TRUCK YOU! WHAT ARE YOUR SOURCES? MANDATE MADNESS

TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist

In April 2021 in Kamloops a CBC news van was vandalized with “fake news” scrawled across the door in clumsy black spray-paint.

My previous column about the truck convoy was called “ignorant,” “propaganda,” “misrepresentation” and on Twitter I was called, “a moron.” My article dubbed “garbage” and a tweet by Make Canada Great Again read: “This is what the lying fake news want us to believe. So sad what our media has become. Disgraceful!”

Let’s unpack some of this together.

First, I’m not offended personally. Posting online will get you comments, fair enough. I mention this because this divisive pandemic is affecting our in real life (IRL) relationships.

It must be frustrating when the media doesn’t reflect your stance on an issue. I get that. But I am not sure how you can jump to not trusting CTV or CBC as credible information sources. I name these outlets only because they are frequently mentioned on social media as fake news or members of the “lying liberal media.”

In this context what is meant by liberal? Are they referring to the Liberal Party of Canada? Or the dictionary definition?

As it happens, I don’t vote Liberal. In my wilder rebellious youth when I first turned voting age, I marched down to the legion and voted for the Reform Party.

I believe in freedom of speech. I don’t believe in people comparing pandemic mandates and restrictions to the Holocaust. You don’t get a choice in repression. Those protesting a forced vaccination are currently enjoying the freedom of not having to be vaccinated.

Everyone is under the strain of a pandemic. Everyone is feeling it. It sucks that the kids can’t be in school. It’s awful how much we are missing of life. I don’t think it will be forever though. And I don’t think that ending the mandates is in the public’s best interest.

I’m smart enough to know that I can’t know everything. I need to rely on media for some information. Media, like newspapers, are edited for truth. Reporters understand journalism, and libel and hate speech laws. I believe that journalists have integrity and are trustworthy.

I believe in scientists. They deal in exploration and research that can be life-saving.

At protests demonstrating against pandemic mandates, signs are held up like ‘COVID is a hoax,’ when more than five million people worldwide have died of it. That statistic comes from the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

I have tried so hard to be fair and understanding to people who refuse to get vaccinated, but I have not seen the same consideration. Only things like it’s just the flu, lol.

The organizers of the convoy said in their press conference that they didn’t invite the Toronto Star or the CBC News to participate. It is dangerous to only tell your side of the story to only like-minded people. Ideas need to be interrogated and challenged.

We tend to seek out information that confirms our own biases and opinions. It’s not often that we go totally blind in to a situation without having our mind already made up to some degree. And the echo chamber of social media is exacerbating that.

We are free to read whatever newspaper we want. We can read the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, the Globe and Mail or the National Post. Each paper has its own bias. Each paper represents the interests of its audience of readers. They are all necessary, sometimes especially the ones we don’t agree with.

If someone is asking you to distrust the media, or not to trust scientists, or to believe that every politician is corrupt what is their agenda? What is their bias? What are they trying to hide?

No one should be trying to restrict our information. We need to find for ourselves with our own critical thinking skills and media awareness, which news outlets are trustworthy.

I distrust a “freedom” convoy that refuses to speak to members of the press. The press isn’t the enemy. The press works for the people.

The press is a vital part of a free society.

Tara Collum is a freelance writer living in Toronto