All That's Fit To Print

  

From various reports, it is obvious there are some amongst us who embrace lazy thinking. Its 'practitioners' eschew traditional media sources, blithely labelling them as "fake news", preferring to allow conspiracy and fringe science sites to do their thinking for them.

The gullible and the stupid will always be with us.

What none of them want to know or understand is that serious journalism entails great responsibilities, one of the foremost being accuracy. And reputable journals own up to it when that responsibility is not properly discharged.

An excellent illustration of this pertains to a story journalist Michelle Shephard filed in 2010 from Somalia that turned out to be less-than-accurate. Donovan Vincent, The Star's public editor, writes:

Michelle Shephard, then a national security reporter for the Star, travelled to Mogadishu to write about 17-year-old Ismael Abdulle, who told her that the year prior he had been captured by members of Somali terrorist group al-Shabab on his way home from school.

When Shephard met Abdulle for the interview, he was missing his left foot and right hand, limbs the extremists cut off as part of their extreme interpretation of sharia. It was a lesson for turning them down, Abdulle told Shephard.

As a consequence of the story, members of the Toronto Somali community mounted Project Ismael", and ultimately the lad was accepted into Norway as a refugee.

Unfortunately, a significant element of Abdulle's story was false, something he ultimately admitted to Shephard in 2019.

He confessed that he was in fact a thief when al-Shabab caught up with him, just as the terrorist group had claimed publicly at the time. He was armed with a pistol when they grabbed him, he said.

Abdulle and the other boys didn’t escape from al-Shabab after the amputations. They were let go — another lie, he said.

Why did he misrepresent the facts? Abdulle says he made up the story because he wanted to find a westerner to help him get to Europe. That’s when Shephard came along.

He told her he created the story at the time to make himself look “innocent.”

While there are traditional safeguards in place to ensure the accuracy of stories, the fact that this reporting was from a conflict zone complicated matters significantly. Nonetheless, Vincent sees this as a serious breach.

In the Star’s lengthy journalistic standards guide, the blueprint for how we operate as a news organization, you’ll find this line: “Good faith with the reader is the foundation of ethical and excellent journalism. That good faith rests primarily on the reader’s confidence that what we print is correct.”

We can’t lose that faith. It’s our duty to print the truth and be able to stand behind what we say.

The case is a cautionary tale for all journalists.

Whether it’s a war zone or any other challenging circumstance, journalists need to find ways to confirm whether the details they’ve gathered are true. And if there’s a doubt, there’s always the option of simply not publishing.

No matter how sympathetic the victim, reporters still need to ask probing questions and maintain a level of skepticism. In cases involving victims of torture, for example, we have to balance that skepticism with compassion.

The non-thinking, reflexive elements of our populace will say this story verifies their cries that mainstream media are purveyors of fake news. What they will conveniently ignore, however, is the real story, that even after almost 13 years, the inaccuracy of Shephard's reporting is being addressed in an effort to set the record straight.

I have yet to see such efforts on Rebel News or any other fringe source of 'information'.

 

 

 

 

This Is Hilarious, But Will The Intended Targets Get It?

Sometimes, humour is the best weapon.

If you are sensitive to coarse language, do not watch. Otherwise, enjoy this rejoinder to the TrudeauMustGo hashtag and those who embrace it.

H/t Dave Anchovy

The Flight From Knowledge

 

There is never a moment in my post-teaching life when I have regretted retiring. The paperwork was bad enough, but in the latter part of my career, the politics were becoming very difficult for someone like me to tolerate. The careerists were always looking over their shoulders, ever fearful of obstacles on the horizon that might impede their constant upward trajectory. Even phone calls from dissatisfied parents affrighted them.

The real victims in all of this were basic educational principles and, most sadly, the students.

The following letters to the editor exemplify this fact:

York school board insults children’s intelligence in its censorship

Ontario schools cancel the Crown. How?, Sept. 17

The York Region District School Board issued guidance to teachers that discussion of the Queen’s death is “not encouraged” because it might be “triggering,” as “monarchies are steeped in problematic histories of colonialism,” and so on. Children are curious and resilient. With the help of adults, they may deal with events that are distressing: the divorce of their parents, the death of their grandparents.

Educators now have the opportunity to explain why millions mourn this woman, while others think of her as the symbol of historical colonialism and imperialism.

And yet the York board wants to silence educators on the subject.

The problem is not that the York board has a low opinion of the Queen.

It is that they have a low opinion of children.

David Mayerovitch, Ottawa

Last year, in the high school that I teach in, a teacher was temporarily removed from class for reading part of “To Kill a Mockingbird” aloud. The teacher had, of course, very carefully laid the groundwork for the book and prepared the students for its disturbing content. They had were well into reading the book. But that day, a student in the class had their phone on, recording, waiting, and after the passage was read, they asked to go to the washroom. Instead, they went right to the office.

There was a flurry of activity after the complaint, and, to make a long story short, the book has been pulled from the whole board, along with several others that the administration (or the board) deemed to be potentially sensitive.

So one student complained, and, instead of working it through, the books were taken from the hands of the rest of the students in the class, who never got to finish the story or the discussions of the issues inside it.

I wonder what exactly they learned from that experience.

Your article says “Basic civics — teaching students about the complications and contradictions in our constitutional system — can’t be taught if educators are told to duck controversy because of potential sensitivity.”

This is exactly what is happening in libraries and English classes all over the country.

We need to be able to talk about racism, and every other damaging “ism,” without the fear of being accused of being racist.

But the fear is real in the teaching profession, and I imagine everywhere else.

No one wants to be escorted out of the building and have their reputation tarnished or ruined.

These discussions are being silenced, and this is a great loss to our education system.

Kim Fraser, Holland Landing, Ont.

Updated: Mere Piffle

I doubt that I have ever used the word piffle before in writing. Yet it seems the appropriate choice in this instance. 

I am extraordinarily embarrassed for those in the mainstream media who think this is news and tantamount to a scandal.

Thankfully, we have in Brittlestar the one to set things to rights with an ingredient we all need more of: a sense of humour.

God save The King.

Just one more thing, from Moudakis.

When Mass Psychosis Takes Hold

It is ugly, and it is real. 

H/t Aaron Rupar

Especially chilling are the hand gestures of the faithful             

I do hope PP doesn't see this.

Weaponizing The Media

Most will have heard about the unpleasant contretemps between Global's David Atkin and Pierre Poilievre when the latter announced he would not be taking any questions from the press at his 'news' conference. Atkin became aggressive over this point and later apologized for his outburst. 

That was apparently not good enough for PP. A friend of mine, who joined the Conservative Party in order to vote in its leadership campaign and follow it more closely (he is neither a Conservative nor did he vote for PP), received the following from the newly ensconced leader after the Atkins event.

Ray, You won’t believe this. I couldn’t believe it, and it happened to me. Today, I was delivering a statement about how Trudeau’s inflation is hurting everyday Canadians when someone started shouting. First, they hurled obscenities and then started shouting at me. Was it some left-wing protestor? Maybe it was a Liberal MP or staffer? No, it was a member of the media. That’s right. David Akin from Global News was swearing, shouting and heckling. He wasn’t interested in hearing what I had to say, and he certainly wasn’t interested in reporting it in an unbiased way. This is what we are up against. It’s not just the Liberals with all the advantages and resources of the federal government at their disposal. It’s the media, who are no longer interested in even pretending to be unbiased. They want us to lose. But we have a secret weapon. You, and hundreds of thousands of other Conservatives across this country. People who want inflation to go down, the out-of-control spending to end, the CBC to be defunded and all the hurt caused by Trudeau turned into hope for a better future. We can’t count on the media to communicate our messages to Canadians. We have to go around them and their biased coverage. We need to do it directly with ads, mail, phone calls and knocking on millions of doors. And to do all that we need your help. Chip in to help us go around the biased media. Thank you, -Pierre Poilievre PS. We can’t take on the Liberals and the media and win without your help. Chip in here: donate.conservative.ca

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If the above looks familiar, it should. It is a ploy taken directly out of the Trump playbook, the one in which the media are demonized as repositories and promoters of 'fake news,'' their avowed aim to tear down elected officials in order to advance an unholy 'woke' agenda.

Much is being written these days about the perils to democracy in our country. At the top of the list should be the threats posed by demagogues like PP and his ilk, whose motives in their rants have nothing to do with promoting our most cherished political principle.

 

 

UPDATE: Step Right Up

 

Here in Ontario, things are moving at a fast pace - if you  happen to be a senior in a hospital but have been deemed medically fit for discharge.

This is thanks to the undebated passage of Bill 7, called the More Beds and Better Care Act. As with so much else that pertains to the Ford government, there is far less here than meets the eye.

While the bill's ostensible purpose is to free up beds in our overburdened hospitals, its abject indifference to the lives of affected seniors is egregious. As it now stands, those awaiting placement in one of their five preferred long-term care homes can now be sent anywhere within certain certain geographic limits: 70 kms in larger urban areas, and 150 or more kms if residing in the north. The logistical challenges for elderly caregivers should be obvious. And if patients refuse to go, a levy of $400 per day can be applied by the hospitals.

As someone who has navigated the health-care system on behalf of my brother, a Parkinsons Disease sufferer, I know well the  perils that exist in some long-term-care facilities, but I won't bore you with the details. All I will say is that the rosy picture being painted by the government is wholly inaccurate, including the claim that many currently '"blocking hospital beds" can go home with the proper supports, as if arranging for home care were a simple and expeditious process. Experience with my brother showed that to be a myth.

Like a carnival barker inviting everyone to step up and take in the world of cruel illusion on offer, Doug Ford and his fellow travellers are hoping you will not scrutinize the situation and realize the hoax they are perpetrating.

- They are giving the illusion of making progress on our quickly-unravelling health-care system

- They are doing this in a way that costs the taxpayers 'nothing'.

The reality is somewhat different, in that Bill 7 does almost nothing to help solve our problems, the majority of which are caused by overworked doctors, nurses and technicians, many of who are either off sick, burnt out or leaving their respective professions. Add to that the fact that the province is villainizing a sizable part of an older demographic by suggesting they are the real problem.

Closely related to the above is the effect of Bill 124, which severely limits pay increases (to about 1%) in the public sector, including much-needed nurses, many of whom have reached their limits and are leaving in large numbers:

Morgan Hoffarth, the president of the RNAO, cited statistics that said nursing vacancies in Ontario have more than quadrupled over the last five years, adding there was a 56-per-cent increase in vacancies during the first half of 2021.

So for those who stayed home in the last provincial election or voted for Mr. Ford and his crew, as the old saying goes, "How's that working out for you?" 

You'll find out, sooner or later.

 UPDATE: Despite the rush to get oldsters into LTC homes that may be dangerous to their health, Press Progress reports that proactive, unannounced Resident Quality Inspections to determine their quality, will not yet resume:

While, in Summer 2020, Premier Ford promised “We are going to do surprise inspections right across the province, so my message to all long term care homes is to get your act together” that did not materialize.

Ontario Health Coalition Executive Director Natalie Mehra noted ... “Going into the homes and asking residents if they feel safe is how you find out about abuse,...It’s how you can tell if the resident is declining, or losing weight or have bruises or that they’re staring up at the ceiling because no one has positioned them to even watch TV. If inspectors don’t go into the home, they don’t see that.”