1984 and Animal Farm

I’d like to thank everyone for the feedback and for taking the time to read the writing that’s become a weekly routine for me.

I’ve told a few folks in conversation that it’s been extremely difficult to connect with people and have these discussions with the way things are right now. We do not have air superiority – it’s extremely difficult to get any coverage that isn’t negative in the corporate media stream.  It’s also difficult on social media, as we have seen the Twitter trolls are relentless in their task. Folks around here are good at the ground game though – the word-of-mouth face-to-face chats, town halls, and hollering across the fence to the neighbours. The small local papers also play a huge part and I’m so grateful that they’re still around. And the brave souls out there that share things on social media – something more grassroots than what the mainstream media outlets want people to see and hear.

Of course, not all feedback I have received is people agreeing with me, and honestly, I am good with that. I encourage open conversation. And when a certain individual decided to write the Leader of the Official Opposition to bring to her attention my “outlandish” position when it comes to socialism and healthcare reform, well, honestly, that brought a smile to my face.  I can’t stomach the taste of the socialist kool-aid, and I sure as the heck won’t shy away from doing what I can as an MLA to help fix the healthcare issues we have in our area.

The events we are seeing in our day are downright strange.  I’ve cautioned before is that nothing can be so permanent as “temporary” government policy – that is, if the people don’t make a clear choice to restore things.  Human nature is funny that way. It takes discipline and drive to finish tasks, and far too many times we run out of time and motivation to go all the way to the finish line.  There is an old saying that money is the root of all evil, but from what I’ve observed complacency has caused way more negative outcomes than anything else. I remember sloth is one of the seven deadly sins. “When good men fail to act” as Hemmingway once wrote.

We are no longer dealing with the original form of covid that the vaccine was designed for. In addition, truckers who don’t have the vaccine have not missed a beat over the last two years. They’ve kept going to keep us fed this whole time. Forcing the issue now does not make sense for a good many of people out there cheering on the sides of the roads.

On the flip side, I’ve seen a Prime Minister with a bunch of the usual folks trying to label the truckers and their supporters as a pseudo terrorist group, as racists – all the usual slanders (you might as well record it and put it on repeat at this point).  I’ve seen reports from the mainstream media trying to misrepresent the truckers as protesting road conditions. I’ve seen false reports that the Go-Fund-Me page (over $5 million donated for fuel and lodging) is being withheld.  I’ve heard the dueling narrative that there are no issues with supply chains and that all the groceries you want are on the shelves, while at the same time hearing them say you may not be able to get what you want but you will be able to get what you need.

There are striking similarities between what we are experiencing today and what George Orwell wrote about in Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949) where he was critical of communism and state socialism. The cause and effect of two world wars were still very fresh in the minds of many. WWII showed how deeply humanity could dive into darkness before, thankfully, enough people came together to pull us back from the brink.  Tinkering with various forms of government commenced over the following decades, and it’s no secret the most devastating effects on human rights and freedoms came from countries that embraced communism. Countries where the citizens had the least number of rights and freedoms to control their own destiny. Countries that banned firearms ownership, controlled the means of production and ran their own state media.

Fast-forward to our own day, where the Prime Minister speaks of the citizens in his own country by when asking “how long are we going to tolerate them?” All while his crew and the folks in Alberta’s Official Opposition cozy up to groups like Extinction Rebellion who openly state they would not be above killing public figures and blowing up infrastructure.  These same political figures, who openly want additional restrictions, control of the media, removal of firearms from lawful citizens, are now citing the truckers in this peaceful cross-country protest as pseudo terrorists and are using their influence to keep the story from reaching the Canadian public. We are in strange times indeed.

It’s up to all of us who remember what it was like to have freedoms to ensure that the real Canada emerges from these last two years, and not the “built back better” version. An addition or renovation is nice occasionally, but we can’t sit back and let a whole neo-Marxist demolition and rebuild take place.

Many ask what can be done about all this. Folks need to get off the bench and flex their democratic muscles. There are many opportunities throughout Alberta and Canada’s political process for folks to be involved, and they need to before that ability disappears – before our country resembles a George Orwell novel (if you haven’t read the novels, please do – it takes on a far more serious nature reading it as an adult than it did when I was young).

Join a political party. Take part in forming policy. Take part in the internal party elections, choosing who sits on the boards and who ultimately leads the party. I can tell you firsthand, that grass roots involvement does make an impact, and that if you don’t participate in the process, ultimately the minority of the population will dictate what the majority will be doing.

Let’s keep talking with one another, even when we have contradictory opinions. Let’s keep expressing ourselves and sharing real stories from real people. Those truckers rolling on down to Ottawa show that in a free country, everyone has a voice. We may have to resort to social media, private podcasts (like the Shaun Newman Podcast site that I’ll be on Feb 05 in Kitscoty), or the small local papers to be able to speak openly with one another and share ideas, but it is a small price to pay to keep the dream of our country alive.

Sincerely,

MLA Shane Getson