2020 Outtakes

 

Okay, funny stuff from the pandemic...

My favorite delicious irony of the pandemic involves muslim women who choose to wear a niqab here in Canada. It’s a veil and headscarf that covers the nose and mouth – only the eyes are visible. Sound familiar?  To this day, you are not able to get any government services in Quebec dressed like that. Back in 2011 this was a big deal – at a federal level. The Immigration Minister at the time decided it would play well if no one could take an oath of citizenship while wearing a face covering.  Fast forward to June 2020 with COVID rising the Premier of Alberta similarly refuses to force people to wear masks – too scary. Until now when it mandatory to cover your nose and mouth in Alberta. You guessed it! It is all the same guy, Jason Kenney, “It’s illegal to wear…uh, not to wear…” You can’t make that stuff up.

 

In another notable flip flop, travel back to March in an NBA locker room scrum where no one is wearing a mask (you have to see it here) reporters ask the great LeBron James about the craaaaaazy idea of playing in a bubble with no fans. LeBron scoffs, “I ain’t playing…no way”. Great basketball player, very bad at predicting the future.

Reasons for hope...NOT funny...

I find hope for political and social reconciliation when I consider the resilience of the recent past. In 1963 JFK was shot. In 1965 the Watts riots in Los Angeles lasted for five days with 34 deaths. In 1968 Rev. King was assassinated; he would be 91 today. Shortly afterward in 1969 Bobby Kennedy was murdered dealing another blow to civil rights leadership. In 1970 the National Guard shot and killed four students and injured eight others protesting the Vietnam War on the Kent State campus. The military made up a dubious story about a rooftop sniper and student mob that threatened their lives. It is all as unbelievable as what we have witnessed this year and the democratic petri dish survived and moved on.