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COVID measures were a tax on conscientiousness and I think corrosive to our society’s health in ways we are only beginning to understand. I think most westerners are so a-historical and complacent that they don’t think real oppression can happen to them. Most peoples response was “I support lockdowns” because that was the pro-social thing to say, while at the same time flouting all the rules personally. They lived as if there would not be personal consequences to their actions in defiance of the rules. And they were right, of course too bad about all the businesses that failed, but we needed to do it to save the marginal old person.
This is dangerous and the worst of both worlds. People don’t care about the loss of their de jure liberty and just assume the justice system won’t come for them. We eroded faith in law and order at the same time as we sent a strong signal to the state that we will accept state overreach. And the people who protested? In Canada we froze their bank accounts and declared martial law.
Say what you want about lax US gun laws, but they do deter the type of protest that we saw in Canada. Nobody would do that here, because homeowners would be outside brandishing
forearmsfirearms.Sure they would- California has lots of guns, but that didn't stop the early 90s race riots; $major_US_city metropolis has lots of guns, but that didn't stop the peaceful but fiery protests from consuming them. Rittenhouse was the end of it, but they certainly gave him hell for it and his friend was convicted anyway.
The problem is that you actually need a legal leg to stand on, and the Canadian right gave no reason beyond what is typical for protests for the citizens of Ottawa to start sniping from their expensive apartment balconies. Not that they even had any guns, given they're the ones begging the government to act aggressively against the people that do, but still.
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Didn't help in the US either. Instead of rioters being deterred, defenders of own homes got prosecuted for merely brandishing.
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Sun's out, guns out?
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I was already immunized to government propaganda before the Covid psy-op.
After the Russia election hack psy-op, the Hunter Biden psy-op, the white supremacy psy-op, the Charlottesville psy-op... Gamergate...
Nothing bad really happened to me, ties were further strained with family, for example my mom hoping I'd lose my job to the OSHA federal mandate that was shot down.
This was a practice run for the next big thing, and hopefully we survive that one too.
I don't know how many people actually changed their view over that, but if they still have faith in their government, 'Science', 'the experts' etc, it seems that there is not much that can be done for them.
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