I want to say this loud and clear in a post here for everyone to see, but there is an issue here with people having this giant hate boner for Albertans. Not the government, not UCP voters, but Albertans.
It doesn't matter if you're politically on the same side as people elsewhere in the country, it doesn't matter if you present facts to people who are provably wrong on the most basic of things they say, it doesn't matter if you treat them with dignity and respect by mentioning things with good intentions and not insulting people. You will still get labelled as the bad guy for the very fact you're Albertan.
I made a response to a comment on this post in the community. My comment was responding to someone who called Albertans "HUGE pussies" for "giving up our rights".
In my response to said comment, I basically said that the notion that we're "simply giving up" is completely false, using the following facts:
- Students have been staging walkouts:
- CBC: Calgary students among thousands across Alberta taking part in provincewide walkout
- Global News: Alberta students walk out of class in support of teachers forced back to work
- OkotoksOnline: High River students walkout in support of teachers
- The AFL (Alberta Federation of Labour) has stated that they will retaliate against the back to work order with a "general strike if necessary"
- Global News: ‘General strike if necessary’: Alberta unions declare intent to bring down UCP government
- CPAC: Alberta Union Leaders Respond to Smith Government’s Back-to-Work Legislation
- CityNews Calgary: No general strike yet as Alberta labour unions mobilize against Smith government
- The UCP has faced a dip in the polls resulting from the back-to-work order
- CTV News: Majority of Alberta Gov’t Report Card respondents feel province headed in wrong direction
- Angus Reid: Teachers’ Strike: Most Albertans side with teachers as they criticize UCP’s handling of education
- Calgary Herald: 'Reputational challenges': New poll shows public support for Smith, UCP has dipped amid teachers' strike (Yes I know it's PostMedia, it's still relevant and correct in this case)
I went ahead and said that statements like this that blanket Albertans as lazy, dumb, and inept do not help relations between the province and the rest of the country, especially when the actions being taken showcase the exact opposite.
For this, I was labelled as a conservative myself when I'm registered with the NDP provincially and federally, had myself and those around me insulted, and was told I was uneducated by someone who spewed blatantly incorrect information as they did so, and I was the one looked down upon in the entire interaction simply for where I'm from.
I suggested that in order for the NDP or Liberals, or anybody to win over Albertans, they need to address issues here. I gave the example of canola farmers suffering, and how the feds can tariff imported cooking oils to encourage consumers to choose a domestic alternative and/or have marketing campaigns to support canola farmers by increasing their domestic sales.
For this, someone insinuated that I am dumber than them simply based on what they assumed to be the school system I attended. The very same person who said this confidently made another comment where they claimed that the NDP was in charge for a "long time" before Peter Lougheed, and that Lougheed ran on diversifying the economy, and ditched the effort afterwards.
This is provably false. The NDP formed government for the first time in 2015, it was the Social Credit Party who came before Lougheed's Progressive Conservatives. Lougheed also established the Heritage Fund , which was made specifically to save money for investments in other sectors of Alberta's economy, the disaster of the fund came with the following leaders.
However, calling someone out for getting their facts wrong, and showcasing a current example of tariffs working to protect domestic goods gets you downvoted if you're Albertan, with the very people insulting your intelligence getting upvoted as they spew their nonsense.
Apparently explaining working-class issues and what left-wing parties can do to better reach those who normally vote Conservative is treating Alberta as "special" and forcing "everyone else to adapt" to us. Clearly the "majority" of people in Alberta are "hateful morons" and "insular xenophobes" .
Why do people continue to blanket me with the thoughts of a few bad apples they met? Are they more prominent here, sure, whatever, I can agree to that. I can agree that people here can be some of the worst you've met, I would know, I live here.
But me and the good, well-meaning people I know, especially those here who are marginalised or among the over 750,000 people who voted for the NDP the last election, do not appreciate having blanket statements made against us simply because we live here. I am pro-abortion, I am pro-immigration, I am pro-expanding healthcare, pro-creating public alternatives, pro-trans rights, anti-privatisation, anti-separatist, and yet sure, I'm a Conservative tip-toeing a line because my thoughts slightly deviate from the norm.
Hate the government, hate the jerks, do not hate me simply for where I'm born and the fact that I live here. I do not do this to you, I do not insult people for where they live or were born, and don't make blanket assumptions about the entire population of an area based on who's in power where they live. Why then is it seen as acceptable for this to happen to me?
I am an Albertan who doesn't want special treatment, but for fuck sake, it is reasonable to want to be treated with respect.
Edit: I don't know why the numbered lists are showing all as 1's, I have them properly numbered in the text of this post.
Is there a lot of people like that identifying as Albertan, or do you identify people doing that IRL as Albertan, which would be a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Like, those guys exist and are a highly visible small minority here, but I have a strong feeling Ontarian Doug Ford voters do similar things.
As an aside, have you met Alberta separatists living outside of Alberta? I can actually believe they'd be that dumb and oblivious to irony, but damn. (Again IRL, rage bait doesn't count)
I feel like an alien in Alberta. I'm surrounded by insanity. Mostly Take Back Albertans too, like the real insane shit. My neighbor thinks that because we don't prey in schools anymore this is why children are hellions. All the world's problems start with us not praying in schools, makes the kids go gay. I'm not even making this up. I've gotten quite adept at ninja rolling through the bushes to avoid run-ins with them.
FWIW your neighbor is unusual. Alberta is actually the second most atheist province. Even the chuddery tends to be the sleazy strip club kind, as opposed to religious.
Just an FYI, you pray to God and Conservatives prey on school children.
You do see some of that in Ontario too, but it's not a major political force here in the same way as Alberta. In Ontario their political will is more offset by the NDP, leaving the Conservatives and Liberals to battle for centrists in the middle.
In Alberta it seems that no one will vote Liberal, leaving the NDP to battle it out with the Conservatives, which mean that most of the time the Cons can just count on the centrist swing votes and pander to their base to win.
I think Alberta seems a lot more dogmatic to the rest of the country mostly because they have only elected PC governments despite their massive failings, until the brief fling with the NDP after decades and decades of mismanagement.
That being said, a lot of the recent extremism in Alberta has to do with that aide to Danielle Smith. She's a huge pile of crap who originally pushed Doug Ford to be a lot more extreme and divisive, and once they fell out she went to D Smith and D Ford mellowed out somewhat.
The NDP basically is the Liberal party here. It's headed by Nenshi, who historically wouldn't commit to a side between conservatives and liberals, and they're thinking about dropping the name entirely. Forget about the labels and federal politics.
You have to remember that before the 40 year Conservative dynasty there was a 40 year Social Credit dynasty. The elections weren't contested, and brand loyalty especially in rural areas is still insane. Post-Notley everything is new and different, and crazy promises about having our cake and eating it too are fueling Danielle Smith's populist movement, which has hollowed out the UCP.
I said somewhere else that I live in rural eastern Ontario and I'm surrounded by maple MAGA dumbth.
Yeah, exactly.