22 Replies to “Jordan Peterson Offers More Support for the Freedom Protesters”

  2. Because I live about a 5 min. walk from the provincial legislature at Queen’s Park and within spitting distance of Health Minister Christine Elliot’s house, I’ve had numerous chances to observe these protests up close. The pronouncements of our Pravda-esqe MSM notwithstanding, they appear to represent a very broad cross-section of people – age, sex, race, orientation, socio-economic status, etc. Recent immigrants, particularly from the former Soviet Bloc were significantly represented (one supposes they know what it’s like to live under the boot heel of government) and I have no idea whether reports of persons flaunting swastikas and/or confederate flags represent planted provocateurs or fringe crackpots, but they’ve been wholly absent from anything I’ve observed. Indeed, one even saw a few placards promoting anti-racism or pro-Native Canadian messages on one side and pro-Convoy messages on the other. Save for the smell of weed being near-omnipresent, I’ve repeatedly been struck by how blandly “normal” almost everyone seems to be.

    IMHO the main reason this Freedom Convoy protest has so viscerally upset the Canadian Establishment (political, media, cultural, intellectual, techno-bureaucratic, etc.) is this: In their scrappy populism, their “don’t-f*ck-with-us” mentality, their rights-talk, their effusive patriotism, their easy invocation of religiosity (“God keep our land glorious and free”) these protesters seem, sort of, well…[trigger warning]…AMERICAN.

    This sort of thing is bound to make any Canadian of a Certain Class (and the more-numerous aspirants to said class) very, VERY uncomfortable. Whether they’ve been marinated in the gently-condescending, Anglocentric anti-Americanism of many of Canada’s grand old hegemonic social institutions or the shrill, rabid, ressentiment-addled anti-Americanism of some of our modern media and cultural organs, what we are witnessing in Ottawa, and now in Toronto and many other Canadian cities, is enough to cause any member of the Laurentian Consensus in Good Standing’s Inner Garrison Mentality to flare up violently (mixed metaphor intentional for comic, er, serio-comic purposes).

    Not that père Trudeau and his ilk’s concept of Constitutional Democracy did not envision this, it’s just that if one is going to make a rights claim, it SHOULD be asserted by one of the government’s officially-sanctioned, preferably government-funded, “establishment” client grievance groups and undertaken – please! – through an officially-sanctioned, again, preferably government-funded channel (such as the Canadian Court Challenges Program – I vividly remember my law school tort professor’s mournful threnody regarding its suspension by the Mulroney government; it’s back, BTW), and observed, supported commented upon, etc., by the respectable, right-thinking, officially-sanctioned, preferably government-funded commentators in the MSM.

    That these weed-reeking, camo-clad yahoos and nobodies from Nowheresville would have the temerity to actually TAKE THINGS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS and assert their rights unmediated by an officially-sanctioned, government-approved establishment organ and contra virtually all “respectable” opinion is something wholly heretical – the religious allusion is intentional – and has gotten tongues wagging, hands wringing, fingers pointing, pearls clutching (choose your metaphor) from the boardrooms of Montreal, to the (virtual) cabinet meeting rooms of Ottawa, all the way to the newsrooms of Toronto – i.e., virtually the WHOLE damn country!!! (snicker)

    Furthermore – and by making it one of those rare times that the eyes of the world are fixated on Canada – this Freedom Convoy thing also crystallizes another development that profoundly disturbs and scandalizes our betters (and which HEAVILY informs Bill C-10, the Trudeau government’s upcoming online censorship bill): the Canadian cultural establishment has COMPLETELY lost control of the Canadian Narrative.

    Now I’m exaggerating here (but only slightly), but if one is to present Canadians either to themselves and the outside world, they must be portrayed as a bunch of happy, complaint socialists, or helpless victims in desperate need of government assistance, or lesbian folksingers who love to pay their taxes, etc., and it must be done – again – through an officially-sanctioned, government-approved, government- or quasi-government-funded process, with all the requisite diversity, equity and inclusion boxes meticulously ticked, etc., etc. That all these scrappy, guerilla YouTubers and bloggers can now post their raw feeds and/or ‘unapproved’ opinions and perspectives online for everyone to see, read and absorb, again unmediated by the Canada Council-approved mandarinate in our government-subsidized cultural industries or the resident Laurentian Consensus-approved ‘explainers’ in our government-subsidized media, is an affront to THE VERY EXISTENCE of an entire class of Canadians.

    But the REAL scandal/outrage is this – and here’s where my aforementioned anti-American angle comes in again – this same class of culturally-elitist Canadians who have spent much of their lives and existential energy sh*tting all over their America neighbours as a bunch of crude, impudent yahoos, flag-waving, cloyingly-patriotic, Deity-invoking rednecks, and pushy, selfish, rights-demanding vulgarians have now found out – and in an abrupt, Weltanschauung-shattering, cognitive dissonance-inducing fashion – that when their ‘gatekeeper’ function is removed, that their own very countrymen (or as Justin Trudeau would insist, ‘countrypeople’) reveal themselves to be….wait for it… a bunch of crude, impudent yahoos, flag-waving, cloyingly-patriotic, Deity-invoking rednecks, and pushy, selfish, rights-demanding vulgarians (in their conception, anyway). It’s enough to make our cultural establishment feel that they and their opinions don’t even matter!

    And to further add insult to injury, these trucker protests appear to have accomplished – in a semi-spontaneous, decentralized, bottom-up (dare I say Tocquevillinan?) fashion – what many in our various establishments insist – insist – they’ve been trying to accomplish in their own centralized, elitist, top-down way (and at considerable taxpayer expense): they’ve united the country, or at least a considerable chunk of it (savvy politicians – assuming they exist – take note: this could be a SIZABE voting bloc).

    Having personally witnessed a very broad cross-section of my fellow Canadians – again, age, sex, race, orientation, socio-economic status, etc., unite and come out and demonstrate against these Covid restrictions with their flags, their Charter of Rights, and some of our national symbols, I believe that I’ve witnessed REAL as opposed to OFFICAL multiculturalism and pluralism. The truckers have even united Quebeckers and Albertans for God’s sake, a dilemma that has literally exhausted the existential energy of two (three?) generations of Canadians and withstood the remedial efforts of countless, long-forgotten First Minsters conferences, tedious rounds of constitutional tinkering and innumerable White Papers authored by the so-called Best Brains in the Country.

    Again, it’s telling to note that absolutely NOTHING we’ve been seeing here appears to have been emanating from the “brain trusts” (again, snicker) of our major political parties and/or political consulting firms like Earnscliffe Strategies, StrategyCorp, etc., with their rogues galleries of ‘wise men’, pollsters, pundits, elder statesmen, party hacks, assorted mouth-breathers and other nervous-nellies peddling shopworn conventional wisdom. I’ve insisted before that the collective wisdom of the Canadian political consultant class could fit quite comfortably in the navel of a fruit fly and you’d still have considerable room left over. This proves it.

    2. Hey Eric, just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading your essay. Some great insight there. (And I agree with pretty much everything you said!) A+++

    5. Eric … This American has never felt such a strong bond and kinship to the Canadian people than I do now. Nope, not even during the VietNam war when so many of our draft dodgers found solace in the Great White North. We Americans STAND with the truckers … and I’d be interested in knowing just what percentage of the GoFunding came from America. Stay STRONG! We’re with you!

  3. The Ottawa police chief is holding a press conference. He stated that they are currently looking at ways to stop fundraising efforts for the truckers. And whats his name the Ontario Liberal leader is demanding that Ford declare a provincial emergency to stop the truckers. He also wants the trucks seized.

    1. Del Duca is aspiring to the role of Grima Wormtongue. Or perhaps gollum. He’s nasty enough for either.

      1. That reminds me: When Trudeau’s half brother was interviewed by Western Standard he referred to Butts as Wormtongue, without hesitating.

        1. And he would be right. Castreau’s not smart enough to be prime minister on his own. Take Butts off the table and he crumbles.

    2. I think it is now time to STOP all food, gasoline and other essential deliveries from happening in both Ottawa and Toronto.

    3. And just like that my vote just floated back to Ford. I seriously dislike the guy for the vaccine passport crapola but he seems to be the least crazy/stazi of the bunch. I guess it comes down to keeping the other fruit-cake parties off-of the reins of power.

  4. // The 26er
    Dr Peterson has been irritating the snot out of Gerald Butts on twitter. It is glorious.//

    Who’s irritated?
    Jordan fizzes over
    You are a stunningly corrupt and incendiary fool @gmbutts and the story will be the cowardice of your leader @JustinTrudeau and the lies of your damnable lying calumnous cronies.
    https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1490466283028103169
    And you’re also the sort of devouring oh-so compassionate good-thinker who reflexively believes “nice” is a virtue
    https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1490562376168574980
    +
    I guess this is a reference to something he has written — or maybe he thinks he’s Nietzsche reincarnated or something.
    Anyway, kindness is in short supply these days. He seems like he could use some.
    https://twitter.com/gmbutts/status/1490674591500537863

  5. I’m disappointed in Peterson. For all his talk of ‘carrying a heavy load’ and ‘doing what’s right’ he’s missing the opportunity to move to the centre of the movement and provide leadership instead deciding to stand on the sidelines and tweet.

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