00:00:00.000I found it very interesting and instructive to compare the different pandemic responses
00:00:11.320between Canada and the United States, various Canadian provinces, and various American states.
00:00:16.880How a place like Liberal Michigan, for instance, very similar to Ontario in a number of ways,
00:00:21.760doing things completely differently than Ontario, led by supposedly Conservative Premier Doug Ford.
00:00:28.220One thing, though, that I also find very interesting is comparing the media responses and the general media narratives in the United States to what's happening here in Canada.
00:00:39.320Three features I want to bring to your attention that I've seen in American media very recently, just in the past week or so.
00:00:45.940First of all, there's a New York Times feature. It's an op-ed, but it's a really long one, a feature-length one.
00:00:51.240A lady talking about her experiences as a more liberal-minded person living in Texas and initially having some problems with the sort of anti-lockdown attitude in Texas,
00:01:00.980and they were one of the first to reopen and lift the mask mandates and so forth.
00:01:05.060But her coming to basically appreciate living in Texas and saying, hold on a second, is it maybe tribalism that is actually fueling a lot of our responses to all of this
00:01:14.600and fueling a lot of our perspectives and our attitudes, why we support or don't support lockdowns.
00:01:19.820Really interesting piece. There was another in The Atlantic, which, well, they're not generally considered this sort of far-right publication
00:01:26.640about the liberals who can't quit lockdown. That was the headline.
00:01:31.020And they go on to say, progressive communities, this is a sub-headline,
00:01:34.460have been home to some of the fiercest battles over COVID-19 policies, and some liberal policymakers have left scientific evidence behind.
00:01:43.940Well, so very respected mainstream magazine talking about why is it the progressives who are abandoning science.
00:01:51.460Here's an interesting one. Vice magazine, typically considered a pretty left-wing publication.
00:01:57.980People aren't addicted to wearing masks. They're traumatized.
00:02:01.920That's the headline subhead. They say there's a glaring omission from the discussion about why some can't quit pandemic behaviors,
00:02:08.380the mental and emotional toll of the last year.
00:02:11.120So what's interesting about this vice piece is they kind of take it as the starting point that,
00:02:16.020well, no, you shouldn't still be in love with lockdowns and you shouldn't be double masking and all this stuff.
00:02:19.740I mean, come on, look at the facts, look at the evidence. I mean, we got to evolve here, folks.
00:02:23.360But they take a very compassionate and sympathetic approach to people who are still committed to lockdowns,
00:02:28.400but basically say it's their own trauma, their own psychological problems.
00:02:32.620Basically, we have a sort of mental health challenge as to why some people are so deeply committed to still holding on to the lockdown mentality.