If you remember a time when life was ‘normal’ please raise your hand.
I’m not talking about pre-COVID times either, although they are particularly stupid on almost every level.
I’m talking about times when such outdated concepts as personal responsibility, respect for others and simple civility ruled the day.
Those glorious days when we could agree to disagree without the need to utterly destroy each other to ‘prove’ who is correct. Today, the very concept of ‘correct’ lies in a heap of smoking ruins, burned and trampled by mobs of indignant morons who believe the world owes them a living simply because they draw a breath.
A few decades ago we could discuss an issue, any issue, and no matter how passionate the participants argued their positions, at the end of the day one person did not attempt to kill the other for disagreeing with them.
Today, these calls to kill those with whom we disagree are commonplace. They are ‘normal’.
Those whose lives were crushed by criminal violence with firearms want to see licensed, law-abiding firearm owners hauled into the street and killed.
If you choose to take responsibility for your own life and health by not wearing a medical mask outdoors you will be mocked, ridiculed and called “murderer” and “killer”.
Do these mob-ruled morons not comprehend fresh air, not stale, bacteria-laden recycled air, is what keeps us healthy?
There have always been those who despise religion, but never in Canadian history have we subjected places of worship to the visceral hatred we see today.
Faith leaders, those courageous ones who refuse to close their weekly public worship services, routinely receive death threats.
One church received death threats to its Pastor and Elders, but threatening to killing these fine men wasn’t enough. The gutless coward threatened to burn down their church and their personal homes as well.
All because the church, like Walmart, Costco and a plethora of other facilities, remained open on Sunday.
Last week a Christian pastor in Edmonton was hauled off to jail in handcuffs for refusing to close his church.
Today he sits in solitary confinement in a maximum security remand centre for his ‘heinous crimes.’
All because of fear.
Irrational fear.
Fear of a virus which has, for all except the elderly, a 99.7% recovery rate.
Fear which is promoted 24×7 by every government agency, every government minister and every major media corporation in the country.
Did you ever ask yourself WHY they’re peddling and promoting fear 24x7x365?
Did you stop to consider the ramifications of calling the government snitch line to report your neighbour because someone stopped by for a visit to see if they’re okay?
Have you completely forgotten the history of East Germany, a divided Berlin and the reality of every communist country in the 20th century?
Those mere citizens lived in abject fear 24×7 too. They were constantly urged to report their friends and neighbours for a litany of ‘crimes’ against the state, just as we are today.
Those authoritarian states ultimately collapsed under the weight of their own oppression – an oppression too many North Americans are openly embracing.
What happens to you when you’re afraid?
Are you more courageous or more cowardly?
Are you more willing to think for yourself or more willing to do as you’re told by any perceived ‘authority’?
Are you more inclined to search for the answers yourself or more eager to be submissive and compliant?
Thinking is hard.
Complying with the crowd and its loudest voices is easy, albeit a little uncomfortable at times.
The simple act of standing up for yourself in a sea of cowards is fraught with peril. I know that. The attacks will come the moment I click ‘Publish’ on this commentary- I have no doubt.
But I refuse to cower before them.
Why?
Because I remember a time in the not-so-distant past when I could walk up to a complete stranger, reach out my hand in welcome and say, “Hi there. My name is Christopher. What’s yours?” without a mob of morons calling for my death.
If you remember those days too, please share your experience in the comments section below.
Keep speaking Christopher. You provide a voice of reason. I never thought it was possible for things to reach this point where the patients are running the asylum.
There are many of us who are still level headed and can have a healthy debate or conversation regardless of whether we agree or disagree. We’re just the quiet ones unfortunately.
In a time where toys are being banned because they resemble a firearm, or have the prefix “Mr.” in the name, or even food items renamed and rebranded because of the skin colour of the character on the bottle, one can only hope that people snap out of this trance they’re in.
We’ve become to complacent and compliant in our lives. To hear of a pastor being treated like a criminal for allowing people to practice faith at a time when faith is all that’s keeping people alive infuriated me beyond words. When will law enforcement decide they’re human before anything else and take a stand and say “what I’m doing is morally wrong”.
Keep fighting the good fight brother!
Thanks Peter. I’m just getting started…. 😉
Well said, Christopher.
I yearn for the times when people minded their own business (“stick to your knitting” and “keep your eye on the ball”), when merit was rewarded (“work harder, work smarter” and “give it your all”), and where resilience was admired (“grow a tougher hide”, “courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway”).
Mom said that if you are feeling bad, go find someone who is having a harder time… and help them. Mom was brilliant.
Wise words from your mother, Linda. I especially love “courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway”. Beautiful.
I agree with a lot of your sentiments. Having work in the civil service for 34.5 years I can imagine the balancing act that our politicians have in trying to save the economy and liberties at the same time.
I see this erosion of civility, establishing and entrenching in the early 80’s to mid 90’s. The way I see some of it, is that it starts at the top. Our elected politicians behave poorly and with a considerable degree of impunity as it relates to the management of the country. They out and out fight with civil/public servants creating animosity towards them and the public believe and perpetuate the situation. Elected politicians are seem to be benefiting from decisions in favour of their friends and without consequence.
Private industry have their hands in the coffers of the taxpayer and they get away with the theft of tax dollars, the most recent being BELL and the CERB payment, but there are historical accounts with the auto industry, mining, forestry, oil and gas and the list goes on and without any shame or guilt. If you were a psychologist you would identify it as industrial narcism. You’ll also notice that when industry wins great contributions, public services DECLINE. Every time!
Now we have the police being targeted for getting out of control and not accountable and the same can be said for private groups who in the name of civil disobedience block railways, trees, animal right extremists etc who are also unaccountable and criminal in their actions.
The list goes on, but poor governance at every level can create this unease.
Some of it, yes can start at home with manners and lessons in self control. The rest of it can start at the door when you hear” hi, I’m Joe Blow I work in the private sector and I’m looking for your vote as the next MP, MPP, MLA, etc, I’ll work hard for your tax dollar,”… response, “talk to the hand.”
I rant
Take care
Thanks for the great rant, James. Well said.
Yes I do remember and it has been all downhill since PET (communist youth rep to Russia) was appointed PM by Pearson… Another horror story,….. And let’s not even get into what has happened to the USA…
Well said. At times I feel we are living in a nightmare; common decency and civil discourse seem to have disappeared. I fear for my children, bombarded with fear and negativity at all turns.
Thanks Mike. I fear for the mental health all children being brought up under this distopian nightmare, my grandchildren included.
Ah, those simpler times. When a politician actually answered a question; when we trusted our government to act in the best interests of Canada and Canadians; when that same government did what was right, not what likely just get them re-elected. Those were the days my friend!
Covid-19- I can reluctantly accept masks and social distancing and some reducing of #’s in some settings but allowing Big Box stores to be open while closing small businesses is wrong. The handling of acquiring of vaccines has been a dismal and disgusting failure. But somehow voters will again forget and that’s the saddest outcome of all.
Very good commentary. I couldn’t agree more. I do remember a time when I was a kid, up in the morning and doing your chores. Then you could go out and play with your friends. Parents last words as you ran out of the house were, be home when the street lights come on. Now, if your kids go outside you are in fear of them being snatched up by some creep. Seems now a lot of the creeps work for the government. Stay strong and fight back. No one has the right to control your life.
Thanks Lynn. I miss those days being yelled at if I dared come inside before dinner was served! What a different world we live in today.
I so relate to this. I was born in the late 50’s and I’m now in my early 60’s. Back then there was a “thing” called common sense.
It ruled pretty much everything back then, behavior, acceptation, responsibility, accountability, respect, honesty, civility and so many other nice traits of the society. Those were good times.
But somewhere along the timeline, circa the 90’s, that “thing”, common sense, was lost and disappeared. The result is what you can see today, wokeness. Sad reality.
Like you I wish we could return to those good times, walk up to someone and strike a conversation. I long for those good times but I see no light at the end of the tunnel, at least for now. Hopefully, I’ll see one before my demise, but I’m not holding my breath.
I agree, Guy, that it’s tough to be optimistic when a year ago I would have assured you a Christian pastor would not be thrown in prison for the ‘crime’ of preaching a sermon, yet here we are in a world that is, quite literally, turned upside down.
I remember so much after 60-something spins around the sun.
I lament loosing a lifelong friend that went recently out-of-the-political closet and ranted all sorts of Liberal rhetoric and accusations towards our outdoors and firearms community..
A man who nearly kills people with his constant poor driving and history.
Give a man a roof over their head in younger days when they are in despair and later have your hand bitten off.
I don’t like being a shining example to my best abilities only to have people accuse me of being a murderer in wait {yes, similar words were thrown at me] and other Liberal text book garbage speech.
What I don’t get, is how many Liberals [ and others] can condone Abortion, and bring up this subject matter constantly and unsolicited and compare us to Americans [ Roe vs Wade , and gun nuts etc. if you talk about Conservatives] YET after enduring this crap-talk-accusations, I researched last year the Canadian Stats on abortions and you know what?… between 84,000 to 92,000 abortions are done every year in Canada. At the risk of venturing into this polarized topic… how can Liberals/NDP condone that type of violent procedure upon fetuses at these numbers and still look at me and accuse me of being a potential murderer? I never hurt anyone. I have defended myself a few times yet I am not a violent man and furthermore, this Liberal friend of mine repeatedly looks confused anytime I try to explain self discipline and responsibility regarding lifestyle habits, driving, firearms hobbies, drugs, etc.
It is beyond his comprehension and I do have to paint most if not all Liberals this way when he spouts off the big Red Tent garbage talk. They will even admit they ” do not know the Law” on this topic, but will compare me and his own relatives to Americans and criminals..
Post 9/11, during a hypothetical conversation about arming ourselves and having to maybe kill a terrorist that is seen actively killing others during a heightened local crisis, has us being called the “murderer” for defending other helpless Canadians!
From an exForces personnel of all sorts. And he has acquaintances that think this way.. Many do not have any religious leanings or spirituality.
After so many years such Benedict Arnold behaviour. Close the door and don’t look back upon one’s peaceful friends and neighbors and shared history and leave us hurting.
My rant, my despair, thanks for allowing me to share..
We are definitely on the same page.
When I was a teenager going out on a Saturday night with my rowdy friends, Dad would say, “Make me proud, son.” Mom would add, “Don’t bring shame upon the Jackson name.” These words of wisdom were like a ton of bricks on my shoulders.
Today parents are too busy watching Netflix to notice that their kids are not home. In our morally inverted “woke” society, there is more delinquency among adults than among juveniles.
The so-called “adults,” especially our left-wing ruling elites, have grown older, but they haven’t grown up.
One of your best yet Chris. I even remember back before C-68 and “PALs” when the police were our friends.
Well, to be honest, I still have friends on the force. But the days of welcoming a police car in your yard as they often came for a coffee and home made pie or buns, and to do some target practice on our range, have turned into “oh my God, is this the day they are coming for my registered firearms?” (Like they did to John Rew.)
Thanks very much, Don.
I grew up in a home where RCMP members were family friends due to my father’s volunteering as an RCMP Auxiliary. Today, as you so aptly note, not so much. I don’t blame this on the front-line RCMP members for this change as much as I do the politicization of the RCMP by power-hungry deputy ministers who in turn focused Depot training on licensed gun owners as enemies of the police. It’s important to remember it wasn’t always this way.
And yes, the John Rew case was an stunning and horrifying example of RCMP overreaction to the expiry of a firearm license.
Yes Chris, regarding John Rew, an accidental expiry, as he was too busy keeping his 20 employees working in his oilfield maintenance company and hadn’t checked the 5 year expiry date. Although I haven’t been able to confirm this, the firearms center did not send him a renewal notice. Deliberate? Possibly because it happened to many, especially old timers as our illustrious Public Safety Minister knows full well.
Very timely, Christopher. My view of people’s behaviour in present times aligns with yours but from a slightly higher altitude and in the context of my late 1960’s formative years.
Normal Canadian life began dying about 5 decades ago. Those 5 decades have seen relentless attacks on the nuclear family, on faith and on culture. Family, faith and culture are the very foundations necessary for developing wholesome community values, a good moral compass, integrity, a strong work ethic and a commitment to personal responsibility. Education has become yet another heinous psyop, sucking any sense of individual self or cultural roots out of our children.
Through the relentless pressure of “progressive” social engineering, humanity has devolved into competing tribes of both unsuspecting, self-proclaimed victims and malevolent perpetrators. Both having only one common denominator … barbarism. Rational discussion and respectful discourse are dead. Truth, honesty and respect have been replaced with lies, treachery, avarice and resentment of other people’s accomplishments. We haven’t yet gone back to “drinking from the skulls of our enemies”, but give a while.
And now, after a solid year of 24/7 COVID fear-mongering, mask-wearing and lockdowns, people are behaving more and more like frightened, caged animals (no disrespect to animals intended). When the animals are more civilized than the people, it’s a sign that our civilization is on life-support. It’s no wonder I now prefer the company of dogs.
“You can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility.” ~ Byron Dorgan
“The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.” ~ Stanley Milgram
so yes, a very good article Chris, thanks for it. Given me much to reflect upon the past two days and nights.
Me, my hobbies and lifestyle, I subscribe to Old School, many good teachers and mentors in my early days,and I suspect that many of us here also harken from that era.
Role models and sound leadership.
Our youth are now distracted and disheartened by many realities that are overwhelming and seemingly insurmountable, and that lends to a path we were never having to experience.
There’s no school like old school, something I often think of.
I remember a time when folks of differing cultural and political backgrounds tolerated ,— and even laughed at each others differences.
There even existed TV shows like ” The Jeffersons ” and “all in the family”. -Dare I even mention those today?
Big joke when I was Kid was to give each other the finger after Pierre Trudeau made it so famous. 🙂
There was never any malice as seems to exist today — How did we become so polarized and intolerant. ?