Yesterday’s ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Is Today’s Policy

Boiled frog anyone?

If they were being honest, I bet most politicians in Canada would admit that even they were surprised how malleable much of the public has proven to be.

No amount of hypocrisy or shifting narratives seems to stop a large number of Canadians from succumbing to fear-based appeals on the ‘need’ to restrict our rights and freedoms.

Time and time again, politicians and public officials have said that measures such as vaccine passports and mandates wouldn’t be imposed, often even claiming they lacked the legal authority to do so.

For example, Jason Kenney had originally said that vaccine mandates would be illegal in Alberta.

Now, after reversing himself and imposing what he claimed was illegal, he says they will remain in place until at least the first part of 2022:

“Premier Jason Kenney says the Alberta version of a vaccine passport is helping increase vaccinations and drive down COVID-19 cases, but notes it will be in place until at least the early months of next year.

“I fully expect that we will have it in place through at least the first quarter of next year, 2022, because we are headed into an uncertain period,” Kenney said Tuesday.

“We will have to be on our guard as we go into colder weather, when people spend more time indoors. We will head into seasonal headwinds in terms of viral spread.””

Take note of this.

Vaccine passports went from being ‘illegal,’ to being imposed, and then extended indefinitely.

For more egregious hypocrisy, consider what the government is saying in BC.

Previously, Dr. Bonnie Henry had said “There is no way that we will recommend inequities be increased by use of things like vaccine passports.”

Of course, BC imposed a vaccine passport.

And now, they’re shutting down businesses that don’t go along with it:

“Interior Health has shut down a restaurant in Kelowna, B.C., for failing to comply with the province’s vaccine mandate.

Renegade Kitchen and Craft Bar has publicly stated it would not check vaccine status as required by provincial government health orders.

Documents taped to the restaurant’s windows outline weeks of demands from the health authority and management’s refusals to comply.

“The investigation took place after public health received a number of complaints that this establishment was not checking proof of immunization,” Interior Health said in a written statement.”

BC’s vaccine passport also has no room for medical or religious exemptions.

Thus – as with vaccine passports across the country – the program leaves many people locked out of society.

That certainly seems like ‘increasing inequities.’

Funny how that’s no longer a concern in BC.

Again, this fits the pattern we have seen over and over again.

In July of 2021, Doug Ford said this when asked about a vaccine passport in Ontario:

“Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in the strongest terms yet Thursday that the province will not create a vaccine passport that would allow people to signal to businesses and other organizations that they have been vaccinated.

“The answer is no, we’re not gonna do it. We’re not gonna have a split society,” Ford told reporters in response to a question about creating vaccine passports Thursday at the first press conference he has held in some time.”

You already know where this is going.

Ontario imposed a vaccine passport system beginning September 22.

They are rolling out a ‘vaccine passport app’ before the end of October.

Over and over again, this is how it plays out:

Vaccine passports are labelled a conspiracy theory.

Politicians oppose them, often in the strongest terms.

Politicians bring them in.

Opponents of vaccine passports are labelled ‘conspiracy theorists.’

At this point, it’s not even surprising to see the cycle play out, since it keeps on happening.

It’s like boiling a frog.

If you throw a frog in boiling water, it will jump out.

But if you throw it in lukewarm water, and then slowly turn up the heat, the frog doesn’t realize that’s going on, and it boils to death.

Power-hungry politicians have figured out a set of persuasion techniques that work like a charm:

You claim something won’t happen.

When it starts happening, you claim it’s not happening.

Then, you switch to claiming that it’s good that it’s happening.

You say anyone who opposes what’s happening is an extremist and is ‘putting people at risk.’

You talk about how ‘the vast majority’ support what’s happening, to build up the bandwagon effect.

Finally, you direct all the fear and anger towards those who continue opposing what’s happening, and who ‘dare’ to point out the hypocrisy.

Sadly, it works.

People won’t let this go

For those who think this tactic will recede anytime soon, think again.

It is already being deployed as a precursor to ‘climate lockdowns,’ and we are certain to see it used to justify Modern Monetary Theory (AKA endless money printing and the destruction of your purchasing power).

The deeper issue here is that politicians have found this tactic to fill a deep psychological hole in many of their followers.

People love to be part of the ‘in-crowd,’ and they yearn for meaning and purpose in life. Many also yearn for an enemy.

Indeed, it appears that the need for an enemy is deeply rooted in our psychology, and having an external enemy can serve as a great way to unite a nation.

Often, that is a good thing.

Seeing fascist Germany as the enemy in WW2 helped unite much of the world, and ensure that the genocidal regime was defeated.

Seeing the Soviet Union as the enemy united much of the world as well, eventually helping bring down a system that had murdered tens of millions of people and oppressed hundreds of millions more.

Opposition to the Chinese Communist Party is also one of the few things that unites most Canadians, and that can be a positive thing, as it helps remind us of what our values are supposed to be – so long as the opposition remains focused on the actions of the CCP and doesn’t morph into unjustified anger towards Chinese-Canadians.

However, when politicians target people within the country with rhetoric that portrays them as the enemy, the results are deeply destabilizing.

Here in Canada, we are seeing that many are getting a disturbing enjoyment from demonizing and punishing those who have chosen not to get vaccinated.

Science and logic has been ignored, since those who are vaccinated presumably are confident in the vaccine, and thus shouldn’t be concerned about being at risk from those who make a different choice, not to mention that individuals who are vaccinated can still transmit the virus.

But it’s not about logic or science.

The feeling of being ‘better than,’ or ‘cleaner,’ or ‘more righteous,’ or ‘less selfish’ than others generates feelings of superiority that are deeply satisfying.

Worse, since much of our modern life has been stripped of higher meaning or identification with a strong and unified nation, people are unwilling to give up the satisfaction of being ‘above’ others, and will be desperate to hang on to that feeling.

Many politicians will be more than glad to oblige them, thus the screwed up relationship in which people accept and even reward hypocrisy from their leaders so long as that hypocrisy keeps fulfilling their psychological needs.

So, as yesterday’s conspiracy theories become today’s policies, it will fall to those who can push beyond fear and beyond political manipulation to stand up for the values upon which our country is supposed to be based.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – Twitter

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