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Saturday May 8, 2021

May 15, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 8, 2021

What’s really behind Ontario’s anti-lockdown groups that stand up for small businesses

The websites and social media accounts of prominent COVID-19 anti-lockdown groups in Ontario will offer visitors a similar experience: powerful messages, heartfelt testimonials and a sense of solidarity.

April 8, 2021

Many of these groups position themselves as allies to small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat amid the lockdowns imposed by the Ontario government.

But in addition to protesting government-imposed lockdowns, these groups tend to have a general “flavour to anti-government and anti-public health messages,” which can be dangerous, University of Toronto professor Roy Gillis said. Gillis leads a research team studying misinformation related to COVID-19.

Gillis said, often, anti-lockdown groups will have hidden political agendas they are trying to accomplish and will use information that may contain “a kernel of truth” to play into people’s fears and beliefs and convince them that government groups and public health officials are trying to limit their rights and control them. 

“Particularly in pandemic situations when there’s a lot of fear, when there’s a lot of mistrust, when people are looking for someone to blame, to hold somebody accountable, these groups, these beliefs become easy targets,” Gillis added.

The Line Canada, is one example of many Canada-wide groups that protest the lockdown in Ontario. Despite The Line’s insistence that it is not affiliated with the anti-vaccine or antimask movements, the group’s social media accounts regularly share these types of messages. 

August 7, 2020

In one recent post to Twitter, the group implies that vaccines — not the virus — is what is causing increases in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

The post refers to a BBC article about Chile’s COVID-19 case numbers rising, despite the country’s successful vaccine rollout plan. The story’s sources state a number of likely causes, including SARS-CoV-2 variants and health authorities’ decision to loosen restrictions too early. 

There is no mention in the article that the vaccine is responsible for cases or deaths. As stated by Health Canada, “the vaccines cannot give you COVID-19 because they don’t contain the virus that causes it.”

Anatoliy Gruzd, the director of research at Ryerson Social Media Lab, who is also leading a COVID-19 Misinformation Rapid Response Project, said another factor that contributes to people’s likeliness to believe misinformation is uncertainty created by government officials on certain topics. 

He cited the example of medical experts and government officials being initially skeptical about mask wearing, prior to deeming it effective and eventually mandating it.

As a result, “any new messages on that topic will be looked at with some suspicion by certain groups who generally do not trust government guidelines anyway.”

July 18, 2020

This suspicion is demonstrated in antimask content posted by Action4Canada, another group that protests COVID-19 measures in Ontario and across Canada.

In an email statement, Action4Canada’s founder Tanya Gaw said, “we provide evidence and fact-based material from experts around the world.”

On the group’s page about masks, the group posts a quote and link from the CDC that connects to a study that used data from 1946 to July 27, 2018 to conclude that researchers “found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks.”

This study was not related to COVID-19.

More recent reports from CDC, which are not included on Action4Canada’s website, back the use of face masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Gruzd said though it may appear that groups protesting government measures and lockdowns are backed by many people, they are rather supported by a small but vocal minority of like-minded people. (Brampton Guardian) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International, USA Tagged: 2021-17, advisory, anti-lockdown, blow gun, blowgun, Canada, conspiracy, mask, Mike Hamelin, Ontario, pandemic, Pandemic Times, police, protest, revenge, USA, Vaccine

Monday November 16, 2015

November 15, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

 

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Monday November 16, 2015 Paris attacks: World must avoid revenge and cosmetic measures While we are in shock and grief about the carnage in Paris, Islamic State terrorists and their sympathisers are celebrating the death of innocent people. It is a terrorist act not only on France but on humanity, and those who are behind it have no right to exist in the civilised world. The horrific attacks on different locations in Paris must have been meticulously planned for some time to cause maximum death and terror among innocent civilians. It was a highly sophisticated operation and needed lots of coordination and intelligence inputs by a strong organisation that could get its sleeper cells active whenever it ordered. It is a condemnable terrorist act carried out by terrorists who have no respect for human life. It came after the US announced the targeting of ÒJihadi JohnÓ in Raqqa, the IS headquarters in Syria. It also comes after suicide bomb attacks in Beirut that left more than 300 people of different faith and nationalities dead and injured. It also brought back memories of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai when terrorists came to kill and die. It is chillingly similar to the Beslan school siege of 2004 in Russia and the London underground and Madrid train murders to name a few. It is a replica of the attack and counter-attack pattern which leads to more provocative measures while these terrorists and perpetrators get off scot-free. We are aware terrorists know no boundary, religion or nationality. They are merely criminals driven by their own ideology, which was taught to them in the caves of Tora Bora and other terrorist safe havens. The Syrian refugees in Europe draw attention to the magnitude of the humanitarian catastrophe faced by Syrians for the past four-and-a-half years. Homes uprooted, people decapitated, kids taken into training camps, girls enslaved and raped. They did not even spare our heritage. When Europe open

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday November 16, 2015

Paris attacks: World must avoid revenge and cosmetic measures

While we are in shock and grief about the carnage in Paris, Islamic State terrorists and their sympathisers are celebrating the death of innocent people. It is a terrorist act not only on France but on humanity, and those who are behind it have no right to exist in the civilised world.

The horrific attacks on different locations in Paris must have been meticulously planned for some time to cause maximum death and terror among innocent civilians. It was a highly sophisticated operation and needed lots of coordination and intelligence inputs by a strong organisation that could get its sleeper cells active whenever it ordered.

It is a condemnable terrorist act carried out by terrorists who have no respect for human life. It came after the US announced the targeting of “Jihadi John” in Raqqa, the IS headquarters in Syria. It also comes after suicide bomb attacks in Beirut that left more than 300 people of different faith and nationalities dead and injured.
It also brought back memories of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai when terrorists came to kill and die.

It is chillingly similar to the Beslan school siege of 2004 in Russia and the London underground and Madrid train murders to name a few. It is a replica of the attack and counter-attack pattern which leads to more provocative measures while these terrorists and perpetrators get off scot-free.

We are aware terrorists know no boundary, religion or nationality. They are merely criminals driven by their own ideology, which was taught to them in the caves of Tora Bora and other terrorist safe havens.

The Syrian refugees in Europe draw attention to the magnitude of the humanitarian catastrophe faced by Syrians for the past four-and-a-half years. Homes uprooted, people decapitated, kids taken into training camps, girls enslaved and raped. They did not even spare our heritage.

When Europe opened its doors to other nationalities, the terrorists took advantage and sneaked into Europe along with the refugees to create havoc and terror across national capitals. Many mercenaries from Europe too returned, well trained and ready to kill and act independently in a new trend of mobile terrorism.

IS or Daesh has threatened to attack many Western capitals and it has proved again that it is capable of striking anytime, anywhere.

Mercenaries were allowed to travel freely into Turkey and then into Syria, to join terrorist groups, and they are now using the same route to return home, fleeing the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

According to reports, 500 French terrorists returned from Syria and Iraq. Many other European nationalities also went home. The authorities are trying to rehabilitate some, while others are waiting to act once their “masters” issue orders.

How long will we wait before we address this crisis seriously? How many innocent people must be sacrificed before we jointly act to defeat these evil forces and eliminate the infrastructure of terrorism?

But we must avoid provocation, revenge and cosmetic measures. We need surgical operations.

There is no good and bad terrorism. No country can defeat it alone and hence we need to act together now. (Source: Hindustan Times)

 

Posted in: International Tagged: attacks, gargoyle, IS, ISIL, Isis, Paris, revenge, terrorism, terrorists, violence

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This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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