With apologies to Eleanor Rigby: All the stupid people, where do they all come from?
Pollster Frank Graves may have found a partial answer.
Unvaccinated Canadians are about 12 times more likely than those who received three doses to believe Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was justified, according to a new survey by national polling firm EKOS.
The poll found 26 per cent of those who identified as unvaccinated agreed the Russian invasion is justified, with another 35 per cent not offering an opinion. This compared to only two per cent of surveyed Canadians who said they had three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and who supported the attack, and four per cent who offered no view.
Of those Canadians who received three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the study found 82 per cent agreed with imposing tougher sanctions on Russia even if it meant higher fuel and food prices at home. Only 18 per cent of unvaccinated people concurred.
Eighty-five per cent of vaccinated people agree the country should take in Ukrainian refugees versus 30 per cent of unvaccinated Canadians.While 88 per cent of vaccinated Canadians agree Russia is committing war crimes during the widely condemned invasion, 32 per cent of unvaccinated people do.
Why the great disparity? The unvaccinated are apparently drinking from the same disinformation wells. Susan Delacourt writes that
the same forces that were feeding people rubbish about vaccine mandates during the Ottawa occupation in February are now feeding them nonsense in March about Russia and Ukraine.
Graves is still working on tracking the sources of disinformation, but he cites YouTube as one of the big culprits so far.
A Phd in political science, Kate Graham, was doing some door-to-door canvassing in London, Ontario around the same time the poll was being conducted. Here is what she found.
Knocked on a door today. Person asked my thoughts on Ukraine. I expressed my horror at what is happening. Response? “Oh, you don’t know then. It’s all fake.” Went on to talk about lots of other issues: convoys, Trudeau, media. “CBC is the biggest terrorist going.”
I asked where this person gets their information.
“The internet. TikTok. Joe Rogan.” What struck me about the discussion was how genuinely fearful the person seemed. They have kids. Had tears in eyes when talking about future of our country. Overwhelmed and afraid.
What is to be learned from all of this? In my view, as I was telling my wife last night at supper when talking about how continued masking may lead to confrontations with some, it is that our species is still in its infancy. When even the most common and least intrusive disease-prevention measures become a source of baffling tantrums, one knows one is not dealing with an evolved, mature life form.
Susan Delacourt puts it another way:
... conspiracy theories don’t just go away anymore; nor do they continue to exist on the fringe. Like the COVID virus, they’ve developed a remarkable ability to mutate — or “pivot,” in Graves’ words. While many of us see the pandemic and the war in Ukraine as separate, albeit world-shaking crises, the disinformation machine has managed to connect them.
