IN UPSIDE DOWN WORLD MAGA CREEPING INTO CANADA

TARA COLLUMN | Special to TODAY.com

There are still “Freedom” convoys, even though for the most part COVID restrictions have generally been relaxed or eliminated.

I don’t even pretend to know the issues at the centre of any current convoys, or the continued harassment of our elected prime minister.

COVID is still a threat to public health, and there’s a current variant making people really sick. But I really can’t think about it anymore. Beyond wearing a mask when I feel it’s needed, or keeping my distance or getting rapid tested when I feel ill, these measures have become just as habitual as coughing and sneezing into my elbow or washing my hands. I just have to get on with my life.

Despite everything going on, a lot of people wasted time thinking about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. I, myself, spent hours watching the trial on YouTube. Because I was curious to see the veil lifted and to see the private lives revealed of famous people. They invited the courtroom to see what their daily lives looked like. So I took a peek like it was a soap opera. And than I felt bad. The brain makes comparisons and generalizations based on what it sees. People who brand Amber Heard a liar might have difficulty believing other women who aren’t famous actresses when they have the bravery to speak out against violence or abuse from those more powerful.

There is a lot brewing in the States right now, which makes me worried for our southern neighbours. Are they OK? Online the joke is that we’re “emotional support Canadians.” But their troubles aren’t contained to their borders alone.

Before their insurrection, the treason or the attempted overthrow of the U.S. democratic election, we were free to watch with our own eyes from multiple sources; I never feared anyone’s motives for flying a gigantic Canadian flag.

Was it really even an attempt to thwart democracy or was it just a simple protest? Is COVID really a big deal or it a world-wide conspiracy? These and an ever-growing list of concerns are stranding society on opposite ends of an ever-widening chasm of division.

Things like abortion.

Why does medical science develop things like an amniocentesis if governments devise to restrict and ban abortion? In the state of Ohio when faced with the issue of ectopic pregnancy legislators insisted that doctors should take the unviable clump of cells and transplant it, despite this procedure never being performed before, and to me being totally preposterous and imaginary.

People who have so little knowledge of a woman’s body should not be writing laws dictating what women can and can’t do with their bodies. How about they mind their own uterus, or focus strictly on the uteruses of their loved ones.

I could supply you with more talking points, but for me, it’s not a subject up for debate. Women have their own reasons for terminating that are between them and their medical care provider. I don’t think it is a decision anyone makes lightly, and it really doesn’t matter what anyone’s personal beliefs or thoughts are. The alternative is forced birth.

Many U.S. States that want to force a woman to give birth, are also the states that don’t want to do anything to prevent unwanted pregnancy. They don’t want to provide birth control or sex education.

To add to the strangeness, many of those states that are pro-life, are also the loudest screamers for the death penalty. It’s almost like it’s not about being pro-life at all, but controlling women’s bodies and limiting their choices.

And why is this an issue to write about in MuskokaTODAY.com?

Stephen Harper himself declared that Canada has made up its mind about abortion, and the subject is closed.

The last few years have shown us that whatever trouble is brewing States side seems to be on the Freedom convoy crowd’s agenda, and who knows what topic they will rally around next.