I would like to weigh in on the topic and have been reading all the posts. I am reminded of two books- one by Robert Fulghum, All I really need to know, I learned in kindergarten and Stephen Covey’s book where the mantra is “first seek to understand”.
This is the part I don’t understand that other people don’t get. Dismissing people who are angry by making comments that suggest these people are stupid is the best way to drive them away further. “Don’t they know they’re landlocked lol” they are MAD not STUPID, don’t conflate the 2.
So we all have lived with the same government .. I am not rich but I in no way feel the government has wronged me. As a society there will always be have and have nots .. so when I see these far right extremist behaving in this way the fact that they can afford to drive these big trucks /2
Says to me the gov has not wronged them they are not suffering as many people in the country are . This is an agenda set out by the manipulators and one of the ways is to create this faux anger. Once that starts it’s contagious. Ultimately dealing with them condescendingly will not work trying to /3
Get to the actual grievance issue requires an appropriate trainer in such things ..especially when dealing with the younger ones who can be easily led.
Exactly. It’s easier to dismiss than discuss. And when the narratives get pushed on social media without room for discerning discussion, it doesn’t lead to anything positive. And people with agendas using the moment to exploit it, we find ourselves here.
Do I agree with the separatist talk? Not at all. Do I understand it? To a point, yeah. I grew up in AB and then moved to BC. Our votes regularly don’t even get counted before the election results are in. Decades of that do eventually breed a feeling of deep exclusion.
I'd argue that being told repeatedly that you need to upend your entire economy (oil industry), and thus way of life, because you're killing the entire planet...
And nobody offering any help/support to do so...
Which is why I've advocated to using part of the carbon tax to help them transition.
Because people with agendas push the idea that Alberta funds the east and routinely gets made fun of for the jobs that make the money. That’s my super simplistic take. Again, I don’t agree with it. But in the 70s/80s a lot of people felt PET ignored them. Right or wrong. 🤷🏻♀️
Add in these overly simplistic “prairie folk are dumb haha” “rig pigs” “simple farmer” type comments… like no shit people are mad? You don’t have to agree with or like their grievances but to routinely deride them only makes people madder. Being told to shut up enough times, wouldn’t you get pissed?
This isn’t the first time separatist talk has come out of AB, SK or even BC. But it largely rises and falls as power shifts hands. The unfortunate thing is that a premier or 2 currently holding power has the ability to stir it up at will, and use current tensions to give it a voice.
Couple that with the power of the internet, well… again I’m not agreeing with the rhetoric. I think separation would be deeply harmful, and the voices spreading the idea are certainly some bad faith types. But you can’t fight that with simplistic “don’t be stupid, stupid!” and expect to get anywhere
Yeah I think most of this is being fueled by external parties. The amount of time I hear, well on TikTok or I read on Facebook, it drives me nuts. I just want Canadians to get along, both ways. If Western Con leaders reasonably tried working with the Libs, I'm sure they'd give it a go.
Of course it isn’t. But the belief has been baked into the feeling of the west doesn’t matter over decades prior to the Harper years. It’s not some new phenomenon only occurring just since Trudeau. This goes back a long time. All it takes is one person with enough power to reignite that, real or not
I agree with you there. I grew up in a town of 800 people, mostly farmers. I hear and see the separation talk more recently but if the Cons won the election, would that have continued? I'm very open to learning what can actually make this better besides only them winning elections.
I think it would be honestly. Smith started stoking the flames before the writ even dropped, she’s never acted in good faith here. Then you add in the feeling of losing & some of the derision at their expense is fuelling this as well, it’s easy to push the narrative.
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And nobody offering any help/support to do so...
Which is why I've advocated to using part of the carbon tax to help them transition.