Ich ging nach Hause ins Herzland der Unabhängigkeit von Alberta. Selbst nachdem ich zehn Jahre lang über Donald Trump berichtet hatte, war ich immer noch erschrocken über das, was ich fand
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/im-an-albertan-whos-been-covering-donald-trump-for-10-years-i-went-home-to-write-about-the-independence-movement-i-was-terrified-by-what-i-saw/article_2a003f93-2769-4509-97bd-5b03e841c966.html
20 Kommentare
paywalled
No paywall: https://archive.is/49F2A
I know the author’s don’t always pick titles but goddamn this one is corny and turning me off clicking.
“Sylvestre seems to truly suspect, to cite one example, that King Charles has both the capacity and the interest in having him killed. He thinks oil spills help trees grow, that Canada has the highest taxes in the world. I saw him tell one crowd in Mossleigh, Alberta that he thinks there are Chinese communist soldiers in Canada in part because he saw six Asian men in West Edmonton Mall wearing new coats.”
How do these people function on a daily basis?
Dont need to read it. Grew up in rural Alberta and folks recently lived in Southern Alberta for a while.
Ive lived it. Hell, I have family that are a part of it.
The concept always baffled me though.
I think if the sole content online were pornography, we wouldn’t have half as fucked a society as social media has given us.
The thing I don’t like is TRUMP!!!
>“Our constitution, it says that you’re going to have to be born in Alberta to become a citizen,” he told the crowd at one event I attended. “So we’re going to have to get those girls making more babies.”
Just insane.
>But Sylvestre didn’t always feel this way about the rest of Canada. In fact, he told me as we drank our coffees that he was never political before 2020.
>“What changed?”
>“COVID!” he said. “They shut me down and Canadian Tire and Walmart stayed open. That’s what did it.”
I’ve found in talking to these people that their arguments can really only stand one layer of inquiry.
“So, exactly how does X work?” is a question they are usually unable to coherently address without just parroting headline talking points or generalized conspiracies.
There is no bar or standard anymore due to social media.
You can say the stupidest crap and post it and get it reinforced in a loop and pushed along by some bots, and especially if you have a willing political environment as supplied by the ucp and dani desperately trying to please her seperatist base but not lose the mainstream.
She’s going to fall off her fence sitting perch at some point (I fucking hope), but her replacement can always turn out to be worse.
Mitch is a prime example of that, there’s some batshit crazy in that article and people are just meh
I lived in AB when Mulroney introduced the GST and signed NAFTA. The anger and vitriol could be cut with a knife. I remember the bumper sticker with a middle finger – „Tax this Mulroney“
But I don’t remember the anger that escalated to what is occurring in AB. I equate it with homelessness… there was always one or two or three old cronies panhandling in downtown Edmonton in the 80s. Today, it has escalated to tents, a complete breakdown of societal norms, and what is accepted by the community and law enforcement. All of this behaviour is now normalized.
What makes me angriest… is when politicians leave office they always tend to say that political language needs to calm down, be more respectful, we need to listen and understand, blah, blah, blah. Kenney has even said this.
But here we are… the patients running the asylum.
Hey AB, good luck putting that genie back in the bottle.
This certainly describes at least some of the individuals who want separation in Alberta.
I am in Saskatchewan, have a spouse whose family lives in Calgary, and many friends who moved to Albert after growing up here. They’re educated and work in various occupations ranging from firefighting to chemical engineering. I argue this topic with them constantly. Their main complaints are 1) lack of pipeline activity/approvals from Ottawa and 2) frustration of transfer payments to eastern provinces.
These people terrify me
This kind of fearmongering headline for the purpose of clicks is indistinguishable from tik tok influencer level political agitation.
The Star has no case for saying they need government subsidies to save journalism, if this is what that produces. None.
Lots of home schooling by high school dropouts. This is the end result.
Alberta has no oil. Canada has oil and it is located in the part we called Alberta.
Unlike QC, Alberta is not a distinct society
>“Our constitution, it says that you’re going to have to be born in Alberta to become a citizen,” he told the crowd at one event I attended. “So we’re going to have to get those girls making more babies.”
This is some Handmaids Tale type shit. Terrifying.
I walked up to one of their „things“ at the side of the road.
„We have responsibilities to NORAD. What are your plans?“ I had to explain what NORAD is.
„Alberta does not own any fighter planes. What do you propose to do?“ He said „We’ll get them.“
„They are 100 million dollars each. We need several. The minimum is (I would think) 5 of them at a half billion dollars. You keep telling me we won’t have to pay taxes any more. Where will we get this money?“
That was about it.
>“COVID!” he said. “They shut me down and Canadian Tire and Walmart stayed open. That’s what did it.”
COVID and the response to it broke so many people in so many ways