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| Edmonton |
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That doesn't mean others have to accept it. Just because they're expressing an opinion doesn't mean others have to be meek about what they're saying, what they're promoting. Sometimes they deserve a really loud STFU.
You want to champion man-boy love, pedophilia, STFU. You want to speak out in favour of white supremacy, STFU.
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| Calgary |
Now there are a couple of additional groups for the STFU category - anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. They need to be told to Shut the F--k Up and crawl back beneath the rocks they came from.
These anti-maskers don't care that what they want would put others, without their consent, at risk. They don't care that they would put others at risk not merely to their health, in some cases to their life. Their right to not wear a mask trumps others' right to health and life.
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| Winnipeg |
There were anti-mask rallies today in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Hamilton.
I don't give a damn if these people wear masks. I just don't want them anywhere near me. Not now after we've seen what their twisted mentality has wrought across the United States. There are responsibilities that need to be accepted to belong to a society. We all obey rules for the greater good of the community. These jackasses want to ignore social norms. Fine, but they need to find a place for themselves where they can't harm the rest of us.
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| Hamilton |
As for the ludicrous complaints that wearing a mask impedes respiration, this Dutch doctor puts paid to that nonsense by donning six surgical masks without any drop in his blood oxygen levels.
A lot of these people's brains are being rotted by social media - Facebook and YouTube being the worst in my view. I've watched family go from Liberal voters to drooling Rebel Media fans, politically to the right of Attila the Hun. One of them's an MD who's gone down the rabbit hole into raging climate change denial. He accuses "liberal universities" of brainwashing his kids, even though his kids studied science and engineering, not Marxism. Another family member became radicalized by FB, which she uses to communicate with a Republican relative in the US. She's into QAnon-level conspiracy theories. These were once intelligent, respected members of society. I can barely talk to them now because their reality is more distorted than a funhouse mirror.
ReplyDeleteThe AI algorithms being used by the social media companies are dangerous to society. They radicalize people more effectively than religious cults. These companies need to be broken up and heavily regulated or our societies are doomed to polarization and discord.
Cap
it will not be climate change ,nationalist politicians nor warring factions that destroy this wonderful world; it will be the imbeciles that deny nature and science.
ReplyDeleteWhen we have so many people spouting such views on vaccinations and doing it without reason are numerous enough to make the news then i say; let the cull begin.
There are times when i have grave doubts about the freedom of speech and the desire for democracy thingy!!
Perhaps we require a means test before we can vote or express our political and social ambitions?
TB
It definitely is worrisome, Cap. Have you read Yuval Noah Harari's "Homo Deus"? He foresees an abandonment of conventional religion this century and a new religion to emerge, artificial intelligence. It's beyond me to convey his reasoning but it is compelling. His argument is that religion, like matters of economics, politics, and so much more that guide and direct our lives are strictly belief-based (faith-based) constructs that we have chosen to accept as real.
ReplyDeleteHarari's first book, "Sapiens," is an exploration of how we came to evolve physically, mentally and culturally to where we are today. Naturally, as is my way, I read them in the incorrect order.
The waning of liberal democracy we're witnessing around the world may be inevitable, TB. If you read my response to Cap's comment you will see that some respected intellectuals contend our old order is finished and we, some of us at least, will transition to a society, economy and politics directed by artificial intelligence that we will embrace much as we embrace in other belief-based or faith-based institutions today.
ReplyDeleteWhat these benighted souls are really suffering from is the delusion that people care what they think. Because they have found pleasing echo chambers in social media, they really do believe that their debased opinions matter and need to be shared.
ReplyDeleteNothing could be further from the truth.
Stupidity is more virulent than COVID.
ReplyDeleteThere are several really telling graphics, descriptions and videos describing both the lack of reasons to eschew the mask and the results of same, including a favourite, rather tart, session with Bill Nye. The input gates in the brains on some of these folks are more impervious to reason and logic than a medical mask is to coronavirus. Hard to watch what could have been a paradisiacal edifice wither before our very eyes.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the mask issue is just the latest venue for these rightwing conspiracy theorist/culture warriors to stomp their feet. It's pretty tough for them to get recognition but they're suddenly on every newspaper and television across the country. It's telling that there's nothing remotely unique to the Canadian chapter of the American tinfoil hat brigade. Same signs, same mentality. I'm surprised they aren't raging on about their "constitutional rights."
ReplyDeleteYes Ihave read Harari’s Book.
ReplyDelete