[HN Gopher] Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Florida governor to investigate GoFundMe over Canada trucker
       donations
        
       Author : throwawaysea
       Score  : 149 points
       Date   : 2022-02-05 18:06 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.reuters.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.reuters.com)
        
       | johncena33 wrote:
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please do not add hellish nationalistic flamewar--which is what
         | this comment points straight into--in addition to the
         | ideological flamewar we've already got with this topic. These
         | things are not what HN is for. We want _curious_ conversation
         | here.
         | 
         | We detached this comment from
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30224349.
        
       | tomohawk wrote:
       | Gofundme is in the trust business. You have to have a lot of
       | trust in them or you won't use them. They seem to be pivoting to
       | a strategy that encourages distrust.
       | 
       | This is pretty much how a lot of people view gofundme now:
       | 
       | https://babylonbee.com/news/gofundme-freezes-funds-for-child...
       | 
       | They are a joke.
        
         | culi wrote:
         | I don't know if that's true. I think the participation of many
         | white nationalists in the trucker movement was a disaster
         | waiting to happen for GFM. Ultimately the police were the ones
         | who told them to take it down and they agreed the threat of
         | violence violated their TOS
         | 
         | They followed their standard protocol to offer refunds and then
         | donate any unrefunded money to charities of the choosing of the
         | main organizers. And they've even changed their policy to issue
         | direct refunds instead. I think they're clearly still in the
         | business of trying to maintain their trust
        
       | gdsdfe wrote:
        
         | dane-pgp wrote:
         | You raise an interesting point. Who will end up controlling the
         | self-driving truck fleets, and what will the laws end up saying
         | about how those fleets can be used?
        
         | alea_iacta_est wrote:
         | And the next time the government will want to force you to do
         | something you disagree with, who is gonna fight it, the
         | spineless white collars that we pretty much all have become?
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Could you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait
         | comments to HN? You've been doing it repeatedly, and we ban
         | that sort of account.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
       | jonahlyn wrote:
        
         | gruez wrote:
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please do not take HN threads further into hellish ideological
         | flamewar. We want curious conversation here.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
       | ratsmack wrote:
       | I find it strange that people opposing funding the Canada
       | truckers need to resort to a DDOS of GiveSendGo[1].
       | 
       | [1] https://twitter.com/GiveSendGo/status/1489983077912924160
        
       | dang wrote:
       | All: if you're going to post in a thread like this, where the
       | topic is inflammatory, please make sure you're up on the site
       | guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html --
       | and do one of the following:
       | 
       | (1) post thoughtfully and substantively, with respect for the
       | people you disagree with,
       | 
       | or
       | 
       | (2) don't post.
       | 
       | We want _curious_ conversation here.
        
       | user249 wrote:
        
         | evv555 wrote:
         | Your attempted explanation is wrong. Trump won the rust belt in
         | 2016 because neoliberals sold out the working class and their
         | unions. This behavior by the administration is a half hearted
         | attempt to roll some of that back.
        
           | user249 wrote:
           | > is a half hearted attempt to roll some of that back
           | 
           | That's just assumed and is normal politics so I didn't see it
           | worth mentioning. You didn't refute my other point that
           | President Biden does not see Musk as a political ally
        
           | robertoandred wrote:
           | Yeah, it's totally the Republicans who are pro-union.
        
             | inglor_cz wrote:
             | Famously, the two main parties switched their roles in the
             | South in the 1960s and 1970s.
             | 
             | It may happen with the unions too. Especially with the blue
             | collar private sector unions. I do not expect this change
             | for public sector unions to happen.
        
             | pxmpxm wrote:
             | That's your cognitive dissonance speaking; it's a
             | demonstrable fact that Trump took a large part of the blue
             | collar/union electorate in 2016.
        
               | dane-pgp wrote:
               | But he wasn't appealing to those voters on the basis of
               | increasing the power of unions against rich business
               | owners.
               | 
               | The question is whether those voters wanted other things
               | more than that (and whether Trump managed to deliver
               | those other things to their satisfaction).
        
           | nobodyandproud wrote:
           | I don't buy that the neo-liberals sold-out the rust belt:
           | This was a slow death march over decades and across party
           | lines.
           | 
           | After all, slave labor is cheap and lets the wealthy pool
           | wealth, while feeling good about pouring money and industry
           | into third-world countries. Best of all, it left the
           | purchasing power of the middle class intact.
           | 
           | For a time.
           | 
           | I do agree though, that the liberals turned a blind eye when
           | things were becoming unsustainable in the rust belt (fly-over
           | country).
        
             | astraloverflow wrote:
             | It might be more accurate to say that the democrats started
             | taking the rust belt for granted. And it's hard to ignore
             | the left's shift (in primary focus) from blue collar
             | workers issues towards race and gender issues.
        
               | nobodyandproud wrote:
               | This I agree with.
               | 
               | I cringed when my co-workers talked about "fly-over"
               | country, but I was equally shocked when Hillary Clinton
               | lost.
               | 
               | As much as I hate to say it, Trump getting elected (wrong
               | person, but gets a point across) shows the system sort of
               | works.
               | 
               | Edit: Just to be clear, I'm a liberal at the end of the
               | day but anyone who thinks "their side" doesn't have
               | problems, I can't really agree with.
        
           | ananonymoususer wrote:
           | Using a political office to effect political change is
           | against the law.
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act
        
             | jonathankoren wrote:
             | That's a weird way of describing the Hatch Act. What is the
             | point of political office if not to effect political
             | change? That's their whole rationale.
             | 
             | The Hatch Act is primarily about using political office for
             | _campaigning_ for political office, with the president and
             | Vice President notably excepted.
        
               | ananonymoususer wrote:
               | They are not excepted. They must abide by restrictions on
               | the use of government resources during their political
               | activities.
               | 
               | https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/1007/100797.us.us.2.html
        
             | gruez wrote:
             | > Using a political office to effect political change is
             | against the law.
             | 
             | From your linked article:
             | 
             | >using this language to specify those who are exempt:[10]
             | 
             | > (i) an employee paid from an appropriation for the
             | Executive Office of the President; or
             | 
             | > (ii) an employee appointed by the President, by and with
             | the advice and consent of the Senate, whose position is
             | located within the United States, who determines policies
             | to be pursued by the United States in the nationwide
             | administration of Federal laws.
             | 
             | I'm sure that "the administration" that evv555 was talking
             | about involves either of those people, instead of some
             | random civil servant.
        
               | ananonymoususer wrote:
               | Neither i nor ii above apply to political (elected)
               | officials. They are absolutely covered by the Hatch Act.
               | If an elected official were to direct one of the exempted
               | classes to perform a political act, the act of directing
               | them would be a crime.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >Neither i nor ii above apply to political (elected)
               | officials. They are absolutely covered by the Hatch Act.
               | 
               | From the linked article again:
               | 
               | >Its main provision prohibits civil service employees in
               | the executive branch of the federal government,
               | 
               | Do "political (elected) officials" count as "civil
               | service employees in the executive branch of the federal
               | government"? My memory from civics class is a bit hazy,
               | but I recall that elected officials are in the
               | legislative branch, not the executive branch?
        
               | ananonymoususer wrote:
               | The president and vice president (executive branch) are
               | elected officials.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | We detached this subthread from
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30224008 and marked it off
         | topic.
        
       | magicjosh wrote:
       | Anyone have commentary on how cryptocurrencies will step in to
       | this space? Platforms like GoFundMe provide such a thin veneer of
       | value. It's easy for them to overstep their bounds to the point
       | where it's not worth it. If I were a journalist raising funds for
       | a documentary I would be wary of such platforms.
       | 
       | (Didn't see this mentioned elsewhere in the thread)
        
       | temp8964 wrote:
       | GoFundMe should be political neutral, but it openly turns left. I
       | recommend a long post explaining this phenomenon:
       | https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/why-is-everything-libe...
        
         | filed wrote:
        
         | pessimizer wrote:
         | > GoFundMe should be political neutral
         | 
         | Why? Are you advocating for ISIS to be able to do a gofundme?
        
           | jstanley wrote:
           | Why shouldn't they be able to? Gofundme shouldn't be in the
           | business of picking winners and losers. If someone wants to
           | collect money for a cause, then Gofundme should be a neutral
           | platform for that.
           | 
           | It's up to individuals whether they want to donate to any
           | particular cause.
        
           | axiosgunnar wrote:
           | There is a whole world of opinions besides leftism and
           | islamic extremism.
        
         | alea_iacta_est wrote:
         | Very interesting explanation, thanks.
        
         | belltaco wrote:
         | So many words and nothing about the urban-rural and the
         | religious divide which explain many things.
         | 
         | I should have stuck to my rule about stopping reading at 'woke'
         | but I wanted to give it a chance.
        
           | temp8964 wrote:
           | I have no idea why the urban-rural and the religious divide
           | is relevant to the specific topic.
        
         | mindslight wrote:
         | Anyone complaining about some big "left" collusion is
         | essentially bashing a straw man. The actual truth is that there
         | are more than two groups of political interests. Corporate
         | interests are biased towards _corporate interests_ , period.
         | They're basically indifferent on social issues, and so from the
         | right they appear "left" because they echo the broadest appeal
         | as a marketing technique. Shoehorning everything that you
         | disagree with into a single category and then thinking the
         | whole world is ganging up on you is a completely broken model,
         | but it is unfortunately lucrative.
        
           | rayiner wrote:
           | The article is, in fact, doing the opposite of "complaining
           | about some big 'left' collusion." It's an explanation of how
           | a vocal minority can produce similar results without any sort
           | of conspiracy.
           | 
           | > They're basically indifferent on social issues, and so from
           | the right they appear "left" because they echo the broadest
           | appeal as a marketing technique.
           | 
           | The notion that this stuff has the "broadest appeal as a
           | marketing technique" doesn't hold water. Why are Hispanics
           | suddenly "Latinx" now, when virtually no Hispanics identify
           | with that term?
           | https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2020/08/11/about-one-
           | in...
           | 
           | Last year, they had "Black Trans" posters at our local mall.
           | My county is half Republicans, and a lot of the Democrats are
           | middle class Black people who definitely do not have socially
           | progressive views on gender identity.
        
           | rayiner wrote:
           | The article is, in fact, doing the opposite of "complaining
           | about some big 'left' collusion." It's an explanation of how
           | a vocal minority can produce similar results without any sort
           | of conspiracy.
           | 
           | > They're basically indifferent on social issues, and so from
           | the right they appear "left" because they echo the broadest
           | appeal as a marketing technique.
           | 
           | The notion that this stuff has the "broadest appeal as a
           | marketing technique" doesn't hold water. Why are Hispanics
           | suddenly "Latinx" now, when virtually no Hispanics identify
           | with that term?
           | https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2020/08/11/about-one-
           | in.... Last year, they had "Black Trans" posters at our local
           | mall. My county is half Republicans, and a lot of the
           | Democrats are middle class Black people who definitely do not
           | have socially progressive views on gender identity.
        
             | mindslight wrote:
             | The article explores some mechanics while still focused on
             | this idea that corporations are inescapably left.
             | 
             | I'd say the larger difference is left activism is pro-
             | social, or hyper-social in the extreme. "Black Trans" is
             | promoting one specific identity, but not at the expense of
             | others (apart from dilution). Whereas what is perceived as
             | right activism has to rise to the level of being anti-
             | social - a simple picture a happy heteronormative
             | traditional family does not suffice (since it is taken for
             | granted as the norm). Rather it defines itself by
             | explicitly opposing left activism, and such overt conflict
             | is a commercial non-starter.
        
           | mistercheph wrote:
           | Okay, so you are the first person to discover that
           | corporations are not politically motivated but only
           | financially motivated, and they manufacture the appearance of
           | political concern to pursue their financial interests. Nice,
           | cool.
           | 
           | Now explain to me what is wrong with political factions
           | publicly criticizing corporations under the guise of wanting
           | political and moral change at the corporation, when in
           | reality, they are attacking the corporation's financial
           | interests, and their goal is to render their own brand of
           | politics the one that commercial interests bend the knee to.
           | 
           | You have made the empiricist's error: conflating what he
           | discovers to be, with what ought to be.
        
             | dang wrote:
             | Please omit personal swipes from your comments here. You
             | can make your substantive points without that.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
           | pessimizer wrote:
           | It's worse than that. It's that right-wing conspiracists
           | already vote for everything that they support, so there's
           | absolutely no need to pander to them. In fact, you can fund
           | them while pushing woke PR. It's the potentially class-
           | conscious who should be pushed to see the world as a bunch of
           | benevolent corporations pushing fairness against the "white
           | working class" forces of darkness.
        
         | pstuart wrote:
         | Vaccines didn't used to be political.
        
           | 8note wrote:
           | People didn't used to disagree with the politics.
        
           | peteradio wrote:
           | Mandates will always be political.
        
             | brokensegue wrote:
             | At least in the US lots of vaccines are mandated (of
             | children) and it's not political.
        
               | HPsquared wrote:
               | It is a little bit political, usually doesn't reach the
               | national level though.
        
               | tomp wrote:
               | For diseases that actually hurt children.
               | 
               | See this article by Dr Peter Attia (and embedded graph
               | under heading _" OBSERVATION 4"_) about how dangerous
               | COVID is for children (and adults < 35).
               | 
               | https://peterattiamd.com/a-follow-up-to-my-article-on-
               | vaccin...
        
               | brokensegue wrote:
               | I'm replying to someone who claimed mandates will always
               | be political by pointing out a counter example.
               | 
               | The covid mandate in the US at least was of adults. All
               | of whom are at some risk (especially if you include long
               | covid).
        
               | peteradio wrote:
               | My point is this: If you have a vaccine its inherently
               | non-political, its just a medical intervention. But when
               | it becomes mandated now you introduce a process by which
               | some people can decide for some other people what must be
               | done. That is politics.
        
               | brokensegue wrote:
               | That is not what people generally mean by "political".
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | I don't know what decade you were born in, but I have
               | cousins aged 18 and 20 that have never been vaccinated
               | because of their mom's political beliefs.
        
               | landemva wrote:
               | For their health when older, I hope they look into
               | getting exposed to chicken pox ASAP.
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | Their grandma just died of covid, and while part of me
               | would hope that it would be a wakeup call, the kids are
               | all home-schooled, so they've probably swallowed the
               | narrative that nothing different could have been done; it
               | was just her time to meet Jesus.
               | 
               | I hope they don't get chickenpox, personally. I hope they
               | get some life experience that opens their eyes to how
               | ignorant they are.
        
               | brokensegue wrote:
               | just because some people disagree with a policy does make
               | it "political". I know someone that opposes seatbelt laws
               | but that doesn't make them "political".
               | 
               | That said I don't think it's productive to debate what
               | "political" means.
        
               | User23 wrote:
               | All policy is political by definition. Also the shared
               | etymology is a bit of a hint too. Observe thar policy-
               | makers is used as a synonym for politicians.
        
               | brokensegue wrote:
               | I don't think that's what people mean when they say an
               | issue is political. They generally mean it's contentious
               | or split partisanly.
               | 
               | Your definition would suggest public water utilities are
               | "political" which sounds silly to me.
               | 
               | Google offers the definition
               | 
               | >relating to the ideas or strategies of a particular
               | party or group in politics.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | pstuart wrote:
               | Likely because of a mistaken assumption of fears of
               | autism. Politics only entered into this under Trump.
               | 
               | https://slate.com/technology/2021/02/smallpox-vaccine-
               | bioatt...
        
           | _-david-_ wrote:
           | This isn't a protest over vaccines though.
        
         | 16012022 wrote:
         | It's a private company, it absolutely does not need to be
         | neutral. They can choose any side they want. If you don't like
         | it, don't use their platform. Gosh, when did the notion of
         | private firms got so mixed up with so-called political
         | neutrality? Are people this naive?
        
           | gruez wrote:
           | >It's a private company, it absolutely does not need to be
           | neutral
           | 
           | You're talking past each other. OP said _should_ , you're
           | talking about "needs".
        
             | 16012022 wrote:
             | The point stands. No private company should be neutral.
        
               | krapp wrote:
               | The point doesn't stand for much, it's just your personal
               | opinion.
        
           | Mikeb85 wrote:
           | > It's a private company, it absolutely does not need to be
           | neutral.
           | 
           | Then state that they're not neutral on the TOS and don't
           | accept funds.
           | 
           | They accepted funds and then tried to straight up steal them.
        
             | seanw444 wrote:
             | Yeah I'm flabbergasted that any company feels so
             | comfortable and relaxed with stealing 9 million dollars in
             | donations.
        
               | Mikeb85 wrote:
               | It's because Canadian politicians suggested they
               | should... Thankfully there's enough people in the US who
               | are rightly disgusted by it and GoFundMe is a US company.
        
           | throwawaysea wrote:
           | In a free society, businesses shouldn't be able to suppress
           | or punish customers for their political views. We already
           | require businesses to not just do whatever they want in many
           | ways. That's what anti discrimination laws do, for example.
           | We just need to make political viewpoint a protected class as
           | well.
           | 
           | Apart from that, we also regulate a lot of private companies
           | to be neutral. Your power utility may be private but can't
           | deplatform you. Telecom carriers are similar. Social media
           | companies are just common carriers and public utilities that
           | have avoided regulation so far with careful political
           | donations. Payment companies (Visa, MasterCard, Stripe,
           | PayPal, and yes, GoFundMe) are all just basic payment
           | utilities and should also be treated as public utilities in
           | many ways even if they remain private otherwise.
        
             | [deleted]
        
               | golemiprague wrote:
        
             | unethical_ban wrote:
             | >In a free society, businesses shouldn't be able to
             | suppress or punish customers for their political views.
             | 
             | >We just need to make political viewpoint a protected class
             | as well.
             | 
             | I have not gasped at the outlandishness of an HN post in
             | some time.
             | 
             | GoFundMe is not a grocer, or a transit provider. It isn't a
             | power company. It is a luxury service in a free market with
             | low capital requirements.
             | 
             | Under no circumstance should arbitrary businesses be
             | required to cater to people of all political persuasions.
             | 
             | Protected classes exist based on attributes of ourselves
             | which are immutable. You can't change being a woman, being
             | old, or being a particular ethnic group. You certainly
             | "choose" your political opinions.
        
               | seanw444 wrote:
               | Yeah, I despise general deplatforming, but "mandating
               | that businesses accept everyone no matter the politics"
               | is just as bad. Not everything needs a law.
        
               | nitrogen wrote:
               | _> >We just need to make political viewpoint a protected
               | class as well.
               | 
               | > I have not gasped at the outlandishness of an HN post
               | in some time._
               | 
               | How else can a democratic republic preserve the diversity
               | of viewpoints required for such a society to function?
               | This really shouldn't be a controversial idea.
               | 
               | Differences of opinion are not only okay, they are
               | essential!
               | 
               | Should a conservative landlord be able to evict anyone
               | who voted for a progressive? Or deny renting in the first
               | place?
               | 
               |  _> Protected classes exist based on attributes of
               | ourselves which are immutable. You can 't change being a
               | woman,_
               | 
               | I can't phrase this any less provocatively... Are you
               | saying that all rights against discrimination end if one
               | has a gender transition because it's no longer immutable?
               | I really don't think immutability is the right line to
               | use to decide who gets rights.
               | 
               | Religious belief is protected, and also mutable. Ask me
               | how I know. Political affiliation needs the same
               | protection.
        
               | unethical_ban wrote:
               | Should a conservative landlord be able to evict anyone
               | who voted for a progressive? Or deny renting in the first
               | place?
               | 
               | No, but housing is already protected. How can you
               | possibly think GoFundMe and housing/food are the same
               | thing?
               | 
               | I simply struggle to understand why a decent person
               | should have to serve someone who wants to kill
               | minorities, or who wants to end democratic government in
               | this country.
               | 
               | Furthermore, you act like if you don't enact this
               | protection you're defending, no one will serve people of
               | different political opinions. The truth is you're making
               | a mountain out of an anthill. Most places serve people of
               | differing political views. I go to a bar with a "Fuck
               | Greg Abbott" sign at the front of the bar, and they'll
               | happily serve a Conservative as long as they aren't being
               | hateful. I happen to go to a bar owned by a Trumpian,
               | anti-worker, anti-vax conservative (I happen to respect
               | some of the bartenders, and the food is good). I am
               | allowed to eat there despite the lack of your proposed
               | legislation.
               | 
               | P.S.
               | 
               | >How else can a democratic republic preserve the
               | diversity of viewpoints required for such a society to
               | function?
               | 
               | It's functioned for close to 250 years, and the more I
               | read American history, the more I realize that the
               | current tumult and animosity is actually the norm, and
               | the "peace" of the postwar period was the outlier.
        
               | 8note wrote:
               | That's a misunderstanding of what the transition is - the
               | transition is on how the gender is presented, not the
               | underlying gender.
               | 
               | That's not to say immutability is a great method to
               | determine rights. Mind you, I don't think political
               | affiliation needs such protections. Freedom of expression
               | and association already handle interactions with
               | political affiliation. The government guarantees your
               | ability to have a political opinion, but not for other
               | people respect it or to help you promote it. What people
               | do with their business is still part of their view points
               | - the real solution is to decentralize power more, so
               | that even if you get thrown out for your political
               | opinion, you can always work somewhere else that likes
               | your politics
        
           | mistercheph wrote:
           | >Gosh, when did the notion of private firms got so mixed up
           | with so-called political neutrality? Are people this naive?
           | 
           | When all speech, commerce, and art became transmitted by the
           | permission of a small number of private firms whose combined
           | powers exceed that of any nation-state.
        
           | chr1 wrote:
           | When you have several groups of people who distrust and
           | dislike each other, and you start using your business as a
           | means to support the fight of one group against the other,
           | you only increase the enmity between the groups and harm all
           | businesses by starting a process that forces everyone to
           | choose which group to support.
           | 
           | It does not matter whether the reason for initial distrust is
           | religion, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation or political
           | beliefs. You should not start such "economic war" unless your
           | goal is complete elimination of the other group, which, i
           | think, is a rather stupid goal to have.
        
             | 8note wrote:
             | This is not to say that businesses should not do this, only
             | that they have to position themselves to profit from this
             | change in the market.
             | 
             | Selling to both sides can be a profitable venture, which
             | encourages neutrality, but so is locking in customers by
             | something other than the quality or price of your product
        
               | chr1 wrote:
               | I am saying that if we condemn such behavior in all cases
               | (even when neutrality is violated in our favour) we'll
               | reduce the situations when that second strategy becomes
               | profitable, and that will benefit everyone. We don't even
               | need a very large percentage of people for this, even a
               | relatively small group that always supports neutrality
               | will be enough to keep the market neutral.
        
             | edmundsauto wrote:
             | You're going to be really upset then to think about the
             | business organizations that receive tax breaks in order to
             | influence politics. Many non-profits exist only for this
             | purpose.
             | 
             | The only reason abortion is a political issue, for example,
             | is because of the outsized influence that tax exempt
             | organizations have.
        
               | chr1 wrote:
               | Are you implying that existence of these tax-exempt
               | organizations and politicization of issues is a good
               | thing?
               | 
               | I don't see anything positive in tax breaks and tax code
               | complexity in general as it is a method to obfuscate
               | spendings and evade taxes, which creates all kinds of
               | unintended consequences.
        
           | mc32 wrote:
           | One can't, for example, solicit donations for cancer research
           | and then instead take those donations and fund swimming pools
           | for dolphins or whatever... even if you're a private company.
        
         | malermeister wrote:
         | This article does not support your claim. It talks about things
         | being _liberal_ , which is a _right-wing_ , pro-market ideology
         | and fundamentally incompatible with leftism.
        
           | gruez wrote:
           | That might be true if you're in a political science course or
           | something, but in the US "liberal", "leftism", "left-wing" is
           | usually synonymous with each other. Some of the "liberal
           | causes" that the article talks about include "women's march,
           | BLM, and Occupy Wall Street ".
        
           | krapp wrote:
        
             | malermeister wrote:
             | Sounds like American political parlance needs to be
             | elevated by people learning the distinction between all of
             | those terms. Which is exactly the point of the comment.
             | Just because a lot of people misuse terms and conflate
             | unrelated concepts, doesn't mean they're right.
        
               | krapp wrote:
               | >Just because a lot of people misuse terms and conflate
               | unrelated concepts, doesn't mean they're right.
               | 
               | On the one hand, I want to agree with you because every
               | time I see someone on here use "woke" without any sense
               | of what the word is actually meant to describe (hint -
               | Spotify removing Joe Rogan episodes isn't "wokism") it
               | puts my teeth on edge.
               | 
               | On the other hand, that's how language works whether one
               | likes it or not.
        
               | vorpalhex wrote:
               | Do you have some kind of source that gave you this
               | misinformed idea you keep repeating? Neither Britannica,
               | Wikipedia, Dictionary.com or any other obvious source
               | remotely supports what you are claiming.
               | 
               | Are you confusing Libertarians with Liberalism?
        
               | temp8964 wrote:
               | It's just a far-left claiming everyone else is right-
               | wing. It's a common thing in their group.
        
               | jakelazaroff wrote:
               | Literally three comments up is someone claiming
               | "Democrat" and "Communist" are synonyms.
        
               | krapp wrote:
               | I mean, I've seen Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Barack
               | Obama referred to as Marxists and Communists numerous
               | times. "Liberal" has been a pejorative for Democrats and
               | progressives for decades. Nuance is not a property that
               | American political discourse possesses.
        
               | jakelazaroff wrote:
               | That supports my point. Claiming that everyone beyond
               | some threshold is in the other wing is a bipartisan
               | pastime, not a leftist one.
        
           | NikolaeVarius wrote:
           | JFC. Liberalism has both left and right forms since its a
           | goddamn political/moral philosophy and not a specific set of
           | political views/policy.
           | 
           | i dont understand why there is such little knowledge on the
           | history of political theory.
        
       | filed wrote:
        
         | stirfish wrote:
         | When you turn 18, you should start your conservative-only
         | trucking company that only trucks food between rural areas.
        
         | gameswithgo wrote:
         | lefty city here, that is fine.
        
         | seanw444 wrote:
         | Then they'll get the food from the conservative areas. Can't
         | make a point only partially. Gotta suffer before things change.
        
         | tandymodel100 wrote:
         | Since the vast majority of truckers are not part of this far-
         | right convoy, this would probably work just fine.
        
           | filed wrote:
        
         | culi wrote:
         | The Canadian Trucking Alliance stated that most of the
         | participants in the protest had no connection to trucking
        
       | tootahe45 wrote:
       | I reported a funeral fundraiser for a criminal gang where i live
       | a few weeks ago to Gofundme. These funerals involve reckless,
       | high speed driving by hundreds of bikies wearing Swastika vests
       | who hurl violence/verbal abuse at people if they happen to get in
       | the way. I provided all this info and they didn't do anything.
       | 
       | A reasonable person would think a Gofundme for a group who derive
       | their income from the methamphetamine trade would be higher risk
       | than a bunch of truckies, but then again it didn't raise near
       | $10m usd.
       | 
       | This is the kind of thing the gang does during funerals, for
       | reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A30VPyeXVv4
        
         | mistercheph wrote:
         | Behold, the new "Get off my lawn!"
        
       | fbaKsq wrote:
       | If you want to see the spokesman of the freedom convoy directly,
       | this is an interview by Dave Rubin:
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEXy8yrjYqw
       | 
       | Rubin is Jewish/gay, Dichter is Jewish. But according to Trudeau
       | they are homophobes, racists and white supremacists. The
       | recording is from shortly before the deplatforming, so it not up
       | to date.
        
       | filed wrote:
        
         | ed25519FUUU wrote:
         | The CEO of every major US company is basically the same person.
         | They came from the same background and went to the same
         | schools. They have a stranglehold on the working class of
         | America. They can deplatform you and de-bank you.
         | 
         | The working class will have a hard time withdrawing from a
         | society that is designed to keep them in check. Parallel
         | economy likely to pop up.
        
         | gjsman-1000 wrote:
         | Conservatives could not deny service for a _personalized_ cake
         | to a gay couple without unbelievable fights that they barely
         | won at SCOTUS, but left-wing companies can deplatform as much
         | as they want from their _generic_ service if they don't like
         | your politics.
         | 
         | I don't have to be conservative to say it's extremely
         | hypocritical.
        
           | darawk wrote:
           | The difference in political significance between a
           | broadcasting platform and 10 million dollars vs a cake is a
           | little hard to ignore.
        
             | filed wrote:
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | To be honest, if the left treats their wishes with no
               | respect and calls them racist and misogynist without any
               | foundation, they should be prepared for whatever shit
               | comes their way.
        
               | darawk wrote:
               | I'm vaccinated and I support everyone getting vaccinated.
               | I do not think mandates are appropriate, though. Nor are
               | they necessary at this point. The truckers are protesting
               | forced vaccinations. I think if someone doesn't want to
               | do their job because their job is forcing them to undergo
               | a medical procedure that they do not want, that seems
               | very legitimate to me.
               | 
               | And it also seems like a basic principle of liberal
               | democracies that I thought we had all agreed on quite a
               | while ago. Apparently not anymore.
        
         | ratsmack wrote:
         | A little overly dramatic there, but if things keep escalating,
         | this is what it could come down to.
        
           | filed wrote:
        
             | verve_rat wrote:
             | As an outsider this left vs right stuff in the US is really
             | fascinating and a little bit scary.
             | 
             | (Most) people won't stop selling sandwiches to each other,
             | money is more important. But there is a segment that will.
             | I find it really weird the amount of visceral hate that
             | seems to come out of the woodwork on HN when topics like
             | this come up. Otherwise rational people end up calling for
             | starving people that they disagree with.
        
             | saila wrote:
             | What you're framing as an extremely un-nuanced left/right
             | dichotomy is really a power dichotomy. All the companies
             | you're calling "leftist" seem quite conservative to me,
             | regardless of their supposedly liberal veneer. They act
             | within the existing political/economic system, have every
             | incentive to maintain the status quo, and have nothing to
             | gain by dismantling "the system (man)." They bow to
             | pressures of the market at times, but that is no way a
             | leftist stance.
        
               | filed wrote:
               | So maybe the problem is gov power and which companies are
               | doing their bidding.
        
             | thatnerdyguy wrote:
             | Uh, so the solution is to deny food to your fellow human
             | beings because you slightly disagree on marginal political
             | issues?
        
               | filed wrote:
        
               | [deleted]
        
         | buscoquadnary wrote:
         | No it's not and this harmful absolutist rhetoric casting it as
         | a tribe vs tribe till extinction matter will only further
         | exactrebate the problems we are seeing.
         | 
         | Most people are not angry idealougues hell bent on revolution
         | most people are not white supermacists that hate all other
         | races as inferior. Most people are decent people trying to make
         | their way in the world for themselves and their families, the
         | constant bombardment of fear and outrage from every side for
         | the past several years is what got us to this place, digging
         | further into this tribal hole of left vs right isn't going to
         | get us out of it.
        
           | seanw444 wrote:
           | I'll be an absolutist against deplatforming and government
           | overreach to the death. Wherever that lands me on the
           | political spectrum over time, I don't care.
        
         | stirfish wrote:
        
           | filed wrote:
           | How about no. Not when we are under attack.
        
             | bavent wrote:
        
               | filed wrote:
        
               | bavent wrote:
        
               | filed wrote:
               | I'm so glad you agree with me. So you are okay then with
               | truckers refusal to deliver food to lefty run cities.
               | 
               | Awesome we agree!
               | 
               | So just be prepared to be treated how you are treating
               | the right. Lefty company bans ppl on the right, then we
               | have the moral obligation to ban ppl on the left from our
               | businesess.
        
               | bavent wrote:
               | Sure thing pal.
        
               | stirfish wrote:
               | What does "prepare to reap what you sow" mean? I'm
               | baiting you btw.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait
               | comments to HN. We ban accounts that do those things.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | filed wrote:
               | It means prepare for the right to deny services to the
               | left. Right owned companies.
               | 
               | Prepare for power to be used against you when we have it.
               | AG, president, senate, regulatory agencies.
        
               | stirfish wrote:
               | Which services well be denied to the left? I'm also
               | curious about your plans for regulatory agencies.
        
               | filed wrote:
        
               | dang wrote:
               | We've banned this account for repeatedly and egregiously
               | violating HN's guidelines. Please don't create accounts
               | to break HN's rules with.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | throwawaysea wrote:
               | Are you banning stirfish and bavent as well, who recently
               | engaged with this account? It seems to me like most of
               | their comments are low quality and trying to pick a fight
               | with the person you just banned.
               | 
               | This parent comment (that you just replied to and banned
               | the account for) felt somewhat useful. It is drawing a
               | parallel to a prior SCOTUS nomination (Kavanaugh) and the
               | unproven allegations that came out at a politically
               | opportune moment to generate outrage. His point was that
               | unethical political warfare invites a tit for tat back
               | and forth that spirals into something worse.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | That's an extreme spin on "his point". The account
               | history is egregiously beyond the pale. If we don't ban
               | that sort of account we might as well not ban anybody.
        
               | bavent wrote:
        
               | seanw444 wrote:
               | CRT and banning firearms... sounds like a _really_ awful
               | attempt at being right-wing.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please do not take HN threads further into ideological
               | flamewar. That's exactly what we don't want here.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | bavent wrote:
               | Would you mind explaining what CRT is and how it's being
               | pushed?
        
               | dang wrote:
               | " _Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies and
               | generic tangents._ "
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | stirfish wrote:
        
           | bavent wrote:
           | Seriously. Some people need to lay off the Fox and the right
           | wing talk radio. They act like they're being so oppressed
           | because they have opinions people don't agree with and they
           | get called out for it. Like, how privileged has one's life
           | been and how much of a small bubble do they live in that they
           | have never said something stupid and faced consequences for
           | it. These are the same people that bitched about
           | desegregation.
        
             | tamaharbor wrote:
             | How about getting your head out of CNNs ass also?
        
               | bavent wrote:
               | I don't watch that trash either. Also please be mindful
               | of the rules of HN.
        
               | filed wrote:
        
               | bavent wrote:
               | Yes we went over this. I'm so scared. Literally shaking
               | and crying right now.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Flamewar comments like this will get you banned here. You
               | may not owe media networks better, but you owe this
               | community much better if you're participating in it.
               | 
               | If you'd please review
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and
               | stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.
        
         | saila wrote:
         | Spotify hosts Joe Rogan, so I'm having a hard time seeing how
         | they're leftist. If they were activists, they would have left
         | that money on the table and never signed a contract with Rogan
         | in the first place. It seems to me that they follow the money
         | like most companies.
        
           | filed wrote:
           | Dude Joe Rogan voted democrat.
        
           | emkoemko wrote:
           | what? why do people keep calling a person who endorsed Bernie
           | Sanders right wing? can someone explain this to me?
        
             | Clubber wrote:
             | If a trusted source (news) tells you Rogan is right wing
             | and you don't hear anything to the contrary, it's easy to
             | take that at face value and accept it. In fact based on
             | human nature, a brain will actively resist anything to the
             | contrary after hearing it enough times.
        
       | pessimizer wrote:
       | I'm completely unsympathetic (or rather hostile) to the protests,
       | but I find it shocking that there's any legal framework under
       | which Gofundme could shut down the page, seize all of the
       | donations, and force people to basically file paperwork to get
       | them back. There's something deeply asymmetrical in the way we
       | treat white-collar crime as opposed to street crime.
       | 
       | It's bizarre that they even though they could get away with that
       | in such a high-profile situation; I suppose they thought that
       | they could rely on the hostility of people like me to passively
       | take the side of the woke corporation against normal people.
        
         | kube-system wrote:
         | Refusing to provide a service and giving people a refund is
         | broadly legal in most of the western world for most reasons
         | except for isolated cases like protected classes, etc.
        
           | pseudo0 wrote:
           | GoFundMe's original plan was to force each donor to file a
           | claim for a refund, with the remainder going to unspecified
           | charities instead of the original cause. They amended this to
           | automatic refunds after a massive backlash.
        
         | culi wrote:
         | > I find it shocking that there's any legal framework under
         | which Gofundme could shut down the page, seize all of the
         | donations, and force people to basically file paperwork to get
         | them back. There's something deeply asymmetrical in the way we
         | treat white-collar crime as opposed to street crime.
         | 
         | I agree that it's fucked up, but the "legal framework" is just
         | the fact that people agreed to the terms and conditions. It's
         | not really shocking, though that doesn't make it right
         | 
         | Also, to be clear, the donations that weren't refunded were to
         | go to charities of the choosing of the organizers. It's not
         | just being pocketed
        
       | filed wrote:
        
         | vmception wrote:
         | Most people that use the BLM name and phrase pretty much have
         | never heard of the incorporated BLM _organization_ that lives
         | rent free in conservative 's minds.
         | 
         | Just something that I've noticed is a bit of a disconnect.
         | 
         | People typically are wanting to bring attention into lack of
         | oversight in policing practices, which would benefit all. There
         | is an organization of the same name that has some truly strange
         | and unrelated desires and governance structure. The latter is
         | typically conflated with all the people using the phrase BLM in
         | right wing publications and circles.
        
           | emerged wrote:
           | I think repeatedly chanting the organizations slogan while
           | burning down cities is what established that unfortunate
           | association.
        
             | vmception wrote:
             | In response to the earlier variant of your comment
             | 
             | > Is there any point at which those people with reasonable
             | views who aren't associated with the BLM organization might
             | .. not chant their slogan repeatedly to establish and
             | reenforce that association?
             | 
             | Doubt it. Onlookers, skeptics, critics and right wing
             | publications have the choice of being just as nuanced and
             | choose not to, in favor of honing in on the mostly
             | ignorable BLM organization. The people with the BLM bumper
             | stickers and BLM posters in their windows are ignoring
             | followers of right wing publications at this point and also
             | aren't paying attention to the BLM organization of the same
             | name.
             | 
             | If you want to know whats happening you have to understand
             | the different way any of this is perceived at all. Its not
             | even opposite, its completely different.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | "sides with blacks"? "I wonder who this future black female
         | nominee has raped"?
         | 
         | That's beyond the pale, you can't do this here, and if you do
         | it again on HN we will ban your main account as well. See also
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30225863
        
       | throwawaysea wrote:
       | Apparently Elon Musk also got involved and called GoFundMe
       | "professional thieves", because they were going to redirect
       | donations intended for Canadian protesters to other (likely left
       | leaning) causes: https://nypost.com/2022/02/05/elon-musk-
       | gofundme-professiona...
       | 
       | He also called out their double standard for claiming to not
       | support protests that aren't peaceful after they funded so many
       | violent riots and illegal actions like CHAZ back in 2020.
        
         | jsploit wrote:
         | > they were going to redirect donations intended for Canadian
         | protesters to other (likely left leaning) causes
         | 
         | Per the article you linked, donors have two weeks to request a
         | refund, and any remaining funds will be redirected to causes
         | chosen by the Freedom Convoy organizers:
         | 
         | > Donors have until Feb. 19 to ask for a refund, and the rest
         | of the money the group raised would be allocated to "credible
         | and established charities" chosen by Freedom Convoy organizers,
         | the site said.
        
           | Natsu wrote:
           | A few things regarding this:
           | 
           | * They already reversed that policy and plan to do direct
           | refunds.
           | 
           | * This policy itself was new and a departure from past
           | practices, likely due to the legal troubles it would create
           | for them.
        
         | dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
         | It's surely only a matter of time before he calls someone a
         | "pedo guy".
         | 
         | When he sees something getting attention he can't seem to help
         | inserting himself into it.
        
         | culi wrote:
         | This narrative is bullshit. GFM was gonna redirect the funds to
         | charities chosen by the main organization behind the GFM
         | 
         | This is just a rightwing talking point
        
         | driverdan wrote:
         | Why does anyone care what Elon Musk says about this situation?
         | It has nothing to do with his businesses.
        
           | pxmpxm wrote:
           | I would bet a lot of money that the logistics aspect of it is
           | what he's concerned with. Parts from suppliers don't
           | magically show up at Tesla assembly lines.
        
           | baud147258 wrote:
           | People can have opinions outside of their jobs and donate
           | money too.
        
           | emerged wrote:
           | It probably has nothing do with you or my businesses, yet
           | here we are talking about it.
        
           | tomp wrote:
           | Allegedly he donated as well, so it has to do with his money.
        
         | mc32 wrote:
         | Go fund me deserves all the flak they receive.
         | 
         | Redirecting donations intended for one cause to causes of their
         | choosing is fraudulent.
         | 
         | If they have an issue with a cause, which should be stipulated
         | in their ToCs up front and not subject to inflight changes,
         | then refund all donors to the best of their ability.
        
           | culi wrote:
           | Before GFM decided to directly refund everyone, their plan
           | was to redirect any non-refunded funds to charities of the
           | choosing of the organizers of the GFM. The only way they
           | would go to left-leaning charities would have been if the
           | organizers of the GFM were left-leaning and chose that
        
           | 88j88 wrote:
           | That is not what is happening though. The article says, all
           | the money is refunded to all the donors.
        
             | mc32 wrote:
             | Only after they faced a heavy backlash:
             | 
             | "...on Friday, saying it violated its terms of service. At
             | the time it said donors would have two weeks to request a
             | refund, with any remaining funds distributed to "credible
             | and established charities.""
             | 
             | "I'm not shoplifting, I put the things back after you
             | caught me."
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | They should be prosecuted for conspiring to steal funds
               | and use for non intended purpose. Trying to mascarade it
               | fools no one.
        
       | defaultname wrote:
       | This sort of discussion never goes well, but using GoFundMe to
       | finance occupations, especially _across national borders_ , is an
       | incredibly dangerous game.
       | 
       | If a GoFundMe to harrass and harangue Ron DeSantis -- to
       | effectively sponsor people to park outside his home and blast
       | horns, among other things -- would he be okay with that? How
       | about if Canadians paid millions for people to park on US
       | interstates? Is that okay?
       | 
       | This is entirely outside of the mission of GoFundMe. And it's
       | interesting how exactly the same group of people lamenting the
       | paying of bail for BLM protesters are falling in line with rights
       | for this trucker group to harass and occupy Canadian cities.
        
         | 6d6b73 wrote:
         | It's a protest not an occupation
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
           | You obviously don't live in Ottawa.
        
           | blast wrote:
           | It's obviously a peaceful protest*. The word "occupation"
           | here is already spin from the side that wants to shut it down
           | and is trying to build a case for doing so.
           | 
           | Peaceful protest involves physically assembling and making
           | noise. That is no doubt unpleasant both for those who
           | disagree with the protestors and those who live in the
           | neighborhood, but the right to do this in public is
           | fundamental and vital in democratic society. I thought we
           | were all raised to understand that? For the life of me I
           | can't understand people who are so ready to trash those
           | rights just because they don't happen to agree with a cause.
           | Either these are democratic rights or they aren't, and if
           | they are then they apply to everybody.
           | 
           | * Edit: I shouldn't have said obviously. I should have said:
           | from what I've seen. Some people are posting that there have
           | been violent things going on, but those claims have come
           | without evidence. In the few cases where I have seen
           | objective information, such claims have turned out to be
           | exaggerated. If I see objective information showing that the
           | protestors have turned violent, I will change my mind. (As
           | long as it is clear that it really was the protestors and not
           | someone trying to make them look bad, since that kind of
           | thing also happens at protests.)
        
             | defaultname wrote:
             | It is literally, by every definition, an occupation.
             | 
             | People came in and _brought homes with them_ (sleeper cabs,
             | RVs, etc). Now they have set up permanent structures such
             | as kitchens and other facilities (today they brought in a
             | sauna), and have been stating repeatedly that they are in
             | for the long haul.
             | 
             | There is a reason that's called an occupation. A protest is
             | normally a discomfort for the protester. Enduring the
             | elements. Going without. But waving a flag and chanting
             | slogans that convey a message. Here we have a bunch of
             | people in transport trucks blasting their horn 24/7.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | GoFundMe literally had no problem with CHAZ/CHOP and BLM
               | protest funding in the middle of a pandemic.
        
               | defaultname wrote:
               | So we agree, GFM should have nothing to do with any
               | occupation, right? You agree with this, correct?
               | 
               | You think that I'm some sort of partisan in this --
               | perhaps a projection -- and you caught me in hypocrisy.
               | But you didn't. Financing protests is an incredibly
               | dangerous game.
               | 
               | I was against BLM justified violence and looting, as well
               | as the various "free" zones.
               | 
               | I was against the railway blockades in Canada (due to
               | complex aboriginal issues)
               | 
               | I am against the trucker occupations and criminal
               | harassment of the citizens of Ottawa and other
               | jurisdictions (and I think they should be layered with so
               | many fines their trucks become the property of the
               | state).
               | 
               | I'm remarkably consistent on this. Law and order is
               | _good_. Democracy is good.
        
               | jterrys wrote:
               | Nobody particularly case about your point of view in
               | this.
               | 
               | This is about Go Fund Me and their hypocritical stance.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please omit personal swipes from your comments here. Your
               | post would be fine without the first sentence.
        
             | SECProto wrote:
             | A friend was shoved into a snowbank by a protester because
             | she wore a mask. I was verbally assaulted for the same
             | while skating on the canal. They're not peaceful.
        
               | polski-g wrote:
        
               | s1artibartfast wrote:
               | I think the real struggle is understanding the degree to
               | which they are peaceful or not. Obviously nothing is
               | black or white.
               | 
               | As an example, I was once shoved by a person. People are
               | not peaceful
        
               | rabuse wrote:
               | BLM protestors were going around pouring drinks on
               | diner's heads, and eating their food off their plates,
               | then assaulting them. GoFundMe had no issues with that.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | tomohawk wrote:
         | I'm glad the governor is looking into this. Undoubtedly there
         | are FL residents who contributed to this worthy cause via GFM,
         | and then to have GFM suddenly say they're going to redirect the
         | funds? Seems like some sort of fraud to offer a service for one
         | thing and then change it after money has changed hands. GFM
         | obviously realized this was a problem, so changed their minds
         | and is providing automatic refunds. But this sort of fraud can
         | only have a negative impact on the cause people were wanting to
         | fund.
         | 
         | But GFM at the very least comes across as partisan, if not
         | hypocritical. If they're going to be a partisan funder, then
         | I'm sure there are other laws they need to comply with which
         | they currently don't.
        
           | ratsmack wrote:
           | I would think that every GFM campaign is approved by default
           | once the money starts flowing in. To change it after the fact
           | should be seen as a criminal act.
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
           | The plan presented to GFM by the organizers called for excess
           | funds to be given to charities. How is it fraud for GFM to
           | follow the organizer's plan? The only thing they refused to
           | do was fund the illegal occupation of downtown Ottawa.
        
             | jtbayly wrote:
             | To equate giving all of the funds to other charities and
             | not allowing any of it to be used for its given purpose
             | with giving the rest of the money after its intended
             | purpose has been met is... well, not right.
             | 
             | Like, consider a non-profit that you want to support its
             | vision. Most of the money goes to its mission, the rest
             | pays its execs. They decide to use 100% of it for the
             | execs. According to your argument, that's just fine.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | You're surprised that GFM won't fund the occupation of
               | the nations capitol? Really?
        
               | jtbayly wrote:
               | I neither believe it is truthful to call it "occupying
               | the nations capitol" nor am I surprised that GFM won't
               | fund it.
               | 
               | Regardless, your response was a non-sequitur. You really
               | need to deal with what I actually said.
               | 
               | To help you along, I _also_ wouldn 't be surprised for a
               | charity to redirect 100% of its income to its executives.
               | But that wouldn't mean I would say it was fine for them
               | to do that, even though the reason I gave the money was
               | for clean wells in Africa. That's what you're defending.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > I neither believe it is truthful to call it "occupying
               | the nations capito
               | 
               | People who live in Ottawa disagree.
               | 
               | > To help you along, I also wouldn't be surprised for a
               | charity to redirect 100% of its income to its executives.
               | But that wouldn't mean I would say it was fine for them
               | to do that, even though the reason I gave the money was
               | for clean wells in Africa. That's what you're defending.
               | 
               | This is a textbook strawman. We're talking about a
               | specific situation here, so stop trying to invoke
               | entirely different situations to defend it.
               | 
               | The fact is that this has turned into an occupation. It's
               | not reasonable to expect GFM to fund that.
        
               | jtbayly wrote:
               | Look, I've already explained that I'm not surprised. You
               | are claiming I'm lying? Or what? Also my example is not a
               | straw man. It's a simple analogy. This will be my last
               | comment.
               | 
               | The thing I'm trying to address is your claim that it's
               | just fine and dandy for them to redirect all the money to
               | charities because that's equivalent to what the original
               | organizers were going to do anyway. It's not. It's so
               | _obviously_ not appropriate that GFM immediately realized
               | they could never get away with that and changed their
               | minds and decided to refund all of the money instead. So
               | I don 't know why you're even bothering to defend their
               | original plan. You're probably literally the only person
               | in the world who thinks it's fine.
               | 
               | edit: removed potentially inflammatory analysis.
        
         | bruceb wrote:
         | "This is entirely outside of the mission of GoFundMe."
         | https://twitter.com/gofundme/status/1278759152492220416
         | 
         | It is not if they agree with what is happening. They are fine
         | with occupying if they back the cause.
        
           | defaultname wrote:
           | The GFM you linked was to sponsor urban farms. That the
           | organizer tangentially was involved with a protest is
           | irrelevant. The GFM for the "trucker" protest was literally
           | to pay participants to occupy cities. To effectively have
           | professional protesters.
        
             | gjsman-1000 wrote:
             | The tweet literally says it is for CHOP.
        
               | s5300 wrote:
               | Which was something like the entirety of a half of a city
               | block mostly centered around urban farms
        
               | bendbro wrote:
               | You are seriously misinformed on CHOP/CHAZ. Likely 1-5%
               | of the area was devoted to a garden. The rest was filled
               | with protesters waging nightly war on the police and
               | surrounding businesses. More than that, CHAZ/CHOP
               | protestors were directly responsible for multiple
               | killings of black people.
        
               | joemazerino wrote:
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please keep flamewar rhetoric off HN. It's not what this
               | site is for, and it destroys what it is for.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
             | indecisive_user wrote:
             | Did you watch the linked video? It spends half the time
             | talking about the CHOP and how the fundraiser is supporting
             | it. The founder says they want to maintain a police free
             | location to further the goals of BLM
        
           | causality0 wrote:
           | Any and every corporation with more than a hundred employees
           | is a money-generating sociopath. GoFundMe doesn't give a damn
           | about anything at all, they just recognize it's profitable to
           | back some causes and unprofitable to back others.
        
         | scj wrote:
         | "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an
         | elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the
         | beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch
         | and grunt." - Pierre Trudeau, 1969
         | 
         | When trying to grasp the Canadian point of view on GoFundMe,
         | understanding the primal fear this quote invokes in us is
         | vital.
        
         | throwawaysea wrote:
         | The thing is BLM protesters broke laws. They started fires,
         | destroyed businesses, trapped drivers in tunnels, attacked
         | police, set fires in people's homes, and declared an autonomous
         | zone that claimed to secede from the country - and this is just
         | from my city. GoFundMe happily allowed them to be funded while
         | Facebook and Twitter happily allowed them to organize. Driving
         | trucks and using the roads as they are meant to be used does
         | not seem anywhere nearly as egregious (I know some did more
         | than this). It also seems appropriate given that bodily
         | autonomy is the most fundamental civil liberty. If you don't
         | have control over your body, what do you have in terms of
         | liberty and why does rule of law matter?
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
           | The vaccine isn't being forced on anyone. Body autonomy is no
           | more being violated here than any other time in history where
           | vaccines have been required to do certain things, of which
           | there are many examples.
           | 
           | Not to mention, all the things you listed at the start of
           | your comment have been done by the Ottawa occupiers. I don't
           | like to call them truckers because most are not, and most
           | truckers are against this occupation.
        
             | joemazerino wrote:
             | Please show us sources of businesses being burned, looted,
             | people assaulted and vehicles destroyed by Canadian
             | truckers.
        
             | steelstraw wrote:
             | Take it or get fired. That is being forced for all intents
             | and purposes.
             | 
             | Shaq said it well:
             | https://twitter.com/ginacarano/status/1489421001918083073
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | That is not being forced. That is called choice. Choices
               | have consequences.
               | 
               | Many jobs have had vaccine and testing requirements for
               | decades and nobody lost their mind. You are being
               | manipulated by right wing politicians.
        
               | aqsalose wrote:
               | I must say, that line about "there is no force, only
               | consequences", it does sound a bit ludicrous, not matter
               | when it used. When other human being A willfully inflict
               | a consequence on other person B because of past actions
               | of person B, I thought such consequence is commonly
               | referred to as a "punishment", especially if A has some
               | sort of authority or official capacity.
               | 
               | Like, I live in Finland. Here is an illustrative episode
               | from what I remember from school. In Finnish case, the
               | first world war manifested as a brutal civil war where
               | about 1 % population died. The interwar period was
               | characterized by political instability and sectarian
               | violence, where it was near always people aligned with
               | the "White" anticommunist side (victors of the civil war)
               | doing the violence. People who publicly professed
               | communist or socialist ideas often got roughhoused and in
               | some incidents were killed; many times, their printing
               | presses were burned by right-wing activists. The
               | government turned a blind eye to these actions, but it
               | wasn't something government orchestrated -- the actual
               | activities were genuine "grassroots" effort from a part
               | of populace that found any idea of communist action as
               | totally opposed their mental image of Finnish nation, and
               | certain democratic norms were not running very deep.
               | (During some specific moments, the politicians were often
               | afraid of facing a popular right-wing coup.) And granted,
               | some of the communist action during that time was
               | supported by the Soviet Russia and was publicly agitating
               | for an international revolution.
               | 
               | However, what I am trying to say is this: Sure, a
               | galactic alien with all the tact and deep understanding
               | of human behavior that Lt. Commander Data possess could
               | describe the events as "phenomena where communists faced
               | consequences for their freely exercised speech actions
               | because they found out their speech was wildly unpopular
               | with some other people, without government doing
               | censorship", but any sensible human being would recognize
               | that there was political violence with express purpose of
               | limiting the political speech of the left side. If you
               | think these people had right to express their political
               | message, it was repressed, with violence.
               | 
               | Now, I write about this episode of Northeast European
               | history exactly because it is a distant analogue about
               | any current situation anywhere in the world. But one can
               | not pretend that if you inflict any kind of cost to other
               | people either because they did something or because you
               | want to change their behavior, the costs you inflict are
               | some impersonal "consequences" which somehow makes it so
               | that any other context of situation does not apply -- for
               | example, your purpose for inflicting the consequences.
        
               | tastyfreeze wrote:
               | It is called coercion which is a form of force.
        
               | bendbro wrote:
               | > Choices have consequences
               | 
               | Pay me $5k monthly tribute. Agree with me or I will kill
               | you.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please do not post unsubstantive or flamebait comments
               | here.
               | 
               | If you wouldn't mind reviewing
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and
               | taking the guidelines more to heart, we'd be grateful.
               | Note this one:
               | 
               | " _Please respond to the strongest plausible
               | interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one
               | that 's easier to criticize. Assume good faith._"
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | Are you equating having to find another job with being
               | murdered?
        
               | naasking wrote:
               | > Many jobs have had vaccine and testing requirements for
               | decades and nobody lost their mind
               | 
               | Yes, "many", not "all". Do you think we're still in
               | "many" territory or are we trending towards "all"?
               | 
               | The requirements changing for a job they may have had for
               | decades is also a legitimate reason to be upset.
               | 
               | Let's not pretend there aren't legitimate concerns here.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | We're not even close to "all" territory.
               | 
               | > The requirements changing for a job they may have had
               | for decades is also a legitimate reason to be upset.
               | 
               | People are fired all the time because their job
               | requirements changed, or they were made redundant. Where
               | have the mass protests been for that?
               | 
               | > Let's not pretend there aren't legitimate concerns
               | here.
               | 
               | Some concerns are legitimate, other's are not. But
               | occupying the nation's capitol, and assaulting people who
               | wear masks are not a legitimate avenue to express those
               | concerns.
        
               | _dain_ wrote:
               | It is coercion and I don't know how anyone can say
               | otherwise. How does that boot taste?
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please keep personal attacks off this site. We ban
               | accounts that do it and lord knows we've got enough
               | flaming going on here already.
               | 
               | Your comment would be fine without that last sentence.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | You are manipulating the word "forced" so it doesn't
               | sound so bad.
               | 
               | Just because it doesn't use physical force doesn't mean
               | it isn't forced.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | It isn't forced.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | Cool, imagine if I passed a law saying donate 20% of your
               | life savings to Trump or go to jail.
               | 
               | Don't worry, you aren't forced to, by that logic.
               | 
               | Or in a more realistic world from the past, you'd better
               | not employ that German Jew or your business will get
               | forcibly shut down. Don't worry, you're not forced to not
               | hire him.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > Cool, imagine if I passed a law saying donate 20% of
               | your life savings to Trump or go to jail. Don't worry,
               | you aren't forced to, by that logic.
               | 
               | But the threat of jail is actually being forced. No on is
               | going to jail for being unvaccinated. Are you equating
               | finding another job to being incarcerated?
               | 
               | > Or in a more realistic world from the past, you'd
               | better not employ that German Jew or your business will
               | get forcibly shut down. Don't worry, you're not forced to
               | not hire him.
               | 
               | Race is a protected class. Vaccination status without
               | documented medical reason is not. Also, no one is forcing
               | these businesses to shut down. They simply can't employ
               | unvaccinated people.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | I respectfully maintain my disagreement and will not
               | discuss it further.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please stop taking HN threads further into flamewar hell.
               | A comment like this stands out even in a thread as
               | intense as this one.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
               | 
               | Edit: I also had to ask you this just recently:
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29969188 - and
               | before that as well. We ban accounts that don't heed
               | these warnings. Please review
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and use
               | HN as intended. See
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30226201 for a gloss
               | on what is intended.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | I apologize for both incidents and will try to maintain
               | respect and provide more thoughtful comments in the
               | future.
        
               | throwawaysea wrote:
               | It's literally forced. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/u
               | s/dictionary/english/force...
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | It's literally not forced. There are many jobs available
               | that don't require a vaccine.
        
             | throwawaysea wrote:
             | It is being forced. If you can experience significant
             | losses or risks unless you comply, that's being forced.
             | You're being disingenuous. It's easy to see where this
             | breaks down - per your logic a mobster running a protection
             | racket isn't forcing anyone to pay extortion money either.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | It's not forced. There any many jobs that don't require a
               | vaccine. It's a choice.
               | 
               | A protection racket is enforced through the use of
               | physical violence. Terrible analogy.
        
               | throwawaysea wrote:
               | And this is forced through other means that aren't
               | physical - but it is still forced. I am also not sure why
               | the choice to get other jobs changes or justifies
               | anything here. For example consider this: "There are
               | other jobs so quit complaining when we racially
               | discriminate against you."
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > And this is forced through other means that aren't
               | physical - but it is still forced.
               | 
               | No, it is not forced. It is a choice.
               | 
               | > For example consider this: "There are other jobs so
               | quit complaining when we racially discriminate against
               | you."
               | 
               | Race is a protected class. Vaccination status is not
               | unless you have a document medical reason.
        
               | cfcosta wrote:
               | Except it is, check the Nuremberg tribunal case.
        
               | chrismcb wrote:
               | By definition, this is forced. Force means to make
               | someone do something against their will. In this case the
               | choice is be fired or take the vaccine. They obviously
               | don't want to be fired, so they are being forced to take
               | the vaccine. Yes, it isn't physical force, but it is
               | forced none the less.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please omit personal swipes from your comments here. This
               | flamewar is bad enough already.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
             | jtbayly wrote:
             | Really? They've attacked police and burned people's homes?
             | Seceded? I've not been following the news much, but I
             | haven't seen this.
        
               | throwawaysea wrote:
               | I haven't seen any evidence of the Canadian truckers
               | doing anything egregious or blatantly illega.
               | 
               | However here are example sources I just found from a few
               | Google searches for what I saw from BLM protests in my
               | city (the grandparent comment):
               | 
               | https://clashdaily.com/2020/11/seattle-blm-activist-
               | arrested...
               | 
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Occupied_Pro
               | tes...
               | 
               | https://komonews.com/news/local/police-spokesperson-
               | accuses-...
               | 
               | https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2021/06/17/five-
               | years-m...
               | 
               | https://www.the-sun.com/news/910187/security-guard-
               | seattle-p...
               | 
               | https://nypost.com/2020/08/14/seattle-blm-protesters-
               | demand-...
               | 
               | https://www.reddit.com/r/SeattleWA/comments/ix9bwy/black_
               | liv...
        
               | jtbayly wrote:
               | I know all about that. I was questioning the claim that
               | this protest has done all the same things.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | They have attacked police. They have had dance parties on
               | war memorials. They threw human shit at a home with a
               | pride flag in the window. They assaulted people for
               | wearing masks. Healthcare workers are now told to remove
               | any indications that they work at a hospital for their
               | own safety.
        
               | throwaway4aday wrote:
               | > Healthcare workers are now told to remove any
               | indications that they work at a hospital for their own
               | safety.
               | 
               | This seems like a really weird narrative. Why would
               | people who are protesting vaccine mandates be against
               | healthcare workers? They aren't the ones keeping the
               | mandate in place. There's a tenuous connection with them
               | being the ones to administer a vaccine if someone decides
               | to get vaccinated but it's not like attacking a
               | healthcare worker is going to accomplish anything. A lot
               | of the people engaging in this protest have already been
               | vaccinated, what's their beef with healthcare? Honestly,
               | this just seems like spin that's aimed at creating two
               | opposing groups.
        
               | version_five wrote:
               | From what I've seen it's just spin. They (the CBC et al)
               | have taken the worst examples, real, imagined, or
               | completely out of context, and acted like this is what
               | the protest is all about.
               | 
               | The war memorial is a good example. This is something
               | that's at the site of the protest because it's in
               | downtown ottawa. Pretending it's being "disrespected" is
               | some nonsense you could level at any group protesting
               | downtown. In this case its particularly silly because the
               | demographic that is protesting is overall very supportive
               | or Canada's military, and is literally there protesting
               | for freedom.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > Honestly, this just seems like spin that's aimed at
               | creating two opposing groups.
               | 
               | This isn't spin. It's what's happening in Ottawa and
               | around the country. If you think it's ridiculous, you
               | would be right. These people are being ridiculous.
               | 
               | > Why would people who are protesting vaccine mandates be
               | against healthcare workers?
               | 
               | Because in their minds, anyone involved with vaccinations
               | is evil. They have literally been protesting outside
               | vaccination clinics. In Vancouver they protested outside
               | a hospital and blocked the streets so ambulances were
               | delayed.
               | 
               | > They aren't the ones keeping the mandate in place.
               | 
               | Try telling them that.
               | 
               | > There's a tenuous connection with them being the ones
               | to administer a vaccine if someone decides to get
               | vaccinated but it's not like attacking a healthcare
               | worker is going to accomplish anything.
               | 
               | Exactly!
        
               | _-david-_ wrote:
               | You do realize something like 90% of truckers have been
               | vaccinated? It doesn't seem like they think anyone
               | involved with the vaccine are evil...
        
               | throwaway4aday wrote:
               | Do you live in Ottawa? I'm asking because you appear to
               | be speaking as though you have some special insight into
               | this. If so, perhaps sharing some video of such incidents
               | would be helpful.
        
               | jtbayly wrote:
               | In other words, it's nothing alike.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | You're right. It's worse. BLM was because black people
               | were being unjustly murdered. This occupation is because
               | grown men are scared of a safe and effective vaccine
               | during a worldwide pandemic.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Would you please stop taking the thread further into
               | flamewar? I understand that you're justifiably upset
               | about it, but you've posted 29 (edit: now 35) comments in
               | this thread alone, many of them repetitive, and at this
               | point you're falling into swipes. That doesn't help
               | persuade anyone and it certainly isn't the curious
               | conversation we're hoping for here.
               | 
               | By the time we get to
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30226076, followed
               | by https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30226101,
               | followed by
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30226189, the
               | intended spirit of this site has been completely lost.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30226201
               | 
               | Edit: Since this request didn't work, I've rate limited
               | your account. Lest that seem to be out of bias, I've also
               | rate limited the other commenters who have been feeding
               | the repetitive flamewar side of this thread. I also
               | banned at least one of the worst offenders. If you don't
               | want to be rate limited, you're welcome to email
               | hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that
               | you'll follow the site guidelines in the future.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please don't take HN threads further into flamewar, and
               | certainly not flamewar tangents into deeper circles of
               | hell.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | jtbayly wrote:
               | Yeah, that was a dumb comment. Sorry.
        
             | tastyfreeze wrote:
             | Do you have evidence of destruction caused by the
             | protesters? I am interested in seeing it. All video I have
             | seen is completely peaceful.
        
             | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
             | No vaccine = no work = no food = die
             | 
             | I'd call that "force" even if it's 2 degrees removed.
        
               | DrewRWx wrote:
               | "no work = no food" sounds like the more productive link
               | in the chain to break.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | Good thing work that doesn't require vaccination is
               | plentiful. Demand for labour is high everywhere.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | You do know that the vast majority of jobs in Canada do
               | not require being vaccinated, right?
               | 
               | Did you know that vaccine requirements for certain jobs
               | have existed for decades, and no one has lost their minds
               | like this?
               | 
               | Do you think it's possible that right wing politicians
               | are purposely trying to cause outrage over something that
               | has been a normal and accepted practise in order to
               | further their political goals?
        
               | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
               | It's called a career because you do it your whole life
               | and you keep getting paid more money to do it. What are
               | other job options for truckers? Fast food? Warehouse?
               | It's not like you can just go get a SWE job.
               | 
               | Yes, but you agree to that mandate _before_ getting the
               | job. When you join the Army you know you 're selling your
               | body to the state.
               | 
               | Of course politicians are politicizing. But they're just
               | riding the wave of something that people are already mad
               | about--like higher taxes and abortion. Your comment makes
               | it sound like people are mindless automatons whose
               | opinions have no substance. They are opinions that differ
               | from your own but that's OK. We need both sides of the
               | discussion for a healthy democracy.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > It's called a career because you do it your whole life
               | and you keep getting paid more money to do it.
               | 
               | People get fired all the time for a multitude of reasons.
               | In fact, thanks to at will employment in the US, people
               | get fired for no reason at all. I haven't seen mass
               | protests about at will employment.
               | 
               | > What are other job options for truckers?
               | 
               | I would assume the same jobs available to anyone when
               | they get fired.
               | 
               | > We need both sides of the discussion for a healthy
               | democracy.
               | 
               | Agreed, but there is a problem when one side is not
               | arguing in good faith. I would call occupying the
               | nation's capital and assaulting people wearing masks not
               | arguing in good faith.
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | >"You do know that the vast majority of jobs in Canada do
               | not require being vaccinated, right?"
               | 
               | Well suddenly vast majority now does require COVID
               | vaccination. It is forced even on people that never show
               | up in the office. So if I were you I'd come up with some
               | better arguments to advance the agenda.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > Well suddenly vast majority now does require COVID
               | vaccination.
               | 
               | Except that's not true.
        
               | bsagdiyev wrote:
               | You're repeating this and providing zero information to
               | back it up.
        
               | rabuse wrote:
               | When was there a requirement in our history to be
               | vaccinated to shop for your groceries?
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | There isn't one now.
        
               | pixl97 wrote:
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | A missing piece of this is Canada's Bill C51 [1], which
         | characterizes interference with critical infrastructure as
         | _terrorism_. A significant difference between CHAZ /CHOP and
         | these protests is the legal context. Looters bad, rah rah, but
         | GoFundMe doesn't want to touch (legally-defined-as) terrorists
         | with a 10 foot pole. But C51 was passed with an eye towards
         | stopping anti-pipeline protests, and conservative Canadians
         | loved that*. But now, they _want_ the right to interfere with
         | critical infrastructure as a legitimate form of protest. Should
         | have thought of that in 2015, I guess.
         | 
         | [1]
         | https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/Resear...
         | 
         | * though, it's worth pointing out that Trudeau was against it
         | until he got elected, and it passed under his reign
        
         | gjsman-1000 wrote:
         | Remember when GoFundMe was actually encouraging people to
         | donate on Twitter to CHAZ/CHOP in Seattle? _During a pandemic_
         | when most states still had mask mandates?
         | 
         | I do, and GoFundMe is a bunch of partisan hypocrites. Let me
         | quote Elon: Professional Thieves.
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | landemva wrote:
         | "... exactly the same group of people lamenting the paying of
         | bail for BLM protesters are falling in line with rights for
         | this trucker group ..."
         | 
         | That seems to be a gross over-generalization.
        
           | pl0x wrote:
        
             | dang wrote:
             | Please don't add regional flamewar on top of the flamewar
             | we've already got here.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
       | vmchale wrote:
        
       | elipsey wrote:
       | I must be the only person here who doesn't already know about
       | these trucking protests; I'm having trouble establishing the
       | basic facts of what is in dispute. Who exactly is required to be
       | vaccinated?
       | 
       | It seems like the fraction of truckers who engaged in cross-
       | border trucking with the US were subject to a Canadian federal
       | vaccination mandate, which applied to some workers in the
       | transportation sector as well as many federal workers, but this
       | requirement was dropped a couple of weeks ago for cross border
       | trucking.[1]
       | 
       | Are the truckers still protesting even though the requirement for
       | cross border truckers to be vaccinated was dropped? Do they have
       | some further demand?
       | 
       | Is anyone here able to kindly cite a (non-editorial) journalistic
       | source which summarizes these events?
       | 
       | [1] https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-truckers-
       | sta...
        
         | martythemaniak wrote:
         | Thinking that this is about mandates is like thinking gamergate
         | was about "ethics in videogame journalism".
         | 
         | Consider:
         | 
         | * People have been harassed over wearing masks
         | 
         | * HCWs have be asked by police forces not to wear their scrubs
         | outside of work lest they be
         | 
         | * Random drivers (truck, bus) have been harassed over not
         | honking in support"
         | 
         | * residential streets have been blocked, preventing people from
         | getting deliveries, etc
         | 
         | * loud repeated honking in the middle of the night.
         | 
         | * People in Ottawa, Canada with Trump 2024 Flags, American
         | Flags, confederate flags, etc.
         | 
         | * The organizers have demanded that the government be disbanded
         | by the mechanism (senators and governor general dismissing the
         | PM? wtf?) they made up out of nowhere.
         | 
         | * We had an election 5 months ago. Vaccines, mandates and
         | passports were a bit part of the debate. Right wing parties
         | were defeated handily (3rd time in a row)
         | 
         | This is just pure demented right wing rage. IF that's too
         | editorialized for you, then -\\_(tsu)_/-
        
           | dragonwriter wrote:
           | > The organizers have demanded that the government be
           | disbanded by the mechanism (senators and governor general
           | dismissing the PM? wtf?) they made up out of nowhere.
           | 
           | In principle, couldn't the Senate force the government into a
           | loss of supply situation triggering mandatory relinquishment
           | of government or advice to the GG to dissolve Parliament? I
           | mean, it wouldn't be immediate, as the timing would be based
           | on the budget cycle, but unless I'm missing something it
           | seems like it would be possible.
        
         | throwaway4aday wrote:
         | The requirement was not dropped, I'm surprised Reuters hasn't
         | corrected that article.
         | 
         | https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/in-for-a-rough-winter...
         | 
         | https://www.bing.com/search?q=canada+trucker+vaccine+require...
        
       | sreejithr wrote:
       | Why exactly should GoFundMe refund the money? How is this
       | different from other fundraisers?
       | 
       | I believe in vaccines but I don't understand why GoFundMe can't
       | accept trucker donations.
        
         | culi wrote:
         | The difference was likely the threat of GFM getting involved in
         | expensive legal situations since the protests were growing
         | increasingly violent. The Canadian Trucking Alliance itself
         | pointed out that most of the protestors had no connection with
         | trucking. Other investigations found a lot of the participants
         | had ties to white nationalist movements.[0] GFM is in a tricky
         | spot. They prolly realized being hated by ant vaxxers was less
         | of a headache than being accused of helping white nationalists.
         | Their own public announcement simply stated that the cops
         | pressured them to take it down due to reports of violence
         | (which violates their TOS)
         | 
         | [0] https://globalnews.ca/news/8543281/covid-trucker-convoy-
         | orga...
        
           | _-david-_ wrote:
           | If protests starting to get more violent is not acceptable
           | then why did GFM continue the funding for BLM and Chop/chaz?
           | 
           | Also, this protest is not about being pro or anti vax. It is
           | about mandates.
        
       | gumby wrote:
       | A different perspective on the source of funds (ignore the
       | clickbait at the top of the article and search down for
       | "suspect"):
       | https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/02/04/opinion/startlin...
        
       | fuckyou776 wrote:
        
       | coldcode wrote:
       | Hacker News used to be about things that mattered to programmers
       | and startups, etc. Now we are turning into yet another Reddit
       | scream box. This type of article does not belong here. The
       | comments keep turning into pointless vitriol.
        
         | coryrc wrote:
         | It's always like this on the weekend.
        
           | pl0x wrote:
           | HN has become the waste basket for those who's lives and
           | companies are going no where.
        
             | dang wrote:
             | " _Please don 't sneer, including at the rest of the
             | community._" It's reliably a marker of bad comments and
             | worse threads.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
             | 
             | Edit: you've been posting a ton of unsubstantive and
             | flamebait comments lately. Would you please stop that? We
             | ban accounts that keep doing it, for what ought to be
             | obvious reasons. Not liking HN, if that's how you're
             | feeling, is not an ok reason to break the rules here.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | That's not accurate. See
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869.
        
         | s1artibartfast wrote:
         | While I agree most of the comments are garbage, this is just
         | one thread and you can leave with the back button. There are
         | hundreds of other non political posts a day
        
         | msbarnett wrote:
         | Yeah I'm done with this website. The state of these comments is
         | an absolute embarrassment, this is purely just a misinformation
         | flamewar
        
       | m_eiman wrote:
       | I flagged this, because this is the most toxic "discussion" I've
       | ever seen on HN.
        
         | gjsman-1000 wrote:
         | Was already flagged and the flags were later cleared.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Hmm. It's certainly bad, but it can and does get so much worse.
        
       | fuckyou776 wrote:
        
       | dangerwill wrote:
       | If you send money to fascists be prepared for the money to be
       | intercepted. Simple as that
        
         | peteradio wrote:
         | Fascist according to what definition? I think you are deeply
         | confused.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please do not take HN threads further into hellish ideological
         | flamewar. We want curious conversation here.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
         | NikolaeVarius wrote:
         | You are the part of the reason that modern extremism exists in
         | the first place.
        
           | dang wrote:
           | Please do not take HN threads further into hellish
           | ideological flamewar. We want curious conversation here.
           | 
           | Also, please keep personal attacks off this site. Not ok
           | here.
           | 
           | Edit: you've been posting so many personal attacks and
           | breaking the site guidelines so repeatedly that I've banned
           | the account. That is seriously not cool here.
           | 
           | If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email
           | hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll
           | follow the rules in the future. They're here:
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
        
         | ameminator wrote:
         | As much as you may dislike "fascists", you don't get to tell
         | other people who they can or cannot send money to.
        
           | malermeister wrote:
           | Other people sent money to GoFundMe. GoFundMe now has it, and
           | as you said yourself, you don't get to tell them who they can
           | or cannot send it to.
        
             | ameminator wrote:
             | If I accept money on behalf of someone else, with the
             | expectation that the cash will be given to that person and
             | I just use the money as I please, this is called fraud.
             | 
             | If I set up a monetary relationship between 2 entities and
             | then I _interfere_ with that relationship, this is called
             | tortuous interference with contracts.
        
           | dgabriel wrote:
           | GoFundMe tells a lot of people who they can or cannot send
           | money to via their platform. First, there are laws around
           | sending money to designated terrorist organizations, then
           | there are restrictions around violence, pornography and sex
           | work, and many more. The giant list can be found here:
           | https://www.gofundme.com/c/terms
           | 
           | If you want to mail a check to these truckers, have at it,
           | but GoFundMe is not obligated to collect money on their
           | behalf. Here's another example, but not one Ron Desantis
           | would ever care about -
           | https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200131-gofundme-shuts-
           | us...
        
             | ameminator wrote:
             | They weren't obligated to _continue_ to collect money on
             | their behalf, but once they started collecting that money,
             | they are obligated to handle it responsibly. They do not
             | get to decide to withhold money unilaterally and give it to
             | other charities (as GoFundMe has stated they intend to do).
             | 
             | A telephone company can't decide to give me a phone number
             | then tell me who I can or cannot call. My ISP cannot tell
             | me which websites I can or cannot access (without a court
             | order). If GoFundMe allowed the convoy to open a charity
             | drive, they cannot unilaterally close it and confiscate the
             | money.
        
             | peteradio wrote:
             | They can't collect the money under false pretense and
             | redistribute as they please. That's clear fraud.
        
           | tandymodel100 wrote:
        
         | HideousKojima wrote:
         | The people opposed to government-enforced medical mandates are
         | fascists?
         | 
         | The wordhas truly lost all meaning. Though according to Orwell,
         | it already had even before the end of WW2
        
         | empty_banana wrote:
         | Really, how did the media convinced masses that people fighting
         | for all's freedom are fascists?
        
           | 16012022 wrote:
           | "All's" -- im sorry but if 50%+1 people will disagree with
           | the cause, your so-called freedom fighters are not fighting
           | for everyone
        
             | astraloverflow wrote:
             | The "all" in the gp refers to the fought for freedom(s)
             | applying to everyone, not that it has majority support or
             | that is wanted by everyone.
        
       | mercy_dude wrote:
       | I spent a decent part of my adult life in Canada and I can't
       | believe what in God's name is happening to that place.
       | 
       | Canada is experiencing a severe housing bubble at the backdrop of
       | Chinese snow washing, wage stagnation is real and middle class is
       | slowly getting wiped out. The only thing keeping the GDP at the
       | level it is is high level of immigration which favours the
       | wealthy in the name of a "point based immigration system". The
       | ruling liberal party is genuinely out of touch and the PM knows
       | nothing but virtue signaling. The conservatives are also facing a
       | leadership crisis since they lack largely a coordination and
       | single thread holding the party. NDP is a joke and virtually does
       | nothing and the electoral system is almost broken thanks to this
       | three party system (oh and then there is Bloc which I don't even
       | want to get started on). Trudeau was elected prime minister with
       | less than 33% votes. The whole COVID crisis was used by Trudeau
       | to call a snap election and then they don't seem to have a plan
       | to embrace the endemic outlook. This whole vax mandates for
       | truckers was such a distraction at the backdrop of inflation and
       | struggling service sector. I keep thinking what are these people
       | thinking? Any decent policy advisors would say now is not the
       | time to do things out of spite against the people who are
       | critical to supply chain.
        
         | gruez wrote:
         | >The only thing keeping the GDP at the level it is is high
         | level of immigration which favours the wealthy in the name of a
         | "point based immigration system".
         | 
         | Is that supposed to be bad? The main factors that contribute to
         | your points are language skills, education, work experience,
         | age, and job offer. It's true that those requirements favor the
         | wealthy, but would canada be better served by immigrants that
         | don't speak english, are inexperienced, old, and don't have a
         | job lined up?
        
           | hervature wrote:
           | I think what they are trying to say is that a country can
           | always increase its GDP by increasing population. Of course,
           | if 2x the amount of people that are eating a pie that is 1.1x
           | bigger, the quality of life has dramatically decreased. For
           | the people immigrating, Canada is obviously appealing just
           | simply from a security point of view. All things equal, they
           | don't really care if their quality of life is the same as
           | long as they won't randomly be killed.
           | 
           | Of course, this all needs to be substantiated with facts to
           | actually show the cause of the issue. I honestly don't know
           | if Canada's immigration levels are too high and causing
           | problems for the middle class or if the OP is just angry that
           | an Indian family now operates their local Husky.
        
           | 8note wrote:
           | I think it promotes skilled Canadians emigrating, along with
           | keeping poor places poor. Instead of having competitive
           | compensation, Canadian companies hire cheaper skilled labour
           | from abroad.
           | 
           | If we got more cheap unskilled labour, we could expand our
           | whole economy to be rich enough to pay for the expensive
           | skilled Canadians. Making a ton of poor people richer ads a
           | lot more total value than adding a couple of rich people
        
         | DeWilde wrote:
         | Canada's birth-rate is bellow what is necessary to sustain or
         | grow the population. Without immigration Canada's population
         | would be shrinking.
         | 
         | If you think it is bad now, imagine how bad would it be if the
         | majority of the population was in retirement. Sustaining a
         | pension scheme (or a healthy economy for pension funds) becomes
         | very hard, plus all of the services required to keep the
         | society running would be greatly reduced.
         | 
         | Canada's immigration system seems one of the better I've looked
         | into, skills, language, education and job offer all have to be
         | accounted to get in.
        
         | tandymodel100 wrote:
        
         | Mikeb85 wrote:
         | As a Canadian, it's been utterly shocking to watch our country
         | crumble in the last few years. This summer I'll be moving away
         | for good.
         | 
         | In the last decade I've seen most of my family leave for the US
         | due to the higher incomes. I always kept hope that maybe Canada
         | would get better. It hasn't, it's gotten very bad. The insane
         | level of immigration has eroded away any leverage the working
         | class has. Now you see all that frustration coming out, on both
         | sides of the political spectrum, with each side blaming the
         | other.
         | 
         | Housing and necessities are un-affordable for everyone, the
         | divisive rhetoric has turned society against each other. Simply
         | being in Canada is depressing now. I just got back from 2
         | months in Europe, the difference is shocking.
        
           | axiosgunnar wrote:
           | Where are you moving to?
        
             | Mikeb85 wrote:
             | Prague, Czech Republic. SO is Czech so we're moving mainly
             | for the lifestyle, culture, plus now with a kid on the way
             | we're concerned about access to education, healthcare,
             | etc... Where we live in Canada it's literally $1 million to
             | purchase any kind of housing whatsoever... We could make it
             | work but I have no family here anyway and for the same
             | money we can live much better there, plus be close to her
             | family...
        
           | DeWilde wrote:
           | I've been looking to move to Canada (vs moving to US due to
           | more sane social services like healthcare and pension
           | system), is what you are describing present all over Canada
           | or just in some parts of it?
        
             | 8note wrote:
             | Canada on the whole has been poisoned by high property
             | values. Instead of investing in making things, everyone is
             | all in on housing speculation.
        
             | jandrewrogers wrote:
             | While I can understand the healthcare part, what about US
             | public pensions (Social Security) is not sane? The US
             | public pension is quite generous compared to the rest of
             | the developed world, including Canada.
             | 
             | The US can be accused of many things, but having a poor
             | public pension isn't one of them.
        
             | BeefWellington wrote:
             | My experience has been essentially the opposite of the
             | person you're replying to.
             | 
             | Health care where I am is great, I can see my primary care
             | doctor mostly same day or next day and the odd tests I've
             | needed have never been any kind of wait longer than 3 weeks
             | (for non-urgent tests). Immediate care for actual
             | emergencies, I've been seen right away. It's a triage
             | system, so if you go to the emergency department at the
             | hospital with the sniffles you could wait a bunch of hours.
             | 
             | Yes, there's a huge housing crisis and yes it's an area of
             | concern. There's some issues here in that the real
             | difference-makers are controlled by cities. There's a _LOT_
             | of NIMBYism.
             | 
             | I haven't really seen evidence of Canada "crumbling"; just
             | a lot of people pushing that narrative whenever they're
             | despairing over their own fortunes. Could it be better?
             | Absolutely.
        
               | Mikeb85 wrote:
               | > Health care where I am is great, I can see my primary
               | care doctor mostly same day or next day and the odd tests
               | I've needed have never been any kind of wait longer than
               | 3 weeks (for non-urgent tests).
               | 
               | Try living outside Canada. I used to think healthcare was
               | great as a young male... (men typically don't interact
               | with the healthcare system as often as women for
               | biological reasons)
               | 
               | My girlfriend is pregnant. She's from the Czech Republic.
               | We were just in the Czech Republic for 2 months. 3 weeks
               | for non-urgent tests? Try a day. As in phone the clinic,
               | get a test for the NEXT day. During the Omicron wave. She
               | had bloodwork done, an ultrasound, x-ray for a foot
               | injury, treatment for said injury, dental work done,
               | etc... No wait times for anything. No wait times at the
               | clinic. No need for a primary care doctor (something
               | which many Canadians don't have because of a shortage of
               | doctors).
               | 
               | Canadians take the sad state of affairs as normal and
               | actually believe our government's propaganda that the
               | rest of the world works the same way. It doesn't.
               | 
               | > I haven't really seen evidence of Canada "crumbling"
               | 
               | Go to another developed country. Live for awhile. The
               | only people who think Canada's doing OK are the ones who
               | never left.
               | 
               | And on an individual level; any country is great if you
               | have enough money. Doesn't mean society is OK.
        
             | version_five wrote:
             | I would answer that it's centered in a few major cities.
             | The big problem with Canada is that political power is so
             | concentrated in Montreal, Toronto, and to a lesser extent
             | Ottawa and Vancouver that the views of the rest of the
             | country are ignored, so there is not really an escape. It
             | would be like if all US government policy was set by the
             | Bay Area and NYC
        
             | Mikeb85 wrote:
             | Everywhere, albeit to varying levels. Canada's healthcare
             | is a joke; it's 'free', but it's a joke. And the highest
             | possible pension payout wouldn't pay half my rent today.
             | 
             | If you have the opportunity to move the US and have your
             | employer pay for your healthcare, your quality of life and
             | income will be much, much higher than you could ever expect
             | in Canada. The main thing is that incomes in the US,
             | especially for tech, are much, much higher while cost of
             | living is lower.
        
           | version_five wrote:
           | I agree with everything you're saying. I'm hoping the current
           | protests are going to be a catalyst for Canadians who for the
           | most part are apathetic and apolitical to wake up and notice
           | what has happened to our country and finally push back. We're
           | so far gone though I don't know how we can actually
           | reestablish ourselves though: in particular, our political
           | parties are so hollowed out of anyone remotely competent and
           | interested in the future of the country that regardless of
           | the will of the people, I don't see how it can be
           | represented.
           | 
           | We've also literally created millions of crazy people with
           | all the covid fear propaganda, and I don't know how we
           | reintegrate them into society.
           | 
           | I could go on, we're in a lot of trouble.
        
       | 88j88 wrote:
       | Very interesting that they are completely refunding all of the
       | donors automatically.
        
       | beloch wrote:
       | One thing most Americans don't understand about Canadian politics
       | how much effort is put into limiting the influence of money.
       | Corporations cannot make political donations in several
       | provinces. Even unions can't contribute in some provinces.
       | Individual donations to political parties are capped. On top of
       | that, political parties have to adhere to campaign spending
       | limits during election periods (although some do circumvent caps
       | using third party PAC's).
       | 
       | In Alberta, where the organizer[1] of this GoFundMe is based,
       | campaign spending limits for a provincial election are capped at
       | $2,121,368 for a political party[2].
       | 
       | This GoFundMe just raised _five times_ what an entire political
       | party is allowed to spend during an election in Alberta.
       | 
       | Ostensibly, this cash was to be used to pay for gas and motel
       | stays for those involved in the protest, but those truckers were
       | never going to see a tenth of what Lich was given. Lich is a
       | founding member of several Western separatist parties. Those
       | parties, although they do have legitimate grievances that find
       | some sympathy with moderates, take an approach that is wildly
       | unpopular. Namely, separatism. They don't raise much money as a
       | result. It's likely that Lich would have funnelled the remainder
       | of this GoFundMe into support for one or more of the political
       | parties she's affiliated with.
       | 
       | What could have happened is that, during the next few elections
       | in Western provinces, we'd have seen a bevy of implausibly well
       | funded PAC's shilling for Wildrose, Maverick, etc.. Their ads
       | would have been similar in quality and quantity to those of the
       | major parties. That could have significantly shifted the polls.
       | 
       | What about Lich's goals for the protest itself? As someone who
       | wants to see Canada break up into several smaller nations, it's
       | in her interest to demonstrate how weak and ineffectual the
       | federal government is. What better way to do that than by
       | blockading the capital and several key trade routes at the U.S.
       | border while the federal government dithers and provincial
       | governments do nothing?
       | 
       | Keeping money out of politics is a sisyphean task, but it's one
       | most Canadians embrace. When GoFundMe's can raise _this_ much
       | cash in the blink of an eye, we have to recognize that the game
       | has been fundamentally transformed yet again. In this instance,
       | all that stopped a politically transformative amount of cash from
       | flowing into a fringe party 's hands was the hesitation of a
       | foreign corporation. I fully expect regulations for political
       | fund-raising through services like GoFundMe are going to be in
       | the works shortly.
       | 
       | [1]https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/who-is-tamara-
       | lich... [2]https://www.elections.ab.ca/finance/expense-limits/
        
       | Mikeb85 wrote:
       | Also keep in mind that in the backdrop of all this is the fact
       | that our Prime Minister has called the protesters racists and
       | misogynists. Probably inspiring someone who ran over some
       | protesters in Winnipeg.
       | 
       | Canadian news and politicians are desperately trying to denounce
       | the protesters while ignoring the fact that Canada has some of
       | the harshest Covid restrictions in the world at the moment, while
       | the US has hardly any and European nations are mostly moving to
       | remove all restrictions.
        
         | gjsman-1000 wrote:
         | Even more stupid: Canadian media and Twitter users saying they
         | are "fringe" because by a _poll_ (totally no incentive to lie
         | on those), 85% of truckers are vaccinated.
         | 
         | To which I say:
         | 
         | A. I bet more than 15% are unvaccinated because why answer
         | honestly with Canada's level of restrictions and penalties?
         | 
         | B. If it is actually 15%, that's not fringe, and also that's
         | low enough that dropping the mandate should be reasonable (see
         | all the countries who dropped restrictions at 75%-80%
         | vaccination).
        
           | peteradio wrote:
           | It makes no sense to assume that these guys aren't vaccinated
           | anyway. They aren't against the vaccine, they are against the
           | mandate!
        
             | gruez wrote:
             | > They aren't against the vaccine, they are against the
             | mandate!
             | 
             | It makes no sense, but the amount of people who conflate
             | the two is shockingly high. I guess strawmans are easier to
             | argue against than someone who holds nuanced views.
             | 
             | edit: one such example of someone who conflates the two
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30225017
        
               | ed25519FUUU wrote:
               | It doesn't help that they intentionally conflate the two
               | issues by defining "anti-vaxxer" as anyone who "opposes
               | regulations mandating vaccination".
               | 
               | https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-vaxxer
        
               | throwawaysea wrote:
               | FYI Merriam Webster is among the worst dictionaries. They
               | are highly activist and have redefined words repeatedly
               | to suit the progressive/far-left political platform.
               | 
               | A couple examples (but there are more):
               | 
               | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52993306
               | 
               | https://www.dailywire.com/news/merriam-webster-suddenly-
               | alte...
        
           | fourneau wrote:
           | Others have already highlighted that you can be vaccinated
           | and anti-mandate, which is what many people are focusing on.
           | 
           | From a numbers perspective, 91.54% of Canadians 18+ have
           | received at least one dose. 88.91% of 18+ have received two.
           | 
           | It's /possible/ that truckers are widely unvaccinated
           | (perhaps they all subscribe to the same train of thought),
           | but it's unlikely.
        
             | faeriechangling wrote:
             | At this point a majority of Canadas anti-mandate movement,
             | which recently became a majority is "vaccinated but anti-
             | mandate" just because the numbers literally don't allow for
             | any other reality.
        
             | ZoomerCretin wrote:
             | This is an absurd position to have. This is not an anti-
             | mandate protest, it's an anti-vaccine protest. They know
             | they will achieve nothing if they're honest and people
             | debate the merits of being vaccinated or not, of increasing
             | virus spread over the border or not. So they claim it's
             | about the mandate, so people argue the merits of the
             | government requiring vaccination.
             | 
             | I have a hard time believing that anyone who claims to be
             | vaccinated see anti-mandate. The only reason to be anti-
             | mandate is to be anti-vaccine.
             | 
             | I am vaccinated, and I do not support a right for
             | unvaccinated conspiracy theorists to spread deadly viruses
             | to the immunocompromised, the elderly, and people with
             | underlying conditions.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | It looks like your account has been using HN primarily
               | for political and ideological battle. That's not allowed
               | here, and we rate-limit or ban accounts that do it. We
               | have to, because it's not only not what this site is for,
               | it destroys what it is for:
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
               | 
               | Past explanations on this:
               | 
               | https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=co
               | mme...
               | 
               | https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&
               | que...
        
             | carlivar wrote:
             | I am vaccinated, boosted, and anti mandate.
             | 
             | "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even
             | his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he
             | establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." --
             | Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of
             | Government (1791)
        
               | ZoomerCretin wrote:
               | You don't have a right to cross a border and spread a
               | deadly disease. As far as I'm aware, these truckers are
               | allowed to work unvaccinated within their own country.
        
           | scythe wrote:
           | >why answer honestly with Canada's level of restrictions and
           | penalties?
           | 
           | Surely you jest. Polls are anonymous. And even if the
           | security is bad, nobody is scrutinizing IP logs of poll
           | respondents. Maybe in Kazakhstan or something, but freedom in
           | the West has not fallen that far.
           | 
           | People _do_ lie on polls, of course, but it 's usually about
           | self-expression, not self-protection. I'd imagine that
           | vaccinated truckers are more likely to report antagonism to
           | vaccine mandates by lying about being unvaccinated vs. the
           | reverse.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | gjsman-1000 wrote:
             | This poll was not conducted online.
        
               | lowlevel wrote:
               | And probably had only answers that supported whatever
               | hypothesis they were trying to assert.
        
             | s1artibartfast wrote:
             | You also have to consider that unvaccinated answering the
             | poll honestly would be admitting to something that puts
             | their livelihood on the line. I imagine that a
             | disproportionate number would refuse to respond at all.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | Imagine if I ran a nationwide poll asking if you'd ever
               | had a felony conviction.
               | 
               | I bet the numbers for that poll would be way lower than
               | the real statistics.
               | 
               | People don't answer honestly on polls if they feel there
               | is any way (even a perception) that this could come back
               | and hurt them.
        
               | s1artibartfast wrote:
               | Or if you asked if you got away with a felony crime!
        
           | bigodbiel wrote:
           | I can't understand this dichotomy. Just because one is
           | vaccinated, does not mean they are pro-mandates.
        
             | iqanq wrote:
             | In fact, shouldn't it be the opposite way? Imagine getting
             | vaxxed just so you are forced to stay home or wear a mask
             | everywhere just like everybody else.
        
               | spookthesunset wrote:
               | Public health "experts" have done very little to quell
               | fearful vaccinated people. In my opinion some of the
               | worst anti-vaxx propaganda comes right from these health
               | departments.
               | 
               | If you are vaccinated, you are done with the pandemic.
               | Morally, ethically, and practically. You should be
               | allowed to return to actual, pre-pandemic normal. End of
               | story.
        
               | mcphage wrote:
               | > If you are vaccinated, you are done with the pandemic.
               | Morally, ethically, and practically. You should be
               | allowed to return to actual, pre-pandemic normal. End of
               | story.
               | 
               | What if you have children who are not yet eligible for
               | the vaccine?
        
               | Method-X wrote:
               | COVID is at most as dangerous as a normal cold for kids.
               | This is a fact. It's not even controversial.
        
               | mcphage wrote:
               | Children are good at infecting others, for whom it may
               | not be so harmless.
        
               | Method-X wrote:
               | If an at-risk adult doesn't want to get vaccinated at
               | this point, it's on them. Enough with this lunatic
               | safetyism already.
        
               | coryrc wrote:
               | Children are not any more at risk from covid than the flu
               | (even less, I believe) yet never before did we have these
               | restrictions.
        
               | yreg wrote:
               | How do you know the long term effects?
        
               | Method-X wrote:
               | I'm vaccinated. How do you know the long term effects of
               | mRNA vaccines?
        
               | ctoth wrote:
               | Then you look at the data and see that:
               | 
               | "Covid-19 has killed 280 children under 18 from January
               | through September 2021, the time span in which the alpha
               | and delta variants were active. Flu and pneumonia, heart
               | disease, drowning, guns, and motor vehicles were all
               | deadlier to children during the same time periods
               | annually from 2015 to 2019 (the latest years with
               | available data)[0]."
               | 
               | [0]: https://www.vox.com/22699019/covid-19-children-kids-
               | risk-hos...
        
               | lancesells wrote:
               | While I agree that it seems children are very low risk
               | you have to remember they are partly lower because of the
               | precautions taken(lockdowns, mandates, vaccines, masks,
               | fear, etc). We don't know the "normal" death rate for
               | Covid just yet.
        
               | mcphage wrote:
               | How many people have children infected, though? It
               | doesn't get to them and stop. Kids are very good at
               | spreading germs.
        
               | verve_rat wrote:
               | Even if you are vaccinated you can still get sick. The
               | chances are reduced, but you can still end up in
               | hospital, you could still die.
               | 
               | If enough people still get sick at once there could still
               | be a collapse in a local health system due to
               | overloading.
               | 
               | Given the uncertainty with new variations of COVID isn't
               | it better to err on the side of caution and try to
               | protect both the health systems and as many people at
               | once?
        
               | Method-X wrote:
               | Everything you said is fantasy speculation. Counties and
               | States that have moved on are doing just fine.
        
               | coryrc wrote:
               | All of that was true with the flu and vaccinated people
               | are not any more at risk from covid than flu. Why the
               | permanent change?
        
               | NoPie wrote:
               | In fact, the UK health authorities argued that flu
               | vaccine mandates make more sense for hospital workers
               | than covid vaccine mandates with omicron.
        
               | NoPie wrote:
               | It all depends on what are the numbers. In any case
               | before deciding on vaccine mandates, certain conditions
               | have to be satisfied:
               | 
               | 1. Will the mandate increase vaccine uptake?
               | 
               | 2. Will the mandate prevent overloading hospitals and
               | clinics?
               | 
               | 3. Are the health benefits for others proportionate to
               | the risks for vaccinated?
               | 
               | 4. Are less restrictive policies available that can
               | achieve similar outcomes?
               | 
               | The UK decided to go with without vaccine mandates. They
               | even revoked them for healthcare workers because with
               | omicron variant they no longer made sense.
               | 
               | I am not saying what Canada should do, but at this moment
               | vaccine mandates don't really seem worth to truckers, if
               | not for all people.
        
               | carlivar wrote:
               | No. The time for an abundance of caution was 2020. You
               | can get vaxxed if you want and N95's are effective if you
               | want to protect yourself. Society can't keep dragging
               | this giant "safety" rock behind it forever.
        
             | behringer wrote:
             | I'm pro vaccine but the mandates and access cards and
             | testing requirements makes me sick to my stomach
        
               | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
               | Same, I'm vaccinated but I recently resigned from my
               | company because they had a vaccine mandate (no testing
               | option) because they're a federal contractor. Now I'm
               | working for a company that has a testing option but I
               | choose to upload vaccine card instead. My personal
               | choice. The company I resigned from dropped the mandate
               | after it was stopped by the courts but the damage had
               | already been done.
        
               | lowlevel wrote:
               | I had to sign a letter with my employer stating that I
               | accepted I could be terminated should I not be fully
               | vaccinated by Dec 31, 2021. I feel a line has been
               | crossed, and I fully support the idea that the mandate is
               | bad. Vaccines are great, I voluntarily got it anyway, but
               | I don't feel it's ok to say you deserve to be fired or
               | worse (and I've heard much worse) if you decide the
               | vaccine is not for you. I support the protest. It is not
               | an anti-vax protest. I do not beleive it is about racisim
               | or white supremacy despite what our prime minister says
               | or thinks.
        
               | tandymodel100 wrote:
        
               | mistrial9 wrote:
               | in the USA, a psychiatric patient, even if seriously ill,
               | has the right to refuse medication. This non-negotiable
               | law is in place exactly because of past generations
               | battle over forced medications.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >in the USA, a psychiatric patient, even if seriously
               | ill, has the right to refuse medication
               | 
               | even if involuntarily committed to a mental institution?
        
               | throwawaysea wrote:
               | There are definitely constitutional boundaries. See
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Connor_v._Donaldson
               | 
               | Most states define laws of their own around this, and
               | usually a longer involuntary stay requires a court
               | hearing. But I wouldn't be surprised if even those are
               | operating in a legal gray area that would get shot down
               | upon a SCOTUS hearing. More realistically, the Supreme
               | Court wouldn't hear these cases due to higher priorities,
               | but I think the "right to liberty" has only very few
               | exceptions.
        
               | throwaway48375 wrote:
               | They absolutely do medicate people against their will all
               | the time. Google "booty juice".
        
               | giaour wrote:
               | I don't think that's comparable at all. If you don't want
               | to get vaccinated but your employer has a mandate, you
               | can quit.
               | 
               | Similarly, your employer can fire you if there is no
               | reasonable accommodation for your medical condition that
               | you are willing to accept. If, for example, you have a
               | treatable form of schizophrenia but refuse all
               | medication, you can get fired if that condition renders
               | you unable to perform your job duties.
               | 
               | You can get committed to an institution, or your employer
               | can be forced to reinstate you, but absent such an order
               | from the legal system, you are free to refuse treatment,
               | and your employer is free to let you go.
        
               | [deleted]
        
           | 908B64B197 wrote:
           | > Canadian media and Twitter users saying they are "fringe"
           | because by a poll (totally no incentive to lie on those), 85%
           | of truckers are vaccinated.
           | 
           | The state sponsored ones?
           | 
           | At this point I don't think it's only about the vaccines.
        
         | rayiner wrote:
         | Justin "I can't remember how many times I wore blackface"
         | Trudeau calling anyone "racist" is rich:
         | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/19/justin-trudeau...
         | 
         | Also, how does protesting COVID mandates make someone "racist
         | and misogynist?" Is he just saying that because they're
         | truckers?
        
           | culi wrote:
           | > how does protesting COVID mandates
           | 
           | Uhh, I think calling for the overthrowing of the federal
           | government[0] is a little more than just protesting a covid
           | mandate lol. To be clear, I'm not saying overthrowing the
           | federal gov't is racist or misogynist. I'm just saying that
           | clearly there is a lot more going on than that
           | 
           | [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/canada-
           | trucker...
        
             | s1artibartfast wrote:
             | This is one of the most hyperbolic claims.
             | 
             | Overthrow the government in this case means publicly and
             | commit to repealing mandates, and set up a citizen group to
             | review policy.
             | 
             | Similar requests of governments happen every year in
             | western countries. There are citizen oversight groups set
             | up for failing school districts, police departments, and
             | the environment.
             | 
             | None of these Re overthrowing the government
        
         | tandymodel100 wrote:
         | > protesters racists and misogynists
         | 
         | That's probably because of the Nazi and Confederate flags
         | people are waving.
         | 
         | In my opinion, they should cry it out or quit given Canada's 1
         | dose vaccination rate is in the 80% range.
        
           | throwaway4aday wrote:
           | Last I heard, the convoy organizers put a bounty on the Nazi
           | flag guy for any information leading to his identification.
           | There is also video of protesters calling out the confederate
           | flag guy and telling him to leave. Two assholes showing up to
           | a protest don't represent the agenda of the entire group. The
           | BLM riots had a much higher asshole ratio last time I
           | checked.
        
           | blast wrote:
           | The video of the confederate flag guy shows that he was
           | shunned by the protestors.
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1487834109678395392
        
         | bko wrote:
         | I'm concerned about 1st amendment and the soft power
         | politicians have on freedom of speech (yes I know this is in
         | Canada). When the head politician of a country essentially
         | calls your group terrorist, wouldn't that put some pressure on
         | social media or other organizations to restrict access, money
         | or censor speech?
         | 
         | Not all violations of free speech are literally police sending
         | someone to jail for saying something. If the politicians
         | pressure private organizations to censor speech, resulting in
         | the speech being censored, then its absolutely a violation of
         | free speech
        
           | philistine wrote:
           | Yeah, we do not have what you think of in terms of freedom of
           | speech in Canada. A private corporation using their insured
           | property to audibly harass a city and blockade streets is not
           | considered freedom of speech in Canada.
           | 
           | Take away their toys and let them hold a protest with their
           | boots and parkas.
        
             | throwawaysea wrote:
             | Why does the insurance status of property matter? Why does
             | it matter if it belongs to a corporation (also don't many
             | truckers have their own trucks)? Do you also think
             | megaphones shouldn't be used to protest? What about
             | amplifying platforms like Twitter? I feel like the line
             | drawn in Canada is unprincipled, if it is as you describe,
             | since truckers are using their property and platform of
             | choice to enhance their protest, which fundamentally isn't
             | very different to me.
        
             | pseudo0 wrote:
             | Freedom of expression features prominently in the Canadian
             | Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is included in Section
             | 2, which details fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of
             | expression, freedom of association, and freedom of
             | assembly. It strains credulity to argue that this protest
             | somehow exceeds protest norms when bullhorns, drums,
             | honking, and other noisemaking has been a key part of
             | protests for decades.
        
               | ZoomerCretin wrote:
               | Civil disobedience was always a crime. Blocking streets
               | without a permit is a crime. Excessive noise making at
               | all hours of the day and night is a crime. These actions
               | don't become legal if you label them "protest".
        
           | culi wrote:
           | Remember when Trump called antifa a terrorist org? I hope
           | we've learned by now to stop taking the "terrorist" label
           | seriously
        
             | Ekaros wrote:
             | Antifa is a terrorist organization. They have political
             | goals that is fighting against political stance and they
             | are trying to achieve this by violence.
        
             | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
             | Just like people have stopped taking the "racist" label
             | seriously.
        
         | filed wrote:
        
           | filed wrote:
        
         | wesleywt wrote:
         | These people are protesting against vaccines. You are not on
         | the right side of this argument.
        
           | Clubber wrote:
           | >These people are protesting against vaccines. You are not on
           | the right side of this argument.
           | 
           | You aren't even getting the argument right. They are
           | protesting mandates. I can be pro-sterilization but anti
           | forced-sterilization. There is a _big_ difference. Enough to
           | drive a few trucks through.
        
           | buscoquadnary wrote:
           | No they are protesting vaccine mandates they are two very
           | different things.
        
           | sixothree wrote:
           | They're protesting public health in general. Not just
           | vaccines.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | Mikeb85 wrote:
           | They're protesting against mandates. Which most of the world
           | is lifting...
           | 
           | And I'm not on the truckers' side per se... But the response
           | from the government has been shocking and I'm sure as hell
           | not on the government's side.
           | 
           | For the record, I'm vaccinated. Not an anti-vaxxer. Literally
           | just went to Europe and came back. Getting out of and back
           | into Canada was the most onerous part of the trip.
        
             | folio8768473 wrote:
             | Just to be clear, the government of Canada doesn't mandate
             | vaccination of truckers, what it mandates is for non-
             | vaccinated individuals (which includes truckers) that are
             | entering Canada through the border that they must get
             | tested and quarantine on entry.
             | 
             | So if you can't prove vaccination on entry, you need to
             | have a proof of negative test and quarantine a few days.
             | 
             | I just want to point that out, because it seems the media
             | has taken to make it sound like the Canadian government
             | wants to force vaccinations on truckers, it doesn't, but
             | it's enforcing safety measures around border entry, and
             | depending on your vaccination status, those measures are
             | possibly more inconvenient.
             | 
             | The other thing I want to bring up is that in Canada, the
             | government, and I'm turn the tax payers, they subsidize and
             | pay for medical treatment of people who have COVID and need
             | treatment.
             | 
             | So it makes more sense that you'd want to make sure people
             | take necessary preventative measures, otherwise you're
             | having tax payers pay the bill.
             | 
             | Some people in Canada are even suggesting that instead of
             | such preventative measures, if people want to be allowed to
             | take their own risk, then the treatment for COVID for
             | individuals that didn't take preventative precautions
             | shouldn't be offered to them for free and shouldn't be
             | prioritized over other medical interventions. But this is
             | pretty extreme as well, and while reasonable, Canadians
             | don't really want to just let someone in need of medical
             | treatment to not be able to get it. So the general
             | sentiment is that you'd rather make sure everyone is taking
             | necessary precautions and cover people who need treatment
             | no matter what. But as people push back on precautions, the
             | idea to be stricter on who gets access to subsidized
             | treatment will probably become more and more popular,
             | especially with regards to vaccination status.
        
               | throwaway4aday wrote:
               | That requirement is equivalent to barring them from their
               | profession. It's also an absurd requirement for someone
               | who spends the majority of their working time alone. If
               | it's such a sensible requirement then why aren't we
               | mandating that all grocery store workers be vaccinated or
               | be required to self-isolate for 2 weeks after each shift?
               | Why not mandate it for all professions that involve face
               | to face contact?
        
           | alea_iacta_est wrote:
           | Are you sure you are on the right side of the argument
           | yourself?
           | 
           | Suppose next year, the government mandate that you lose
           | weight, or stop smoking or run everyday, all that of course
           | for the "greater good". And then the year after that, it
           | requires that you give pills to your children because that
           | makes them "less indisciplined" and so on and so forth.
           | 
           | Stop being so certain and think a little bit. By accepting
           | this mandate we're not only accepting this jab, we're
           | accepting all the future crazy ideas that the government will
           | come with.
        
             | pessimizer wrote:
             | I can't catch fat. Suppose next year, people who are
             | asymptomatic typhoid carriers aren't allowed to work in
             | food service.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon
        
             | stirfish wrote:
             | That's a pretty cool slippery slope you just constructed.
             | You've almost convinced me, but you forgot to tell me that
             | they'll take my guns and make me gay.
        
             | Ekaros wrote:
        
               | stirfish wrote:
        
               | NationalPark wrote:
               | This strikes me as a false equivalency made in bad faith.
        
               | infamouscow wrote:
        
             | criley2 wrote:
             | This is a classic slippery slope argument. Losing weight is
             | not the same thing as a pandemic like this. The two-fold
             | reason that these measures are taken is A) over-filling of
             | hospitals and shut-down of all non-emergency services and
             | B) extremely high death rate. Smoking or whatever scary
             | slippery slope you think we're on is not the same thing as
             | the ICU's filling up way over capacity and hundreds of
             | thousands of people dropping dead that normally wouldn't.
             | 
             | The idea that we should be against common-sense measures to
             | promote herd immunity during a very real pandemic because
             | "the government will make you stop smoking" is frankly an
             | outrageously claim.
             | 
             | It's long been held, since at least America began, that
             | herd immunity is vital to the success and security of a
             | nation. Our militaries require these vaccinations because a
             | fighting force must be healthy. Our schools require these
             | vaccines because sick kids and sick cities don't learn.
             | 
             | The idea that a vaccine mandate is anything more than a
             | century-old, bog-standard, completely required part of the
             | human war against disease is a radical and anti-civilized
             | position. Herd immunity is non-negotiable for our level of
             | modern society to exist.
             | 
             | I swear, we are killing ourselves. Dense civilization
             | requires trade offs, and in the war against pandemic
             | disease, that does include vaccination.
        
               | stirfish wrote:
               | This thread doesn't deserve your patience, and yet we are
               | still blessed by this comment. We could all (myself
               | included) try to be more like you.
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Ok so what about lockdowns then?
        
               | naasking wrote:
               | > ICU's filling up way over capacity and hundreds of
               | thousands of people dropping dead that normally wouldn't
               | 
               | This claim is mostly overblown at this point. It was a
               | legitimate concern early on, but it hasn't been true for
               | some time.
               | 
               | The vaccine claims are also misleading. Herd immunity by
               | vaccination is not the only way to protect society, and
               | the distinct lack of discussion or recognition of
               | immunity from infection is conspicuous. COVID's infection
               | fatality rate for certain cohorts is low enough that
               | vaccination isn't strictly needed, and arguably taking a
               | different tack on this could potentially have saved far
               | more lives.
               | 
               | For instance, consider if we had only isolated and
               | vaccinated those at greatest risk of death and
               | complications from COVID (40 and older,
               | immunocompromised, comorbidities), and then _shipped the
               | remaining vaccine supply to the third world_ to suppress
               | the emergence of variants. We might not have had Delta or
               | Omicron at all. It 's not at all clear that this would
               | not have saved more people in the long run.
               | 
               | Beating this vaccine mandate drum is blinding people to
               | other rational solutions. It's not going to end well.
               | This convoy is probably only the beginning.
        
               | seized wrote:
               | As someone who works in a healthcare type field and with
               | a nurse in the family... No, it's not overblown.
        
               | naasking wrote:
               | Availability of ICU beds here in Ontario has basically
               | been flat since September, with a slight reduction
               | recently due to Omicron:
               | 
               | https://covid-19.ontario.ca/data/hospitalizations
               | 
               | Furthermore, unvaccinated people are occupying fewer beds
               | than vaccinated people in terms of numbers. Even if they
               | all got vaccinated, we'd be basically in exactly the same
               | place, so how do you expect vaccine mandates to help
               | here?
        
               | tkamat29 wrote:
               | The reason Ontario (and Canada in general) is doing well
               | is because they have a much higher vaccination rate and a
               | healthier population in general. In the US, the high
               | numbers of hospitalization and death are overwhelmingly
               | unvaccinated and/or extremely unhealthy individuals.
               | Also, comparing absolute numbers is disingenuous when the
               | vaccination rate is so high.
        
               | criley2 wrote:
               | It's not overblown all across America where the omicron
               | wave did once again force ICU to capacity and cause the
               | cancellation of non-emergency care across the country.
               | 
               | Herd immunity by vaccination is the only way to protect
               | society without requiring infection, which fills
               | hospitals and leads to deaths. Vaccination means you're
               | about 40x less likely to be hospitalized or die, which
               | saves our health system. Do you honestly believe there
               | should be more discussion of infection immunity as a
               | solution, when it results in 40X more hospitalization and
               | death? I've seen anti-vaxxers call public health
               | officials "genociders" for decisions far less death-
               | causing than that.
               | 
               | If you think the vaccine mandate is why this convoy
               | happened, instead of conservative fake news creating vast
               | conspiracy theories from the "NWO" to "Q-ANON", funded by
               | conservatives billionaires and the governments of
               | multiple countries, to help destabilize and bring down
               | the west, then to each their own. But how many Americans
               | are among them? How many fans do they have abroad? It's
               | not about Canadian mandates, it's about the global right
               | wing conspiracy movement.
               | 
               | But I do not believe that the vaccine anti-mandate stuff
               | is anything more than todays convenient whip for the very
               | powerful forces of conservative media control to use to
               | continue their war after Trump lost. Just another issue
               | politicized for convenience, as until conservative media
               | flipped the switch, vaccine hesitancy was almost entirely
               | left-wing. Even in America anti-vaccination attitudes on
               | the right did not start until post-election and post-
               | vaccine rollout, and there's a large group of vaccinated
               | conservatives who regret it because now it's seen as a
               | mistake in that ideology.
        
             | seized wrote:
             | No, that's absurd. You need to think a bit first. Those
             | things are more easily taxed to "solve". And you being fat
             | doesn't impact me in the least, unless I am unfortunately
             | stuck next to you on a plane. I can't catch it from you. So
             | that isn't comparable to COVID.
             | 
             | Notice how smoking has long been regulated and limited, but
             | not banned? That slippery slope argument doesn't work
             | either.
             | 
             | And the bit about giving kids pills is paranoid nonsense.
             | And ironically, kids have had required vaccines for a very
             | long time. With no sliding down any slopes.
        
             | krapp wrote:
             | >By accepting this mandate we're not only accepting this
             | jab, we're accepting all the future crazy ideas that the
             | government will come with.
             | 
             | No we're not. Accepting mandates doesn't somehow force
             | everyone to automatically accept anything any politician
             | claims or does in the future. That's not how _anything_
             | works.
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | > That's not how anything works.
               | 
               | That's how everything works, it's called a precedent.
        
               | batty wrote:
               | That's not even how a precedent works.
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Oxford definition: "an earlier event or action that is
               | regarded as an example or guide to be considered in
               | subsequent similar circumstances."
        
               | giaour wrote:
               | The operative word there is "similar."
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Yes, similar as in "if we don't do that,
               | insert_whatever_crazy_idea_here, we're gonna overwhelm
               | the hospitals!!!"
               | 
               | Because it's been the justification from day 1: "not
               | overwhelm hospitals".
        
               | giaour wrote:
               | Yeah, that's not how precedent works. Precedent is used
               | to justify the means, not to point out that past actions
               | had the same or similar ends.
        
               | giaour wrote:
               | In this case, the precedent would be *vaccine mandates*,
               | not government-mandated kale with every meal.
               | 
               | You're conflating mandates for which there are precedents
               | with completely novel and exotic government actions.
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Exotic like what, lockdowns for example? How crazy of
               | me...
        
               | giaour wrote:
               | Quarantines are not a novel or exotic public health
               | measure. Try again.
               | 
               | You specifically called out the government making you
               | quit smoking or forcing you to eat better in your
               | original post.
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Lockdown and quarantine are very different.
               | 
               | And it's you who mentionned "completely novel and exotic
               | government actions", to which I point out that it's
               | already happened with lockdowns.
               | 
               | There's nothing in history that resemble what has
               | happened in those last 2 years, whether you agree or not
               | won't change that fact.
        
               | giaour wrote:
               | My dude, "nothing in history" is a very strong statement.
               | You should read up about what state actors did to limit
               | the spread of the plague. I'm sure someone could find
               | something older, but lockdowns are attested to as a
               | public health measure since at least ~500 BCE (whenever
               | Leviticus was written).
               | 
               | I don't feel like you're engaging in good faith, so I'm
               | going to go ahead and quit responding.
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Keep your condescending tone for your friends "my dude".
        
               | RayRayRah wrote:
               | 1918 had some cities implement lockdowns as a response to
               | the rapidly spreading Spanish Flu. And then there were
               | anti-lockdown protests which caused some cities to lift
               | their lockdowns early and the virus surged. Business
               | owners also railed against the lockdowns, and were
               | sometimes successful in getting them lifted.
               | 
               | There was a similar situation with mandatory masks, and
               | then loud anti-mask protests which resulted in the
               | lifting of some mask mandates.
               | 
               | What happened over the past two years has happened
               | before, and will probably happen again. You can find
               | examples of lockdowns in other pandemic eras. Venice
               | partially locked down in 1575 due to the plague.
               | 
               | You may disagree with lockdowns, but there's plenty of
               | precedent. Your "fact" is incorrect.
               | 
               | https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-
               | citie...
               | 
               | https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/breaking-
               | poin...
               | 
               | https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/historical-precedents-
               | lock...
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Your last link says it all: "COVID-19 has triggered
               | lockdown measures for billions of people around the
               | world."
               | 
               | A lockdown at such a scale never happened before covid.
               | Your "counter-fact" is incorrect.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | There's literally people in this thread that are
               | justifying vaccine mandates because we had them before.
        
               | culi wrote:
               | In order to show that literally it turned out fine. It
               | didn't turn into us being mandated to lose weight or
               | whatever that commentator is scared of happening
               | 
               | It's justification for the sake of allaying that
               | commentator's fears. Most people that support the mandate
               | support it because it makes sense and they've thought
               | about it. In fact, I'd wager that those who are against
               | the mandate are more often susceptible to being
               | brainwashed than those who are enthusiastically for it
        
               | alea_iacta_est wrote:
               | Let's see, those for freedom and individual choice would
               | be more brainwashed that those against?
               | 
               | Interesting theory.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | defaultname wrote:
         | "Prime Minister has called the protesters racists and
         | misogynists."
         | 
         | He didn't. This is absurd.
         | 
         | "Probably inspiring someone who ran over some protesters in
         | Winnipeg."
         | 
         | There is absolutely zero indication of this, and this is
         | another _absurd_ claim. All indications are that this was
         | effective _road rage_ because some guy on a commute suddenly
         | found a rowdy crowd blocking his path.
         | 
         | "Canadian news and politicians are desperately trying to
         | denounce the protesters"
         | 
         | Most of Canada is over mandates. Omicron transmits even among
         | the fully vaccinated. Most of us have had our vaccinations and
         | want to move past it. Every poll shows this. Yet this farcical
         | "protest" does not _remotely_ represent Canada.
         | 
         | Just to be clear for anyone confused, the protest organizers
         | are a _separatist_ (see all those Canadian flags? Pretty ironic
         | given the primary organizer wants the West of Canada to join
         | the US) and a long-time white supremacist. That is fact. Their
         | stated goal is that the government resign en mass and somehow
         | decree that _they_ are the new government. If you watched any
         | feed of these protesters, or the people who support them, it is
         | just the most reprehensible, ignorant pablum imaginable.
         | 
         | I have absolutely no doubt that there are a lot of good people
         | involved in these protests. But they have drawn in such a
         | cross-section of absolute nuttery that it is impossible to view
         | in a good light.
        
           | Mikeb85 wrote:
           | > "Prime Minister has called the protesters racists and
           | misogynists."
           | 
           | > He didn't. This is absurd.
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1488660359422648320.
           | ..
           | 
           | He did. Also said it a bunch of times in person.
        
             | faeriechangling wrote:
             | Notably parliament refused to universally denounce
             | blackface as well because the Prime Minister had a bit of a
             | scandal.
        
             | multjoy wrote:
             | Was he wrong, though?
        
             | defaultname wrote:
             | No, he didn't. A _unanimous_ declaration by members of
             | parliament (incredibly rare) denounced events happening in
             | the shroud of the protests. And they are really happening!
             | 
             | If someone denounces looting at a BLM protest -- also
             | something that happened -- does that mean every BLM
             | protester is a looter? That is absurd.
        
               | ratsmack wrote:
               | Tweeting it out on his personal account condones the
               | thought, which is just like saying it himself.
        
               | Mikeb85 wrote:
               | > If someone denounces looting at a BLM protest -- also
               | something that happened -- does that mean every BLM
               | protester is a looter? That is absurd.
               | 
               | Of course not. Just like the presence of extremists at a
               | rally doesn't mean everyone's an extremist. If you've
               | followed Trudeau at all through these events, he's
               | constantly painted all protesters as extremists...
        
               | defaultname wrote:
               | The things the PM says "in person" are widely reported
               | on. You alluded to them multiple times in hopes of
               | portraying your claim correct, but the single bit of
               | proof you've provided shows absolutely _nothing_ of the
               | sort.
        
       | TulliusCicero wrote:
       | Why do people have to request refunds? Shouldn't they able to do
       | that automatically?
        
         | fourneau wrote:
         | My gut feeling is that GFM wanted to keep their tips, and this
         | was a "good" way of doing so.
         | 
         | However it's also a little complicated since some of the money
         | has been dispersed to the organizers (most of which went to
         | Tamara Lich, according to the GFM page.) I guess they'll
         | prorate the refunds or absorb the loss?
        
           | lowlevel wrote:
           | Yeah, I'm calling visa to try and do a chargeback. I expected
           | the money to go to the cause, and not be refunded less a
           | 'tip'.
        
             | sixothree wrote:
             | A good cause would be a public health initiative.
        
         | filed wrote:
        
         | bink wrote:
         | The article says they've changed their stance and that's
         | exactly what they're doing.
        
           | NeverFade wrote:
           | They "changed their stance" after DeSantis initiated a fraud
           | investigation against them for their original "stance".
        
             | culi wrote:
             | DeSantis initiated this after they changed their stance.
             | This is purely a political move. Just go check out
             | patriots.win (the successor to /r/thedonald). They're still
             | completely convinced that GFM took all the money and is
             | giving it to BLM. I'm not even being hyperbolic, check it
             | out
             | 
             | DeSantis probably just picked up on the rightwing twitter
             | chatter and is trying to ride the wave
        
               | d0gsg0w00f wrote:
               | The original thedonald.win was shut down by legal
               | pressure from the White House. Patriots.win appears to be
               | just the extremists from the old platform.
        
               | culi wrote:
               | No... I was following along with thedonald.win for a long
               | time. They were preparing for a transition to
               | patriots.win for months before they ditched the old
               | domain. It came from some letter of Trump's who vaguely
               | hinted towards starting a new party called the "Patriots
               | Party". Obviously that never came to pass, but the name
               | stuck
               | 
               | It's literally the exact same platform, style, users,
               | posts, etc. Nothing got "shut down"
        
             | throwaway48375 wrote:
             | They also received a massive amount of chargebacks
             | precipitating this decision.
        
             | 88j88 wrote:
             | the article says the opposite, that the investigation
             | started after it was announced they would be refunded
             | automatically.
        
       | s5300 wrote:
       | Is this essentially going to be an investigation in which they
       | find that which has made people butthurt is something they signed
       | away in the terms & conditions they never read? Seems like it.
       | Good on GoFundMe.
        
         | nell wrote:
         | Who reads t&c? Gofundme exists because people fund campaigns
         | they want to. They can point to their T&C and say hard luck.
         | But they won't exist for long with that response. Existence of
         | any business is not a law of nature. If they mess with their
         | user base, they will cease to exist.
        
         | betwixthewires wrote:
         | Terms and conditions aren't bulletproof. Contrary to popular
         | belief (among socialists in particular for some reason),
         | corporations _cannot_ do whatever they want. If something is
         | illegal, no amount of fine print can make it not illegal.
        
         | Natsu wrote:
         | GoFundMe has already backed away from this new policy and will
         | refund directly, so it's honestly probably moot at this point.
         | 
         | But this idea of donating to other charities unless a refund is
         | requested appears to be something novel. As far as I can tell,
         | it's something they came up with, then backed away from, just
         | for this incident specifically.
        
         | RHSeeger wrote:
         | If you put in big letters "Contribute to <this>" and then,
         | somewhere totally else, in tiny letters amid 15,000 other tiny
         | letters, put "but we may take your money and contribute it to
         | anything we like"... then you are NOT the good guy. You are
         | swindling the user and a lot of people are of the opinion that
         | this is exactly the kind of situation the government should
         | step in on.
         | 
         | Alternatively, make the 15,000 tiny letters illegal, and
         | require products to specify in clear, easily understandable
         | language what the user is agreeing to; with the ability to
         | return whatever it is if they do not agree with it.
        
       | olliej wrote:
       | I hate both the protest group and desantis but honestly he's
       | right.
       | 
       | The only reason gofundme (or any org with similar practices) do
       | this is because they know that _some_ people will miss the
       | deadline, and the it becomes pure profit.
        
         | culi wrote:
         | GoFundMe almost immediately changed their policy and instead
         | directly refunded everyone
         | 
         | If this was a matter of politics, I think their politics would
         | actually push them to make this decision more because the
         | alternative was to make the organization that organized it
         | choose another charity to give it to. That charity would likely
         | be something that does not align with the politics of the
         | average GFM employee
        
           | throwaway4aday wrote:
           | They changed their policy after it kicked off a massive
           | internet shitstorm. It's no excuse for their initial,
           | blatantly antipathic announcement.
        
         | seanw444 wrote:
         | Hate is a pretty strong word for people resisting government
         | overreach.
        
           | lkxijlewlf wrote:
        
             | Clubber wrote:
        
               | culi wrote:
        
               | Clubber wrote:
        
           | 8note wrote:
           | It's a reasonable word for people bullying a homeless shelter
           | though. There's always some nuance
        
         | cpncrunch wrote:
         | Did you not read the article? There is no deadline. All
         | donations are going to be automatically refunded.
        
           | throwawayay02 wrote:
           | After GoFundMe's cut of course.
        
             | culi wrote:
             | ...This is just incorrect.
        
             | gnicholas wrote:
             | Really? My reading was that the donations will be refunded
             | in their entirety.
             | 
             | I will say that I find GoFundMe's tactics around fees to be
             | distasteful. It's been a while, but I recall having
             | selected a donation amount and then being asked to pay an
             | extra fee "so the charity doesn't have to bear this burden"
             | or some such thing. Basically they just wanted to increase
             | the donation amount (which increases their fee), and they
             | were using guilt as a tactic.
        
           | olliej wrote:
           | That wasn't the case when I read the article. They changed
           | their policy _after_ being threatened with legal action.
        
           | wrycoder wrote:
           | That was not their original plan. They saw the pushback
           | coming from many fronts.
        
             | cpncrunch wrote:
             | Indeed, and the article mentions that too.
        
       | tamaharbor wrote:
        
         | UncleMeat wrote:
         | Communist countries famously have private businesses collect
         | and distribute money with little state oversight or control by
         | the people.
        
           | 16012022 wrote:
        
             | malermeister wrote:
             | I'm pretty sure parent was being sarcastic...
        
         | 6510 wrote:
         | What is? Using donations for other purposes of your own
         | choosing or the government telling you you cant?
        
         | imwillofficial wrote:
         | Yeah, before you call on a moratorium on downvoting, at least
         | explain your position in a comprehensible way.
        
         | croes wrote:
         | There wouldn't be any thing like GoFundme or protesters in a
         | communist country, at least not for a long time.
         | 
         | So no, it's not like in communist countries.
        
           | pupdogg wrote:
           | Going from a Democracy to a Communist State is not a matter
           | off flipping a digital bit from 0 to 1...what you see
           | happening is what happens in the transitory stage!
        
             | croes wrote:
             | Where? In the US is nothing remotely communist.
        
       | PierceJoy wrote:
       | The blatant misinformation is this thread is astounding.
       | 
       | If you think this is "just a protest", you don't live in Ottawa
       | and have no clue what's going on
       | 
       | If you think vaccines are being forced on anyone, you have no
       | clue what's going on in Canada.
       | 
       | If you think GFM planned to "steal" the money, you clearly have
       | no clue that the organizer's plan called for excess funds to be
       | given to charities.
       | 
       | The comments in this thread read like a typical unhinged Fox News
       | comment section. To see this crap on HN is so disappointing.
        
         | gjsman-1000 wrote:
         | Define "forced." Your answer will speak volumes.
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
           | Your comment already spoke volumes. Remember when
           | conservatives used to talk about choices having consequences?
           | Funny how they they don't seem to like that concept when it's
           | inconvenient for them.
        
             | gjsman-1000 wrote:
             | Choices do have consequences, but that does not mean those
             | consequences are just, or that someone can just say those
             | are the consequences take-it-or-suffer.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | Like I said, we've had vaccine and testing requirements
               | for many jobs for decades. No one lost their mind. You
               | are being manipulated by right wing politicians.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | What we did in the past does not negate the right for
               | anyone to be skeptical about future inventions and
               | developments.
               | 
               | Also, it is very presumptive of you to believe that I
               | must listen to or am swayed by politicians to hold such
               | beliefs.
        
           | gjsman-1000 wrote:
           | Okay, you've defined forced elsewhere:
           | 
           | "That is not being forced. That is called choice. Choices
           | have consequences."
           | 
           | That's literally forced but in an nonviolent matter. Kind of
           | like how people can be correctly be called "forced" to file
           | tax returns in the US.
           | 
           | They are forced, stop playing word games.
        
             | PierceJoy wrote:
             | I'm not familiar with the US tax laws, but in Canada if you
             | don't file a tax return and don't owe money, there are no
             | consequences. If you owe money, and do not pay, eventually
             | you will end up in jail. That's actually being forced, and
             | makes this a terrible analogy.
             | 
             | If someone is fired from the military for not getting a
             | non-covid vaccine, are they being forced to get the
             | vaccine?
             | 
             | They are not being forced. Stop playing word games.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please omit flamewar swipes from your comments here.
               | 
               | Your comment would be fine without the last sentence.
               | 
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | In the US, _everyone_ must file a tax return if they have
               | anything over $12,000+ in income. If you don't, you could
               | get arrested. That is rightfully called forced, because
               | the threat is that you will lose your livelihood if you
               | don't file. Nobody would call living in jail a real
               | choice.
               | 
               | Similarly, if you don't take the vaccine, you are also
               | losing your livelihood in the military, possibly having
               | no way to provide for your family outside the military,
               | and this can be rightfully called forced.
        
             | pixl97 wrote:
             | "Libertarians forced to use public highways. Oh the
             | humanity"
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | blast wrote:
         | As I understand it, the convoy was sparked by a decree that
         | truckers crossing the US/Canada border would have to either be
         | vaccinated or go into 14 days of quarantine. The latter would
         | effectively take away the livelihood of anyone whose job
         | involved doing that frequently. I don't think it's very useful
         | to argue that taking away someone's livelihood isn't "force",
         | or to argue that people are just "choosing" to lose their
         | livelihood. Sure it's not physical force but it's a pretty
         | extreme level of coercion, and it's perfectly easy to
         | understand both why people in that position would turn to their
         | democratic right to protest, and also why a whole lot of
         | vaccinated and pro-vaccine people would support them.
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
           | Your only taking away someone's livelihood if being an
           | unvaccinated trucker is their only option. The vast majority
           | of jobs in Canada do not require a vaccine. Choices have
           | consequences.
           | 
           | Mandatory school vaccinations, mandatory military
           | vaccinations, mandatory drug testing in many jobs, etc. Why
           | did no one lose their minds over those things?
        
             | rabuse wrote:
             | "Just learn to code bro" energy.
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | Just for your information "bro":
               | 
               | Big Canadian company that does much software development
               | has sent mail to their (never mind employees) but
               | subcontracting companies - get vaccinated or you are out.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | You do know there are many more jobs in Canada than
               | coding, right?
        
             | blast wrote:
             | I think you've effectively conceded the point here. Losing
             | one's job is generally understood to be a catastrophic
             | outcome for people in our society, especially when someone
             | has been doing that job for a long time (and perhaps also
             | doesn't have the educational level to get another job at
             | anything close to the same compensation). It follows that
             | "do X or you're fired" is a form of force or coercion. In
             | fact that's so obvious in general that to narrow the
             | definition of "force" to exclude it seems to be a case of
             | special pleading. Threatening someone with a severe
             | material consequence and then saying "it's not force
             | because it's your choice" isn't an argument most people are
             | going to accept, and I find it interesting that you're
             | resorting to it, because it's surely not the strongest
             | argument for your position.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > Losing one's job is generally understood to be a
               | catastrophic outcome for people in our society,
               | especially when someone has been doing that job for a
               | long time (and perhaps also doesn't have the educational
               | level to get another job at anything close to the same
               | compensation)
               | 
               | I haven't seen any mass protests about at-will
               | employment. Why not?
               | 
               | > It follows that "do X or you're fired" is a form of
               | force or coercion.
               | 
               | But we've had these things around for decades. Vaccines
               | have been required in other jobs, tests have been
               | required for jobs, and yet no mass protests. Why not?
               | 
               | > Threatening someone with a severe material consequence
               | and then saying "it's not force because it's your choice"
               | isn't an argument most people are going to accept, and I
               | find it interesting that you're resorting to it, because
               | it's surely not the strongest argument for your position.
               | 
               | It actually is the strongest argument, because it's true.
               | No one is being forced.
        
               | bdowling wrote:
               | > I haven't seen any mass protests about at-will
               | employment. Why not?
               | 
               | The cases are not comparable because if an at-will
               | employee loses a job with one employer, the employee can
               | often find a job with another employer.
               | 
               | > Vaccines have been required in other jobs, tests have
               | been required for jobs, and yet no mass protests. Why
               | not?
               | 
               | The cases are not comparable because, as far as I know,
               | there is no testing option in the Canadian regulation.
               | Also, as far as I know, there is no exception made to the
               | 14-day quarantine period for those who cannot be
               | vaccinated because of either a negative reaction to a
               | prior vaccine or deeply held religious convictions.
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | It is typical hypocritical government logic. That's what
               | they say when fucking up one's life:
               | 
               | Gov: it is not a punishment.
               | 
               | Victim: But, but ...
               | 
               | Gov: Sorry but it is your problem / choice / insert your
               | favorite hypocritical BS
        
             | gjsman-1000 wrote:
             | This vaccine uses a different technology than all previous
             | vaccines. It bears almost nothing in common technologically
             | with previous vaccines.
             | 
             | As such extra skepticism is permissible.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | This is just vaccine misinformation. Anti vaxxers will
               | already have some excuse for why "this" vaccine is
               | different.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | This is scientific fact. mRNA is completely different in
               | operation than older degraded-virus vaccines, and to say
               | otherwise is misinformation.
               | 
               | The only things they have in common is the name and the
               | end goal.
        
               | seized wrote:
               | A year or more ago, sure, a bit of skepticism is fine.
               | 
               | At this point it's been well shown that it's safe and
               | that being unvaccinated is much more dangerous.
               | 
               | Time to grow up.
        
               | gjsman-1000 wrote:
               | It is not scientifically possible to show that any
               | substance is completely safe after one year. Anyone who
               | says otherwise is selling you something.
               | 
               | There are countless compounds (mercury, lead, smoking
               | particles) which take years to show their harm and were
               | once considered safe by science.
               | 
               | Do I think the vaccine will join those ranks? No, but I
               | don't want to oversell it's safety either.
        
             | rizTay wrote:
        
             | _dain_ wrote:
             | >Choices have consequences.
             | 
             | Yes, the powers that be chose to force an unnecessary
             | vaccine on working class people, and this is the
             | consequence.
             | 
             | Can we quit using this sinister thought-terminating cliche?
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > Yes, the powers that be chose to force an unnecessary
               | vaccine on working class people
               | 
               | No one was forced to get a vaccine. Period.
        
               | _dain_ wrote:
               | "Do X or you're fired" -- this is coercion by any
               | reasonable definition. If you think it's easy to just
               | "get another job", you are speaking from a position of
               | immense economic privilege. It's tantamount to "let them
               | eat cake".
               | 
               | Urbanites will regret their fickle treatment of the key
               | workers who provide them with food and Amazon deliveries.
        
               | PierceJoy wrote:
               | > "Do X or you're fired" -- this is coercion by any
               | reasonable definition.
               | 
               | Do X or you're fired is literally the basis for all
               | employment.
               | 
               | > If you think it's easy to just "get another job", you
               | are speaking from a position of immense economic
               | privilege. It's tantamount to "let them eat cake".
               | 
               | Demand for labour is immense right now. I'm sure you've
               | noticed. People are fired all the time for a number of
               | reasons.
               | 
               | > Urbanites will regret their fickle treatment of the key
               | workers who provide them with food and Amazon deliveries.
               | 
               | They won't, because the vast majority of truckers are
               | vaccinated, working, and against this occupation.
        
         | pessimizer wrote:
         | > If you think GFM planned to "steal" the money, you clearly
         | have no clue that the organizer's plan called for excess funds
         | to be given to charities.
         | 
         | So Gofundme gets to turn all the funds into "excess" funds?
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
           | You're surprised GFM refused to fund an occupation of the
           | nation's capitol?
           | 
           | The charities were being selected by the organizers.
        
           | culi wrote:
           | Per GFM's standard procedures, which the organizers agreed to
           | when setting up the gofundme, when a gfm gets cancelled,
           | donators have a certain amount of time to ask for refunds.
           | The leftover money that wasn't refunded goes to charities of
           | the choosing of the organizers of the gfm
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | FpUser wrote:
         | >"If you think vaccines are being forced on anyone, you have no
         | clue what's going on in Canada."
         | 
         | Yes vaccines are being forced - how else a threat to loose your
         | job can be called. And yes I live in Canada.
         | 
         | >"you don't live in Ottawa and have no clue what's going on"
         | 
         | Do we have a clue about what's really going on in the rest of
         | the world? We do not but it never stops people including HN
         | crowd from judging. I bet you are guilty of that too.
        
           | PierceJoy wrote:
           | > Yes vaccines are being forced - how else a threat to loose
           | your job can be called. And yes I live in Canada.
           | 
           | I call that a choice. Parent's have a choice to vaccinate or
           | homeschool. Military members have a choice to non-covid
           | vaccine or not be a service member. No one was losing their
           | minds over that.
           | 
           | There are many jobs available that don't require a vaccine.
           | 
           | > Do we have a clue about what's really going on in the rest
           | of the world?
           | 
           | We can just listen to people who live in Ottawa. Among
           | others, the mayor has been pretty clear what's going on.
        
         | rizTay wrote:
        
         | diego_moita wrote:
         | The irony of it all is that all this noise is just for American
         | consumption.
         | 
         | Trudeau and the Liberals are loving the damage "The Honkening"
         | causes to the Conservative brand. Erin O'Toole spent the last
         | election trying to convince Canadians that the Conservative
         | Party of Canada is civilized and not a tribe from Trumpistan.
         | 
         | That has all gone down the drain, the CPC kicked O'Toole out
         | and the party is about to swallow the Trump bait, hook and
         | line. Even populist conservatives like Doug Ford (Ontario's
         | premier) can see this.
         | 
         | Meanwhile, the Liberal Party of Canada is just giggling and
         | partying as quietly as they can contain themselves.
        
       | [deleted]
        
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