James Bauder, one of the instigators and organizers of the so-called "Freedom Convoy" that is currently terrorizing and occupying Ottawa, and a long-time alt-right agitator and conspiracy theorist, has called for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be "arrested and charged for treason" and for "crimes against humanity" for his part in establishing Canada's federal vaccination mandate.
Bauder is not the most stable or reliable of commentators - he also espouses many of QAnon's weirdest conspiracy theories - but, like it or not, he has a certain reach through his social media accounts. And others have unthinkingly spread his garbage further afield than the murky depths of QAnon aficionados. For example, only slightly weird ex-hockey player Theo Fleury recently tweeted #CrimesAgainstHumanity and #Treason hashtags in relation to Mr. Trudeau.
But how galling it is to hear people talk about crimes against humanity in this context. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines a crime against humanity as "a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack", but it also outlines the kinds of attacks that might qualify for such a crime - murder, enslavement, torture, apartheid, rape and sexual violence.
No mention of the enforcement of life-saving vaccines there, nor the requirement to wear a mask to protect the vulnerable, nor maintaining a couple of metres distance from other people where possible. If these people think that their much-vaunted "freedoms" are being so unconscionably imposed on, maybe they need to have a chat with an actual victim of crimes against humanity. If they are really that fragile and pampered, they could probably use some context.
And they wonder why their movement is so small and nugatory. It's an abiding mystery to me that it is as large (or at least loud) as it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment