the subreddit r/honkhonk has been banned for over 2 years due to inciting hatred/racism. it is tied to the 4chan/q conspiracy called the "clown world movement"
i am sure a good number of people bandwagoning on the #honkhonk hastag have no idea about its origins - so if this thread has educated a single person, then its served its purpose.
it's always important to know who is playing on your team.
interestingly, at 9am, #honkhonk was the #2 trending hashtag on twitter in canada. 3 hours later, it is nowhere on the trends list, even though its frequency is on par with mentions of "ottawa", and is beating "sloly" and "trudeau". some cleansing is being done by twitter admins.
as i sit here listening to the honking on elgin in the heart of ottawa, i'm thinking about something that doesn't get talked about at all:
increasingly, restrictions & mandates are more about squeezing more compliance out of the already compliant to make up for non-compliant.
although the non-compliant make up ~10% of the population, in a country of millions, 10% is a lot of people - only a couple hundred are needed to disrupt entire urban centres. now that we're entering year 3, i'm seeing more resignation from people who've followed all the rules.
at this point of the pandemic, we've reached maximum saturation of people willing to wear masks, get vaccinated, follow rules, etc. yes - thousands are still getting vaccinated every day, but the vast majority are boosters/already vaccinated. the unvaccinated remain steadfast.