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This "both sides" deal is akin to the "anti-mandate" vs. "anti-vax" forced choice distinction that I'm trying to explore a bit currently.

In this case, it is inverted into "anti-passport", but still "anti-protest", (i.e. "pro-authoritarian")

The leaders are revealing a lack of coherent principle, and don't even know how to verbalize what they believe, what they are doing. And per usual, the science and data of the disease and the jabs is a million miles away. Irrelevant.

Critical. But irrelevant (edit:irrelevant to the policy makers and bureaucrats)

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Very "pro-authoritarian".

But you have highlighted what I believe is the Achilles Heel of the authoritarians: beyond power they have no governing set of principles or beliefs. They are quite simply confused by the truckers' demand for "freedom".

As best I can determine, the authoritarians at every level genuinely expected the truckers would lose heart quickly, that this protest had no staying power because they weren't the driving force.

They didn't factor in the science undermining their narrative at every turn, and they didn't factor in people figuring out how to just live with the virus.

History shows that revolution happens once the governing elites convince themselves revolution is impossible. 1775, 1789, 1912, 1917, 1989...the elites have never seen the revolution coming. Which is why it comes.

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Now this would make a good substack post, Peter! Interesting and insightful.

Basically their overriding structure boils down to:

"Orderly compliance to our capricious dictates is paramount. This supersedes any of that "will of the people" "democracy" "liberty" PR shit that you saw on the brochure. That was just marketing talk."

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I'm still trying to process Trudeau's masterpiece of double speak: "mandates are the way to avoid further restrictions"

He actually said that, and with a straight face, too!

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It's simple, he wants people to comply their way out of tyranny.

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Good luck with that

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