Well, this puts a new spin on COVid.

Mink farms are hotbeds of disease. Transmission rate among minks is astronomical. Transferring mutated virus back to humans.

So far the new vaccine will recognize the new strain. But that isn’t guaranteed to continue. https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1335419078446551041

We have had experience with greed winning out over public health in the past.

Mink farmers are reluctant to cull their farm stock because it will mean financial ruin. Pretty sure that same rationale was used in mad cow disease in 1990’s and 2000’s. Let’s review.

Mad Cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy ~ BSE) wasn’t contagious to humans. You have to eat the meat of an infected cow before possibly developing Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans.

Those who put high priority on economics put much less priority on the impact to human health. Preserving the financial strength of the industry became the focus vs preserving the health of UK’s own citizens. The viability of the beef industry was prioritized over human lives.

We see the same order of prioritization in the US.

On the surface it seems the industry took BSE seriously. Banning UK beef imports and culling UK cows. Same with Canada.

But North American beef industry went through similar trying times when BSE was found in Alberta in 2003.

Protectionism is blamed for the devastating effect to Canadian beef industry. Not the use of diseased animal parts used in cattle feed. Marketing, not an actual health risk.

Testing too much (ring a bell?) produces positive BSE test results. It’s far less of a risk to the industry to reduce testing, allowing for the occasional BSE infected cow to be consumed by humans, than face the scrutiny of a positive test result.

Human health is a secondary consideration to business interests across the globe. Whether a few people become ill and die is irrelevant to nations who put profits and free markets ahead of all else. Political spin and control of media coverage minimizes the impact.

That’s the reality that most Canadians or Americans don’t realize. We believe and trust that safety regulations ensure the safety of human beings comes first. It doesn’t. That’s a myth.

Risk to the wealth of shareholders is always weighed against the risk to human health.

If it’s minimal enough, the cost of a few human lives pales in comparison to the loss of a profitable industry. It’s nothing that political spin and media coverage can’t handle.

The belief in the priority of business profits over human lives has emerged repeatedly with COVid.

We can easily observe where COVid deaths are worst, the support for profitability is highest. No need to graph it, the abundance of dead in the US is hard to miss.

Which political ideology is promoting these beliefs? In every case, it’s the same ideology.

In Canada, it’s conservative premiers declaring the equivalency of livelihoods and human life.

Advocating for shareholders rights to profit as a priority over human life.

It’s sickening to listen to politicians spin (aka gaslight) their policy choices and MSM support them.

If you’re astute, you’ll recognize this is always the priority of conservative politicians and the business community. The impact on human lives is insignificant compared to the impact on the economy and profits.

Still Alberta has open retail stores and churches to ensure money keeps flowing.

My hope is that the public will recognize this is the entire political platform of the right. Profits at any cost to human life. That has always been the focus of conservatives.

Anyone who is a die hard socialist proclaiming their sanctimony and moral superiority can cut it out right now. BC is doing better, but not significantly so. Governance by NDP has NOT mitigated the prioritization of profits over human life. Far from it.

Socialists are as susceptible to avarice as anyone else. They just like to think and portray themselves immune to greed. In actuality, we are all susceptible to profits over human life.

Denial is a powerful tool to escape the moral ramifications of our decisions.

Mink farm industry, gambling industry, restaurant industry, retail industry, oil and gas industry. They have all been given superior status to grandma’s life, to you child’s teacher’s life, and to the lives of physicians and nurses who treat COVid patients.

And while people are beginning to become concerned, there is no question the public allows the prioritization of profits over life. We continue to shop, attend events, attend church, gather for holidays and flout public health edicts.

We willingly send our children to school to become infected, so we can work and pay our bills. Prioritizing profit over the very lives we are entrusted as adults to protect.

That’s how systemically biased towards profits we are. It’s second nature.

How can one forego working to provide for their children?

We shouldn’t have to make the choice between putting our children at risk & starvation/homelessness. With a financial investment in school safety, COVid transmission in schools could be mitigated to almost zero.

But that would negatively impact the profits of industries already under economic strain. We must preserve the economy. There will always be more teachers & children. But the local restaurant and pub might go bankrupt.

Does the public ever critically examine their decisions?

In a free market, businesses would be allowed to fail in these circumstances. The government wouldn’t protect their viability. So the BS amplified by UCP and CPC that the economy is the priority is counter to their professed free market beliefs.

Conservative policy has become “whatever action keeps us in power & profiting,” regardless of the cost to public health.

Lives sacrificed to maintain a class based system. Which the public is reluctant to acknowledge or challenge.

That’s how engrained conservative values are.

We are struggling to accept the sacrifice of human beings to maintain the current social order. Perhaps afraid we may fall from our own strata?

What does that say about us? That we are paralyzed by indecision, helplessness & apathy & refuse to demand humane policy?

It says we are as committed to the systemic disregard for human lives as those politicians and businesses demanding economic focussed policies.

It says we accept those suffering and dying to prevent us from losing our hard earned privileges, status & economic comforts.

It says we are unwilling to risk our economic comforts to preserve others lives. It says we aren’t as moral and ethical as we’d like to believe.

It says when faced with crisis, human beings think of themselves first and then others. I’m not that kind of human being.

I don’t believe my physical comfort is paramount to others right to life. I’m more than willing to challenge the established system and demand norms that protect the most vulnerable.

We can always rebuild an economy. History has demonstrated that repeatedly. But the loss of human life to maintain the established social class system is not a humane choice.

It means we are no better than the people who choose to preserve the economic viability of a mink farm rather than eliminate any opportunity for the virus to mutate and destroy all of humanity.

Unless you’re willing to change the systemic biases built into the current system, which includes risking your status in the current system, you’re no better than those who most profit from status quo.

That’s a harsh and bitter truth.

It means you need to speak up and challenge the system’s legitimacy now.

This is when changes can be made. Not in 2023 when you plan to vote out this horrific government. People are dying now. They’ll all be long buried by 2023.

We can make a choice now.

Please let your MLA and MP know you demand human lives be the clear priority in policy decisions. Write a letter. Make a phone call. Support those calling for the money Ottawa sent to mitigate COVid risks. Demand we spend sufficient funds to protect the public.

Not bailing out big business to ensure corporations and businesses survive.

I guarantee someone will open another restaurant. Churches will survive. Federal government has bail outs for businesses. Some may fail anyways. But they can always rebuild.

None of us should be expected to sacrifice loved ones so the corner pub can remain open.

If you believe conservatives aren’t profiting from COVid exacerbation, take a look at this.

Your life is not a consideration. Its profits. It’s always been profits. For the right people who invested in the right industries.

Canadian con premiers have followed Trump’s lead. https://twitter.com/bankspatriot/status/1282687830184144908