Now that the U.S. has announced its land borders will be open to vaccinated Canadians sometime in November, many, especially snowbirds, are exultant. There are, however, numerous reasons to temper that enthusiasm, including the poor rate of full vaccination south of us (only 57%), the ever-present threat of violence, and the other perennial American pandemic, hatred and racism, the latter of which I shall turn to in a moment.
Edward Keenan suggests the need for caution in his column today. He cites Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on non-essential travel:
“I’m going to quote Eileen de Villa, the Toronto Public Health officer, who offered some really good advice,” Freeland said. “She said, ‘Just try to do the things you need to do, and maybe hold back on doing the things you just want to do.’ And I think, if you just keep doing that a few more weeks, Canada can really fully put COVID behind us.
The key medical authority in her government, Health Minister Patty Hajdu, said over the weekend that Canadians should travel to the U.S. only when it’s “absolutely necessary,” specifically warning against going to some U.S. states where COVID-19 is “very, very out of control.”
But as I suggested above, there are other reasons to avoid unnecessary travel to the U.S., including its twin plagues of violence and racism. It is the latter I will examine next, and I have to warn you, it gets ugly.
There is a man named Michael Slawson who has been exposed on Twitter for what he really is, and what follows is somewhat hard to watch:
H/t Danesh and Michael McIt also appears that Slawson has an unhealthy interest in young girls:
I am happy to report that Slawson's Twitter account has been suspended. I am sure I'm but one of hundreds who lodged a complaint about him, so can hardly take credit for his removal. And one would be foolish to think that there are not countless others like him still spewing their hatred on various social media platforms.
My admiration and respect go out to Danesh and Michael Mc for exposing this dangerous malefactor whose hatred and perversion is but one of the many reasons I cannot see myself ever returning to the United States.
Only winter/christmas air travel and snowbirds can bring home the variants for Wave 5! Wave 5! Wave5!
ReplyDeleteIn the haste to 'return to normal', lungta, we may discover that the opposite is achieved.
Delete.. I myself have about ZERO interest in the USA currently.. sadly its become a polarized shithole flyover nation. My views are quite harsh.. at times, I believe lead or mercury poisoning has overwhelmed the country.. ‘mad hatter’ disease.. & Trump was & still is most definitely a radioactive overdose piled atop the mass insanity
ReplyDeleteJust imagine John Steinbeck with his poodle Charley .. writing Travels With Charley today ! Voyaging across American in their aptly named ‘Rocinante’ truck/camper & tilting at windmills or Walmarts
My focus is Canada eh.. I think we can salvage most of its wonder & splendour if we roll up our sleeves & look after it properly. If I had another life to live.. I would do better, work harder at this.. hone or harness my vision to that. I would suggest too, that Canada’s military adventuring be strictly curtailed & that we immediately cease to be the ‘Liberia’ of resource extraction corporate entities in foreign lands
I agree with your perspective, Sal. What bothers me most, however, is that our proximity to the U.S., both physically and media-wise, means there is a significant spillover of their infected minds into our own country. One need only examine the mad rhetoric of Maxime Bernier's acolytes, the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, to name but three to see the pernicious effect the people to the south have on some Canadians' thinking. I have often thought that our greatest misfortune as a country is living next door to an insane giant.
Delete