# Canadian 'dopers, Freedom Convoy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 10, 2022, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186 "2022-02-10T00:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/41 "2022-02-10T22:25:56Z")
You win the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/42 "2022-02-10T22:27:22Z")
> [@XT](#): > > The reaction to the few words I wrote up there has been a bit out of proportions to what I actually said, though as always my own jerking knee doesn’t help as this sort of thing does tend to rile me up…something that is well known by some posters who like to jerk my tail over stuff. You really stirred something up with this thread, all right! 😲 (But it’s also not that unusual for P&E.) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/43 "2022-02-10T22:32:47Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > at what point do we start petitioning the Queen to issue [Letters of Marque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque)? Give me a fig leaf of legality, and I’m sure I could put together a squad of Road Privateers to go in, seize a truck, and deliver it for a bounty. Now I’ve got _Barrett’s Privateers_ going through my head. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/44 "2022-02-10T22:33:40Z")
Damn! I shoulda known I’d be ninja’d. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/45 "2022-02-10T22:42:01Z")
Yeah, I guess I did. I didn’t think it would…seemed innocuous enough to me. At any rate, my question was answered so I’ll step out and let you guys discuss further or let the thread die. Thanks all for the input! ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/46 "2022-02-10T22:42:05Z")
Can’t have it both ways. You can’t legitimately favor protests over a deceptive narrative that caused billions of dollars in damage and several lost lives and then whine about other protests that haven’t been violent. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/47 "2022-02-10T22:55:40Z")
I’m reminded of CNN’s infamous chyron “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests” during the Kenosha riots. [CNN ridiculed for ‘Fiery But Mostly Peaceful’ caption with video of burning building in Kenosha | TheHill](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/513902-cnn-ridiculed-for-fiery-but-mostly-peaceful-caption-with-video-of-burning) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/48 "2022-02-10T23:04:39Z")
I’m not sure you read @k9bfriender 's post correctly. He’s opposing the current protest in Canada that’s costing billions, and favoring the nonviolent protests like those held by BLM, not the other way around. Just because right-wingers showed up to some of the BLM protests and started rioting doesn’t mean the protests themselves were violent. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/49 "2022-02-10T23:08:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > When protests are deliberately disruptive to the point that it negatively impacts people’s lives, and/or becomes a public safety issue (blocking off major roads and the like), then I am not as okay with it. I have heard it said (I think on this board, but I may be misremembering) that those are the tactics you need to take to get attention, but I don’t accept that. Walking up and punching a random stranger in the face is also a way to get attention, but whatever your cause you are now a problem, and you are doing nothing good for society. I completely agree. Saying that a protest is “peaceful” is not an exoneration if it disrupts over an extended period of time innocent individuals just trying to live their lives, or businesses just trying to carry on business. In this case, these idiots are doing all of those things, and they’re doing it on a large scale – not just in Ottawa, but to an extent that is now threatening international trade and the already COVID-weakened supply chain. The only people who could possibly support this are rabid anti-vaxxers and redneck Trumpists whose only objective is destruction and chaos. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/50 "2022-02-10T23:12:19Z")
FWIW: > **[Federal Conservatives reverse course on supporting trucker blockades, call...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-federal-conservatives-call-for-an-end-to-all-blockades-after-first/)** > > The move comes as the crisis grows bigger with a third blockade at a border crossing in Manitoba, in addition to those in Alberta and Ontario ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/51 "2022-02-10T23:29:57Z")
It is like they are determined to lose. After losing voters by supporting the blockades now they want to drive (see what I did there) their voters to the PPC (presumably) by not supporting the blockades. Oh well. Maybe they think if they can end the blockades they can claim victory and call JT’s leadership weak? ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/52 "2022-02-10T23:59:22Z")
It’s your assertion that the majority of damages were from right wing plants? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/53 "2022-02-11T00:13:12Z")
Since I think this is related I will post here but if it is too much of a stretch please let me know. Personally, I think football is enjoyed by lots and lots of conservatives. I am not sure they will appreciate the Super Bowl being blocked. > **[U.S. truckers planning protest convoy, perhaps starting in L.A. for Super...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trucker-protest-convoy-super-bowl-los-angeles-dhs-warning/?fbclid=IwAR1OwwBGqiTl7M9FdX-jNPbWMVLxQLBoqik9PSGgEsxVlD0y1DYmUITFLxY)** > > The convoy, similar to the one in Canada, would then head east and might get to Washington in time for President Biden's State of the Union address on March 1, the bulletin says. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/54 "2022-02-11T00:46:42Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Left-wingers are outraged because they think the mandates are important and so they are riled about these protests. Oh, it’s possible they’re outraged about other things too. > [@octopus](#): > > It’s your assertion that the majority of damages were from right wing plants? **Chronos** may have his own answer, but I’ll mention that given the right wing and its increasingly toxic tailspin into undemocratic chaos, (the left - nah - nowhere _near_ to going off the rails as much as the right obviously is, RIGHT? Thought so), then we can probably conclude that - yes - the majority of the damages would have been from right wing plants, [not to mention:](https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-race-and-ethnicity-suburbs-health-racial-injustice-7edf9027af1878283f3818d96c54f748) > [@](#): > > Very few of those charged appear to be affiliated with highly organized extremist groups, and many are young suburban adults from the very neighborhoods Trump vows to protect from the violence in his reelection push to win support from the suburbs. > [@](#): > > Several of the defendants are not from the Democratic-led cities that Trump has likened to “war zones” but from the suburbs the Republican president has claimed to have “saved.” > [@](#): > > [M]any have had no previous run-ins with the law and no apparent ties to [antifa, the umbrella term for leftist militant groups](https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-media-social-media-kentucky-racial-injustice-97624252a276dea5cfe2e79381df0248) that Trump has said he wants to declare a terrorist organization. Antifa = strawman = not a destroy-man. > [@](#): > > In thousands of pages of court documents, the only apparent mention of antifa is in a Boston case in which authorities said a FBI Gang Task Force member was investigating “suspected ANTIFA activity associated with the protests” when a man fired at him and other officers. Authorities have not claimed that the man accused of firing the shots is a member of antifa. Whew! Thank OG there was only one of them _THAT_ time. (ETA - actually I stand corrected - he was _suspected_ to be antifa) You know full well, **Octo** , I could come up with a trillion more cites on this. /pardon the slight derail - hopefully back to truckers and “Freedumb” tm! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/55 "2022-02-11T00:53:04Z")
I respect that you responded. Like I kind of feel weird that you did. You know? It’s weird, right? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/56 "2022-02-11T01:02:08Z")
Well, like, sorta. Yeeks! 🙂 > **[Federal Conservatives call on anti-vaccine mandate protesters to bring down...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservatives-covid-19-restrictions-1.6346576)** > > After publicly supporting the anti-vaccine mandate activists protesting in Ottawa in recent weeks, interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said Thursday it's time for the convoy and other protesters blocking two major border crossings to end their... I count, well, _two_ conservatives, coming around, in the article. It’s a start, then? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/57 "2022-02-11T01:05:36Z")
I think they might be waiting for Donald Trump to tell them that he loves them. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/58 "2022-02-11T04:47:09Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > It is like they are determined to lose. After losing voters by supporting the blockades now they want to drive (see what I did there) their voters to the PPC (presumably) by not supporting the blockades. Oh well. I’ve been saying since the last election was called that it didn’t seem like anyone actually wanted to win. Becoming the government at this time in history just seems like a guaranteed losing position, because there’s literally nothing you could do that some significant part of the population wouldn’t vilify you over. I’ve even seen posts from right wingers denouncing the new trumper-flavored interim leader of the CPC as “controlled oppostion” because she said it was time to end the blockades. As much as I dislike her, she’s stuck in the no-win scenario, and Captain Kirk she isn’t. > [@XT](#): > > Left-wingers are outraged because they think the mandates are important and so they are riled about these protests. I don’t know anyone who is “outraged” that they’re protesting the mandates. All the outrage I’ve seen is about the tactics they’re using, which disproportionately affect people who have little to no influence over the policies they’re ostensibly protesting. If they’d just occupied Wellington Street and Parliament Hill, Ottawans would have been quite happy to have ignored them and let them have their fun, for weeks, months, or even years. You mention you lived in Ottawa, so you should know: We all know Wellington is a no-go zone any time anything political happens, and we work around it. It’s a nice drive on a sunny day, but you avoid it if there’s any kind of significant protest activity. For Americans reading the thread, it’s probably the closest Ottawa has to the Mall in DC. It’s all the other crap they’re doing that’s really pissing us off. Today they flooded our 911 call system with fake emergencies. They’re also trying to organize protests outside our schools for tomorrow. Both of those are dirty pool, and would be off limits to anyone who really was working to improve society. These are not nice people. > [@XT](#): > > while my impression is that Canadians aren’t as riled up about it. So, thought I’d ask, as I know there are a lot of Canadian 'dopers All polling shows that a large majority of Canadians support the current mandates. We literally had an election less than six months ago, in which this question was a major issue, and the anti-mandate parties lost, pretty decisively. The problem is, it doesn’t take that many jerks in trucks to really screw shit up. Particularly if the people in power aren’t willing to play hardball with them, and pretty much just let them do whatever they want. That’s the unfortunate take-away lesson from the last two weeks. As we saw with Trump and all his BS, the “checks and balances” stuff doesn’t work if the people who are entrusted to be those checks and balances refuse to do their jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/59 "2022-02-11T04:59:45Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > It’s all the other crap they’re doing that’s really pissing us off. Today they flooded our 911 call system with fake emergencies. And a large number of those calls came from the United States, according to Global News: > **[Ottawa police say ‘flood’ of false 911 calls came ‘significantly’ from U.S....](https://globalnews.ca/news/8609284/ottawa-trucker-convoy-airport-disruptions/)** > > Federal, provincial and municipal leaders are now calling the activities of the convoy "unlawful" and "illegal" as the demonstration enters its 14th day. From the item: > [@](#): > > Ottawa police said Thursday that a significant amount of calls that “almost jammed” the city’s 911 phone system on Wednesday evening came from U.S. addresses. > > “They were coming in from the United States,” Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly said in a news conference Thursday. > > “Not exclusively, but significantly from United States addresses.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186/60 "2022-02-11T05:03:11Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > And a large number of those calls came from the United States, according to Global News: I had not seen that part of the story, but yeah, it just highlights my point. _These are not nice people._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-dopers-freedom-convoy/959186.md?page=4)