Freedom

The first word Carol Off tackles in her book At a Loss for Words, is the word I immediately thought of when I realized what her subject was. Off like me was appalled at how the word “freedom” has been repeatedly hijacked by diverse groups in their own personal interests, at the expense of truth. The one group that came top of mind to me was Canada’s truckers’ convoy and their allies around the country, including Steinbach. To them the word “freedom” has come to mean the capacity to do anything one wants no matter what the consequences to others. Any restraint, no matter how rational is considered an affront to freedom.

In Ottawa and across the country the truckers demanded release from the tyranny of government-imposed vaccine mandates, even after those mandates  had been largely eased, while they forgot about the fact that millions of lives had been amazingly protected by those vaccines from a novel virus that was threatening them even though the problems with the vaccines were miniscule to minute compared to the substantial benefits for the vast majority of people.

As Carol Off said, “They’ve attempted to repurpose the word for a political agenda that seeks to exclude anyone outside their tribe. For those who have truly escaped the iron hand of oppression, these freedom chants smack of privilege and historical revisionism.”

I think she nailed it.