By Chad Ingram

Miners Bay resident Jim Love was flabbergasted when he saw a message from a family member supporting a petition encouraging the stemming of refugees to Canada.

“It knocked me for a loop” Love who runs a local media company says.

There’s been a rise in Islamophobic sentiment on social media and in Canadian communities – including the torching of Peterborough’s sole mosque – since the Nov. 13 terrorist attack in Paris for which ISIS claimed responsibility.

“I think it’s obscene” Love says of these attitudes. “It’s a short step to Donald Trump. This is exactly what terrorists want. They want to turn fear into phobia.”

Love writes a blog called Change the game and struggling with how to respond to his family member’s post and to sentiments from others he knows and profoundly disagrees with used his blog.
Even so I’m not giving up on you is the title of the post from Nov. 19.

“I saw your post on Facebook” it begins. “The one where you were trying to get people to sign the petition  to ‘stop the immigration.’ Wow. How do I respond to this? Well I guess I can say that I’m kind of glad it was you who sent it. If it had been some stranger I would have just dismissed it as the ravings of some redneck asshole. Yup. That’s how unkind I would have been.
“Which doesn’t say good things about me.
“But because it was you I had to really think about how to respond.  How can someone that I like respect even someone who I know would never wish harm to another – how can this person want to stand by and let innocent people mothers and their children – starve in refugee camps or die at the hands of human smugglers?”

The reaction to the post which Love put on Facebook and Twitter has been viral with more than 200000 views.

“[Normally] I might get 400 hits if I’m lucky” Love says. “I was astounded. I was really astounded. It was heartening. It renewed by faith in things.”

The full text can be found at http://changethegame.ca/2015/11/19/even-so-im-not-giving-up-on-you/#more-729