You know, we’re never gonna get anywhere if we keep calling each other ‘dumb fucks’ when we disagree with each other.

Having said that, I think the anti-masker stance is totally irresponsible and noted anti-masker/MPP Randy Hillier knew that when he agreed to come on the show and I gave him full credit.  Seriously.

We talked for almost 3 hours, covered a ton of ground and it was bananas. In a good way.

I think it’s crazy that he doesn’t believe there’s a pandemic but believes the virus is real.  I think it’s wild that his faith plays into his narrative about science.  I disagree with the basic tenants of what he believes, but at least I know what he believes and why, and that’s important.

He thinks the virus is real but doesn’t think the extent of Covid19 rises to the level of ‘pandemic’ (that was my fave).

He’s been a vocal proponent of almost everyone who’s dissenting from government lockdown measures.

He’s been a hero in the anti-mask community because of his Libertarian stance and he’s willingly paid the price for his cognitive dissonance.

We don’t agree on some really basic shit. 

He says he reads a lot of Covid19 material that supports his dissenting view.

His numbers were skewed by the material he reads.

He’s not anti-vax but said he’s going to wait a while to get the vaccine.

He thinks Canada is a democracy in trouble.

We found some common ground, too: 

The federal and provincial governments have intentionally politicized and divided Canadians by politicizing COVID19

Long-term care deaths across the country are fucking criminal and need to be investigated.

The federal government’s response has been abysmally slow and poorly organized.

Doug Ford’s lockdown approach has been an absolute fucking joke.

It’s easy to call an anti masker a ‘fucking loser’.  It’s easy to call someone who thinks the pandemic isn’t real, “a Psycho’ in tweets and soundbites, but I wanted to know more.

When we announced Randy was coming on, woke assholes sent us a bunch of hate mail.

“You’re part of the problem, assholes!”

“Fuck you and fuck Randy Hillier.”

Blah Blah Blah.

We had Randy on because I wanted to know how he came to believe what he believes.  I wanted to know what he believed so I could judge him accordingly instead of adding a shit-post to the shit-post pile.  I’m tired of screaming into a Twitter account and wanted a few guys and gals from the opposite end of the spectrum to get together and talk about what we all believe based on facts.  Real facts.

I liked talking to Randy.  He’s the kind of guy you’d love to strike up a conversation with, in a pub (that’s where you’ll probably find him) on a Friday night if you didn’t have any preconceived notions.

(full interview)

I don’t think we were wrong about Randy, but I understand Randy’s distrust and how he arrived at his perspective, and why he believes what he believes.   I disagree with it but understand it.

While I think he practices cognitive dissonance and his opinions are dangerous and irresponsible in our time, he’s not the evil dickhead he’s we (I) made him out to be.

I completely disagree with him but I really don’t give a shit if he doesn’t want to wear a mask because I’m wearing mine.  Maybe people not wearing theirs means this lasts longer, but fuck.  We’re 60th in the world when it comes to vaccinating, this thing is going to be around for a long time and I don’t want to spend the next two years calling people names who don’t think like me.

The Randys of the world are just a danger to themselves and those they come in contact with, and that’s on them.  We’re not going to change those minds by calling them ‘fucking losers’ but might make sense if we take a different approach to understand each other.

Dean