalism, but like most things Canadian compared to American, it's more understated and less boisterous. In fact, that itself is part of Canadian exceptionalism — that it's all nice, polite Canadians compared to rowdy American yahoos.

That Canada is a lot less racist is the second shattering of Canadian exceptionalism. Anybody who knows Canada's history vis-a-vis First Nations has long known it's no better there than the US with American Indians. But, now the mask is off anti-Black racism north of the border, refuting the likes of Jordan Peterson. 

Sadly, a site that should know better, Richard Wolff's Independent Media Institute, perpetuates the "nice polite Canadians" and other Canadian exceptionalist bullshit, to the point of not even reporting that the majority of Give Send Go donations came from inside Canada, though the majority of donors were American. (This also means that the "deep pockets" were primarily Canuck, eh.) Meanwhile, the freeze on bank accounts is seemingly ramping up grifting that had already started. And, Tamara Lich has been arrested.

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As for the so-called "Canadian truckers"? 

Well, another part of Canadian exceptionalism might be that Canadians are more truthful than Americans.

But, since only about 500 semis were reportedly driving to Ottawa on Friday, at least, there appear to be lies there, too. 

There's other lies being told on Twitter, by Canadians or others pretending to be Canadian. One is that Trudeau has equated truckers with racists. Nope:

I want to be very clear: We’re not intimidated by those who hurl abuse at small business workers and steal food from the homeless. We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags. And we won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism, or dishonour the memory of our veterans.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 31, 2022

Smartly, Trudeau then calls on non-racist protestors to call out the racists.

There is no place in Canada for this behaviour. So, to those responsible: It needs to stop. And to those who joined the convoy but are uncomfortable with the symbols of hatred and division on display: Be courageous and speak out. Do not stand for, or with, intolerance and hate.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 31, 2022

Dunno how well that will work; usually doesn't down here. 

The biggest lie is the unspoken lie that this is all out of the blue. Nope. Was discussed already in November, I believe. And, as Trudeau himself notes, the US already has a similar mandate in place, and that was known to be coming up for weeks now.

That gets back to the real why — shit-stirring by this Tamara Lich.

Third, per that same link, at least some of the backers, ie Tamara Lich and her ilk, illustrate that Canada isn't at all free of extremists, and not just racists, but also Islamophobes, and would-be separatists to the point of celebrating Jan. 6.

Is there a horseshoe theory to all this, too?

Supposedly, the brother of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh (admittedly, I don't know his brothers politics) is among donors to the "truckers." 

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Finally, the bottom line? Canada's per-capita COVID death rate is about 30 percent that of the US. Per the stories, its vaccination rate is 80 percent or above. Trudeau and his advisors seem to be doing something right.