[imagesource: Dave Chan /AFP / Getty Images]

There’s a lot to unpack in that headline.

In mid-January, it was announced that truckers in Canada would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before crossing the Canada and United States border.

This has led to widespread protests, dubbed the “Freedom Convoy”, where the truckers’ anti-vaccine views have been somewhat overshadowed by attendees waving Confederate flags and swastikas.

I prefer the nickname ‘Flu Trux Klan’.

Ottawa, Canada’s capital, has been the hardest hit but protests have spread to other cities.

Enter trolls determined to undermine and mock the truckers. They’ve infiltrated a channel on the Zello push-to-talk walkie talkie app and taken to playing the metal version of pro-LGBTQ+ song ‘Ram Ranch’.

You may recall that Zello was very popular during South Africa’s July unrest last year.

Rolling Stone has the full story but here’s a summary from Loudwire:

…audio from the “Windsor Convoy 2” Zello channel shows participants singing the Canadian national anthem, line by line, before a portion of “Ram Ranch” interrupts the song.

“Eighteen naked cowboys in the showers at Ram Ranch,” is the line that’s heard next.

That’s a bunch of adults singing the national anthem line by line followed by the trolling:

If I had to hear this, so do you. 😆😆 PS there’s a surprise at the end. Thank you, TurdSanwitch. #RamRanch #RamRanchResistance #FluTruxKlan #windsor pic.twitter.com/fp0YLJBoaV

— Apocalypse (omg I should be writing) Nyet (@apocalypsenyet2) February 8, 2022

Under the hashtags #RamRanch and #RamRanchResistance there are a number of videos of similar trolling.

Singer Grant MacDonald, who wrote and performed ‘Ram Ranch’, said that when he recorded it in 2016 the aim was “to get back at the homophobia of Nashville” after a radio station refused to play any LGBTQ+-themed country songs.

I suppose we should give the original a listen, which is full of expletives. Headphones on if you’re at the office:

It has since become something of a meme used to bait anti-LGBTQ+ causes.

[source:loudwire]