1. So I've decided to do a bit of an update on Elliot Mcdavid's verbal attacks on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) focusing primarily on the far-right, conspiratorial, echo chamber that supports and encourages such behaviour.
2. First however, as a result of the media attention, Mcdavid posted a short clip to explain his actions.
First, the "coward at the cabin" insult is soooo 2021.
Second, he will have you know he loves all of the peoples!
3. So, fyi, I plan on posting these clips when Mcdavid talks about his respect for women and love of "minorities" to put those statements in perspective.
You know. For science.
4. He will also have you know that he is no coward (because it is very brave to scream profanities at someone who looks to be a quarter of his size) and further justifies his behaviour while seemingly attacking the media for vilifying him.
5. And like all "patriots" who "love their country" and "fight against tyranny" he tells those political figures who don't love the country in the way that they should to leave it.
Because democracy only works when you agree with the loudmouths I suppose.
6. Now while Mcdavid did respond very briefly to some msm interview requests, he spent most of his time on far-right, conspiratorial, streams.
Fyi, this will be a long thread.
Among the first of these streams was Dan Dicks' "Press for Truth."
7. Dicks is well known to folks who keep tabs on this world and it isn't especially surprising that Mcdavid appeared on his web stream.
8. Also not surprisingly Dicks has made this a "free speech" issue suggesting that people should have the right to berate and harass public figures because they pay taxes and the msm will try to "twist" this incident.
9. In justifying his behaviour, Mcdavid suggests that the Grande Prairie city government's hosting of the Deputy PM is an example of how they too are part of the WEF conspiracy.
10. For more on this conspiracy, there are a number of sites one could look at for background including this one.
11. Dicks says here that politicians really should get used to this kind of abuse and asks Mcdavid if he agrees with him. Of course Mcdavid does agree to this, as well as the other leading questions Dicks will "ask" in this interview.
12. Dicks continues to ask leading questions and Mcdavid continues to regurgitate a stream of conspiratorial woo, but in the first interesting, if not unsurprising, revelation, it seems that Mcdavid was at the Coutts border blockade in February.
14. Did you know Chrystia Freeland personally closed down #OttawaOccupier's bank accounts? I mean she didn't but that's where this part went.
In saying that he didn't do anything wrong, Mcdavis also suggests he was among those who "served" frivolous "papers" for reasons.
15. Mcdavid says he will fight to the end, "for you" and they then complain that the msm is twisting the story and that Mcdavid is being unfairly called horrible names.
These people appear to be unable to grasp the concept of irony.
16. Now Dicks seems to think the take away is that this incident proves they are not a fringe group and that more would attack public figures if they had the opportunity
17. Dicks also suggests that this is a clear free speech issues as he thinks they should have the unfettered right to be asshole to public figures.
I'm paraphrasing, but I don't think I'm wrong in that assessment.
18. Folks, the unintentional word soup performance art of Elliot Mcdavid.
Also, in listening to them speak about oppression and tyranny, I will remind readers that Mcdavid harassed the Deputy PM on video and walked away laughing.
They to look at a dictionary to define words.
19. They believe the video has woken up Canadians to the oppressive tyranny they have been living under for decades which sort of confirms to me they wouldn't know tyranny if it sat on their faces and started to wiggle.
20. In giving advice on how people should react in similar situation, we see a clear example of the echo chamber these people live in.
Because he sees social media comments agreeing with him, Mcdavid believes that 99% of Canadians agree with his behaviour.
21. And to be sure, the comments on the video all agree with him, including a number that are overtly antisemitic.
22. Also, how is this evidence of a "tyranical security state" when the Deputy PM literally had no security?
23. Since people like Mcdavid only expose themselves with media and that support their view, this has become their world. They genuinely believe that theirs is the majority view because it is the only one they expose themselves to.
An even clearer example will be posted later.
24. And rather than trying to tap down the rhetoric, Dicks says he fully condones it which will mean that his supporters will also look for opportunities to engage in similar harassment or, god forbid, worse.
26. Also, when has government ever done anything for the people!
I mean, besides infrastructure, health care, education, labour standards, laws to prevent dumping of toxic chemicals into drinking water, old age pensions and security, etc.
But other than all the things....
27. So that was an interview with the aptly named Dan Dicks, however it was pretty boilerplate when it comes to the right-wing conspiracy woo.
A more interesting interview occurred with a once more mainstream figure who fell down the rabbit hole.
28. Shadoe Davis (Dale Vickner) has been pushing the anti-vaxx conspiracies and the "freedom!" rhetoric for some time. He interviewed Elliot Mcdavid as well as his brother Red Dog because I guess their mother didn't like him as much as Eliot so he didn't get a real name?
29. Here we have the first claim that Freeland was involved in a conspiracy in Albert ans she was in the province for the nefarious purpose of (reading notes) protecting endangered caribou.
Uhm, not the hill I would die on V4F and Tom Quiggin, but you do you I guess?
30. FYI, here is an article I did years ago on the mastermind intel security expert that Tom Quiggin claims to be.
31. "I know what I said. Do you want me to say it again?"
32.
33. Mcdavid talks about his anger at the "draconian" Covid mandates.
Dude...
34. Unlike Dicks, Davis is more concerned about the optics and asks Mcdavid if, in hindsight, he might do things differently. Elliot says no and clarifies that he respects women... he just doesn't consider Freeland to be a woman which is a rather convenient out for him.
35. Also, as a reminder of his respect for women and "minorities."
36, You know who the real victim is in this don't you?
Elliot whom the media is unfairly vilifying.
Apparently.
Says Freeland doesn't deserve respect but he wouldn't do it again, but only because he doesn't foresee another opportunity.
37. Now by now we've seen this line from others but now we see it here.
Freeland "smirked" so it means she wasn't afraid and thus it was all okay.
38. In talking about one of the men who confronted Mcdavid immediately after the incident, Mcdavid has the audacity to refer to his "wild eyes" as if he was the one who was unhinged in the situation.
They also think a fight between the two would have been awesome!
39. In insisting it wasn't a set up as others on the far right have claimed, Mcdavid believes that his behaviour will look bad for the Liberals because people saw him call her a traitor which is a win I guess.
Also, he loves all the womens and minorities again!
40. And again, I offer Exhibit A as a counter to that claim.
41. Davis continues to try to get Mcdavid to agree that perhaps it might not have been great optics, but Mcdavid still continues to insist that he didn't do anything wrong.
42. In agreeing with Mcdavid that Freeland "is a monster" he does finally manage a concession that towering over someone 5'2" to physically intimidate them might be perceived poorly by some folks not in the know like they are.
43. Now here is an even more clear example of the echo chamber people like this have created for themselves.
Red Dog says here that instead of getting your news from the MSM, you should be getting it from social media where the real truth is.
44. I can't think of a greater indictment of social media than that comment alone.
45. It should be noted that Mcdavid is also not a fan of Pierre Poilievre saying that all politicians and political parties need to go.
Except for the ones who take over in his vision of Canada since by definition they will be polticians.
46. In another interesting revelation we learn that Red Dog was also in Coutts (and Milk River) where he suggests it was a love in with all colours and creeds.
Having seen the photos f Coutts and Milk River I agree. There was off-white, cream, egg shell, pearl, light beige...
47. In a discussion over whether those of us "sheep" are truly lost, they claim that their choking of the border between Alberta and BC in July turned a lot of people into supporters which kinda sounds not actually true.
48. They also believe the majority of the police have their backs and are proud of them.
49. Now we have a few more names being dropped. Seems that Elliot and Red Dog are associates of Marcus Ray and sovcit guru Christopher James. Mr. Davis seems concerned about this.
50. You could search for all the Marcus Ray and/or Christopher James threads I've done, but here is the most recent.
51. For someone who seems to be supportive of James' and Ray's efforts, Red Dog seems very incurious about their actual plan saying he he doesn't have time to research everything that crosses his desk.
Hehehe... his desk.
52. Besides, plans change all the time and there will be bouncy castles!
You hear that? BOUNCY CASTLES!
Or children used as human shields. I mean, tomato tomato right?
Also Jordan Peterson might show up apparently which is sort of like getting excited over Scott Baio.
53. To paraphrase:
"These are desperate times apparently but it is not yet the time for desperate actions.
Yet.
People have to suffer before it gets to that point apparently but we will know when to stand."
54. Apparently there will be no power structure or leadership when the patriots come together in Manitoba. They will all agree to check their egos at the door and work together for the common good of all and not for their own clout.
55.
56. The discussion then moves on to the great fear, which is actually the far right's great hope, that there will be food shortages this winter and that those who haven't suffered "like they have" will suffer now.
Then those people will join and THEN it will, Be time."
57. We now come to some other interesting topics. They discuss the convoy and suggest ti is supported by most Canadians as well as mentioning Tamara Lich and Pat King.
58. To clarify, no. Most Canadians didn't support the convoy. Hell, most Albertans didn't support the #OttawaOccupation.
59. Before we get too smug though, that 1.8 million Albertans did seem to support it and approx 180,000 participated in some sort of associated protest goes to show how influential disinformation has become.
60. In reference to Tamara Lich and Pat King, Red Dog says that King brought Lich on to handle the money and that is the reason why money hasn't gone to truckers, suggesting Lich was unethical.
This claim is factually incorrect.
61. As someone who was watching these events in real time, Tamara Lich was involved in the preparations well before Pat King ever got involved. In fact, as this tweet proves, King wasn't originally involved but was pretty desperate to be a part of it.
RD appears to blame the hospitals where he claims his brother-in-law and father-in-law were "murdered" by the government because after they became sick and had to be put on ventilators that they were not then given vaccines or a vitamin IV drip.
63. So I may have misinterpreted that clip, but it seems Red Dog blames the government because his in-laws died from a disease he doesn't believe exists, that the doctors wouldn't vaccinate them when it would now be useless, and wouldn't authorize pseudo-mediacal woo.
64. AND the new UCP leader had better do something to the overworked nurses and medical professionals who probably did all they could to save these two men's lives... or else.
Nice we are dealing with rational people here.
65. The last bit of potentially new information is that the RCMP might have started an investigation of Mcdavid, though he isn't worried because he didn't do anything wrong and feels entitled to treat public servants poorly.
Seems about white to me.
66. The sexist "Justine Castro" and "he would have been strung up the first week [Trudeau was] in office" is the punctuation mark I'm sure we all anticipated.
67. Now, in his closing statements, David says he doesn't agree with how Mcdavid went about confronting Freedman, but he respects his integrity.
68. Her again is an example of Elliot Mcdavid's "integrity".
69. So, this has been a stupid long thread, but I wanted to drive home the point that these people live in a bubble. No matter how disgusted most people might be, they will either never see it or they will dismiss it because they KNOW that EVERYONE really agrees with them.
70. And how do they know this?
They live in a world that excludes contradictory voices. That views information not from the sources they already agree with as illegitimate.
71. I'm not sure how this is fixed without the major social media platforms taking responsibility for the damage that they have caused and continue to cause.
And if we aren't able to do something about it I genuinely fear for a future where truth is so easily malleable.
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1. By now I'm guessing that most of my Twitter followers are aware of the most recent threats against Trudeau and the subsequent of a suspect. I think there is an even more important story though related to the poisonous influence of social media
2. Dawid Zalewski was arrested for making death threats against the Prime Minister. The following video was posted to his second Facebook profile. Be warned that it may be triggering as it promotes graphic violence against the PM and others.
3. Zalewski is clearly not well, but I think would be wrong to dismissively call him "crazy" move on without further examination. There is a reason why he got to this point and I believe we can learn a great deal from his social media footprint.
1. I’ve been enjoying my summer break and have not been paying a lick of attention to the Olympics. Until today however since Twitter has collectively lost the plot.
2. Earlier boxer Imane Khelif defeated her Italian opponent in the first round when Angela Carini quit after 45 seconds stating that she had never been hit so hard.
To be fair, I don’t enjoy being punched in the face either so I can at least sympathize with Carini.
3. Now a preliminary fight would never be important enough to make international news under normal circumstances however we are, as the saying goes, living in interesting times.
1. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) was arrested in Calgary on an immigration warrant apparently. He may have since been released, though he has to turn in his passport and remain in southern Alberta.
I'd prefer that he be kicked out immediately.
2. Despite claiming to have been a "political prisoner" many of Yaxley-Lennon's criminal convictions his Islamophobic "activism" and a number of convictions since have had nothing to do with his political views.
3. In 2005, he was convicted assaulting a police officer who intervened during an argument Yaxley-Lennon was having with his then girlfriend.
1/ It's been a while since I've done a thread here, but the recent focus on Pat King got me to wondering what was up with his own Salacious Crumb, Tyson "Freedom George" Billings.
2/ Last time I looked at Billings he was a part of the efforts to set up a permenant camp outside Ottawa so there could be daily protests, though the original plan involved surrounding the police and arresting politicians.
Suffice to say it didn't go anywhere.
3/ Billings and Ron Clark soon headed home, but they both soon got involved in other protests including the anti-carbon tax protests occurring in the province. The numbers at these events have been small but that hasn't stopped from politicians from courting the fringes it seems.
1/ Though I'm not especially active these days, I'm still sometimes gobsmacked by some of the ridiculous (though sadly effective) rage farming by some on the right. Harrison Faulkner of "True North" is just a recent example of that.
2/ So a bit of background. Musical artist Karan Aujla won the 2024 TikTok Juno Fan Choice Award at the award ceremony this past weekend.
I think it was this weekend. Truth be told I don't pay a lot of attention to awards shows.
3/ It should be noted that Aujla has been in Canada for years emigrating as an orphan. He graduated from high school in Canada. The album was produced by a Canadian on a Canadian label.