by Jack Emberly / News Special

“… Only an admission of our ignorance can open us to new knowledge. “

– My story told by water, David Duncan

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Confirmation bias is the rejection of information that does not support one’s previous beliefs.

It is a serious obstacle to truth, social progress and enlightenment.

Notable examples are Joe Biden stole the US election, despite all the evidence he didn’t, the land is flat – no verification needed – no remote boating experience required, end of discussion.

In August, I encountered confirmation bias when I mentioned the Fairy Creek protest against logging of Vancouver’s last old growth forest.

Even though people knew little about it, they held strong negative opinions: “The protesters have nothing better to do; First Nations people don’t want it there; protesters leave garbage in the bush, the police are just doing their job.

There was more to the story, but I had to admit my own ignorance.

Why the Defenders of the forest lock himself in log barricades that the police dismantle with chainsaws and heavy equipment? Why would their supporters sleep in vehicles and endure extreme heat or rain?

Did they have nothing better to do?

Not the ones I spoke to.

I found grandmothers distributing environmental brochures at farmers’ markets; a businessman who raised sons with respect for nature; youth informed about issues who have come to support a “worthwhile cause”; a local construction worker who wants the BC government to restructure an “extractive forest industry” to save jobs while preserving old trees of spiritual significance to the Pacheedaht as Bill Jones – an elder who invited the demonstrators to put in place the blockades.

Prime Minister John Horgan recently overlooked this fact when telling the media that the Pacheedahts wanted the protesters to leave. Half-truths fuel negative confirmation bias, divide and alienate people.

In August, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs called for conservation funding to preserve old growth forests “essential to indigenous cultures, provide clean water and carbon storage, support wild salmon and tourism.”

RELATED: Police Union Investigation Says Most BC Supports Enforcement in Fairy Creek

It should have happened, but political parties disagree on how forests should be managed.

In 1994, the NDP tried to save them with tough new regulations.

This was reversed in 2003, when a Liberal government weakened the law and deregulated the industry.

Karst, the construction worker, noted a delay in the NDP’s action today to allow reform.

“It looks like they’re trying to build an industry based on rapid crop rotation. It’s like mowing the lawn. The old shoots are still about three years old if we continue to harvest them at the current rate.

In 1776 Thomas Payne (Common Sense) wrote: “government, far from being the means of order, is often its destruction”.

Are the police just doing their job in Fairy Creek?

I found the behavior of the RCMP disturbing.

Journalists were waiting at the main entrance gate to the demonstration sites.

“My rights as a journalist have been violated,” one of them told me. “I’ve been standing here for an hour. Justice Thompson ruled that we would have free access.

RECENT: BC municipal leaders more support local community in future of forestry

At Red Dress Camp, I stood among the impounded media in a “temporary exclusion zone” too far away to hear what was going on.

The RCMP said that if we didn’t like it, “we could go back to the judge to complain.” A cynical suggestion, as over 90 RCMP civil rights complaints have not been addressed.

The problem is a flawed complaints system controlled by the RCMP itself.

One podcaster quoted Judge Wally Oppal: “It is absolutely wrong that a national police force in the 21st century does not submit to an independent civilian authority to review its conduct. Lawmakers and parliamentarians have left the RCMP to fend for themselves ”, but“ if you don’t have civilian oversight, you basically have a police state ”.

At the Red Dress Camp in August, an officer repeatedly warned reporters not to speak to them or we would be “out of here” (arrested). The police did not wear any badges and refused to give their names. Others wore the controversial thin blue line patches.

The National Police Federation says they symbolize the role of the police in reducing social chaos. Noble goal, but critics say they represent an “us versus them frame of mind” that appears to have broadened to include the press.

I started this three-part report by quoting a song from the 1960s that said “Something’s going on here.”

Much more is clear now.

Canadian democracy relies on an informed public and journalists ready to defend it no matter the personal cost.

Duncan said that “the best laws are those of nature”.

The government must help businesses reflect them.

“Their transformation is the crucial subject of the time. “

Finally, the police must be neutral. Even the suspicion of confirmation bias on their part is a threat to democracy.

PART 1 – ALONG THE FRASER: Three days in the forest blockade of Fairy Creek

PART 2 – ALONG THE FRASER: Tensions rise in Fairy Creek as Columnist gains insight

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– Jack Emberly is a retired teacher, local author and environmentalist

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