The previous guy will likely be described in his official biography as a leading internet troll, and the use of social media has spawned resistance to astroturfed protest groups. Zello, Zappa, they all sound the same in the subliminal ASMR of internet audio. Canadians are often more adept at culture jamming.
The term "Ram Ranch Resistance" initially stemmed from Canadian counterprotesters entering chats organized by convoy supporters on Zello
In a recent chat on a Zello channel titled “Windsor Convoy 2,” a group of people supporting the trucker convoy — a Canadian protest against vaccine mandates and lockdowns — started an impromptu singalong for the national anthem, “O! Canada.” “Our home and native land,” one person sang off-key, followed by another, crooning just as poorly, “True patriot love with all our sons command [sic].”
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The term “Ram Ranch Resistance” initially stemmed from Canadian counterprotesters entering chats organized by convoy supporters on Zello, a push-to-talk walkie-talkie app somewhat similar to the voice chatting platform Clubhouse. According to Katarina, a PhD student at a university in Ottawa and one of the leaders of the #RamRanchResistance (she requested that her last name be withheld to avoid being doxxed), it all started with counterprotesters going into the truckers’ Zello channels to get information about their organizing.
Katarina says that life in Ottawa — particularly in the downtown area, which is home to many low-income and unhoused populations — has been hell since the trucker convoy. The city’s mayor has declared a state of emergency, and life for Ottawans has largely come to a standstill. “We’re watching destruction of property, harassment, people getting up in locals’ faces and telling them to take their masks off,” she says, adding that there have also been reports of assaults from locals in the area. “And there was this huge gaslighting by the media. [Everyone was saying], ‘Well, they’re just protesters. It’s just a peaceful protest.”
Out of frustration, leftists in Canada started trolling Zello channels by blasting the song “Ram Ranch,” both as a play on the Dodge Ram insignia of many of the trucks downtown and as a subversion of the channel’s patriotism (the artist who recorded “Ram Ranch,” Grant MacDonald, is Canadian). “It’s a deeply conservative belief system infiltrating our city,” says Katarina. “And when we played this song to jam their communication, they’d get extremely angry because it’s an explicit and LGBTQ-friendly song.”
When reached by phone, MacDonald, a Toronto-based recording artist, says “Ram Ranch” was inspired in part by Rodin’s Thinker and in part by a Nashville radio station rejecting his LGBTQ-themed country songs. “It was to get back at the homophobia of Nashville. That was the whole foundation,” he says.
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"We've heard enough about the truth"
So they moved to a new channel. The problem was the moderator of the channel turned out to be a double agent. “This person gained our trust. We trusted them as a moderator,” the guy says.
“Traitor! Traitor!” another person yells.
That moderator who turned out to be “part of the resistence” apparently shut things down and ruined their ability to communicate, allowing the police to roll up the blockade. “It’s a morale blow,” he said.
Another guy adds: “What a clusterfuck."
Aaaand someone started playing Ram Ranch on this feed.
“Christ on a cross!” one protester yells.
Things have kind of fallen apart as the resistance infiltrates the space. “Yeah I’ve got a plan. Why don’t we go full court press tonight. I mean full court press. Fuck these cops,” says one guy though honestly I’ve lost track of who is legit and who is mocking them.
There’s lots of talk of needing money. “None of us know how to use that goddamn bitcoin,” says one guy.
“I’ve got kids… I need some money here. I can’t do this,” says another.
“What happened to the money we donated? I gave $600” says one woman.
“It’s gone. Byyyeeee” says another.
This has gone way off the rails. Actual quote just now: “What is this Ram Ranch people are talking about? Is it somewhere we can go and get our money?”
Oh my god… I don’t know how to explain this...
They’re trying to figure out options to insure their vehicles.
One guy says he’s got a live feed of an insurance company feed, then the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays. The ranchers, as they’re being called are just incessantly punking them.
Then some guy claiming to be a trucker supporter says he knows of an American company willing to insure Canadian truckers. It’s called [coded name of an extremely gross thing to google]
“Hold on, let me write that down…. Oh my god!"
After another guy goes on a monologue about sucking off truckers, the protesters are trying to figure out how to kick out all the Ram Ranchers.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” says one woman. “People are just disgusting."
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"Then I'd get a cuppa coffee And give my foot a push...Just me & the pygmy pony Over by the dental floss bush"