The Critical Compass Podcast - Million March for Kids - Postmortem ｜ A Critical Compass Discussion

00:00:00.400 to both sides i'm not allowed to go on both sides

00:00:07.440 you're in a public place yeah you're protesting in public

00:00:12.400 aren't you proud to be representing your cause

00:00:18.240 you need to go back on that side

00:00:22.000 this is perfect this is so good back on that side so good back on that side please

00:00:30.000 get your hands off of me get your hands off of me no way you're gonna push me into the road 1.00

00:00:37.600 i'm not doing anything here you're the one touching me dude 0.94

00:00:46.880 i'll go with that can you

00:00:50.000 hello thank you we're gonna come chat with you okay me yeah

00:01:00.000 welcome to the critical compass podcast today we're going to be diving into some recent protests

00:01:23.520 and the nature of how media distorts the messaging and what these protests are at a ground level

00:01:32.160 now mike you had some experience uh directly on the ground recently at the

00:01:42.160 like at the million march for kids protest here in edmonton so

00:01:46.720 yeah it was uh it was a good time it was uh it kind of gave me what i

00:01:54.320 what i felt like it may have felt like to be in ottawa last february um

00:02:01.360 january february at a much smaller scale but it was still i mean it was

00:02:07.360 i can't say that i've participated in a lot of protests but um and i wasn't

00:02:12.880 participating per se in this one either i was just sort of documenting but

00:02:17.120 you didn't have a shirt you didn't have any identifying you were just plain clothes

00:02:22.480 with a camera plain clothes uh no no um flags or signs or any any you know identifying

00:02:31.760 markers of any type um i started off uh i parked kind of nearby uh where the

00:02:38.240 the uh protesters and the counter protesters were demonstrating

00:02:41.920 uh and just a parking lot nearby and it was about a just a two three minute walk

00:02:45.680 uh i started off on the protester side just kind of went in with my camera and my phone

00:02:54.000 taking pictures with the camera and shooting video with the phone

00:02:57.280 and uh spent about maybe 15 minutes there and then crossed the street to the other side

00:03:02.480 this protest in edmonton was taking place outside of the

00:03:05.840 alberta teachers association building

00:03:07.680 and um and so the counter protesters were on the opposite side of the street facing the building

00:03:15.280 protester um sorry those are the protesters facing the building counter protesters were facing

00:03:20.960 we're on the building side facing the other side of the street and um

00:03:26.160 yeah and then when i went to the other side i i was able to take some video and some pictures

00:03:30.960 um in amongst the crowd it was significantly less there's significantly less of a counter protester

00:03:38.800 presence i would say probably about um probably about three to one protesters to counter protesters

00:03:46.640 and um there is some drone footage of that that global actually produced that sort of visualizes

00:03:53.680 that a little bit better than maybe my videos can or maybe you can tell in the videos but

00:03:57.680 um eventually i was um i don't know how to say it outed as having uh been on one side of the

00:04:07.120 protest documenting and there were some counter protesters that didn't want didn't want somebody

00:04:13.760 who was ostensibly a neutral party to be uh on their side of the of the protest and uh and amongst

00:04:21.760 them unless you were a a supporter so we'll see some footage of that later and uh yeah it was a

00:04:27.200 pretty wild time i'll keep a quick video here from the um i i did want to ask you and for those

00:04:33.120 maybe who aren't familiar what was this march for and why was it at this location because often you

00:04:41.280 see some of these marches at the legislature grounds or more in a city hall or public square

00:04:47.440 why was it in this intersection because this is a kind of an odd place to get a whole bunch of

00:04:52.560 people together uh so what what drew these parents out here yeah so it is it's sort of on the um kind

00:05:00.640 of on the almost northwest part of the city actually you know maybe about 15 minutes from downtown so

00:05:07.520 yeah it was an odd spot the reason it was there is because this so this was the the one million march

00:05:12.080 for kids um or one million march for children both both hashtags were trending uh during the day

00:05:18.720 and um at its essence if i was trying to be neutral about it i would say that this is a it was a it

00:05:27.360 was a protest sparked by the some members of canada's muslim community and quickly um

00:05:35.840 joined in by members of other not only other religious groups christians for sure but um other

00:05:42.320 concerned parents about what is currently being taught to young children in elementary schools

00:05:48.880 regarding um gender identity uh sexuality uh alternative um alternative lifestyle kind of

00:05:59.520 things if you wanted to say it that way um and their concerns about it being not age appropriate

00:06:04.720 and i think that's that's pretty much the gist of it and what we'll see later as well is when the

00:06:13.680 mainstream media reported on this to the extent that they did which wasn't very much um it very quickly

00:06:21.680 became um a protest against the lgbtq community against trans kids against trans rights

00:06:31.840 um which is never what it started as and i don't think most of the people there would describe

00:06:37.600 themselves as people who are particularly against any of these people more so against the um what they

00:06:46.160 what is perceived as indoctrination of youth right now through the schools yeah i we can easily see

00:06:53.760 if you do a quick search or you can see the the term an anti lgbt

00:07:01.840 protest or a far right like anti-gay lots of far right yeah yeah yeah yeah so that that's kind of

00:07:09.680 the terminology that that we saw and it didn't really line up kind of with the parents there i i think

00:07:15.040 from my understanding one of the discussion points was and this has been happening over the over the last

00:07:23.120 few months is should schools be allowed to hide information from parents especially when it comes to

00:07:30.720 what is being taught about some of these subjects and then that's where this discussion is kind of

00:07:38.240 now centered around parental rights and especially on some topics where

00:07:44.880 there's some that don't feel like it's age appropriate or certain books maybe we shouldn't

00:07:50.320 be shown to kindergartners or should the focus be on that messaging so early or at what point should that

00:07:58.800 education start um so yeah i guess um what if we even uh what if we see some of the you've got a good

00:08:08.240 clip of some of the protesters like and some of their signs yeah i've got some a couple videos here first

00:08:14.800 one uh queued up is uh there was a speaker um that was kind of in the background i didn't catch all of her

00:08:21.280 speech but i'll cue this one up and then the second one is um you'll see and hear um a little

00:08:28.800 bit of uh support uh more obvious on one side than the other from people passing by on the street

00:08:42.080 so

00:09:04.560 so something notable from that um the speaker was saying uh no matter what our backgrounds are

00:09:23.400 whatever whatever our uh our religious faith is um and i think you can kind of see that

00:09:28.600 from the faces in the crowd i mean there was i think people had certain people hadn't a presumption

00:09:36.160 that this was going to be an all or at least primarily muslim protest and from being there

00:09:43.980 and from seeing that i would say it was i think it was fairly representative of the city you know

00:09:49.700 to be fair like the city edmonton has a pretty large muslim community large arabic community

00:09:55.320 um but i wouldn't say that there was that they were overrepresented compared to

00:10:01.540 what you might see on demographic uh percentages of you know the general um nationality breakdown

00:10:10.280 of edmonton seems like there's a mix of people in mix of families so it's not just a bunch of families

00:10:15.200 yeah single 20 year olds yeah at a parental rights yeah kind of protest yeah it was um lots of families

00:10:24.080 lots of people of all ages um probably skewing a little bit well definitely skewing older than

00:10:31.380 the counter-protester side but um yeah very representative i'll show you the second one here

00:10:36.360 where we get some uh some uh noise from the crowd so to speak

00:10:43.460 but um

00:11:00.340 We won't give the Lord!

00:11:27.340 We won't give the Lord!

00:11:44.340 So leave our kids alone. 0.94

00:11:47.340 Leave our kids alone. 0.91

00:11:49.340 There was pretty much one chant the whole time.

00:11:52.340 That I was there at least.

00:11:55.340 So that's an interesting choice of words,

00:11:59.340 because that's more just a statement of,

00:12:03.340 we don't agree with how you're teaching our kids,

00:12:09.340 or how these ideas are being disseminated to kids.

00:12:13.340 And I've heard of one example is like,

00:12:21.340 let's say you have a student in kindergarten,

00:12:25.340 and what does it mean to tell a kid that you're born in the wrong body?

00:12:31.340 That's an impressionable age.

00:12:35.340 And a statement like that,

00:12:37.340 that can really confuse somebody.

00:12:41.340 So if messages like that are being taught,

00:12:43.340 and parents start hearing about it,

00:12:45.340 is it understandable that the parents would not want some of these messages taught?

00:12:53.340 Yeah, the gravitas of a statement like that is not something that a kid,

00:12:57.340 an elementary school kid,

00:12:59.340 maybe even not like a junior high or a high school kid,

00:13:01.340 a certain maturity level would be able to properly comprehend.

00:13:07.340 So yeah, that was the messaging there.

00:13:09.340 It was, there was no, I mean, there was numerous examples,

00:13:15.340 actually, I don't know that I necessarily caught them on video,

00:13:18.340 but I'm sure other people did,

00:13:20.340 of people saying like, you know, we're not here to hate on anyone,

00:13:23.340 we're not here to discriminate against anyone.

00:13:26.340 This is purely a message from concerned parents to teachers who we don't agree with.

00:13:33.340 The, the, the very clearly stated goals of the curriculum in this respect.

00:13:41.340 SOGI, I think is the, is the acronym, sexual orientation, gender identity.

00:13:47.340 So, yeah, it was fairly clear.

00:13:50.340 And then, um, if we want to have a quick view of the other side of the counter protestors,

00:13:56.340 I've got a couple of videos here.

00:13:58.340 First one is just to look at, um, kind of the corner, the, the,

00:14:03.340 I was on the protestors sort of corner there.

00:14:06.340 And then this is from the, um, kind of the turning lane meridian,

00:14:12.340 looking at the counter protestors.

00:14:15.340 orang- Memphisifs,

00:14:17.580 the, the willkommen traffic,

00:14:20.340 sent to others to toander our country so there was no treatment and now the way,

00:14:22.340 you know the first time the marketplace,

00:14:24.340 the new stock by giving you another one day off.

00:14:27.340 A semi-mile number,

00:14:29.340 one-mile number,

00:14:31.340 aовать of gold,

00:14:33.340 a fleshlye chamber political problema,

00:14:35.340 the color,

00:14:36.340 the Laboratory,

00:14:39.340 the Center Open Native Amelia,

00:14:41.340 the forest changingomonle especially in terms of a sense of information.

00:14:44.340 so i don't know if you heard that but when the music kind of cut out there for a second

00:14:51.460 the chant that i heard a lot of was protect trans kids so that i found pretty interesting

00:14:58.340 that they were um that was a pretty common refrain um very similar to the to the news

00:15:08.180 articles that we'll we'll look at here in a minute but um yeah that was it seemed like

00:15:13.760 it was a fundamental talking over each other sort of the the counter protesters thought that they

00:15:20.320 were there for something that i don't think that they actually were there for yeah it was not a

00:15:25.940 accurate they didn't listen to the message or if they think that at the most honest reading you

00:15:33.380 could say that they think that parents are either abusive or would be harmful to trans kids and not

00:15:45.020 let trans kids express themselves therefore they need the schools as a safe haven against abusive

00:15:52.760 parents yeah it's definitely a um a defaulting to the assumption that um a kid who

00:16:02.780 might be confused about their gender identity uh would be it's it's presumed that the parents are

00:16:09.340 going to be dangerous to them for sure um so it's a it's an implication that only the schools can step

00:16:16.880 in at that point or the teachers or the or fellow classmates or counselors or something like that

00:16:22.200 something outside of the family is necessary uh the at the first sign of of a of a child's potential

00:16:31.040 um confusion about their gender identity that that's a good point to to highlight and i think it also

00:16:40.740 at this time you'd want to even clarify like well what does it mean to be a trans kid and the umbrella

00:16:48.500 has become very large that that it does cover gender non-conforming it's when they ask questions about

00:16:56.880 well do you feel more like a boy or a girl and what do these feelings mean or what what they're asking

00:17:07.880 is do you identify more with stereotypes of gender on one side or the other so in this case i'm wondering

00:17:16.260 how much under this umbrella is you you're almost widening classifications so the perceived number of

00:17:25.820 people under that classification grows as you inc like if you include non-binary under that

00:17:33.180 as well basically the rejection of stereotypes on other sides is that included in the is that a

00:17:41.740 trans kid that needs to be protected like what what would they define and if they over classify it then

00:17:48.560 it's hard to have a conversation when these these terms are even it's expanding over time so

00:17:54.480 you're not even discussing the same thing unless you kind of take a step back to ask them what do they

00:18:00.800 really mean yeah when they say these terms yeah and and what you find i think when you

00:18:08.020 when you ask these people or when you when you really take time to think about what what it means when

00:18:15.800 they say things like that what you find is that it's almost more sexist for the people who are saying

00:18:22.380 that you know uh well we knew that little timmy was actually a girl because uh he always liked to

00:18:30.560 play with dolls rather than trucks as a boy you know and it's like well actually that's just a

00:18:35.580 stereotype and that's that's presuming that there's that there's a right and a wrong way to be a boy and

00:18:41.160 a girl as if there aren't tomboys or are as if there are not feminine boys you know there's there's so much

00:18:48.860 so much is is a word that they like fluid at that age that um these things really don't mean much

00:18:57.320 and then you find i can't remember who was saying this maybe this was on a

00:19:02.460 a peter bogosian discussion recently but they're talking about how people who are the type of person

00:19:11.040 who would be a counter protester at this event speaks in sort of rhetorical games where they say

00:19:19.060 you know in the same breath they'll say things like if a girl is really into dolls and the color

00:19:25.440 pink and things like stereotypically of girls at that age um they'll say that that's because they

00:19:31.100 were socially conditioned to like those things but then in the same on the same token they'll say

00:19:38.100 if it was a boy that was doing those uh stereotypically or traditionally girl-like

00:19:43.680 things um that's because they had a they had a gendered soul they knew from a young age so 0.93

00:19:49.640 you can i think it kind of has to be one or the other it can't um it can't be inherent and

00:19:56.640 unchanging and almost like a soul on one end and then socially conditioned and uh just complete

00:20:04.240 a complete construct on the other so do you think these people have really thought this out or do

00:20:11.120 you think they're repeating mantras at a certain point or like are they well open to discussion like

00:20:16.460 that's the other question do you think coming to a protest you would want to if you were you have a

00:20:23.240 stance and you want to raise awareness for your point you think you should engage and articulate

00:20:28.300 your points share your message amplify it to try to convince anybody who's who's there

00:20:36.100 well i'll show you i'll show you another clip from the counter protesters side here

00:20:41.300 um that might uh start to answer that question uh and might unfortunately for

00:20:48.000 for them i would say in this case um sort of confirm some suspicions of what people might think

00:20:55.320 uh the type of people representative of the demographic of this counter-protest i believe

00:21:02.200 oh

00:21:04.820 oh

00:21:06.820 oh

00:21:08.820 oh

00:21:10.820 oh

00:21:11.820 oh

00:21:13.820 oh

00:21:15.820 oh

00:21:17.820 oh

00:21:18.820 oh

00:21:19.820 oh

00:21:20.820 oh

00:21:21.820 oh

00:21:22.820 oh

00:21:23.820 oh

00:21:24.820 oh

00:21:25.820 oh

00:21:26.820 oh

00:21:27.820 oh

00:21:29.820 oh

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00:21:31.820 oh

00:21:32.820 oh

00:21:33.820 oh

00:21:34.820 oh

00:21:35.820 oh

00:21:36.820 oh

00:21:37.820 oh

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00:21:39.820 oh

00:21:40.820 oh

00:21:41.820 oh

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00:21:43.820 oh

00:21:44.820 oh

00:21:45.820 oh

00:21:46.820 oh

00:21:47.820 oh

00:21:48.820 oh yeah i was kind of i was kind of thrown for a loop at that

00:21:51.820 a couple of observations

00:21:52.820 um

00:21:53.820 um

00:21:54.820 masks

00:21:55.820 yeah

00:21:56.820 colored hair

00:21:57.820 yeah

00:21:58.820 the same kind of signs you'd see at other places and then that table is a it's not surprising

00:22:07.820 but at the same time that's they are um there seems to be no aversion from people around

00:22:14.820 that table

00:22:16.820 to being associated

00:22:18.820 with that

00:22:19.820 you think

00:22:20.820 you think

00:22:21.820 if that was on the other side you think people might distance themselves and or

00:22:26.820 like

00:22:27.820 try to give a little bit of space

00:22:30.820 yeah

00:22:31.820 it's uh

00:22:33.820 it just

00:22:34.820 i don't know

00:22:35.820 it just opens them up to such

00:22:38.820 obvious examples of you know that these people are not

00:22:41.820 not

00:22:42.820 here in good faith

00:22:43.820 you know

00:22:45.820 um

00:22:46.820 it was an interesting one

00:22:47.820 and

00:22:48.820 well i guess we can get into it

00:22:50.820 what i found when

00:22:51.820 shortly after i took this video

00:22:53.820 um

00:22:54.820 i i had a kind of an interesting experience where

00:22:58.820 uh

00:22:59.820 i didn't i didn't catch this part on video but

00:23:02.820 uh

00:23:03.820 when the interaction started was the the first lady that you'll see in this video 1.00

00:23:07.820 she said to me

00:23:09.820 we know what you're doing here

00:23:10.820 that's that was

00:23:11.820 those were her words

00:23:12.820 she says we know what you're doing here

00:23:14.820 and i and i asked her like what am i doing here

00:23:16.820 and uh

00:23:17.820 and she didn't really have

00:23:19.820 much of an answer but what happened was

00:23:21.820 um

00:23:22.820 i had taken a picture of

00:23:23.820 a group of

00:23:24.820 antifa

00:23:25.820 so after i saw the communist table and i was sort of making my way through the crowd

00:23:28.820 there was just a a group of maybe just three or four guys um with balclavas and you know the whole

00:23:34.820 helmets and knuckle duster gloves and all that all that you know crazy riot gear stuff holding the the antifa flag

00:23:43.820 and i had taken a couple pictures of them and then that's when they kind of started closing in on me and sort of blocking off my my camera

00:23:49.820 and um maybe i'll maybe i'll show the first first minute of this here and we'll uh see how this goes

00:23:55.820 to both sides

00:23:58.820 i'm not allowed to go on both sides

00:24:00.820 i'm not allowed to go on both sides

00:24:03.820 you're in a public place

00:24:04.820 yeah

00:24:05.820 you're protesting in public

00:24:06.820 and i'm in a public place doing exactly what i'm doing

00:24:08.820 why aren't you proud to be representing your cause

00:24:11.820 i don't know so

00:24:12.820 can you not take pictures of people's faces

00:24:14.820 it's just weird

00:24:15.820 well i can't even see your face

00:24:16.820 cool

00:24:17.820 that's good

00:24:18.820 hey don't touch me

00:24:19.820 people are asking you not to take pictures of them

00:24:21.820 yeah

00:24:22.820 and they should be out somewhere other than a public place i suppose

00:24:25.820 alrighty everybody

00:24:26.820 anybody

00:24:27.820 this is weird

00:24:28.820 this is weird

00:24:29.820 this is weird

00:24:30.820 this is weird

00:24:31.820 we are now leaving with us for the peacekeeper

00:24:33.820 woo

00:24:34.820 you need to go back on that side

00:24:38.820 this is perfect

00:24:39.820 this is so good

00:24:40.820 back on that side please

00:24:41.820 this is so good

00:24:42.820 back on that side please

00:24:43.820 this is so good

00:24:44.820 this is so good

00:24:45.820 hey

00:24:46.820 get your hands off of me 1.00

00:24:48.820 get your hands off of me 1.00

00:24:50.820 yeah 0.87

00:24:51.820 go away

00:24:52.820 you gonna push me into the road

00:24:53.820 well you're on the road

00:24:54.820 i'm not doing anything here

00:24:56.820 you're the one touching me dude

00:25:04.820 i'll go with it

00:25:05.820 can you do it

00:25:07.820 hello

00:25:08.820 i'm just a police

00:25:09.820 thank you

00:25:10.820 we're gonna come chat with you okay

00:25:11.820 me

00:25:12.820 yeah

00:25:13.820 we're gonna chat with you over here

00:25:14.820 okay

00:25:17.820 so we can uh

00:25:18.820 maybe we can clip in some more of that later

00:25:20.820 but yeah that was my uh

00:25:23.820 yeah

00:25:24.820 that was how my time on the counter protest side ended

00:25:29.820 so

00:25:32.820 first of all like

00:25:33.820 they didn't even want to ask like

00:25:35.820 oh why are you here

00:25:36.820 or what do you believe and why

00:25:37.820 there's no curiosity

00:25:39.820 the presumption is

00:25:41.820 we're right

00:25:43.820 well

00:25:44.820 for first of all you didn't have a stance

00:25:45.820 but the fact that you filmed antifa

00:25:47.820 i think

00:25:49.820 that that's a giveaway because

00:25:51.820 the only people that want to document antifa

00:25:54.820 is somebody who's on the other side

00:25:57.820 right

00:25:58.820 right

00:25:59.820 that is i think to them

00:26:00.820 the fact that antifa is covered

00:26:02.820 means they are

00:26:04.820 within the movement

00:26:05.820 they are protecting the movement

00:26:06.820 and part of that protection is them being a great

00:26:08.820 is them being aggressive

00:26:09.820 and having their identities covered

00:26:11.820 so if anything

00:26:13.820 shows their identities

00:26:14.820 then

00:26:15.820 that compromises

00:26:17.820 the members of antifa

00:26:19.820 which are just

00:26:20.820 yeah

00:26:21.820 loosely anybody who just

00:26:22.820 shows up to these things

00:26:24.820 i know there's different

00:26:26.820 chats or forums

00:26:27.820 that they're on

00:26:28.820 and they

00:26:29.820 do organize

00:26:30.820 or they have call to actions that way

00:26:31.820 um

00:26:32.820 there is

00:26:34.820 i think it's worth noting

00:26:35.820 maybe i'll bring this up

00:26:36.820 um

00:26:38.820 there

00:26:39.820 there's

00:26:40.820 there's books

00:26:41.820 and resources

00:26:42.820 for antifa

00:26:43.820 to

00:26:45.820 like

00:26:46.820 teaching

00:26:47.820 kind of the

00:26:48.820 tactics and strategies

00:26:49.820 for destruction

00:26:51.820 uh

00:26:52.820 the book and website is called

00:26:54.820 uh

00:26:56.820 it's called beautiful trouble

00:26:57.820 i'm just gonna pull it up here

00:26:59.820 um

00:27:00.820 because

00:27:01.820 we saw that in action

00:27:03.820 and

00:27:04.820 this

00:27:05.820 this website

00:27:06.820 actually

00:27:09.820 makes a better sense

00:27:10.820 so well

00:27:11.820 it sounds

00:27:12.820 pretty good

00:27:13.820 like oh you're empowering individuals

00:27:14.820 to get their voices heard

00:27:15.820 etc

00:27:17.820 and

00:27:18.820 um

00:27:19.820 but you start looking more into the theories

00:27:20.820 and the tactics

00:27:22.820 uh

00:27:23.820 this is where you get

00:27:25.820 things like

00:27:26.820 the

00:27:27.820 real action is your targets

00:27:28.820 reaction

00:27:30.820 um

00:27:31.820 where they're trying to provoke

00:27:32.820 responses

00:27:33.820 and they're

00:27:34.820 they have historical

00:27:35.820 not only the target

00:27:36.820 the real action is the enemies

00:27:37.820 reaction

00:27:38.820 wow

00:27:39.820 yes

00:27:41.820 so

00:27:42.820 that's some

00:27:43.820 that's a

00:27:44.820 that's a very

00:27:45.820 particular linguistic choice there

00:27:47.820 well

00:27:48.820 and

00:27:50.820 and part of this principle

00:27:51.820 is that

00:27:53.820 by them going

00:27:54.820 to a protest

00:27:55.820 being antagonistic

00:27:57.820 if there's

00:27:58.820 anybody

00:27:59.820 gets shoved back

00:28:00.820 they have footage

00:28:01.820 of

00:28:02.820 somebody shoving them

00:28:03.820 and

00:28:04.820 if they're calling

00:28:05.820 the protest

00:28:06.820 if they're calling protestors

00:28:08.820 fascists

00:28:09.820 or

00:28:10.820 alt-right

00:28:11.820 or they're violent

00:28:12.820 or they're hateful

00:28:13.820 any

00:28:14.820 reaction from them

00:28:15.820 defending themselves

00:28:16.820 can now be used

00:28:18.820 as

00:28:19.820 an example

00:28:21.820 of proof

00:28:22.820 that they are

00:28:23.820 hateful

00:28:24.820 or fascists

00:28:25.820 so

00:28:26.820 they are

00:28:27.820 almost

00:28:28.820 creating

00:28:29.820 what they want

00:28:30.820 the

00:28:31.820 because

00:28:32.820 think of this as a theater

00:28:33.820 this is a public

00:28:34.820 public sphere

00:28:35.820 and they are

00:28:36.820 trying to

00:28:37.820 frame things

00:28:38.820 in a certain way

00:28:39.820 uh

00:28:40.820 the whole aspect of them

00:28:41.820 being anti-fascist

00:28:42.820 is

00:28:44.820 because they're rising up

00:28:45.820 to this

00:28:46.820 threat of fascism

00:28:48.820 which they think is

00:28:50.820 these parents protesting

00:28:51.820 like

00:28:52.820 so

00:28:53.820 they

00:28:54.820 the demand for fascism

00:28:55.820 right now

00:28:56.820 is higher than the actual

00:28:57.820 supply

00:28:58.820 of

00:28:59.820 of regular

00:29:00.820 like

00:29:01.820 these

00:29:02.820 these parents are not fascist

00:29:03.820 by any means of the definition

00:29:05.820 yeah

00:29:06.820 so there

00:29:07.820 there is

00:29:08.820 um

00:29:09.820 even if we go to this tactics page

00:29:12.820 you could see like

00:29:13.820 well they have the

00:29:14.820 creative disruption

00:29:15.820 they have

00:29:16.820 uh

00:29:17.820 culture jamming

00:29:18.820 they have noise

00:29:19.820 they have

00:29:20.820 you start like

00:29:22.820 really

00:29:23.820 looking into this

00:29:25.820 and you're like

00:29:26.820 well nothing

00:29:28.820 nothing seems

00:29:30.820 too out of line

00:29:31.820 of what we see at these protests

00:29:32.820 we see people

00:29:34.820 uh using umbrellas

00:29:36.820 using signs

00:29:37.820 they're trying to like block people

00:29:38.820 and they're trying to surround people

00:29:39.820 they are

00:29:40.820 it's a disruption

00:29:41.820 tactic

00:29:42.820 so

00:29:43.820 yeah

00:29:44.820 they very

00:29:45.820 they very like

00:29:46.820 it's almost like it happened

00:29:47.820 non-verbally

00:29:49.820 that they

00:29:50.820 all started to kind of

00:29:51.820 co

00:29:52.820 like coalesce

00:29:53.820 near the edge of the

00:29:54.820 the curb there

00:29:55.820 leaving me no space

00:29:57.820 my only choice

00:29:58.820 was to back up

00:29:59.820 if I didn't want to push back

00:30:00.820 against them

00:30:01.820 because

00:30:02.820 I mean

00:30:03.820 I knew

00:30:04.820 like you could hear me

00:30:05.820 you could hear my voice

00:30:06.820 saying like hey

00:30:07.820 you know

00:30:08.820 get your hands off me right 1.00

00:30:09.820 and they

00:30:10.820 and to their credit

00:30:11.820 they didn't

00:30:12.820 like

00:30:14.820 no one took a swing at me

00:30:15.820 or anything like

00:30:16.820 did anything

00:30:17.820 outrageously violent

00:30:18.820 but just the

00:30:19.820 the action of them

00:30:20.820 kind of moving

00:30:21.820 as a as a wave

00:30:22.820 sort of like that

00:30:23.820 leaving me the only place

00:30:25.820 to go onto the road

00:30:26.820 where there was cars turning

00:30:28.820 it was very effective

00:30:30.820 yeah well it was like a

00:30:32.820 it was a mob mentality

00:30:34.820 they had you surrounded

00:30:35.820 yeah

00:30:36.820 they were using signs

00:30:37.820 and other devices

00:30:38.820 to push you instead of using their hands

00:30:40.820 for the most part

00:30:41.820 yeah

00:30:42.820 so that's a way of saying

00:30:43.820 well I'm not touching you

00:30:44.820 I'm not touching you

00:30:45.820 it's just my umbrella

00:30:46.820 it's just my sign

00:30:47.820 yeah

00:30:48.820 so they

00:30:49.820 they have some buffer there

00:30:50.820 where they're like

00:30:51.820 well I never struck him

00:30:52.820 but

00:30:53.820 it's a

00:30:54.820 it's a form of

00:30:55.820 it is

00:30:56.820 antagonization

00:30:58.820 in a way

00:30:59.820 so

00:31:00.820 I think a few

00:31:01.820 I would

00:31:02.820 bet good money

00:31:03.820 that's

00:31:04.820 the

00:31:05.820 people

00:31:06.820 who dress head to toe

00:31:07.820 as Antifa

00:31:08.820 are well versed in some of these theories

00:31:11.820 and or

00:31:12.820 in their chats

00:31:13.820 and or

00:31:14.820 whatever groups

00:31:15.820 that

00:31:16.820 kind of

00:31:17.820 I know it's

00:31:19.820 decentralized

00:31:20.820 but they do

00:31:21.820 kind of emerge

00:31:22.820 I bet they talk about these things of like

00:31:24.820 okay if somebody comes up to you

00:31:25.820 what do you do

00:31:26.820 it

00:31:27.820 like how do you deal with

00:31:28.820 this situation

00:31:29.820 they've

00:31:30.820 likely discussed

00:31:31.820 a few of these things

00:31:32.820 beforehand

00:31:33.820 or you spread this information

00:31:34.820 kind of peer to peer

00:31:35.820 from that way

00:31:36.820 that way

00:31:37.820 so these tactics are not

00:31:38.820 hidden

00:31:39.820 they're out in the open

00:31:40.820 but it's interesting that

00:31:42.820 this

00:31:43.820 I

00:31:44.820 I would feel that

00:31:45.820 after

00:31:46.820 knowing how they operate

00:31:47.820 when I see Antifa

00:31:49.820 at a

00:31:51.820 defending a certain point of view

00:31:53.820 I immediately question

00:31:54.820 the validity

00:31:56.820 of a

00:31:57.820 counter protest

00:31:58.820 if they show up

00:31:59.820 yeah

00:32:00.820 doesn't seem to correlate

00:32:01.820 with a good faith protest

00:32:03.820 no I think it's almost

00:32:04.820 as

00:32:07.820 maybe

00:32:08.820 superficial

00:32:09.820 as it seems

00:32:10.820 I think it's

00:32:11.820 pretty safe to say

00:32:12.820 in a

00:32:13.820 in a protest

00:32:14.820 where there are two sides

00:32:15.820 and one side

00:32:16.820 has

00:32:17.820 families

00:32:18.820 have all

00:32:19.820 shapes and sizes

00:32:20.820 and colors

00:32:21.820 and creeds

00:32:22.820 very calmly

00:32:25.820 you know

00:32:26.820 assembling

00:32:27.820 and gathering

00:32:28.820 together

00:32:29.820 and the other side

00:32:30.820 has

00:32:31.820 guys in

00:32:32.820 head to toe

00:32:33.820 black

00:32:34.820 covering their faces 0.98

00:32:35.820 with helmets

00:32:36.820 and knuckle duster

00:32:38.820 gloves on

00:32:39.820 and

00:32:40.820 these are 20 year olds

00:32:41.820 young

00:32:42.820 young people

00:32:43.820 yeah

00:32:44.820 acting aggressively

00:32:45.820 to people

00:32:46.820 who they view as outsiders

00:32:47.820 I think it's

00:32:48.820 I mean it's

00:32:49.820 it doesn't take

00:32:50.820 you know

00:32:51.820 a very

00:32:53.820 creative mind

00:32:54.820 to think who the

00:32:55.820 probably who the

00:32:56.820 the aggressors

00:32:57.820 or the bad guys

00:32:58.820 are on that side

00:32:59.820 I'm going to

00:33:00.820 queue up here

00:33:01.820 James

00:33:02.820 just a short

00:33:03.820 clip of my

00:33:04.820 interaction with

00:33:05.820 with a police

00:33:06.820 officer that

00:33:07.820 that pulled me

00:33:08.820 aside there

00:33:09.820 so he pulled you

00:33:10.820 sides started asking

00:33:11.820 you questions

00:33:12.820 and yeah

00:33:13.820 let's see how that

00:33:14.820 all

00:33:15.820 I'll start it from

00:33:16.820 from where I get got

00:33:17.820 pulled there and then

00:33:18.820 we'll see

00:33:19.820 the plan was she said for her group and stuff was to stay on your guys side they're going to stay on your side

00:33:30.820 well I'm not on his side I'm just taking pictures

00:33:32.820 okay yeah but you you clearly are on the side because you're trying to interject yourself in there they don't want you there

00:33:39.820 how do you mean interject I'm not I'm not doing anything I wasn't even speaking to them

00:33:44.820 they were pushing me onto the road

00:33:46.820 yeah

00:33:47.820 but they don't even know what I represent or what I think

00:33:51.820 which is fine and stuff the reality is and stuff you've been seen coming from over here

00:33:56.820 yeah I started there and I'm ending here

00:33:59.820 so the whole point is whether if you're not on anybody's side we've asked those people and stuff

00:34:04.820 because there is a bunch of them and stuff that you're putting up signs for love and saying it doesn't matter just love everybody

00:34:10.820 cool go to that side and stuff so that we're because we don't want you guys to get if you again if you're not for anybody you're just for that type of stuff

00:34:20.820 we don't want you to get confused with that side or this side and then there will be an altercation

00:34:26.820 so

00:34:28.820 immediately

00:34:30.820 that

00:34:31.820 was so cheesy to me

00:34:33.820 I

00:34:34.820 I couldn't believe what I was hearing like

00:34:37.820 that this is a this is an Edmonton

00:34:40.820 the city of Edmonton police officer

00:34:42.820 just saying as if it's for granted that

00:34:45.820 well, you know

00:34:46.820 if you're if you're somebody who they've seen on the other side and you've come to yours to this side

00:34:51.820 well, we just don't want there to be an altercation

00:34:53.820 so you should leave

00:34:54.820 like

00:34:55.820 that's

00:34:56.820 that's like what we were just talking about

00:34:58.820 you know if

00:34:59.820 their

00:35:00.820 their opinion that

00:35:01.820 if there was a chance

00:35:02.820 a trans child their family is automatically a danger to them 1.00

00:35:05.820 and this is a police officer saying well if

00:35:07.820 if you're

00:35:08.820 if you don't believe something that this group of counter protesters believes

00:35:12.820 you're in danger and that's just that's just how it is like it's

00:35:15.820 like it's

00:35:16.820 is that building

00:35:18.820 is that not creating more division to say that

00:35:22.820 there's no possible way that we can even have a dialogue that these two groups will be at each other's throats

00:35:29.820 if not for a line in the sand and dividing them

00:35:35.820 yeah

00:35:36.820 yeah and then

00:35:38.820 I'll

00:35:39.820 I'll scrub a little bit here and

00:35:41.820 find the part where he

00:35:43.820 fundamentally

00:35:44.820 doesn't seem to understand what

00:35:46.820 the term instigation means

00:35:52.820 it is peaceful as possible

00:35:54.820 but

00:35:55.820 if you agree though that this is

00:35:57.820 like regardless of what's happening right now

00:35:59.820 this is still public property no?

00:36:01.820 it's still public property and stuff

00:36:02.820 but what you choose to do

00:36:03.820 may have consequences right?

00:36:05.820 if you go into a crowd

00:36:06.820 if I choose to take pictures or video of people in public that can have consequences?

00:36:10.820 if somebody decides to make a poor choice and do something and we're not then yes

00:36:15.820 well then you're here to protect me I suppose

00:36:17.820 I'm not going to be going with you into the crowd

00:36:19.820 that's fine

00:36:20.820 so I'm going to go back there then?

00:36:22.820 if you go back there that's your choice

00:36:24.820 if something happens and we're not your part of the problem you would be instigating their problem

00:36:30.820 what would I be instigating by taking pictures of videos of people protesting in public?

00:36:33.820 you're well aware of the fact that they don't want you there

00:36:36.820 and you're continuing to instigate it would be no different if you're shouting at them

00:36:40.820 but I'm not shouting I'm not saying anything to them

00:36:42.820 I'm not saying that you are I'm saying it would be no different

00:36:44.820 right?

00:36:45.820 if you're shouting at them

00:36:46.820 if you're instigating anything

00:36:48.820 but it would be different because they would be the instigators though

00:36:51.820 if you're only at the phone in space or whatever

00:36:53.820 it instigates people

00:36:54.820 right?

00:36:55.820 people don't like it

00:36:56.820 well then they can go

00:36:57.820 but that doesn't mean that you're

00:36:59.820 it's not okay for you to videotape

00:37:02.820 so you're

00:37:03.820 I'm just trying to get it straight

00:37:04.820 I'm sorry I'm not understanding

00:37:06.820 you're saying that me taking pictures and videos of people protesting in public

00:37:10.820 obviously with a message to spread

00:37:12.820 then that would be instigating them

00:37:14.820 and I can't be

00:37:15.820 you can't be responsible for anything that happens to me in that case

00:37:18.820 no

00:37:19.820 so

00:37:20.820 if they make a first choice

00:37:21.820 and they were to harm you

00:37:22.820 that is criminal

00:37:23.820 that being said

00:37:25.820 I would prefer not to see that happen

00:37:28.820 I like that

00:37:29.820 it's the difference between gripping into a criminal act

00:37:31.820 and then just sit in there and instigating

00:37:34.820 instigating isn't criminal

00:37:35.820 I'm not going to stop you if you want to go into my crowd

00:37:37.820 it's not criminal

00:37:38.820 you are allowed to go into that

00:37:40.820 but if something happens

00:37:41.820 you can't look at me and tell me

00:37:42.820 why didn't you stop this from happening in the first place

00:37:45.820 I'm telling you

00:37:46.820 if you go into that crowd

00:37:47.820 and you instigate

00:37:48.820 you

00:37:49.820 something could happen

00:37:50.820 oh yeah I'm not going to be instigating anything

00:37:52.820 I just wanted to get that last bit in there

00:37:56.820 because

00:37:57.820 just in case anyone thought that

00:37:59.820 I was

00:38:00.820 you know 1.00

00:38:01.820 trying to be a shithead there 0.99

00:38:02.820 I truly hadn't spoken a word to anybody on that side 0.99

00:38:05.820 and I think that he knew that

00:38:07.820 but

00:38:08.820 that's

00:38:10.820 well

00:38:11.820 that's a nine minute video

00:38:12.820 we'll link to it in the comments

00:38:13.820 but

00:38:14.820 so yeah just to clarify

00:38:15.820 there's even a difference between

00:38:18.820 so the

00:38:19.820 to play devil's advocate

00:38:21.820 like

00:38:22.820 I can see that

00:38:24.820 so if somebody was purposely going like

00:38:27.820 right up to somebody

00:38:28.820 phone in the face

00:38:29.820 and was like

00:38:31.820 constantly like

00:38:32.820 in their personal space with a camera

00:38:34.820 that would be

00:38:35.820 not touching you

00:38:36.820 not touching you

00:38:37.820 yeah

00:38:38.820 that could be

00:38:39.820 like

00:38:40.820 I could see that being instigation

00:38:42.820 and

00:38:43.820 maybe that's what the police officer is thinking

00:38:45.820 in that moment

00:38:46.820 of you

00:38:47.820 going up to people

00:38:49.820 either like

00:38:50.820 trying to reveal their identities

00:38:51.820 trying to provoke a reaction

00:38:52.820 yeah

00:38:53.820 yeah

00:38:54.820 versus

00:38:55.820 you were walking through the crowd

00:38:58.820 capturing the vibes of the crowds

00:39:00.820 that's a different

00:39:01.820 yeah

00:39:02.820 like people just happen to be

00:39:03.820 in the background of the camera

00:39:04.820 that's a different

00:39:06.820 scenario

00:39:07.820 you're not singling out individuals

00:39:09.820 but as they come towards you

00:39:11.820 obviously you're going to film them

00:39:13.820 because you

00:39:14.820 like

00:39:15.820 if they do anything to you

00:39:16.820 you want it on camera

00:39:17.820 so

00:39:18.820 well yeah

00:39:19.820 that

00:39:20.820 and also I mean

00:39:21.820 it was interesting to me that the people who

00:39:23.820 who

00:39:25.820 were immediately the

00:39:26.820 the first ones to get

00:39:27.820 defensive like that

00:39:28.820 when I had

00:39:29.820 kind of walked through

00:39:30.820 and stumbled across the group of Antifa

00:39:32.820 those are the people whose identities were entirely hidden

00:39:35.820 I mean you couldn't

00:39:36.820 unless they started talking

00:39:38.820 which the one guy did

00:39:39.820 and you could recognize their voice maybe

00:39:41.820 or you know

00:39:42.820 be pretty hard to just recognize somebody by their eyes

00:39:45.820 but maybe by their eyes and their voice they could

00:39:48.820 I mean

00:39:50.820 it was

00:39:51.820 those those were the people who were

00:39:54.820 who were upset with me

00:39:56.820 just

00:39:57.820 just being there and documenting it

00:39:59.820 you can see on our Twitter too

00:40:00.820 if you guys look

00:40:01.820 sorry on our

00:40:02.820 on our X account

00:40:03.820 I took tons of pictures too of both sides

00:40:06.820 and

00:40:07.820 and

00:40:08.820 I literally did not hear a single word from anyone on the

00:40:10.820 protester side

00:40:11.820 I took tons of pictures of people

00:40:13.820 I tried not to take pictures of kids

00:40:16.820 I did take one picture

00:40:17.820 that was kind of cool of a kid

00:40:18.820 on his dad shoulders

00:40:20.820 he had a phone

00:40:21.820 the phone was just about as big as he was

00:40:22.820 he was holding in front of his face

00:40:23.820 so you couldn't identify him

00:40:24.820 but

00:40:26.820 didn't he didn't hear a single word

00:40:28.820 I asked people too

00:40:29.820 if it was you know

00:40:30.820 there if they were holding a sign really prominently

00:40:32.820 I just said you know like

00:40:34.820 hey I just I really like your sign

00:40:35.820 and I

00:40:36.820 I kind of I didn't really ask

00:40:37.820 but I just sort of

00:40:38.820 you know imply that I was

00:40:40.820 you know being respectful of their space

00:40:42.820 but

00:40:44.820 yeah it was it was a

00:40:45.820 really wild reaction

00:40:46.820 I did not expect to have

00:40:47.820 so yeah if you guys want to watch the

00:40:49.820 the full

00:40:51.820 just about nine minute interaction

00:40:52.820 it's on

00:40:53.820 it's on our YouTube we'll link to it

00:40:56.820 yeah we can

00:40:58.820 it's worth watching

00:40:59.820 these things kind of

00:41:02.820 in more depth

00:41:03.820 but it's nice

00:41:04.820 covering the kind of these

00:41:05.820 these highlights

00:41:09.820 that is a

00:41:10.820 remarkable difference

00:41:11.820 between the sides of the protestors

00:41:14.820 did you see anybody on the

00:41:16.820 protesting side

00:41:18.820 shutting down discussion

00:41:19.820 or like preventing anybody from being

00:41:21.820 on the side

00:41:23.820 did anybody cross over

00:41:24.820 was there any

00:41:25.820 no there was no

00:41:28.820 didn't didn't feel any aggression

00:41:29.820 didn't see any

00:41:31.820 you know

00:41:33.820 any signs of

00:41:35.820 of

00:41:36.820 you know discontent or anything

00:41:37.820 I mean there was obviously

00:41:39.820 you know parents who are

00:41:40.820 who are very passionately

00:41:42.820 you know saying their slogans

00:41:43.820 or whatever but

00:41:45.820 no it was it was

00:41:46.820 totally different vibes

00:41:48.820 the the counter protester side

00:41:50.820 got got pretty riled up

00:41:51.820 when they would see

00:41:52.820 you could see in that other video

00:41:53.820 where the the guy was driving by

00:41:54.820 with his truck

00:41:56.820 that had the emojis on it

00:41:59.820 but

00:42:00.820 yeah for the most part

00:42:01.820 it was

00:42:02.820 the protester side

00:42:03.820 was very

00:42:04.820 it felt you know

00:42:05.820 pretty welcoming

00:42:06.820 and very

00:42:09.820 the vibe on it was

00:42:11.820 was good

00:42:12.820 I don't think anyone

00:42:13.820 would have a problem

00:42:14.820 like I moved through the crowd

00:42:15.820 pretty easily

00:42:16.820 everyone was you know

00:42:17.820 hey hey excuse me

00:42:18.820 yeah no worries

00:42:19.820 and people moved

00:42:20.820 and there was no

00:42:21.820 or anything like that

00:42:23.820 the pro the counter protester side

00:42:27.820 when I managed to go in

00:42:28.820 the first time

00:42:29.820 and I got some of that video

00:42:30.820 and like of the

00:42:31.820 communist table and stuff

00:42:34.820 didn't didn't really get much

00:42:35.820 pushback either

00:42:37.820 it was only when I started

00:42:38.820 taking pictures

00:42:39.820 of just groups

00:42:40.820 and and you guys can see

00:42:41.820 from the pictures

00:42:42.820 I wasn't I wasn't up in

00:42:43.820 people's faces or anything

00:42:44.820 it is the exact same

00:42:46.820 style of photograph

00:42:48.820 on one side versus the other

00:42:49.820 that's only then was when

00:42:52.820 it kind of got a little bit

00:42:53.820 out of hand there so

00:42:55.820 but you know no harm

00:42:56.820 no foul is fine like

00:42:57.820 you'll see at the end of the

00:42:58.820 at the video with the

00:42:59.820 when I was talking to the

00:43:00.820 police officer that

00:43:01.820 I just thanked him for his

00:43:02.820 time and and walked away

00:43:03.820 I didn't end up going back

00:43:05.820 still still interesting that

00:43:07.820 he wouldn't

00:43:09.820 couldn't

00:43:10.820 like he wouldn't call out

00:43:12.820 aggressive behavior from

00:43:14.820 from those people who

00:43:15.820 are obviously

00:43:16.820 they were grouping up on

00:43:18.820 you and they were pushing

00:43:19.820 you and so that that was

00:43:21.820 still surprising but it's

00:43:22.820 not the first time we've

00:43:23.820 maybe we we covered that in

00:43:25.820 the future of other

00:43:27.820 examples of maybe the the

00:43:31.820 police not policing

00:43:35.820 equally between different

00:43:36.820 groups on different

00:43:38.820 protests treating one side

00:43:39.820 with with kid gloves maybe

00:43:41.820 yeah so that that's worth

00:43:43.820 that's worth worth covering

00:43:45.820 maybe we bring that up in

00:43:46.820 the future I did want to

00:43:47.820 cover the this is where it's

00:43:49.820 kind of interesting the some

00:43:51.820 of the messaging behind it

00:43:53.820 we've got a few minutes here

00:43:54.820 but I want to I want to show

00:43:56.820 you the Canadian Union of

00:43:58.820 Public Employees so that

00:44:00.820 would represent teachers

00:44:03.820 and the CEP PE urges members

00:44:06.820 to resist anti-trans hate

00:44:09.820 hate they say right-wing

00:44:12.820 groups across the country

00:44:13.820 are organizing rallies this

00:44:14.820 Wednesday September 20th

00:44:17.820 attacking trans youth and

00:44:19.820 spreading disinformation

00:44:20.820 about 2SLGBTQI plus people

00:44:26.820 and it's a growing part and

00:44:28.820 organized hate movement in

00:44:29.820 Canada so that's a that's a 0.60

00:44:35.820 stand from the Union and

00:44:37.820 and that's a very specific

00:44:39.820 very specific language very

00:44:41.820 specific message and they

00:44:44.820 even have that logo of the

00:44:45.820 no space for hate and I

00:44:47.820 keep on seeing that all over

00:44:49.820 socials people have replaced 1.00

00:44:51.820 their banners or profile

00:44:54.820 pictures with that what I've

00:44:56.820 noticed is as soon as you get

00:44:57.820 a few either organizations media

00:45:00.820 and or government officials

00:45:03.820 using that either image or

00:45:05.820 that language and you're

00:45:06.820 people that are a little bit

00:45:08.820 less engaged just read this

00:45:10.820 quick and like well it's a

00:45:11.820 professional organization of

00:45:12.820 course they know better and

00:45:14.820 they don't even look further and

00:45:16.820 they just assume that the

00:45:18.820 protest or the march was an

00:45:20.820 anti-trans hate march yeah

00:45:24.820 yeah yeah if you're just

00:45:26.820 reading this I mean there would

00:45:27.820 be you unless you you knew to

00:45:29.820 look for secondary sources or

00:45:32.820 if you knew somebody who was on

00:45:33.820 the protester side I mean you

00:45:36.820 could be forgiven for thinking

00:45:37.820 that well obviously I mean this

00:45:38.820 is this is a professional union

00:45:40.820 that ostensibly represents the

00:45:43.820 the feelings of its members and

00:45:46.820 if they've all come to this

00:45:47.820 conclusion then then yeah I mean

00:45:49.820 that seems that seems pretty cut

00:45:51.820 and dry but yeah I think you've

00:45:53.820 got a few other links that kind

00:45:54.820 of have a similar sentiment which

00:45:56.820 is just like it couldn't be

00:45:58.820 further from my experience of it

00:46:00.820 my experience of it that and

00:46:02.820 and the experience that I

00:46:03.820 documented of it particularly

00:46:05.820 this notion of the right right

00:46:08.820 wing groups I don't know if

00:46:12.820 you guys know this but the the

00:46:16.820 Arab and the Muslim community at

00:46:18.820 least in in Edmonton and

00:46:20.820 Alberta that I'm familiar with are

00:46:22.820 not traditionally conservative

00:46:23.820 voters most of my family anyway

00:46:26.820 I'm I'm part Lebanese and

00:46:30.820 historically almost all of my

00:46:33.820 family have been liberal voters

00:46:35.820 and I think you'll find a lot of

00:46:36.820 historical liberal voters on the

00:46:39.820 Arab and Muslim in those

00:46:42.820 communities because for better or

00:46:45.820 worse I mean those were the

00:46:46.820 people that pushed and kind of

00:46:49.820 allowed them to emigrate here so 1.00

00:46:52.820 they're they're fairly loyal in

00:46:54.820 their in their voting habits like

00:46:55.820 that and there's just no there

00:46:59.820 was no correlation that I could

00:47:01.820 see between any like outward

00:47:06.820 very obvious signs of what you

00:47:08.820 would expect a right wing group

00:47:09.820 or a right wing voter or

00:47:10.820 somebody that's that's um

00:47:13.820 portrayed as very far right in

00:47:15.820 fact there's a picture on our on

00:47:17.820 our X account of a guy holding up

00:47:18.820 a sign that very explicitly said

00:47:20.820 his only sign that they said not

00:47:22.820 far right that that was his message

00:47:25.820 so I mean it's the the messaging

00:47:28.820 was very unified from these unions

00:47:31.820 and the corporate press that

00:47:33.820 reported on this and it just was

00:47:36.820 not reflective of the reality that

00:47:37.820 I saw well I have heard tongue in

00:47:41.820 cheek that due to low membership

00:47:43.820 white supremacy groups have opened

00:47:45.820 up membership to people of all

00:47:48.820 ethnic groups to boost their numbers

00:47:50.820 that's very inclusive of them

00:47:52.820 that's nice they're now more

00:47:55.820 multicultural than ever I did

00:47:58.820 want to show you I did a quick

00:48:00.820 search on cbc.ca for the 1

00:48:03.820 million March for kids and the

00:48:06.820 only link was why people protested

00:48:09.820 lgbtq plus education in schools and

00:48:13.820 and you click on that and it's

00:48:16.820 actually a cbc kids document and I

00:48:20.820 think and my feeling on this their

00:48:23.820 points hey well here's here's the

00:48:26.820 thing is like share to google

00:48:27.820 classroom so I think part of this is

00:48:29.820 like almost queuing up for teachers

00:48:31.820 and or parents that's the kind of

00:48:34.820 focus on it um they it starts out

00:48:40.820 like well okay well everything from

00:48:43.820 such education to preferred pronouns

00:48:45.820 or you're talking about those

00:48:46.820 policies um the one thing I

00:48:51.820 noticed on here is like okay well

00:48:53.820 you start reading you start reading

00:48:54.820 and then it's like well what's this

00:48:56.820 link here's what the 2slgbtq plus

00:49:01.820 stands for they've got that link what

00:49:04.820 protesters say okay well it's it's

00:49:07.820 it's kind of giving some context and

00:49:09.820 you scroll down more explanations on

00:49:12.820 pronouns um this whole page every

00:49:16.820 link is supporting of supporting the

00:49:22.820 gender ideology talking points and

00:49:24.820 exploring more and maybe this is worth

00:49:27.820 exploring in the future of like well

00:49:29.820 what are they covering how are they

00:49:30.820 talking about it but this seemingly if

00:49:33.820 this was an unbiased thing they just

00:49:35.820 wouldn't be peppering it with basically

00:49:39.820 an approved way of thinking with all

00:49:41.820 these other links through there as

00:49:43.820 well while eventually like yeah they

00:49:47.820 they give a little bit of context and

00:49:49.820 then you can see by the quotes here

00:49:51.820 well it's not safe for kids to talk

00:49:54.820 to their parents it's etc and like you

00:49:58.820 fall into these very similar lines of

00:50:01.820 thinking that we brought up kind of at

00:50:02.820 the beginning as well so i just found

00:50:06.820 that interesting the only link on cbc i

00:50:10.820 think there was maybe some local ones

00:50:13.820 but you think it would show up in their

00:50:14.820 search on their main site if they had

00:50:15.820 more more coverage so either they're not

00:50:18.820 covering things or when they are maybe

00:50:21.820 they're they're not giving the full the

00:50:23.820 full story it's got it's got a

00:50:25.820 it's got a ideological slant to it from

00:50:29.820 the start um interest there was one good

00:50:33.820 one though um the global news they seem

00:50:36.820 to have a relatively balanced description

00:50:40.820 of what was going on uh in lethbridge

00:50:43.820 but that was uh these are more one-offs it's

00:50:47.820 it's not these it's just whoever was

00:50:50.820 writing that from lethbridge maybe yeah

00:50:52.820 it's again it's a more local local

00:50:54.820 paper a little bit more balanced that

00:50:56.820 way so um but yeah all in all i think

00:51:02.820 these kind of protests are i think we

00:51:09.820 really need individuals just to well

00:51:12.820 well first of all anything you read

00:51:14.820 questioned everything look at look a

00:51:17.820 little bit deeper than the surface um

00:51:19.820 try to really understand what's going

00:51:22.820 on watch live streams try to watch like

00:51:25.820 footage on the ground if you are on the

00:51:27.820 ground talk to people ask what they

00:51:29.820 believe and why and just do a little

00:51:32.820 bit of listening because i i think some

00:51:34.820 of these things are we're not given a

00:51:37.820 full picture um and the the media and

00:51:40.820 these representations don't don't do

00:51:43.820 justice yeah it's um it's unfortunate

00:51:48.820 that it's become so clear in the last i

00:51:51.820 would say probably probably two years

00:51:55.820 for sure but but probably three by

00:51:57.820 argument's sake and maybe even even

00:52:00.820 longer than that for people who were

00:52:02.820 paying a little bit more attention than

00:52:03.820 i was you know prior to 2020 um it's

00:52:08.820 become pretty clear that it's become

00:52:10.820 most of what we have come to know as

00:52:14.820 our kind of our benchmark uh media

00:52:18.820 corporations in canada all share a

00:52:20.820 fairly similar message and all sort of

00:52:23.820 issue messaging in a very similar way

00:52:25.820 at a similar time and all appear to

00:52:27.820 reach similar conclusions and you know

00:52:30.820 as we know of course reality isn't

00:52:32.820 like that um there there are always at

00:52:34.820 least two sides to a story and anyone

00:52:36.820 anyone who anyone who tells you that

00:52:39.820 it's you know it obviously this is the

00:52:41.820 case or obviously this is the case or

00:52:43.820 if you if you believe this you're a

00:52:45.820 far-right fascist and if you believe 0.88

00:52:47.820 that you're a far-left communist you 0.71

00:52:49.820 know there's there's almost always more

00:52:52.820 nuance to it than that and you if you

00:52:55.820 are being if you're being presented by

00:52:58.820 your country's media if you're being

00:53:01.820 presented only seemingly sources that

00:53:04.820 lead you to one direction or another

00:53:06.820 very consistently then you got to find

00:53:08.820 new sources that's part of our goal

00:53:11.820 here at the critical compass is to pull

00:53:15.820 from wide variety of sources thinkers

00:53:18.820 will link to tweets we'll have a sub

00:53:20.820 stack where we post all of our sources

00:53:22.820 all the articles that we use all the

00:53:24.820 videos that we take can be found on our

00:53:26.820 socials as well our x account and we'll

00:53:30.820 and we'll try and and provide as

00:53:32.820 comprehensive of a picture as possible

00:53:35.820 of social issues that are affecting us

00:53:38.820 right now

00:53:40.820 what's how about that perfectly said

00:53:42.820 and I think that's a perfect place to

00:53:44.820 wrap up there's definitely more to

00:53:46.820 explore because we can contrast

00:53:49.820 other other protests and we can even

00:53:53.820 look at the convoy and some of the

00:53:55.820 messaging around that but those are

00:53:56.820 worth there's there's a lot of a lot

00:53:59.820 of nuance to cover and that's going

00:54:01.820 to take a whole other whole other

00:54:03.820 podcast for that so we'll we'll circle

00:54:04.820 back to that and go from there

00:54:07.820 sounds good thanks James appreciate

00:54:09.820 it yeah thanks for your time cheers

00:54:12.820 cheers cheers cheers

The Critical Compass Podcast - November 30, 2023

Million March for Kids - Postmortem ｜ A Critical Compass Discussion

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