Freedom and Freedoms

In light of the recent World-Wide phenomenon involving truckers protests, I have thought long and hard about the word Freedom and what is really associated with it.

Freedom, in it's most basic definition as found in the Oxford Dictionary: 
"the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint."

The dictionary doesn't properly manifest the meaning of the word.  Freedoms have always come at a cost, either nationally, or personally.

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Yes - in Canada, we have freedom, but we also have a responsibility to understand these freedoms can be used to oppress other people's freedom.  Based on this hypothesis, we need to understand that one persons definition of freedom, is another persons definition of oppression.

Freedom, while the definition is simple, it really doesn't dig anywhere deep enough to understand it's nuances or how the word and meaning can be perverted and used as a 'catch-all phrase'.

Yes we have freedom, but we also live in a civilized society where the freedom to do certain things is either removed or punished.  

- We have the freedom to walk completely nude in the street, however, you will pay a fine, or do jail time if caught.
- We have the freedom to drive a vehicle without a license or insurance, but again - if caught we will pay a hefty fine and possibly have trouble getting that license.
- We have the freedom to walk into a 'private' establishment with no shoes, shirt, no vaccine passport, but the owners have the freedom to not serve us, or to ask us to leave. (remember the adage no shirt, no shoes, no service!)
- We have the freedom to run red lights, not stop at stop signs, ignore speed limits, not wear seat belts or to drink and drive, but again, these come at a cost.  Either a fine, loss of license, loss of life, criminal charges etc. can be the penalty for these freedoms.

Photo by: JIMMYSUPERSTARZ, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The recent and on-going trucker protest is all about Freedom.  They yell this constantly, banners splashed across various vehicles scream Freedom from oppression.  

Their original intent was to get parliament to remove the mandate involving truckers requiring a vaccine passport to get across the international border with the US and back. However, in the midst of this the message got muddied.  Partly because radicals got involved, partly because of external influences, partly because people are simply tired of Covid restrictions.

The question remains - does one person's freedom out-weight another person's freedoms?  Does blocking a neighbourhood and causing people to shut their business down, or restrict access to those services they require not supercede any protest?

Can these protestors honestly say that the demonstration has not caused damage to both the national, provincial and regional economies?  The real numbers prove otherwise. Stories from some citizens of Ottawa - are also proof. (Of course, many protestors will yell "Fake News", but this is as much to avoid their unpleasant truth as it is another Conspiracy Theory.

Whatever the reasons were or are, the message is now so diluted, it will be impossible to satisfy them all.

Photo by: By Véronic Gagnon - Own work,CC BY 4.0,https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115097652

Professional truck drivers started the 'freedom rally' and pretty soon they were joined by drivers in pick-ups (who call themselves truck drivers).  Soon, they were joined by people walking up onto the Hill, People from all walks of life, farmers driving tractors, people in cars and more.

This has been and is still quite a rally going on right now.  Whether you support their cause, find it redundant or are somewhere in between, you have to be impressed at how well organized it is, and how the topic has stirred the emotions of regular citizens .

Again, the message of this convoy has been so diluted there is simply no telling what the actual objective is.  Sure, when asked protestors shout 'freedom', but that's a lot like going into a restaurant, and when the waitress asks you what you'd like, you yell FOOD! It is very vague, and impossible to accomplish to any great degree.

We are all sick of Covid and the restrictions put in place, but we need to ask ourselves why they were put there in the first place.  Most of us want this to end, but essentially an end to serious hospitalizations will be the deciding factor.  Protests - such as blockading international transportation of goods, blocking main highways makes any legitimate citizen support wane very quickly.  If and when grocery store shelves become bare, medical supplies can't reach their destinations or farmers goods go bad due to extended blockades, regular citizens will start a backlash.

Those conspiracy theorists will say it is for the government to control us, others will point to vaccines being the reason and how much money "Big Pharma' will make from this, still others claim the vaccine is nothing but a water shot, and has no effect, while others claim it is embedded with nano-particles meant to track everyone. There are a ton of conspiracy theories out there, but digging into them, shows that there really is little credence to any of them. 

The fact of the matter is this:  The world may not have known how serious this could become, and based on early indications they expected a lot of deaths and hospitalizations.  Hospitalizations did occur, but thanks to medical science, and eventually vaccines, deaths were less than anticipated in developed countries.  Restrictions, to help curb the spread of the disease were put in place all over the planet.  In some cases - such as certain Chinese areas, total lockdowns occurred.  In other countries specific regulations - such as masking in public, limiting were put in place.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coronavirus_patients_at_the_Imam_Khomeini_Hospital_in_Tehran,_Iran--1_March_2020.jpg#/media/File:Coronavirus_patients_at_the_Imam_Khomeini_Hospital_in_Tehran,_Iran--1_March_2020.jpg

One thing in certain -  is that these measures were put in place to protect the health care systems and people the world over.  

Will these protests and truck blockades help to remove restrictions?  Not likely.  They will claim they did, but the truth is that Governments will continue to rely on science, data and numbers to make decisions.

I hope the governments see that serious infections have dropped enough that our under-nourished medical system can handle it, and that some of these restrictions become obsolete or - at least optional.