All over the world, we are witnessing police forces and security guards attacking citizens for not wearing a mask, walking outside, playing hockey, surfing alone in the ocean, sitting around a family dinner table, opening their businesses. The police are following the rules of their governments, local, regional and federal.
Should they?
The judges at the Nuremberg Trials rejected the “following orders” defense. They said that when an individual follows an order that is illegal under international law, he is responsible for that choice, except under certain circumstances. For those who are history impaired, the Nuremberg Trials took place to prosecute Nazis for their inhumane behaviour, especially regarding the wanton murder of Jews for the crime of being Jewish. Following orders is no longer a defence for anyone.
Do not think for a moment that I am comparing the actions of Nazis to the actions of police around the world. I am referring to the underlying moral imperative that was made at the Trials: one must not enforce laws that are illegal or immoral with the excuse, “I was only following orders.”
Do no harm.
We have the moral right and the responsibility to say “no” when an order goes against the social contract, the common good and the general will. At no time have citizens ever given up their freedom, carte blanche, to government. In the West, police do not invade our homes and remove people because of an arbitrary number pulled out of a hat regarding the size of “permitted” gatherings during Covid.
In Quebec, a rule was passed during the Covid lockdown that only 5 people could be at one house. A neighbour – well raised in the art of snitching: a requirement for all good fascist governments, called the police: there were six! I never thought I would see police enter a home, count the number of people in that home and the forcibly remove guests. But I did. Following orders as they tackled the man to the ground, covered with snow.
There were six people in a house in Gatineau, Canada. A neighbour snitched. Police went in, Gestapo style. Assaulting citizens.
So, yeah. Every lockdown politician who made this monstrous world and then tries to sneak away to Florida or Hawaii? Fuck you. pic.twitter.com/9IwcgAvqiJ
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) January 2, 2021
This moral imperative began thousands of years ago; recorded in the Hebrew Bible, the book from which our ethic of freedom and law, the moral imperative, originates. Shifra and Puah, two Egyptian midwives, stood up to Pharaoh and refused to murder Jewish male babies as they had been commanded. They refused to obey immoral orders.
Today, we see prosecutors in America announce that they will no longer enforce the legal code. If prosecutors in America can walk away from enforcing the legal code, certainly police should have the same right and responsibility to walk away when they know in their heart and soul that attacking someone for going outside, for skating or skiing or having too many people gather together based on a number pulled out of the air is outrageous.
Open the link and watch what happens to a young man in Calgary Alberta, skating on an outdoor rink with friends. OUTDOORS. Nope. Not allowed. One young man refused to leave so the two brave female police officers tried to take him down by hitting him just below the knee. They were too small to do much else. In Canada. Home of snow.
Then there is Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. Talk about snow. But with Covid, playing hockey outside is dangerous. The City of Ottawa’s top health official Dr. Vera Etches has banned hockey sticks, pucks and all other sporting equipment at public outdoor ice rinks. Despite the ban on hockey at Ottawa’s outdoor rinks, the Government of Ontario recently greenlighted the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators to play home games. Hmm. So police can come and take you away for playing hockey OUTSIDE in the sun and fresh air, while government lets professionals play indoors. Perhaps the government is hoping to distract the populace from their misery with “games.”
Not to be outdone, police turned away parents and children with toboggans at a ski hill in Toronto. The ski hill was closed because it seems you can get Covid skiing, but not at Walmart. Or so it seems based on the latest Covid crackdowns..
PHOTO BY JACK BOLAND/POSTMEDIA NEWS
“Unfortunately, we continue to experience issues with respect to the use of outdoor ice rinks after hours… We are also responding to issues and concerns relating to the use of closed ski and snowboard hills for various activities, including tobogganing. The city clamped down with 19 charges laid for trespassing on City rinks.
Now think about all the freedoms that you have allowed to be stripped away; in silence. Back to Quebec. It will be entering Canada’s harshest-ever lockdown, with curfews forcing residents to stay home from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. or risk a fine of up to $6,000. The province said residents will be required to provide proof of what they’re doing if they are found outside of the house after curfew. A note from an employer, a receipt from a drug store, or a hospital card are just some examples of what the government will accept as evidence of an essential trip. Quebec is also closing all but the most essential businesses. This, in a province in which 80 per cent of COVID-19 deaths occur in Long Term Care facilities.
Ontario is considering the same type of lockdown.
Then there is the young man celebrating his 18th birthday in his father’s shop. It’s big. He invited ten friends. No drugs, no alcohol, lots of room for social distancing but someone snitched and the police arrived. FOUR squad cars. And shared their sanctimonious self serving pap. Wow, I guess crime; or what used to be called crime, no longer exists there.
How about Australia.
Australia is an example of a country that has moved very firmly and decisively into police state territory. Zoe Buhler, a 28-year-old pregnant mother was arrested, handcuffed and had her electronic devices confiscated for the crime of posting about an anti-lockdown protest on Facebook in a town with four active cases. The name of the crime? “The planning and encouragement of protest activity.” The punishment? Mrs. Buhler is looking at 15 years in prison.
You can watch the video of Mrs. Buhler’s arrest here. It should make your stomach turn. The Premier of Victoria (equivalent to the governor of this Australian state) allowed and encouraged BLM protests of up to 10,000 that summer. Among people harassed for the crime of sitting down on park benches include a law professor with cerebral palsy and her 70-year-old mother and a heavily pregnant woman while a young tradesman was harassed and fined for not having his papers filled out properly.
And then there is this from Great Britain. The home of the Magna Carta. Police arresting a woman for sitting on a bench and having a cup of coffee by the sea.
We have failed to teach our police forces the meaning of the moral “No.” No. I will not do this. I will not implement immoral laws.
The greatest threat to us from Covid is not the virus, but the stripping away of our right to be free from overreach of government, implemented by police forces, under the guise of a health emergency.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
