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Opinion: Shane in Burnaby says he’s ‘not a sheep’ about masks

On Sunday, I posted a blog about my confrontation with an anti-masked in a Burnaby grocery store lineup. Not only was the man not wearing a mask, but he stood so close to me that I bumped him as I turned my body. You can read more here.
AFP sheep
AFP / SAFIN HAMED

On Sunday, I posted a blog about my confrontation with an anti-masked in a Burnaby grocery store lineup.

Not only was the man not wearing a mask, but he stood so close to me that I bumped him as I turned my body. You can read more here.

I’ve had some thoughtful responses to the blog. But there have also been a few comment saying that there aren’t very many anti-maskers here in Metro Vancouver.

“It’s kind of overblown,” a friend messaged me.

Well, I have to say I disagree. There are way more anti-maskers here than people think. And when I say “anti-masker” I don’t just mean people who aren’t wearing masks. I mean people who are also vehemently against anyone else wearing masks and who think COVID-19 is just “hype” or some sort of “hoax.”

Case in point: Shane in Burnaby, who wrote me the following response. (I haven’t bothered to clean up the grammar, typos and missing punctuation because I’m tired of making these folks look smarter than they are.)

Here we go:

“Free country last time I checked .you think all should wear mask lol haha It's my right not to . As your right to wear one. Dont think you have a right to swear in store at someone different than you. If you dont like dont go out you will see lots of people not wearing masks.Somebody has to stand up for our rights . We are not under dictatorship here. I'm not a sheep I'll do what i wanna a do i pay taxes . It's people like you that take it upon yourself to enforce it. If I was to enforce all my beliefs on you . It would be a different story I bet.  Its canada get over it bud People have ran here for decades escaping this type of lifestyle. Opioids is a way bigger problem here and has been for a long long time. Do we shut down for that or even do anything to help end this crisis. Must be a slow day for you to write article on this . Lol f**king loser. Bet you wont reply . Lol. And probably believes all media lol . And probably thinks trumps is racist and dumb lol lol lol haha. Land baron I bet . Never worked a day in your life I bet. Has no sense of reality in people's lives I bet . It's ok that you are this way someone has to be. But dont push you believes on us who chose to do other than you. I'm standing up for our way of life the reason y so many love this country world wide. Shutting down society for covid has hurt more lives than saving them . No marks ever here no vaccine ever here . My choice. You so mad I bet haha”

I get a lot of this childish garbage emailed to me. It's weird that they think it bothers me.

I’d like to laugh it off but there are so many of these clowns out there that it makes me worried about our society.

One point I’d like to address is the issue of the overdose crisis. I agree, more people are dying in Canada from a poisoned drug supply and more needs to be done about it (for example, decriminalization). People need to absolutely care about this issue more than they do.

But just because the government isn’t doing enough about the overdose crisis doesn’t mean we can’t ALSO take every precaution possible to deal with COVID-19.

And, really, regular folks can take more direct action to stop the spread of COVID-19 than they can to stop the poisoned drug supply.

Anyways, I’ve wasted more time on this dude than I wanted so as always, wear a mask, wash your hands a lot and stay more than six feet away from people if at all possible.

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.