Posted on 02/05/2022 12:01:45 PM PST by TigerClaws
Langley, B.C., contractor Damian Conn says he can "agree to disagree" with friends who are opposed to vaccinations or believe in conspiracy theories and still maintain a relationship.
But when he realized he had friends who support the convoy protest in Ottawa — which is now entering its second week of demonstrations, snarling the nation's capital, to call for an end to vaccine mandates and other public health measures related to COVID-19 — those relationships ended.
He'd known some of those friends since high school.
"It seems like this convoy has brought out everybody's true colours with people you never would have thought had that certain close-minded train of thought," he said.
"I think I've unfriended, like, 100 people — and that includes some family," he said. " I won't even talk to them anymore."
Over the course of the pandemic, there have been a number of stories of how disagreements over vaccination have ended friendships and relationships, and ripped families apart.
Last September, a Harris Poll survey conducted in the U.S. found that a combined 33 per cent of vaccinated respondents had in some way "cut ties or ended relationships" with at least some unvaccinated people in their lives.
But the convoy protest has added a new strain on relationships. Concerns and outrage over the participation of white nationalists, the presence of swastikas and Confederate flags at the rally and reports of harassing and intimidating behaviour by some protesters have prompted some to sever their friendships with rally supporters.
WATCH | The 'worst display of Nazi propaganda in this country' happening at convoy protest, advocate says:
Canadian Anti-Hate Network chair Bernie Farber, who is the son of Holocaust survivors, says people can have opposing views when it comes to health care, but Ottawa's protest convoy was taken over by 'extremists with an agenda.' 4:48 Beverley Fehr, a University of Winnipeg psychology professor who specializes in interpersonal relationships, said research indicates that political differences are not often "make-or-break" issues in friendships.
"But I think what the vaccine issue and now the protests are really bringing to light are issues that are highly tied to our core values," she said.
These values include the idea of not just protecting yourself, but protecting others, she added. They also include feelings about racism, safety and personal choice versus the greater good — values that you hold that are so important, that they can't be compromised.
When friends diverge in ways that really are connecting to their core values, it's very challenging to keep the friendship together, she said.
"If that's a core value for you, then it's hard to meet in the middle."
'Going to have to unfriend you'
Many, like Conn, signalled their opposition to the rally by indicating they would be "unfriending" those who showed support for the controversial rally.
Vonica Flear, who lives in London, Ont., says you can't separate from the extremist element of the protesters.
"If you are going to a rally or a protest ... and you see flags that have swastikas on them, that's a big sign that you are in the wrong place," Flear said.
Flear said they were shocked to see that one of their friends from their Nova Scotia hometown posted that he had attended the rally. Flear, who has a master's degree in biology, said they reached out to him, said they would talk about vaccinations, and clear up any misunderstandings or confusing science jargon related to getting a shot.
"But he just replied with something along the lines of 'Canada is a free country' or something like that," Flear said.
"I think I just said, 'if you are going to just blindly follow these people without questioning, I'm going to have to unfriend you. I don't want to be associated with white supremacy.' And so I unfriended him."
'Straw that broke the camel's back'
Rachelle Bondy, a property manager in Windsor, Ont., went to Ottawa to support the convoy. Turns out, that was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for a friend she'd known for 14 years, who wound up blocking and deleting her.
"She was very upset with me. Very upset and I wouldn't budge. I wasn't going to change my views," Bondy said.
"I just thought, 'I understand that you do not agree with me, I'm not sitting here calling you names, I'm not calling you racist. I'm not calling you a bad mother. I'm not calling you these things. You're the one who's getting upset about it.'"
Bondy said it was "really sad" because her friend had known her for so long.
"I cannot believe this is where we've come to. Come to the point where our friendships depend on whether or not they know our medical status and what it is," Bondy said.
'Anyone who believes that is not my friend'
Following the weekend rally, Sheila Mills, from Salt Spring Island, B.C., posted on Facebook that anyone who believed the media's negative spin of the protest and accusations of racism should unfriend her.
"Anyone who believes that is not my friend, they don't know me well enough to be considered a friend," Mills said.
Leftists went from “my body, my choice” to “comply or you’re a Nazi!”
If a leftist shows up with a Nazi flag to a rally, everyone there is by association guilty. This is the Canadian tiki torch rule.
And this:
Ottawa Humane Society
@ottawahumane
·Feb 5, 2022
(1/2) Reports are coming from downtown about dogs and horses that have been brought into the protest. For any animal, prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures, loud noises, road salt on paws or hooves, and inadequate access to food and water can threaten an animal’s wellbeing.
Ottawa Humane Society
@ottawahumane
(2/2) To report animal cruelty and neglect, please contact the Ontario Animal Protection Call Centre at 1-833-9-ANIMAL (264625).
Good writin’, Tiger.
In fact I think I’ll update the tagline page with
Leftists went from “my body, my choice” to “comply or you’re a Nazi!”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3992415/posts?page=344#344
Totalitarians need to be resisted, suppressed, not befriended
People are severing friendships over covid and the media couldn’t be happier. Filthy jackals.
A few threads earlier reference the clot shot and cancer and we still have people who can not understand why we will not get the clot shot.
The press has an amazing knack for finding and displaying fools.
Indeed.
CBC...Canadian Pravda
Maybe if the truckers had just burned down the business section of town they could all still get along.
They should call it an “autonomous zone” and appoint a warlord.
If you are willing to sever long-time relationships over human rights issues (and this is a human rights issue) then maybe the problem isn’t your former friend.
Well, as the late Elmore Leonard wrote: “If you run into an a-hole in the morning, you ran into an a-hole. If you run into a-holes all day, YOU’RE the a-hole”
So yeah, this fine fellow’s former friends aren’t the real problem here...
“says he can ‘agree to disagree’ with friends...and still maintain a relationship.”
“But when he realized he had friends who support the convoy protest in Ottawa...those relationships ended.”
This is a classic, well-known technique of liars. “I believe in the principle P, but I don’t really.” This is the number one method used by the media and politicians.
It identifies the author Mark Gollum as untrustworthy.
I was just thinking of this the other day. It’s like the Vietnam War all over again. The media is never so gleeful as when sowing division. I know friends and family who were split by that war and do not talk, to this day.
The China Virus gives them a new opportunity to do what they love best.
Support for the convoy is overwhelming. The media will find a few rare, isolated exceptions and flog them until they create the illusion of popular support for the opposition. It’s the same idea as push polls.
"I are gud at memorizin stuff"
I don't need a parrot attempting to explain to me why "Da Clotshots R Gud"
.
First sentence = false premise.
CBC thinks it's being cute trying to bury the fact that it is the draconian mandates, 'passports', and lockdowns which the orindary Canadians are revolting against.
I just finished watching-—
Live From Ottawa - Counter-Protesters at the Freedom Convoy 2022? Viva on the Street!
and VIVAFREI provided more information than CBC does.
So what does CBC do? Well, they bring up ONE anecdotal story about ONE guy who does not like the truckers.
Meanwhile, VIVAFREI was interviewing all sorts of Canadians.
Isn’t it interesting that the Leftists only like an ‘anecdotal story when it agrees with them.
“Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.”
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