Ideological Soulmates

 

 

Well, it appears Pierre Poilievre, that would-be master disinformation-trafficker, has found his true soulmate in another man-child, Elon Musk. They have had a meeting of the minds when it comes to the CBC - dearest Elon has agreed to PP's request that the publicly-funded networked be labelled "government-funded media," a tag that used to apply only to propaganda outlets like RT (Russia Today).

"Government-funded media is defined as outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet's funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content," according to Twitter.

National Public Radio in the U.S. announced earlier this month that it is leaving the platform after Twitter labelled its account as "state-affiliated media," saying that doing so undermines their credibility by "falsely implying that we are not editorially independent."

U.S. public broadcaster PBS followed suit, also leaving Twitter after it received the "government-funded" stamp.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently called on Twitter CEO Elon Musk to add a "government-funded" label to accounts that promote "news-related" content from CBC.

Such a designation will undoubtedly provide sweet succor to the simple  amongst PP's clan of followers (but aren't they all a bit simple?) and will undoubtedly raise his 'street cred' with them. And just in case some of them missed the significance of this label, PP tweeted out that the CBC has been "officially exposed" as "Trudeau propaganda, not news."

The CBC was quick to admonish the thinking behind this assault of the media:

The CBC is a Crown corporation, wholly owned by the state but operated at arm's length from government.

In a statement Sunday night, CBC corporate spokesperson Leon Mar emphasized the government does not influence CBC's editorial content.

The CBC is a Crown corporation, wholly owned by the state but operated at arm's length from government.

Such machinations, of course, only help to illustrate PP's discord-sowing ways that make him manifestly unfit to sit in the prime minister's office; they also, however, demonstrate something else a credulous electorate should bear in mind: his hypocrisy:

Eerily Prescient

In 1986, Frank Zappa appeared on Crossfire, a show that billed itself as a forum for debate between opposing views. In the following clip, (you can see the entire episode here), Zappa makes an observation that, although hotly contested by the other guests, proves to be eerily prescient, given the bizarre ideology currently enveloping the United States:

Angry Talking Heads

 

When I was a teacher, it used to bother me to no end that it only took one or two ignorant, badly-behaved kids to spoil the atmosphere and discourse in a class. For those who think it should have been a simple matter to silence those voices, well, let's just say they don't understand the reality and the dynamics of teaching.

I feel the same frustration today when I see angry men-children like Elon Musk and his Canadian counterpart, Pierre Poilievre, spreading their mischief to gain either attention or political advantage. Take, for example, Musk's impish decision to label publicly-funded media as government-funded, the implication being that they are merely organs of government propaganda. In the United States, this has led both NPR and PBS to close their Twitter accounts.

Not to be outdone, our own domestic mischief-maker, Pierre Poilievre, wants the same designation for the CBC. This is perhaps not surprising, coming from the man who is trying to exact as much political mileage as possible out of his promise to defund the CBC.

Like the problem students I dealt with, they clearly have too much power to influence the agenda. Unlike the classroom, however, all of us have a role to play in mitigating such madness, as pointed out in the following letter from a Star readers:

Trying too hard to make CBC the enemy, April 13

Bruce Arthur is right to pay attention to Elon Musk and Pierre Poilievre championing the word freedoms in order to destroy it when it comes to the public funding of national media like the CBC. Clearly these two are not reformers but transformers and destroyers of our democracy. As antistatist freedom fighters they appeal to everyone’s sense of liberty while bringing about its end in the media.

Like the typical 1980s neo-con U.S. President Ronald Reagan who identified government as the enemy of the people, Musk and Poilievre regard publicly funded media to express the national will of its people as illegitimate. They demand that the marketplace is the only way to provide free and balanced reporting.

The fact that such free enterprise thinking resulted in Fox News, becoming the lying propaganda media for Republicans only is ignored.

The fact that Musk bought Twitter promising to free it up so that everyone would be heard but turned it into the embodiment of censorship is overlooked. (Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opposition is censored in Indian and Substack notes’ links are censored in the U.S.)

The fact that magical thinking that freedom bestows legitimacy on anything done in its name has proven to do major harm to democracy is ignored.

History has shown that public funding for national media like the CBC is the only democratic economic system that allows individuals to vote for how their money is to be used in the media. They can vote out the government and replace it with a different policy about its funding.

Musk can’t be voted out. Poilievre with such anti-democratic views should not be voted in.

Tony D’Andrea, Toronto

Perhaps a tall order from Mr. D'Andrea, but one that none of us who believe in a healthy democracy can afford to shirk.

 

 

 

"My Family Sometimes Comes Second. It Has To"

The above are the words of one of the officers who recently entered the private school in Nashville which saw a horrible killing spree by a deranged former student. While I am often quite critical of the police and their abuse of authority, that many are brave and selfless is unquestionable. Please watch to the end of the following to hear about that selflessness.

It goes without saying that the public trust is a sacred thing, and what the officer says at the end of the clip reminded me of the heavy responsibility that can entail. It also made me think back to my teaching days. Although a shooting at my school was unlikely, I always knew being a teacher meant that if such a dreadful day should arise, it would require me to do everything I could to protect my students, even if it meant putting my life at risk. 

A heroic mindset? Absolutely not. Just part of what it means to be in a position where people's lives and well-being are part of the job, no matter the personal cost - something American politicians in the thrall of the NRA should think about, as physician Jason Smith in the next clip implies after tending to the dying following the most recent mass shooting in Louisville.

May the love of the gun never infect Canada. From the endless experiences of our southern neighbour, the bitter fruit of such a passion is far too obvious.

"Such A Willfully Stupid People"

 If you watch this brief video to the end, you will see the above assessment comes from the Highest Authority.

Happy Easter, all.

Gun Love And Race Hatred - A Powerful Convergence

Although no real good can come out of it, I continue to be both rivetted and repulsed by the ongoing devolution of American society. Everywhere one looks, it is apparent that political leadership inspired by vision and integrity is close to extinction, replaced by demagoguery and pandering to America's basest elements. Indeed, it seems the powers-that-be barely make even a pretence of respect for democracy anymore.

The states are leading the charge in this race to the dictatorial bottom, and the most recent example is a profoundly disturbing one: the ouster of  two state representatives from the Republican-led Tennessee House. This anti-democratic action, a convergence of America's love of the gun and hatred of racial minorities, has the attention of the world.

Two Democratic members of the Tennessee House of Representatives have been expelled while a third member was spared in an ousting by Republican lawmakers that was decried by the trio as oppressive, vindictive and racially motivated.

Protesters packed the state Capitol on Thursday to denounce the expulsions of Reps. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson and to advocate for gun reform measures a little over a week after a mass shooting devastated a Nashville school.

 Following their expulsion – which House Republicans said was in response to the representatives’ leadership of gun control demonstrations on the chamber floor last week – Jones and Pearson called for protesters to return to the Capitol when the House is back in session on Monday.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is White and wasn’t ousted, slammed the votes removing Jones and Pearson, who are Black, as racist. Asked by CNN’s Alisyn Camerota why she believes she wasn’t expelled, Johnson said the reason is “pretty clear.”

“I am a 60-year-old White woman, and they are two young Black men,” Johnson said.

According to GOP leadership, Jones and Pearson were expelled because they broke “several rules of decorum and procedure on the House floor.” Worth noting is that the expulsion is only the third in the state since Reconstruction, the period that followed the Civil War.

Of course, it is hard not to see the real reasons behind the expulsions: the strong influence of the gun lobby which has made a fetish of never saying "sorry," even when so many young, innocent lives have been lost to school shootings. The other reason, of course, is, as Gloria Johnson stated, racism. 

Without doubt, the biggest victim of all is democracy:

On “CNN This Morning,” Jones said, “I think what happened was a travesty of democracy because they expelled the two youngest Black lawmakers – which is no coincidence – from the Tennessee state legislature because we are outspoken, because we fight for our district.”

Jones described the session as a “toxic, racist work environment,” and said he spoke out because the House speaker ruled him out of order when he brought up the issue of gun violence. “If I didn’t know this happened to me, I would think that this was 1963 instead of 2023,” he added.

Only in Amerika, eh? One fervently hopes and prays that remains true. 

UPDATED: Too Good Not To Share

 From my favourite editorial cartoonist, Theo Moudakis: Trump's Day in Court.

UPDATE: And speaking of clown shows,