The People's Convoy (Video)
Some news that's not about a land war in Europe
Last week, Tablet Magazine sent me down to the high Mojave Desert to cover the launch of “The People’s Convoy,” which is the American version of the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” against vaccine mandates.
If Ukraine weren’t dominating the news there would probably be a fair amount of hyperventilating in the media over this protest. Maybe there will be in a few days, when they reach the DC area, though I think more likely they’ll continue to be overshadowed by the run up to World War 3 and be largely ignored.
So consider this video I made a little time capsule.
I share the attendees’ opposition to vaccine mandates, as should be clear to anyone who’s been reading this Substack for a while. I assume there are many other issues on which I would strenuously disagree with most of them, not least the widespread enthusiasm for Trump.
But who cares? My aim isn’t to glorify or vilify people for their politics, it’s to try to understand where they’re coming from. That used to be what we all thought journalism was for. Those days are gone. Luckily, I can do whatever I want in this space, so I get to just pretend that’s still what my profession is about.
If I were serious about my identification as a conspiracy theorist I'd argue that the war was instigated just in time to totally undermine any traction this convoy got. That and what I predict will be a widely uncovered story related to vaccine injury and death. But I'll just listen to the video and hope these proud and brave folk get some positive attention.
You always make the best videos.
This convoy, however big or small it turns out to be, is uncomfortable for a certain class of people. As long as I can distance myself from this mess, the media coverage of this will be intriguing. Will they go back to standing up for choice and the working class or will they smear them with the "white supremacist" brush they've been using to smear everyone that doesn't go along with their program?
And there are two groups: propagandists/pundits and journalists. There are very few journalists left, and I have been ecstatic to have found them on Substack, including you. So thank you.