(CFJC Today/File photo).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: A few questions for those who were protesting this week

Sep 4, 2021 | 6:43 AM

I HAVE QUESTIONS for the anti-vaxxers, reluctant vaxxers and the misinformed who took to the streets this week to exercise their democratic right to protest.

The first one is, what were you thinking?

Did you think protesting in front of hospitals was actually a good idea? Do you think the nurses, doctors and support staff who have worked so hard for a year and a half to keep us alive deserved that?

Do you think obstructing hospital traffic, verbally abusing healthcare workers and reducing nursing staff to tears — as was reported in at least one hospital — was responsible and kind?

Will those of you who now claim the protests were actually in support of healthcare workers explain how, in any way, they demonstrated that? Were you there to bang pots and pans in a show of solidarity with them, or did hospitals just seem like a good place for a protest? How was staging protests against vaccinations a show of support?

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Do you see the irony in what you did? While you were protesting against the vaccine card and whatever else is bugging you, did you stop to think there are people in ICU who are there because they did exactly what you’re doing — refusing to get vaccinated?

When you were waving your “My body my choice” and “No forced vaccination” placards did the fact enter your mind that there is no mandatory vaccination for the general population in Canada?

Did it once occur to you, in your self-righteous indignation about supposed threats to your freedoms, that you still have all the freedom you want except spreading COVID around with abandon at gyms, bars and other venues that are completely discretionary and have nothing to do with your basic freedoms?

When you complain about vaccination passports being “a slippery slope” to complete loss of those freedoms, and when you talk about medical coercion, medical tyranny and medical apartheid, and chant “Lock her up!” in reference to Dr. Bonnie Henry, aren’t you sounding a lot like hyperbolic Trumpers who have no concept of the truth and who vilify the very people who are trying to help them?

Don’t you sound like just a bunch of angry people who think everything they disagree with must be a conspiracy? And while we’re talking about conspiracies, can you describe what the end game is for those who are behind these supposed conspiracies? What possible goal is at play?

By the way, have you tried Ivermectin? I give it to our horse every few months and it’s great at killing parasites. It’s easily available at vets’ offices and feed stores, or was until some folks decided it would work on COVID-19, which is a virus, not a parasite. Why would anyone think horse paste is better at beating COVID-19 than vaccines developed specifically for the purpose?

You do know, don’t you, that we’re in the fourth wave of this pandemic, and it’s quickly getting worse than the first three?

Have you thought about the possibility that attending one of those protests, without masks and without vaccinations, put you at risk of getting COVID-19 while you were there protesting, because, as one doctor has said, it’s likely that at least someone there had the virus and may well have spread it to others?

And, finally, did you ever consider doing what a bunch of folks did Thursday at Royal Inland Hospital — gathering to say thanks to all those healthcare workers who are burning themselves out trying to keep up with those who have come down with life-threatening cases of COVID because they haven’t been vaccinated?

Because, if you missed it, it was the exact opposite of your misguided display the day before. They carried signs thanking nurses and doctors, and not only did they wave them at appreciative drivers who honked constantly in support as they drove by, but they turned and waved at the hospital where, hopefully, some of those healthcare workers saw them and understood they’re appreciated, not disparaged.

I look forward to hearing your answers to my questions.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.