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Not many of us up here are too concerned with American protests and quotes from American politicians. I don't mean to take anything away from them - just that I

by rpeden 5y ago

Not many of us up here are too concerned with American protests and quotes from American politicians. I don't mean to take anything away from them - just that I'm not sure how applicable they are here. Most Canadians I know (whether on the left or right of the political spectrum) would find those quotes from AOC and Waters to be profoundly un-Canadian. I realize I don't know everyone and can't speak for everything, though. The BLM protest in Ottawa showed up, stayed peaceful, protested, and left. As did all of the many protests I saw while living in downtown Ottawa. I have friends living in the area still and they were subjected to a sleepless week of harassment by damagingly loud train horns and people giving them shit for choosing to wear a mask. That's not a peaceful protest. It's not just discomfort. It's a crime. And the fact they're behaving better now doesn't erase their past behaviour. I think that having a discussion on ending mandates is fine. It's a good time for that. But I also want to see them face legal consequences for their behaviour toward the innocent citizens of Centretown. And I don't like how they tried to blackmail the government into making changes by hurting their fellow citizens. I think that is undemocratic.

refurb 5y ago
In the US it was "silence is violence", but I guess in Canada its "honking is violence"?
- rpeden 5y ago
  Honking regular horns? No. Annoying, but not violent. These were train horns that were well over 100db outside and still over 80db inside people's apartments. Loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage. So yes, if you're doing something that can cause lasting damage, it's violence. There's a wide gulf between honking loudly enough to annoy and honking loudly enough to injure. It's really not that hard to not cross it, but they did, for days on end. As I said - they seem to be behaving better now. Maybe it's petty and vindictive, but I don't think it's okay to just let that kind of thing pass without consequences for the perpetrators.

by rpeden 5y ago

refurb 5y ago

In the US it was "silence is violence", but I guess in Canada its "honking is violence"?

rpeden 5y ago
Honking regular horns? No. Annoying, but not violent. These were train horns that were well over 100db outside and still over 80db inside people's apartments. Loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage. So yes, if you're doing something that can cause lasting damage, it's violence. There's a wide gulf between honking loudly enough to annoy and honking loudly enough to injure. It's really not that hard to not cross it, but they did, for days on end. As I said - they seem to be behaving better now. Maybe it's petty and vindictive, but I don't think it's okay to just let that kind of thing pass without consequences for the perpetrators.