Medicine Hat News

Think critically, question and then evaluate all informatio­n

- Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to www.medicineha­tnews.com/opinions, email her at gslade@medicineha­tnews.com or call 403-528-8635. Gillian Slade Comment

We are requiring extraordin­ary levels of compliance during COVID-19 without questionin­g and now it looks as though we don’t even want to evaluate the opinions of others.

When The Epoch Times dared to question the origin of the COVID19 you would have thought the world was coming to an end this week. Major news broadcasts said that Canadians had concerns that this publicatio­n was “racist and inflammato­ry”.

The “crime” apparently was that The Epoch Times dared to question the origin of the virus and therefore China and that the paper was delivered “unsolicite­d” to some peoples’ mailboxes.

A Kelowna resident said it could inflame racial tensions in Canada.

It is true that there are scientists who have indicated that corona viruses evolved naturally. That does not mean though that we should not be willing to listen to other theories and evaluate them. Many will not warrant a passing glance and in some cases there will be kernels of truth. Consider some and toss the rest out.

We are supposed to be a country where people have been taught critical thinking skills, to question and evaluate rather than blindly following along. That did not appear to happen this week.

If a publicatio­n such as The Epoch Times turn us into a tailspin we should all be taking another look at our society. Why not listen to other points of views? Why should questionin­g what has happened during COVID19 in China result in racial tensions here?

If we are so easily racist that is a problem our society needs to address and limiting freedom speech is not the way to address it.

The furore over this publicatio­n even had people questionin­g whether it was appropriat­e for Canada Post to be delivering them. What will happen next? Are we going to have censors in Canada Post facilities reading all the mail to determine whether it meets the “appropriat­e” criteria or qualify for delivery?

That is what we should be scared of and we should all be worried about the number of people who are not capable of evaluating informatio­n for themselves.

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