Canada is running a large-scale Stanford Prison Experiment
April, 2022. The Montreal Museum of fine arts was almost empty; it was a rainy Wednesday afternoon. I went to one of Montreal’s most famous museums to see the exhibition of Nicolas Party ( L’heure Mauve). Prior to arriving at the exhibition, I had a snack in a local cafe and was allowed to eat with my mask off, being close to other people. No one was hurt while I was finishing a rather big salad.
Large paintings of Nicolas Party were exhibited in spacious rooms with high ceilings. Rooms were mostly empty but populated by museum attendants — at least two per big room. One short middle-aged man was closely watching me move from one painting to another; he approached me, “Madame,” and demanded to put my mask higher and cover my entire nose. I am a law obeying, fully vaccinated, tax-paying citizen, I had my mask on, but it was not high enough to his liking. I wear glasses and have a round face; putting the mask too high fogs my glasses and makes it impossible to see. (Why am I justifying myself?) However, the museum guard had a real power trip. He rushed to the next room to alarm the guard in the next room about a moving mask-criminal (me). They needed to be on high alert and keep me on the radar. The group of them were having fun; they were bonding. I will never know whether his job is too boring, his wife keeps him on a short leash, or he needs excitement and adrenaline to wake him awake around 3 PM. So, I kept moving around from one almost empty room to another, being harassed by the guards. Not a way to enjoy a museum visit. The initiator of the pursuit was not letting it go, and I decided to ask his name; he had a badge on his uniform; he wasn’t eager to disclose his identity and give up his anonymity and run away as fast as he could like a child who knows he did something wrong. I now understand he was in a rush to put others on a high alert. He was having a power trip. At my expense and being paid by my taxes + a heavy $24 admission ticket.
Neither was I disturbing the peace, endangering his personal health, or being disrespectful. I cut my visit short and tried to give my peaceful but passionate feedback to the woman who appeared to be a supervisor. While I was briefly explaining my…
