Mark Freeman
You may have seen us on the side of a road in your town or city, holding signs promoting freedom and decrying vaccines and mandates. Or maybe you’ve been one of us. If not, you may have wondered what motivates us to be there, especially when the feedback from passing motorists and pedestrians can get unsavoury.
Holding signs made of corflute plastic is not a particularly glamorous activity—standing in the heat of the summer sun or in a cold, blustery wind for up to an hour at a time, sometimes longer. Many freedom fighters do it a few times and decide it’s not their thing, but there’s another, hard-core, group that is often out on the streets.
What is it that drives us? Getting kudos from the public is certainly gratifying—although it’s not as common as you might think. The vast majority of drivers, maybe 90% or more, don’t outwardly react to the signs. Of the 10% or so who do, generally around 2/3 are positive—raising our spirits with short, happy toots, a thumbs-up or a shout of “Good on ya!” or “Freedom!”
Around 1/3 of the 10% are negative responses. These include head-shaking, thumbs-down, extended middle fingers, long horn blasts, smart-alec comments and insults: “Go home!” “Get a f*&%ing job!” “Losers!” “Selfish c**ts!”
The abuse is like water off a duck’s back to most of us, but I do find the rage of some of our detractors still a bit shocking. It’s obviously irrelevant to them that we’re exercising our right as citizens to speak out on these important issues using one of the few public avenues left open to us. To them, we’re deluded by—and are promoting—misinformation about the supposedly deadly pandemic. We are selfishly only thinking of ourselves and our own freedoms, not the greater good of society.
To them, we’re no longer part of Jacinda’s “team of five million” and we are jeopardising the unity of the collective groupthink. It seems that our messages are threatening to puncture New Zealanders’ cosy view of our country as a friendly, independent, freedom-loving democracy that’s free of corruption and malign foreign influences.
Of course, the opposite is true: we’re standing up because we understand the current dangers to every New Zealander’s health and freedom. We’re seed-scatterers, hoping our written words will fall on fertile mind soil and germinate at some point.
Despite the vehemence of some reactions, I’m actually a bit disappointed if I don’t get any pushback at a sign event. A strong reaction does show our message is hitting a nerve. We’re not going to change these people’s minds immediately but maybe we’ll cause a few to consider a different perspective, even if only briefly.
Communicating with the hard-to-reach is definitely motivating, but for me the strongest driver in sign-holding is the desire to reach the silent majority, many of whom feel uncomfortable with mandates and may be sceptical of the safety and efficacy of the jab. They’ve taken the shots to keep their jobs or to travel overseas—or just to fit in with the crowd. Our presence on the street reminds them that there are people with alternative views out there and that they aren’t alone with their doubts.
Since the lifting of the vax pass, some employment mandates—and now some mask mandates—fewer freedom fighters have come out sign-holding in my city. It may also be because many are now directing their energy into preparing for hard times ahead.
However, while Covid restrictions are easing, the threat to democracy, individual freedoms and our well-being continues, with food shortages and possible financial troubles on the horizon. It seems there’ll still be an ongoing need for us silent prophets to be out on the streets, exposing motorists to short, sharp, silent messages of truth.
