Thread by @sunnshiiny

It bothers me that these young people were exposed to disinformation and unfortunately believe false information. Some may pay with their lives. Others may have symptoms for the rest of their life.

https://twitter.com/darcyropchan/status/1440840710282903556

But what bothers me more are the number of people who have dehumanized these youth and wish them harm or consider their admission to hospital just desserts for their stupidity.

That really bothers me.

I witness people who have abandoned all compassion and all empathy and cheer for the illness of these foolish and gullible people who tried to protect themselves the way they’ve been told is an appropriate method to develop natural immunity.

They are victims of disinformation. The people who amplified disinformation seeking to prevent people from protecting themselves are the responsible parties.

Not these gullible and easily persuadable youth in Edson, AB.

Those covid patients have mothers, fathers, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, wives, husbands, children, partners, coworkers, and a community they call home.

Can you imagine being one of those loved ones & reading comments by people so fuelled by hate and anger?

We will never escape covid if we show no compassion for people who get sick and require emergency healthcare. Why would people ever admit they may be wrong when their political opponents wish them death or life long illness. Maybe social collapse is much closer than I imagined.

I think about past pandemics and wonder what would have been the outcome if the public and community persisted in moral judgement for people who didn’t know better.

What about if AIDS patients were shunned and discriminated against for contracting a deadly viral disease?

Oh right, they were.

I remember young children with Hemophilia were vilified and hated. Spit upon and rejected by communities of ignorant people that had no compassion or empathy. pbs.org/newshour/healt…

I remember gay men being completely blamed for the AIDS and HIV pandemic. Their lifestyles judged by the far right evangelicals (sound familiar). Promoting hate for homosexuality and blaming infections and horrible deaths on god’s retribution. nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-ou…

Lack of compassion and empathy accompanies fear of the “other”. We fear what we don’t understand. So we try to annihilate it. Shower scorn, loathing and rejection on people who did not expect to become gravely ill. They thought they were protecting themselves.

We are all afraid of covid.

But that’s no excuse to lose our humanity and hate and revile those who have been PURPOSELY mislead by the Alberta premier, his issues managers and the entire UCP who they believed were looking out for their rights and freedoms. They were wrong.

Instead UCP and the premier delayed intervention and mitigation of covid until the federal election was over so as not to influence O’Toole’s potential voters and reveal the truth that UCP and Kenney do not give one shit for their lives. They just want their vote.

Can you imagine the cognitive dissonance created when the inability to breathe makes them close to being intubated. The revelation that they were only a disposable pawn in Conservatives chess game to obtain power. Realizing everything you believe was a lie. Reality evaporating.

Imagine that fear. It’s far greater than your own. Knowing you’ve been tricked into putting your life at risk and may lose your freedom, your future and your life because you trusted the wrong people.

That’s why it’s so difficult for these victims to change their minds.

They have to abandon everything they believe.

Everything.

Everything they thought was reality is based on lies that conservatives and authoritarians of the world used to trick them into sacrificing their life to fulfill the CPC agenda to obtain power and destroy democracy.

At the same time they are fighting for their life with covid.

Progressives, who supposedly respect & care for everyone, hate them because they got ill and now wish for their death.

Yes. That bothers me. A lot.

It means we are so polarized as a nation we have dehumanized opposing political rivals and have no empathy for their suffering and no compassion for their humanity.

We have become what we progressives profess to hate. Intolerant, judgemental, prejudiced, cruel, indifferent.

If you can’t recognize that’s exactly what CPC and NDP have been fomenting, nothing will open your eyes.

That’s the level of vitriol and emotional animus that Canadians were manipulated to adopt and then cast their vote. We have all been gaslit & provoked to fear the “other”.

There is no way LPC could have achieved a majority govt in this political environment.

This is what demagogic populism has done to Canada.

If you’re feeling hate and wish for victims of covid to die, you’ve become the ‘Good German’.

This form of demagoguery is how Hitler created a nation of people so filled with hate and self assured delusions of superiority that WW2 ended in the deaths of 75 million people, killing 6 million Jews and 2 million Roma, Catholics and Polish people in concentration camps.

If you’ve ever wondered how Germans were manipulated to adopt such venomous hatred of Jews and turn a blind eye to inhuman cruelty and torture.

This is how.

Take a look in the mirror. Tell that person to remember that every human being, regardless of their politics, is equal.

Every person deserves life, safety, community and respect.

Especially when they’ve been tricked into possibly killing themselves.

The people to revile are Kenney, O’Toole, UCP, CPC, Singh, NDP and anyone else who amplified hate & intolerance for anyone outside of their party.

I’m filled with abject horror realizing how divided demagoguery has made Canada.

I’m mortified by my inadequacy to effectively warn people this was occurring.

I tried. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or so that adage goes.

And I am in hell.

It’s torturous to watch people become so filled with bile and anger that it oozes out of their pores.

I had a little cry today. Remorse for not being compelling enough. Grieving the loss of my province. Recovery will elude Alberta for a decade or more if ever.

Angry that the Alberta public sits back and waits for a hero to save us. Demoralized that the ROC thinks we deserve this. Sad that it doesn’t appear it will end any time soon. Resigned to watch in horror as it all burns down to the ground. Just like I predicted 3 years ago. 😭

@threadreaderapp please compile