Harry Shannon
Unless you’ve been hiding under the proverbial rock, you’ll know about the protests in Canada that are occupying Ottawa after two and a half weeks. The convoy of trucks started in the west of the country and reached Ottawa on Friday January 28. That day, there was an article in the Toronto Star. I wrote a letter to the paper. It’s not been published, but you can read it here:
Angry and misguided, they roll on, Jan 28
One of the convoy supporters wants the freedom to “do anything we’d like to do.” Well, so do I. I’d like the freedom to bang these people’s heads together to knock some sense into them. But of course I can’t.
Some years ago, the late Alan Borovoy wrote a book “When Freedoms Collide.” He was reminding us that ‘freedom’ is not absolute. My freedom to do something can clash with – and prevent – your freedom to do something else. So my freedom to drive as fast as I like affects your freedom to walk the streets safely. We have to compromise; if I want to drive, I have to limit my speed to protect you.
It’s this balance that the anti-vaxxers and anti-mandaters refuse to accept. If they want the freedom not to get vaxxed, they have to accept some restrictions on their behaviour, so the rest of us are free not to get infected.
Sure they can argue society and governments have the balance wrong. But they can’t claim they’re doing it for ‘freedom.’ They’re only doing it for their own freedom and ignoring freedom for the rest of us – unless they’ll let me bang their heads together.
Harry Shannon, Dundas