The news is packed with stories about the Canadian truck drivers protesting against a vaccine order (Wikipedia). Premier Blackface (Justin Trudeau) says that, while Canadians have some right to free speech, to assemble, and to protest against the government, the truck drivers are engaging in “hate speech” and therefore these rights do not apply.
Since the Canadian government has all of the guns, I’m assuming that #Science will prevail and the drivers will eventually be forced to accept vaccination or to leave the workforce (not as attractive a proposition as in the U.S. because the Canadian welfare system is far less generous and lifetime “means-tested” everything is tougher to obtain; Canadian family courts are a great option, however, for those who want spending power without engaging in wage labor (but the typical truck driver might not be a successful plaintiff)).
My question for today is why #Science requires that truck drivers be vaccinated. If they’re sitting or sleeping in their trucks 95 percent of the time, do they have enough contact with other humans to make their vaccination status of interest to anyone else? (let’s assume for the sake of this argument that COVID-19 vaccines substantially reduce infection risk from Omicron and whatever additional variants develop)
How many close contacts can a truck driver have if he/she/ze/they is working? (and, given the shortage of trucking that we’ve heard about, aren’t most truck drivers working at least full time?) Walking into a truck stop to use the restroom isn’t comparable to working all day in an office, store, or school with fellow employees and customers.
Why does Science require that the handful of heretics be dragged out of their cabs and stuck with a needle?
Related:
- countries ranked by vaccination rate (Canada is near the top)
- plague in Canada (the same Omicron spike as everywhere else, with deaths at the same rate as during two previous peaks)
- my 1993 trip to Ottawa (includes the below photo of the National Gallery of Canada, which “temporarily closed its doors to the public” for truckmageddon after being closed for more than a year for coronapanic)
The best way to answer this question directly is to visit a heavily-frequented truck stop with well-maintained showers and a steady stream of truckers and vehicles, like the Pilot that exists at the intersection of I-84, MA and CT state lines. There is an almost ceaseless supply of truckers who are:
1) Taking required rest stops
2) Using that time for shower and meal breaks
3) Very minimal recreation
Most long-distance truck driving from what I’ve been able to learn is a lonely and isolated job. The people who do it have to be able to withstand days of almost endless self-isolation. They are already effectively self-quarantined, even without positive COVID testing to proclaim it. It’s rare for long-haul truck drivers to directly interact with the public, so I expect that they are, proportionally speaking, even less likely than politicians to become virus vectors, and if they do come down with COVID, they are less likely than many other groups of workers to transmit it. They are not the ‘problem.’
It may be that their general health is a problem, because most drivers I know suffer from lower back and leg pain, various kinds of skeletal pain, and so forth. Despite the comfort and convenience features of modern long-haul rigs, these folks are basically already isolated in their vehicles for many, many hours out of their lives. And it is a job where they are almost completely monitored electronically already. Just as a foretaste – talk to an Amazon driver in one of the panel trucks they use for local deliveries. I met one guy the other night (we were both wearing masks) and I asked him: “Are these trucks speed-limited?”
“Oh, yeah man. They cannot go over 65 MPH and the whole route is monitored all the time.”
“So if you try to break the speed limit on a local road by going 45 in a 35 they’ll penalize you?”
“Yes and that is why everyone goes exactly the speed limit.”
“I hate that because in my car I can’t get around you in a lot of places.”
“We know but there’s nothing we can do about it or we’ll lose our jobs. We also don’t pull over for you to pass because that doesn’t look good either. The truck is monitored continuously.”
“God bless you, brother. That would make me crazy.”
And no, the restrooms at truck stops are NOT comparable to other places. Stop in at a busy one sometime, request a shower and find out for yourself. I’m thinking of doing it just for the documentary experience.
There is no reason for forced vaccination of truckers. The other main issue of the protests are increased and automatic tracking of the truckers’ phones at borders.
I think many Western oligarchies like Canada are envious of the Chinese system with its sophisticated control of its subjects. COVID-19 provides an excellent excuse for normalizing tighter surveillance. The surveillance does not apply to the Canadian “elites” or to Chinese party member friends buying up half of Vancouver.
For the climate change hawks, restricting and obstructing travel is another bonus. Continue enough fracking on stolen land to fuel the Gulfstreams of the “elites”, but constrain the movements of the unwashed masses.
Related: Why I Reject Indigenous Land Acknowledgments
The only scientific reason I’ve seen for this sort of thing is “to eliminate the control group.”
> My question for today is why #Science requires that truck drivers be vaccinated.
The people writing the rule don’t want to think about what makes sense for each person or group. They want to make simple rules. Simple rules are easier to explain, and easier to enforce.
A great book on this topic:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State
It would be MUCH simpler to eliminate these simple rules together with people who make them.
> It would be MUCH simpler to eliminate these simple rules together with people who make them.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” -Upton Sinclair
I would have to check the stats but I think a large majority of truckers have obesity from a sedentary job along with high sodium / high sugar slop at the truck stops. Making them more vulnerable to Covid. And if the truckers get the Covid then that slows down the truckers, which can mean empty store shelves and another toilet paper apocalypse.
Paul – huge kudos for trying to apply logic to government action! I guess some of 4 year olds may also qualify (seen em chubby) and require the vaccine!
Why is in-lawing vaccines on the table but out-lawing sugar and salt slop off the table?
Sam: from your lips to God’s ears! I am desperate to be installed as sugar and junk food czar of the U.S., issuing ration coupons for these items so that lives can be saved from obesity, a far more pernicious killer than COVID-19. (Also, if you think about it, obese people contribute to global warming. A person who consumes 5,000 calories per day causes more CO2 to be emitted than a person who consumes 2,000 calories per day.)
The oligarchy treats the peaceful truckers like ISIS. First GoFundMe froze the funds in a dictatorial BigTech manner, then the truckers moved to GiveSendGo, now the Superior Court of “Justice” freezes the GiveSendGo funds:
https://globalnews.ca/news/8610512/givesendgo-fundraiser-trucker-convoy-frozen/
BLM did not have any of these issues in 2020.
BLM was a legitimate protest. By contrast…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/10/canada-truck-convoy-protest-spawns-copycats/ (open in incognito window to avoid paywall) says “Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ surges beyond legitimate protest”
For nearly two weeks, they have upended life in a city of 1 million residents, jeering at mask-wearing passersby, jolting residents awake by blaring their earsplitting horns, and prompting Canadian security officials to relocate Mr. Trudeau and his family from their official residence to an undisclosed location. … the lawless impulse is clearly inspired by the Jan. 6 insurrection. Former president Donald Trump has cheered on the truckers.
… by crippling a major capital, subverting commerce and jobs, and advocating the overthrow of a fairly elected government, they have surged beyond legitimate protest into the realm of thuggery.
Yes, if Orange Man now leads a foreign insurrection (is Djokovic also involved?), all countermeasures are justified!
WP: “by crippling a major capital, subverting commerce and jobs […]”
Sounds like the effect of lockdown measures in the past two years!
WP: “advocating the overthrow of a fairly elected government, they have surged beyond legitimate protest into the realm of thuggery.”
https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-leader-if-change-doesnt-happen-we-will-burn-down-this-system/
The president of Greater New York Black Lives Matter said that if the movement fails to achieve meaningful change during nationwide protests over George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police officers, it will “burn down this system.”
“If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation,”
By contrast, the leaders of the trucker protests have never advocated the overthrow of the government. I agree that the truckers should stop the honking, otherwise it seems like a protest like many metal union protests from 1980-2000, who didn’t have their funds frozen. Bezos’ newspaper wants Amazon trucks to move freely again.
Anon: You raise an important point. Regarding the Freedom Convoy, what did Djokovic know and when did he know it? (Also, how could so many Canadians reject Science without the on-the-ground negative influence of Djokovic?)
Separately, since BLM has been mentioned, I wonder if Justin Trudeau’s “undisclosed location” for hiding is actually a Black neighborhood. He has already proven himself a master of disguise. (See https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-votes-2019-trudeau-blackface-brownface-cbc-explains-1.5290664 )