Years of desparately bad journalism in The Moncton Times and Transcript have dulled me. This morning, I could only look at it and wonder - what can I say that I have not said?
I do have a couple of ideas. One is drawn from The Lord's Prayer. Really. It has to do with the idea of forgveness, and how it can be useful in understanding the news. But I'm not sure it fits a blog spot. I offered, on a United Church site, to give a talk on it at a church some evening. (I have spoken many hundreds of times in churches and synagogues, and have frequently led services.) It doesn't matter what kind of a church or synagogue or mosque it is. The idea is to make a connection between the faith and the world. Will I get a response? I'm not optimistic.
The other is to take a broader look at what is happening in the world. But that, too, is something much easier to do with the flexibility of the spoken word and human exchange.
I would also suggest you google Moncton Free Press to get what The Moncton Times and Traanscript doesn't print. It's a new, web paper and like all such papers that depend on volunteer help, it struggles, If you ever hope to get both honesty and broad coverage in print, this is probably your only chance to develop it. CBC radio is also good. In fact, it's the only good news outfit in Canadian radio. But that's why it's being strangled.
The TandT is the usual story - Alec Bruce is good. What is less usual is that the op ed page is good, too.
The foreign news is Syria; and it still come largely from rebel sources. (and it still hasn't told us that the rebels have no more interest in democracy than the current government has. It hasn't told us that the present rate of killing is made possible by the weapons the west, Turkey and Saudi Arabia supply. I hasn't told us that nobody has the faintest idea of precisely who is killing most of the civilians. It hasn't told us that there is one hell of a fight going on within NATO and within the American government between those who want to intervene, and those who say intervention is insane - put your money on war against both Syria and Iran. Then cover your house with copies of the TandT for protection.)
There is only one, important and accurate story in today's paper. It's on, of all pages, the business page which usually has nothing to say.
"Euro contagion threatens Canada"
Think about that. The collapse of western economies is as big as the fall of the Roman Empire. If it continues, no country can escape it. That most certainly includes even Moncton. We are not way out of the beaten path. Not any more. Greece, where the official unemployment rate is 26% , a real unemployment of twice that, is our next door neighbour in today's world.
Want something closer? Chicago, badly hit by the recession, has had more people killed by gunfire in the last six m months than soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.
.
The western powers are blaming the poor for it. They demand that state aid of all kinds be eliminated, that salaries for surviving jobs be cut in half, even more. They demand that the bankers and industrial leaders pay no price whatever for having caused this crisis. Even now, as the Greek wealthy export their money to Canadian and American banks, starving Greeks who have hope are breaking the law to survive. Those without hope are committing suicide, many of them killing their children first to spare them the suffering.
In Britain, the chief financial officer said that all this problem was caused by the poor. (He, of course, is wealthy. He also ignores how, in the past thirty years of growing wage gaps between rich and poor, Britain has the worse record in the world.) Even the children of the poor are at fault, he says. They're just lazy. He therefore intends to cut services to the poor as a cure for the recession. Meanwhile, of course, the rich will make their contribution to prosperity by paying even lower taxes.
By coincidence, those are exactly the policies being followed by Washington, Ottawa, and Fredericton. They have never owrkd in human history.But all of our governments are solid with support of business leaders, and business leaders are solid in support of a version of capitalism that is a grotesque distortion of that word.
Add to that the strong possibility of wars with Syria and Iran and, quite apart from the nuclear dangers and the costs (paid for by cutting social programmes that just make people lazy), think of the catastrophic effect on gas prices.
Then tell me. How are the Liberals and Conservatives of New Brunswick planning to deal with that? How does the city of Moncton plan to deal with that? Planning, after all, means preparing to deal with what is likely to happen, not with what we like to think will happen.
So where does raising prices in care homes for the elderly come in to the great plan? Or building a new high school in Royal Oaks? And the civic centre? you'll borrow a million? And what will happen when the lending rate goes up to 15% and more? And in a recession, how many people will be lining up to buy tickets to see a geriatric rock group? or even very small city hockey team?
It would be too much to ask for a complete plan. But we should, minimally, take these things into consideration as we plunge nto other plans.
We should also remember that making the rich even richer while making the rest of us poorer has never worked. It hasn't worked as the Euro collapses; and it won't work as the falling dominoes crash over Canada and the US). And we should remember that there are people who think it will be good for them - and really don't care how bad it may be for us.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
June 14: Scotland the Brave....
As an officer (captain-lieutenant) of the Fraser Highlanders (a Scottish regiment, to be sure), I was delighted to see a photo on p. 1 of section D of what appeared to be a piper of my regiment.
Alas, the regiment was disbanded just a few years after its victory under Wolfe at Quebec, the only British regiment disbanded without first returning home. (The British government was afraid to return a seasoned regiment to a Scotland that was already close to revolt.) The disbanded soldiers were given land in the area of Riviere du Loups, where most of them them married French wives. That's why the main street of Riviere du Loups is Rue Fraser; and why you can still find people with names like Angus McDougall who can speak only French.
The Highland Games to be held at Bernice McNaughton High School this Saturday are a mix of phantasy and reality, of an imagined history of Scotland and a real history. But it's a mix that works.
The reality is that old Scotland was a place of hardship and violence, perhaps the poorest and least educated part of Europe. ( And they didn't wear kilts. Those were a later invention - and an English one, at that. In the old days, Scotsmen wore a long shirt - a dress, really - belted at the waist.)
The change came with Presbyterianism, a variant of Christianity that required its adherents to read The Bible for themselves in order to find their own meanings in it. That meant everyone had to learn to read, an idea far in advance of any education policy in the world. Very soon, Scotland was producing so many of the world's leading thinkers, writers and inventors that this very tiny nation became the great producer of politicians and business leaders for the whole British Empire, and the model of modern education for the whole world.
When Queen Victoria chose Balmoral as her holiday home, she did what English aristocrats and other wealthy visitors had already been doing, copying old Scottish customs, and along the way changing them to be cuter (like the kilt). It was called the Balmoralization of Scotland. Robert Burns despised balmoralization, and despised the monarchy even more. But even Burns has been balmoralized over the years.
The Highland Games are a mix of tradition and invention; but it's a mix that works. And it's full of reminders of the tiny nation which was, arguably, the major factor in producinig out modern world.
Oh, I know this is off the point. But there's little else in this wretched paper to talk about.
There is a remarkable, well-written and courageous letter by Julia McKnight about homophobia at Crandall university. There is another one by Marilyn Lerch of Sackville that gives us news and information about shale gas - news and information that the government and the Irving Press have been promising for years. So far, they have delivered nothing but propaganda binges paid for by our tax dollars - like the forumE farce. I would urge you to read both of those letters.
Otherwise, the only items worth reading in the whole paper are the columns by Alec Bruce and Jody Dallaire.
Essentially, The Moncton Times and Tribune is a sleepy, small town, big boss newspaper of 1910. It takes no account of the spread of computers, of TV, or even of radio. People who want news don't need papers like the Times. The whole layout should be rethought with this in mind.
But even that can't save it. There are such things as journalism ethics. I taught it for a school of journalism. But I see not a trace of ethics in The Moncton Times. It withholds news - as in the case of fracking. It publishes endless trivia. I publishes "news stories" which are really just press releases. It publishes endless trivia. And the latter is the clue to its real purpose.
It's real purpose is to keep people ignorant of what is going on, to spread propaganda that amounts to lies, to tell people only that news the owner wants them to see, to produce a population that is ignorant of what is going on, and indifferent, unengaged, passive, and as trivial as The Moncton Times and Transcript itself is.
Even changing the format will not help when the real problems are dishonesty and the Irvng near-monopoly of newpaper ownership in this province. Until that is dealt with, New Brunswick will be a backwater, forever looking with only a dim comprehension at its own decay.
Meanwhile, enjoy the Highland games. And remember the Scotland that gave us the education, the ambition, the independence and the will to stand up to the Alwards and he Irvings and the gas producers of this world. Now, there'a country that has punched way over its weight.
Alas, the regiment was disbanded just a few years after its victory under Wolfe at Quebec, the only British regiment disbanded without first returning home. (The British government was afraid to return a seasoned regiment to a Scotland that was already close to revolt.) The disbanded soldiers were given land in the area of Riviere du Loups, where most of them them married French wives. That's why the main street of Riviere du Loups is Rue Fraser; and why you can still find people with names like Angus McDougall who can speak only French.
The Highland Games to be held at Bernice McNaughton High School this Saturday are a mix of phantasy and reality, of an imagined history of Scotland and a real history. But it's a mix that works.
The reality is that old Scotland was a place of hardship and violence, perhaps the poorest and least educated part of Europe. ( And they didn't wear kilts. Those were a later invention - and an English one, at that. In the old days, Scotsmen wore a long shirt - a dress, really - belted at the waist.)
The change came with Presbyterianism, a variant of Christianity that required its adherents to read The Bible for themselves in order to find their own meanings in it. That meant everyone had to learn to read, an idea far in advance of any education policy in the world. Very soon, Scotland was producing so many of the world's leading thinkers, writers and inventors that this very tiny nation became the great producer of politicians and business leaders for the whole British Empire, and the model of modern education for the whole world.
When Queen Victoria chose Balmoral as her holiday home, she did what English aristocrats and other wealthy visitors had already been doing, copying old Scottish customs, and along the way changing them to be cuter (like the kilt). It was called the Balmoralization of Scotland. Robert Burns despised balmoralization, and despised the monarchy even more. But even Burns has been balmoralized over the years.
The Highland Games are a mix of tradition and invention; but it's a mix that works. And it's full of reminders of the tiny nation which was, arguably, the major factor in producinig out modern world.
Oh, I know this is off the point. But there's little else in this wretched paper to talk about.
There is a remarkable, well-written and courageous letter by Julia McKnight about homophobia at Crandall university. There is another one by Marilyn Lerch of Sackville that gives us news and information about shale gas - news and information that the government and the Irving Press have been promising for years. So far, they have delivered nothing but propaganda binges paid for by our tax dollars - like the forumE farce. I would urge you to read both of those letters.
Otherwise, the only items worth reading in the whole paper are the columns by Alec Bruce and Jody Dallaire.
Essentially, The Moncton Times and Tribune is a sleepy, small town, big boss newspaper of 1910. It takes no account of the spread of computers, of TV, or even of radio. People who want news don't need papers like the Times. The whole layout should be rethought with this in mind.
But even that can't save it. There are such things as journalism ethics. I taught it for a school of journalism. But I see not a trace of ethics in The Moncton Times. It withholds news - as in the case of fracking. It publishes endless trivia. I publishes "news stories" which are really just press releases. It publishes endless trivia. And the latter is the clue to its real purpose.
It's real purpose is to keep people ignorant of what is going on, to spread propaganda that amounts to lies, to tell people only that news the owner wants them to see, to produce a population that is ignorant of what is going on, and indifferent, unengaged, passive, and as trivial as The Moncton Times and Transcript itself is.
Even changing the format will not help when the real problems are dishonesty and the Irvng near-monopoly of newpaper ownership in this province. Until that is dealt with, New Brunswick will be a backwater, forever looking with only a dim comprehension at its own decay.
Meanwhile, enjoy the Highland games. And remember the Scotland that gave us the education, the ambition, the independence and the will to stand up to the Alwards and he Irvings and the gas producers of this world. Now, there'a country that has punched way over its weight.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
June 13:A new low - with not a single bright spot
There's a curious story on p. 1. "SPCA lifted by casino donation." Now, speaking for all the lost dogs and cats of Moncton, I thank the casino. But front page? And it's a long story, running to almost half a page in all. Now, such donations are daily news, with photos, in The Moncton Times and Transcript. You know, two to ten strangers, smiling inanely and holding up a giant-sized cheque. But this is usually inside page stuff. And the casino donation is not an unusually large one. So what gives?
It is certainly possible that the front page editor was sloppy and lazy and had no idea what a front page should be. The rest of the front page would certainly support that thesis. But not everything the TandT does can be blamed on incompetence. And there is another possiblity.
Maybe the casino paid for that story to appear on the front page. That would be sinking pretty low for a nerspaper. But the Irving Press is normally as low as a fracking well. It's quite possible, even likely that the TandT got paid to make that a front page story.
That's pretty well it for Section A, unless you want to be a cheerleader for the Moncton Miracles. They're looking for dancers with talent, personality, commitment and love of community. So I guess it doesn't matter if they're ugly. Count on me for the tryouts.
NewsToday has close to nothing. There's a story on the Commons debate that tells us nothing, another on bad tempers in the NB legislature (who cares?) There's a story that Syria is in a civil war -as if we haven't known that for months - and some restaurant in Vancouber is offering pizzas at $450 each. Nice to know that we all, rich and poor, are sharing the pain of the recession.
Speaking of the Syrian war, the Reuters report is a warning that Russia may be supplying attack helicopters to the Syrian government. Quite possibly so. There's no mention that the west and Turkey and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been supplying weapons and money and mercenaries to the "rebels" since the start of the war. In fact, without those, there wouldnt' be a war. But Reuters always likes to keep it simple. And that reminds me....
I often enough have said that war correspondents are liars and never to be trusted. They rarely mention that US soldiers are committing suicide at the highest rate in American history - one a day. Canadian reporters don't even mention such things. Nor do they mention the rate of broken homes, shattered minds, and homelessness - or how Canada has been cutting the very limited help it gives them.
Instead of remembering the tragedies of war and what we really owe to those who had to fight, we glamorize it with 'highways to heroes', hypocritic speeches on Nov. 11, and a festive 'celebration' of the War of 1812. Lots of flags. Lots of pictures of the Queen. Of course, there's a reason for that.
Canadian society has to be militarized, as American society already is. Police forces in the US are already being equipped and trained to fight their next enemy - the American people. Within months, in the great American democracy, the army will have the right to imprison and to torture American citizens with no charge, no trial. (You sure it's not important to study Harper's omnibus bill very carefully?)
There is, in Ottawa, a handsome monument to those who served as peacekeepers. We were once openly proud of them. Such a monument today would be unthinkable. Peacekeeping is sneered at by generals who want lots of new, shiny weapons. When was the last time you heard a politician praising peacekeeping? No. That's out. War is now officially glamorous and ballsy. That 's because the big plan now is to fight lots of wars, lots, as part of the NATO wing of the US military.
Of course, the war correspondents don't mention that. And that sort of lying by omission has been the stock in trade of journalists for over a century. Want to see a story that never made the papers? Look for a magazine, the June issue. of Literary Review of Canada (LRC)., p. 9, "Buried Atrocities".
Sixty Canadian soldiers in the Korean War were charged and convicted of multiple rapes and killings of civilians. There's nothing unusual about that. The number of Canadians (and Americans and French and British, and Turk, and South Koreans, and North Koreans) who were guilty of rape and murder in that war - as in any war) was many, many times those who got charged.
These sixty Canadians were the ones who were found guilty, receiving anywhere from two years to life. All were immediately returned to Canada - and promptly released from prison.
The same has been true in every army that ever existed. Lt. William Calley was convicted of murdering 120 civilians, including babies in Vietnam. (The real number was closer to 800). He spent one night in jail.
In World War I, Canadians were notorious (among their allies) for beating, torturing and murdering prisoners.
In all cases, any war correspondent who mentioned any of this was subject to punishment. No wonder they lie.
None of this is to criticize anybody in our mlitary, including the murderers and rapists. This is what war is about. This is what it does to people. It's not glamorous. It's not ennobling. But we have to be made to think it is. We have to be made to think our soldiers in Afghanistan (and, perhaps) in Syria and Iran and Pakistan and all over Africa die to protect our freedom and independence.
Damn right. You never know when those Syrians might invade Canada.
The op ed page has the usual personal, irrelevant and boring stories, this time by Eric Lewis and Brian Cormier, from the bottomless pit of the TandT's personal, irrelevant and boring writers.
Then, there's Alec Bruce. I think he's entirely wrong, shockingly wrong. (maybe even schlockingly wrong - if you know any Yiddish.)
The omnibus bill is anti-democratic because most Canadians have very little idea of what is in it. We have no opportunity to read it, discuss it, or to hear varying opinions. The omnibus bill was created to deny us that basic right of any democracy. And it is not possible in the time allotted for even the best prepared mps to discuss the meanings of this bill.
To day that such a huge budget bill is okay becaause all issues involve money is nonsense. If that were true, then we would need only one, huge bill per year; then everybody could go home after a month.
It any case, it is not clear to me why harmonizing our border rules with the US is essentially a budget matter. It has to do with basic rights of all Canadians; and the police state behaviour of American border control does not seem to be to be compatible with any notion of freedom and democracy I have very heard of.
What does allowing more pollution from oil have to do with the budget? Abandoning large areas of fisheries protection? Cracking down on EI abusers? Hell, all the EI abusers in New Brunswick are pipsqueaks compared to the corporate gangsters who run this province.
Then there's the whole basic philosophy of this budget. The recession was not caused by welfare recipients - not here, not in Greece, not in Spain, not in Britain, not in Italy. It was caused by irresponsible and sometimes criminal bankers and corporate leaders.
The rest of us had to borrow mountains of money to bail them out - so they could then give each other multi-million dollar bonusses as rewards for their Christian endeavours.
It was also caused by economic policies over the last thirty years which have encouraged national profits to go into the pockets of the rich at a mad rate of escalation for each year - which has meant decreasing prosperity for the rest of us.
At the same time, we have signed free trade agreements to let the rich exploit cheap labour in other countries, thus reducing the number of jobs here.
That's what caused a recession, and one which we haven't even begun to suffer. (Well, I guess we could add to that the massive cost of wars to help oil billionaires become trillionaires, and the stunning levels of corruption in the defence industries.)
So now we're all supposed fall in line as billionaires run through the streets accusing the poor and elderly of causing all the problems. And that answer of the western countries?
We have too many unemployed? Too much money is going to the rich?
Duh, says Parker. Fire more people. Cut taxes to the rich so they keep even more. And get after those welfare bums. If there weren't lazy, they'be be rich like me and Mr. Irving and all our friends.
Firing people and cutting budgets has never worked to cure a recession. What it has done is to make things worse - including worsening damage to the environment, to people's health, and to their lives.
No, Alec. I really would like a little more time to learn about this omnibus bill and to think about it.
It is certainly possible that the front page editor was sloppy and lazy and had no idea what a front page should be. The rest of the front page would certainly support that thesis. But not everything the TandT does can be blamed on incompetence. And there is another possiblity.
Maybe the casino paid for that story to appear on the front page. That would be sinking pretty low for a nerspaper. But the Irving Press is normally as low as a fracking well. It's quite possible, even likely that the TandT got paid to make that a front page story.
That's pretty well it for Section A, unless you want to be a cheerleader for the Moncton Miracles. They're looking for dancers with talent, personality, commitment and love of community. So I guess it doesn't matter if they're ugly. Count on me for the tryouts.
NewsToday has close to nothing. There's a story on the Commons debate that tells us nothing, another on bad tempers in the NB legislature (who cares?) There's a story that Syria is in a civil war -as if we haven't known that for months - and some restaurant in Vancouber is offering pizzas at $450 each. Nice to know that we all, rich and poor, are sharing the pain of the recession.
Speaking of the Syrian war, the Reuters report is a warning that Russia may be supplying attack helicopters to the Syrian government. Quite possibly so. There's no mention that the west and Turkey and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been supplying weapons and money and mercenaries to the "rebels" since the start of the war. In fact, without those, there wouldnt' be a war. But Reuters always likes to keep it simple. And that reminds me....
I often enough have said that war correspondents are liars and never to be trusted. They rarely mention that US soldiers are committing suicide at the highest rate in American history - one a day. Canadian reporters don't even mention such things. Nor do they mention the rate of broken homes, shattered minds, and homelessness - or how Canada has been cutting the very limited help it gives them.
Instead of remembering the tragedies of war and what we really owe to those who had to fight, we glamorize it with 'highways to heroes', hypocritic speeches on Nov. 11, and a festive 'celebration' of the War of 1812. Lots of flags. Lots of pictures of the Queen. Of course, there's a reason for that.
Canadian society has to be militarized, as American society already is. Police forces in the US are already being equipped and trained to fight their next enemy - the American people. Within months, in the great American democracy, the army will have the right to imprison and to torture American citizens with no charge, no trial. (You sure it's not important to study Harper's omnibus bill very carefully?)
There is, in Ottawa, a handsome monument to those who served as peacekeepers. We were once openly proud of them. Such a monument today would be unthinkable. Peacekeeping is sneered at by generals who want lots of new, shiny weapons. When was the last time you heard a politician praising peacekeeping? No. That's out. War is now officially glamorous and ballsy. That 's because the big plan now is to fight lots of wars, lots, as part of the NATO wing of the US military.
Of course, the war correspondents don't mention that. And that sort of lying by omission has been the stock in trade of journalists for over a century. Want to see a story that never made the papers? Look for a magazine, the June issue. of Literary Review of Canada (LRC)., p. 9, "Buried Atrocities".
Sixty Canadian soldiers in the Korean War were charged and convicted of multiple rapes and killings of civilians. There's nothing unusual about that. The number of Canadians (and Americans and French and British, and Turk, and South Koreans, and North Koreans) who were guilty of rape and murder in that war - as in any war) was many, many times those who got charged.
These sixty Canadians were the ones who were found guilty, receiving anywhere from two years to life. All were immediately returned to Canada - and promptly released from prison.
The same has been true in every army that ever existed. Lt. William Calley was convicted of murdering 120 civilians, including babies in Vietnam. (The real number was closer to 800). He spent one night in jail.
In World War I, Canadians were notorious (among their allies) for beating, torturing and murdering prisoners.
In all cases, any war correspondent who mentioned any of this was subject to punishment. No wonder they lie.
None of this is to criticize anybody in our mlitary, including the murderers and rapists. This is what war is about. This is what it does to people. It's not glamorous. It's not ennobling. But we have to be made to think it is. We have to be made to think our soldiers in Afghanistan (and, perhaps) in Syria and Iran and Pakistan and all over Africa die to protect our freedom and independence.
Damn right. You never know when those Syrians might invade Canada.
The op ed page has the usual personal, irrelevant and boring stories, this time by Eric Lewis and Brian Cormier, from the bottomless pit of the TandT's personal, irrelevant and boring writers.
Then, there's Alec Bruce. I think he's entirely wrong, shockingly wrong. (maybe even schlockingly wrong - if you know any Yiddish.)
The omnibus bill is anti-democratic because most Canadians have very little idea of what is in it. We have no opportunity to read it, discuss it, or to hear varying opinions. The omnibus bill was created to deny us that basic right of any democracy. And it is not possible in the time allotted for even the best prepared mps to discuss the meanings of this bill.
To day that such a huge budget bill is okay becaause all issues involve money is nonsense. If that were true, then we would need only one, huge bill per year; then everybody could go home after a month.
It any case, it is not clear to me why harmonizing our border rules with the US is essentially a budget matter. It has to do with basic rights of all Canadians; and the police state behaviour of American border control does not seem to be to be compatible with any notion of freedom and democracy I have very heard of.
What does allowing more pollution from oil have to do with the budget? Abandoning large areas of fisheries protection? Cracking down on EI abusers? Hell, all the EI abusers in New Brunswick are pipsqueaks compared to the corporate gangsters who run this province.
Then there's the whole basic philosophy of this budget. The recession was not caused by welfare recipients - not here, not in Greece, not in Spain, not in Britain, not in Italy. It was caused by irresponsible and sometimes criminal bankers and corporate leaders.
The rest of us had to borrow mountains of money to bail them out - so they could then give each other multi-million dollar bonusses as rewards for their Christian endeavours.
It was also caused by economic policies over the last thirty years which have encouraged national profits to go into the pockets of the rich at a mad rate of escalation for each year - which has meant decreasing prosperity for the rest of us.
At the same time, we have signed free trade agreements to let the rich exploit cheap labour in other countries, thus reducing the number of jobs here.
That's what caused a recession, and one which we haven't even begun to suffer. (Well, I guess we could add to that the massive cost of wars to help oil billionaires become trillionaires, and the stunning levels of corruption in the defence industries.)
So now we're all supposed fall in line as billionaires run through the streets accusing the poor and elderly of causing all the problems. And that answer of the western countries?
We have too many unemployed? Too much money is going to the rich?
Duh, says Parker. Fire more people. Cut taxes to the rich so they keep even more. And get after those welfare bums. If there weren't lazy, they'be be rich like me and Mr. Irving and all our friends.
Firing people and cutting budgets has never worked to cure a recession. What it has done is to make things worse - including worsening damage to the environment, to people's health, and to their lives.
No, Alec. I really would like a little more time to learn about this omnibus bill and to think about it.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
June 12: First things first
Most newspapers of any quality place the most important news of the day on the front page. This is the news that we need to know about. Currently, for example, the Canadian government is ramming through the longest and most complex piece of legislation in the history of this country. It will profoundly affect most of us, probably all of us, for the rest of our lives.
This is the time we need to be fully informed of what the bill is about, what it's implications are; we need discussion; we need to hear the reasoned opinions of the people we elected. Even those among us who voted for Harper have a right to know what he is doing (and the majority of us didn't vote for Harper.)
But not one Candian in a thousand knows what is in that bill, let along what effects it all might have. Even our elected m.p.s don't have time to read it all; and certainly no time to think through its implications. After all, it's well over 500 pages long. Nor is it at all like reading a 500 page novel - because it's not on one topic. It's not one story. It's hundreds of stories, most of them quite different and separate from the others, and all requiring special knowledge and training to understand them.
And some of them may have very profound consequences, very profound indeed - cuts to environmental protection and energy alternatives, major changes in EI, in pensions, in fisheries - and so many others that nobody even knows what they all are.
This is the most arrogant and undemocratic procedure this country has ever seen. It is also one that will affect the lives of all of us and our children and, quite likely, our children's children. It's safe to say this is the most important piece of legislation ever presented in Canada. But we and our elected representatives aren't going to get a chance to discuss it or even to know what it's all about before it passes.
For that matter, most of the Conservtives who vote for it will be doing so without themselves even knowing about it.
Say goodbye to democracy. (Actually, as many New Brunswickers know, democracy has been gone for a long time.)
Here is a story of major importance for the tremendous sweep of the bill, the radical changes proposed in it, the general ignorance of what it's all about, the speed with which it's being pushed through, the fact that it's being pushed by a government that has only minority support across Canada.
From the little bit we do know, it looks as though Harper is throwing away any chance to deal with climate change; it looks as though lower income Canadians are facing disaster; it looks as though we're going to be tied even more closely to the hysteria that is driving the US into war after war, taking us with it, and ever closer to a nuclear war. And all of this is in what is called a budget bill.
But that's not enough to make the front page of The Moncton Times and Transcript. No, sir. The big story is that a man injured in a parking lot is getting better. The Moncton Peace Centre is moving into new offices. A farmer is facing SPCA charges. And the budget bill?
Section C. Page 1. At the bottom
And at that, it tells us nothing. The tone is set by the headline. Take a look at it. You'll think the story is about a pyjama party. And, as reported in the TandT, it is. Just a pyjama party.
To get a sense of how dangerous this omnibus bill probably is, take a look at the editorial and op end pages for Gwynne Dyer and David Suzuki, both of them a good deal more intelligent than Stephen Harper.
And be scared. Be very scared.
Next time you're in a supermarket checkout line, look over one of tabloids at the counter. You know, the ones with headlines like "Brad Pitt has shocking addiction to ice cream." "Shocking revelation: Kate's baby will be next Dalai Lama." "Prophecy says world will end if you do not buy this paper."
These tabloids are written for morons whose whole lives are wasted in triviality. The Moncton Times and Tribune is not a serious newspaper. But it's not quite a cheap tabloid, either. It isn't designed to appeal to morons.
It is designed, quite deliberately designed, to create morons out of intelligent people by highlighting trivia and ignoring reality.
For a prime example of the style, read Alan Cochrane's"opinion" piece at the top of the op ed page.
The behaviour of people like Harper and Alward and, yes, the Irvings, is destroying the fundamental rules of our political and social system. That's all very nice if you are prepared to put a new and workable system in place. But they aren't. They're arrogant enough and ignorant enough to presume they are.
But they are simply working on greed, arrogance, ignorance - and a severe case of short-sightedness.
That's what causes social systems to collapse - something I really don't look forward to because any such collapse is commonly followed by something even worse. Think of the Russian tsars, and then of Stalin. Or, as is more likely in this case, think of Germany's Weimar Republic and then of Hitler.
Democracy is far the best way to go. But we don't have much time to get it back.
This is the time we need to be fully informed of what the bill is about, what it's implications are; we need discussion; we need to hear the reasoned opinions of the people we elected. Even those among us who voted for Harper have a right to know what he is doing (and the majority of us didn't vote for Harper.)
But not one Candian in a thousand knows what is in that bill, let along what effects it all might have. Even our elected m.p.s don't have time to read it all; and certainly no time to think through its implications. After all, it's well over 500 pages long. Nor is it at all like reading a 500 page novel - because it's not on one topic. It's not one story. It's hundreds of stories, most of them quite different and separate from the others, and all requiring special knowledge and training to understand them.
And some of them may have very profound consequences, very profound indeed - cuts to environmental protection and energy alternatives, major changes in EI, in pensions, in fisheries - and so many others that nobody even knows what they all are.
This is the most arrogant and undemocratic procedure this country has ever seen. It is also one that will affect the lives of all of us and our children and, quite likely, our children's children. It's safe to say this is the most important piece of legislation ever presented in Canada. But we and our elected representatives aren't going to get a chance to discuss it or even to know what it's all about before it passes.
For that matter, most of the Conservtives who vote for it will be doing so without themselves even knowing about it.
Say goodbye to democracy. (Actually, as many New Brunswickers know, democracy has been gone for a long time.)
Here is a story of major importance for the tremendous sweep of the bill, the radical changes proposed in it, the general ignorance of what it's all about, the speed with which it's being pushed through, the fact that it's being pushed by a government that has only minority support across Canada.
From the little bit we do know, it looks as though Harper is throwing away any chance to deal with climate change; it looks as though lower income Canadians are facing disaster; it looks as though we're going to be tied even more closely to the hysteria that is driving the US into war after war, taking us with it, and ever closer to a nuclear war. And all of this is in what is called a budget bill.
But that's not enough to make the front page of The Moncton Times and Transcript. No, sir. The big story is that a man injured in a parking lot is getting better. The Moncton Peace Centre is moving into new offices. A farmer is facing SPCA charges. And the budget bill?
Section C. Page 1. At the bottom
And at that, it tells us nothing. The tone is set by the headline. Take a look at it. You'll think the story is about a pyjama party. And, as reported in the TandT, it is. Just a pyjama party.
To get a sense of how dangerous this omnibus bill probably is, take a look at the editorial and op end pages for Gwynne Dyer and David Suzuki, both of them a good deal more intelligent than Stephen Harper.
And be scared. Be very scared.
Next time you're in a supermarket checkout line, look over one of tabloids at the counter. You know, the ones with headlines like "Brad Pitt has shocking addiction to ice cream." "Shocking revelation: Kate's baby will be next Dalai Lama." "Prophecy says world will end if you do not buy this paper."
These tabloids are written for morons whose whole lives are wasted in triviality. The Moncton Times and Tribune is not a serious newspaper. But it's not quite a cheap tabloid, either. It isn't designed to appeal to morons.
It is designed, quite deliberately designed, to create morons out of intelligent people by highlighting trivia and ignoring reality.
For a prime example of the style, read Alan Cochrane's"opinion" piece at the top of the op ed page.
The behaviour of people like Harper and Alward and, yes, the Irvings, is destroying the fundamental rules of our political and social system. That's all very nice if you are prepared to put a new and workable system in place. But they aren't. They're arrogant enough and ignorant enough to presume they are.
But they are simply working on greed, arrogance, ignorance - and a severe case of short-sightedness.
That's what causes social systems to collapse - something I really don't look forward to because any such collapse is commonly followed by something even worse. Think of the Russian tsars, and then of Stalin. Or, as is more likely in this case, think of Germany's Weimar Republic and then of Hitler.
Democracy is far the best way to go. But we don't have much time to get it back.
Monday, June 11, 2012
June 11: A vicious attack on Premier Alward
Every day, I remain in touch with old friends in journalism - mostly in Montreal, but also scattered to London, Japan, and China. Their politics range anywhere from moderate liberal to neo-conservative and libertarian. (Contrary to a common impression, most journalists are not raving leftists. Most of those I have known are leftists of any sort. The contrast between most western journalists and those in the Irving press is not a political one. The contrast is that most journalists have some sense of ethics. Okay. The word some comes in very small letters.)
When I told them the New Brunswick government was presenting a bill which would forbid doctors from taking public positions on issues of public health, even the most conservative were astonished - and would not believe me. They back in posts that were frequently rude, that this could not happen in a western democracy - that I was making it up. I had to send them news reports and descriptions of the bill. Now, they want me to keep them daily informed of what on earth is going on in this bizarre province.
According to today's Section A., not much is going on. Of its 8 pages, five are stories of people walking or running to help some cause; and there is, of course, the standard picture of smiling people holding up a huge checque. The resmaining three pages are mostly ads and obituaries.
Page two has its standard interview with almost the only professor the TandT ever interviews, Donald Savoie of U de M. It refers to him as "Savoie...the acclaimed researcher..." (Hint, if a newspaper has to say you're acclaimed, you aren't.)
Savoie's gist is we have to cut government spending. That's also the Harper line, and it's the line of the European bankers who are plunging Greece and and Ireland and Spain and other into prolonged and profound poverty and suffering.
We could cut spending dramatically with rather stricter standards of what honesty in government means, and with fewer gifts to billionaaires. And that would certainly be a good start. But there is no record of any country ever breaking out of recession simply by cutting spending. Quite the contrary. Governments that cut spending made the great depression of the 1930s worse. Business didn't care because all the desperately cheap labour available meant they could maintain high profits, even with lower sales. Employers like the Eaton's stores could fire employees just weeks before they were to retire, thus cutting their obligation to pay pensions. Paid holiday were cancelled. Overtime became compulsory and unpaid. Women could be hired for ten cents an hour to sew shirts for Eatonia. Big farm produce buyers like Macdonald Tobacco, meat packing companies, retail chains could skip the usual auctions and simply offer a basement price to farmers, saying "take it or leave it".
What broke the depression was not cuttinig government spending. It was increasing government spending. Afther all, people can't buy until they have money to buy with and can't pay taxes until they have money to pay them. And how could we start that without raising the deficit?
Well, geegolly, maybe we could tax the rich. But you won't hear Professor Savoie saying much about that. In Greece, people are actually starving to death, and the suicide rate is skyrocketing, all because of a financial crisis created by the rich, and their refusal to pay their share of taxes for the huge debt they created.
So what's going to happen in Europe? Well, we've been there. We've been through social disorder, fascism and world war. And that's where we're heading now. The acclaimed Donald Savoie might consider that next time he's doing his acclaimed research.
Oh, they also quote the acclaimed Donald Cirtwill of the acclaimed Atlantic Institute of Market Studies - who isn't an economist at all. He's a statistician. an acclaimed one, I am sure; but still just a statistician. For an interview on economics, it would have made just as much sense to have interviewed an acclaimed plumber.
The person only person in the whole story who looks as though he might have had something intelligent to say was UNB professor David Murrell who is an economist. But it's hard to tell. they gave him only one sentence - at the bottom of the story. Maybe he's not acclaimed. (Ever notice, too, how often the TandT refers to Irving as a philanthopist? It seems to be a rule. Environmentalists are terrorists. Proressor Savoie is acclaimed. Irving is a philanthopist.)
NewsToday is five pages of ads, a business page that, as usual, says nothing, and two pages of news - in which the lead story is that people who don't get enough sleep tend to eat junk food. With the whole world trembling at the edge of eonomic collapse, severe social unrest,multi-wars, some of which have the potential to go nuclear, the big story is a warning to get more sleep.
There's also a poll (commissioned by Postmedia) showing that Harper is the most popular leader in Canada, and that the NDP has not made much progress. There's no mention that a poll of last week showed directly opposite results. Perhaps some editor was feeling dozey again.
Norbert Cunningham criticizes premier Alward for lush and overpaid patronage appointments. He says these contradict his election promises. Quite true. But then Norbert adds that nobody believed his promises, anyway.
Gee whiz, Norbert, are you saying the premier is a liar? Are you saying the people of New Brunswick are so stupid they voted for an obvious liar? Are you saying that you knew even during the election that he was lying?
Well, Norbert, why didn't you tell us stupid people he was lying? I mean, you had a daily column to do it in. And you've had hundreds more since the election.
And Norbert's solution for the problem of paying Mrs. Blaney an annual salary of $175,000 for ten years for doing nothing in particular? Why, fire more lower level civil servants. Yeah. And cut the salaries of those you keep. Yeah. I mean, who needs to have anybody to organize vast programmes like health and education and justice, and road mainenance. We can get by with just a few, cheap civil servants.
Oh, sure. Big business heeds it's 'civil servants' and 'bureaucrats'. But we don't call them that, and they're way higher paid than civil servants. But it's different. We don't have to pay for them. (Really, Norbert? Who the hell do you think puts up the money for a million dollar CEO? The tooth fairy?)
Alec Bruce's column is with the extra work to read it. At first, it looks like nothing special - but it can get you thinking toward some profound conclusions. In brief, innovations and inventions don't change the world. It's our willingness to change our ways and adopt something new that changes the world. Think - solar power is new. Fossil fuels like shale gas are not. Grade our governments and business leades from one to ten on their willingness to change.
The op ed page is the usual zero.
But there is an important message in this edition. Mr. Alward is a liar. Every political leader of New Brunswick for the past fifty years has been a liar. I didn't say that. I am just quoting Norbert. Well, I'm sorry he kept it secret for so long. But at least he's now out of the closet.
Can we now hope to see a similar exposé of Irving press editors?
When I told them the New Brunswick government was presenting a bill which would forbid doctors from taking public positions on issues of public health, even the most conservative were astonished - and would not believe me. They back in posts that were frequently rude, that this could not happen in a western democracy - that I was making it up. I had to send them news reports and descriptions of the bill. Now, they want me to keep them daily informed of what on earth is going on in this bizarre province.
According to today's Section A., not much is going on. Of its 8 pages, five are stories of people walking or running to help some cause; and there is, of course, the standard picture of smiling people holding up a huge checque. The resmaining three pages are mostly ads and obituaries.
Page two has its standard interview with almost the only professor the TandT ever interviews, Donald Savoie of U de M. It refers to him as "Savoie...the acclaimed researcher..." (Hint, if a newspaper has to say you're acclaimed, you aren't.)
Savoie's gist is we have to cut government spending. That's also the Harper line, and it's the line of the European bankers who are plunging Greece and and Ireland and Spain and other into prolonged and profound poverty and suffering.
We could cut spending dramatically with rather stricter standards of what honesty in government means, and with fewer gifts to billionaaires. And that would certainly be a good start. But there is no record of any country ever breaking out of recession simply by cutting spending. Quite the contrary. Governments that cut spending made the great depression of the 1930s worse. Business didn't care because all the desperately cheap labour available meant they could maintain high profits, even with lower sales. Employers like the Eaton's stores could fire employees just weeks before they were to retire, thus cutting their obligation to pay pensions. Paid holiday were cancelled. Overtime became compulsory and unpaid. Women could be hired for ten cents an hour to sew shirts for Eatonia. Big farm produce buyers like Macdonald Tobacco, meat packing companies, retail chains could skip the usual auctions and simply offer a basement price to farmers, saying "take it or leave it".
What broke the depression was not cuttinig government spending. It was increasing government spending. Afther all, people can't buy until they have money to buy with and can't pay taxes until they have money to pay them. And how could we start that without raising the deficit?
Well, geegolly, maybe we could tax the rich. But you won't hear Professor Savoie saying much about that. In Greece, people are actually starving to death, and the suicide rate is skyrocketing, all because of a financial crisis created by the rich, and their refusal to pay their share of taxes for the huge debt they created.
So what's going to happen in Europe? Well, we've been there. We've been through social disorder, fascism and world war. And that's where we're heading now. The acclaimed Donald Savoie might consider that next time he's doing his acclaimed research.
Oh, they also quote the acclaimed Donald Cirtwill of the acclaimed Atlantic Institute of Market Studies - who isn't an economist at all. He's a statistician. an acclaimed one, I am sure; but still just a statistician. For an interview on economics, it would have made just as much sense to have interviewed an acclaimed plumber.
The person only person in the whole story who looks as though he might have had something intelligent to say was UNB professor David Murrell who is an economist. But it's hard to tell. they gave him only one sentence - at the bottom of the story. Maybe he's not acclaimed. (Ever notice, too, how often the TandT refers to Irving as a philanthopist? It seems to be a rule. Environmentalists are terrorists. Proressor Savoie is acclaimed. Irving is a philanthopist.)
NewsToday is five pages of ads, a business page that, as usual, says nothing, and two pages of news - in which the lead story is that people who don't get enough sleep tend to eat junk food. With the whole world trembling at the edge of eonomic collapse, severe social unrest,multi-wars, some of which have the potential to go nuclear, the big story is a warning to get more sleep.
There's also a poll (commissioned by Postmedia) showing that Harper is the most popular leader in Canada, and that the NDP has not made much progress. There's no mention that a poll of last week showed directly opposite results. Perhaps some editor was feeling dozey again.
Norbert Cunningham criticizes premier Alward for lush and overpaid patronage appointments. He says these contradict his election promises. Quite true. But then Norbert adds that nobody believed his promises, anyway.
Gee whiz, Norbert, are you saying the premier is a liar? Are you saying the people of New Brunswick are so stupid they voted for an obvious liar? Are you saying that you knew even during the election that he was lying?
Well, Norbert, why didn't you tell us stupid people he was lying? I mean, you had a daily column to do it in. And you've had hundreds more since the election.
And Norbert's solution for the problem of paying Mrs. Blaney an annual salary of $175,000 for ten years for doing nothing in particular? Why, fire more lower level civil servants. Yeah. And cut the salaries of those you keep. Yeah. I mean, who needs to have anybody to organize vast programmes like health and education and justice, and road mainenance. We can get by with just a few, cheap civil servants.
Oh, sure. Big business heeds it's 'civil servants' and 'bureaucrats'. But we don't call them that, and they're way higher paid than civil servants. But it's different. We don't have to pay for them. (Really, Norbert? Who the hell do you think puts up the money for a million dollar CEO? The tooth fairy?)
Alec Bruce's column is with the extra work to read it. At first, it looks like nothing special - but it can get you thinking toward some profound conclusions. In brief, innovations and inventions don't change the world. It's our willingness to change our ways and adopt something new that changes the world. Think - solar power is new. Fossil fuels like shale gas are not. Grade our governments and business leades from one to ten on their willingness to change.
The op ed page is the usual zero.
But there is an important message in this edition. Mr. Alward is a liar. Every political leader of New Brunswick for the past fifty years has been a liar. I didn't say that. I am just quoting Norbert. Well, I'm sorry he kept it secret for so long. But at least he's now out of the closet.
Can we now hope to see a similar exposé of Irving press editors?
Sunday, June 10, 2012
June 10: Miss Marples, killers and shale gas
In the time I worked as a volunteer at a penitentiary near Montreal, I met weekly with some 25 prisoners in a big room. And I never met one who was a criminal.
Loose the goose was a little guy in for robbery. "Hey. I took my chances. I robbed houses at night - but only when people were in them. And I was never violent."
Jean-Guy, a huge and powerful man, broke arms and legs for loan sharks. "Hey. These were business deals."
Matt was in for rape. He specialized in elderly women. He said they like it.
I also met an old friend there who had made his mark as the city's top armed robbery man. "Hey. I took my chances. I had a gun. So I knew the cops might shoot first and ask questions later."
Miss Marples, Agatha Christie's little old lady who solved crimes would have understood that. She solved crimes not so much by evidence, but by understanding how people behave. She would have understood that they really believed they had done nothing wrong. -just like the Irvings, the shale gas promoters, the provincial government which is trying to muzzle doctors so they cannot speak on the dangers of shale gas, the editors and reporters of The Moncton Times and Transcript, and even Bill Beliveau whose most recent column was a model of ----oh----of misleading readers.
Their behaviour will almost certainly lead to widespread and severe damage to New Brunswick, to lives ruined by severe illness, even to premature death. It's almost just now how bad it will be - though the history of shale gas suggests it will be very bad, indeed. But they aren't criminals. Not in their own minds.
Nor, in their own minds, are they are they callously grabbing at money without regard for the sickness and death they are gong to cause. And it is not true that they are willing to destroy and kill in order to get what they want, that they just don't give a damn about what happens to the people who live here. No. Miss Marples would tell you - people don't think that way. "Hey', they will think, "it was perfectly legal. I risked my money. I created jobs. Hey, it was business. Hey, they liked it."
In the US, medical corporations and pill makers use the health system just to make piles of money. The result is that tens of millions of Americans have no health care at all. That's why UN health reports put the US close to statistics for the undeveloped world. The medical corporations and and pill makers are actually klling people by the millions. But they see themselves as operating the finest health system in the world.
That's how we all think about these things. And that's how people who poison and kill think.
I'm sure oil executives lose no sleep over the more than a million Iraqis who were killed so oil billionaires could control of Iraq oil. "Hey. Saddam was a bad man." (Actually, Saddam was no badder than they were.)
Now, the New Brunswick government is moving on a bill to muzzle doctors so they cannot speak publicly on a health issue like shale gas. Well, we're used to that in countries like China and Guatemala. But not here. In a free country, the only people qualified to speak on health issues will not be allowed to. Why? Because it will offend some very rich people. (of course, if one of them sells out and praises shale gas, then that will be all right. The law is worded so that the government can decide what is legal AFTER it has been said.)
Does Mr. Alward think he is not only attacking democracy but contributing to sickness and death?
I''m sure he doesn't. People don't think that way. And there are strong signs that Mr. Alward doesn't think at all.
Those people will not change their manner of thinking. And their manner of thinking will destroy us. If this province is to survive as a livable place, it's the rest of us who have to change our thinking. We have to understand that continuing to submit to people motivated by greed and indifferent to our needs is going to destroy us.
We have to get out of the rut of voting for two parties with a long record of submission and obedience to the rich. We have to make a little bit of effort to wake up and to learn what is happening. We have to stop reading an Irving Press designed to make us brain dead.
There is not much time. Either we stop these people now or, as we love our children, we tell them to get the hell out of this province as soon as they can.
Loose the goose was a little guy in for robbery. "Hey. I took my chances. I robbed houses at night - but only when people were in them. And I was never violent."
Jean-Guy, a huge and powerful man, broke arms and legs for loan sharks. "Hey. These were business deals."
Matt was in for rape. He specialized in elderly women. He said they like it.
I also met an old friend there who had made his mark as the city's top armed robbery man. "Hey. I took my chances. I had a gun. So I knew the cops might shoot first and ask questions later."
Miss Marples, Agatha Christie's little old lady who solved crimes would have understood that. She solved crimes not so much by evidence, but by understanding how people behave. She would have understood that they really believed they had done nothing wrong. -just like the Irvings, the shale gas promoters, the provincial government which is trying to muzzle doctors so they cannot speak on the dangers of shale gas, the editors and reporters of The Moncton Times and Transcript, and even Bill Beliveau whose most recent column was a model of ----oh----of misleading readers.
Their behaviour will almost certainly lead to widespread and severe damage to New Brunswick, to lives ruined by severe illness, even to premature death. It's almost just now how bad it will be - though the history of shale gas suggests it will be very bad, indeed. But they aren't criminals. Not in their own minds.
Nor, in their own minds, are they are they callously grabbing at money without regard for the sickness and death they are gong to cause. And it is not true that they are willing to destroy and kill in order to get what they want, that they just don't give a damn about what happens to the people who live here. No. Miss Marples would tell you - people don't think that way. "Hey', they will think, "it was perfectly legal. I risked my money. I created jobs. Hey, it was business. Hey, they liked it."
In the US, medical corporations and pill makers use the health system just to make piles of money. The result is that tens of millions of Americans have no health care at all. That's why UN health reports put the US close to statistics for the undeveloped world. The medical corporations and and pill makers are actually klling people by the millions. But they see themselves as operating the finest health system in the world.
That's how we all think about these things. And that's how people who poison and kill think.
I'm sure oil executives lose no sleep over the more than a million Iraqis who were killed so oil billionaires could control of Iraq oil. "Hey. Saddam was a bad man." (Actually, Saddam was no badder than they were.)
Now, the New Brunswick government is moving on a bill to muzzle doctors so they cannot speak publicly on a health issue like shale gas. Well, we're used to that in countries like China and Guatemala. But not here. In a free country, the only people qualified to speak on health issues will not be allowed to. Why? Because it will offend some very rich people. (of course, if one of them sells out and praises shale gas, then that will be all right. The law is worded so that the government can decide what is legal AFTER it has been said.)
Does Mr. Alward think he is not only attacking democracy but contributing to sickness and death?
I''m sure he doesn't. People don't think that way. And there are strong signs that Mr. Alward doesn't think at all.
Those people will not change their manner of thinking. And their manner of thinking will destroy us. If this province is to survive as a livable place, it's the rest of us who have to change our thinking. We have to understand that continuing to submit to people motivated by greed and indifferent to our needs is going to destroy us.
We have to get out of the rut of voting for two parties with a long record of submission and obedience to the rich. We have to make a little bit of effort to wake up and to learn what is happening. We have to stop reading an Irving Press designed to make us brain dead.
There is not much time. Either we stop these people now or, as we love our children, we tell them to get the hell out of this province as soon as they can.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
June 10: How the news media got so bad...
Until the 1890s, newspapers were too expensive for most people; and news took a long time to travel. Accordingly, early newspapers were heavy on shipping news, official statements from the colonial governor, legal announcements, and very old and very brief reports of events around the world, reports that might commonly be only a few sentences.
Often, they could be operated only with substantial help from political parties - and sometimes from churches. The Globe depended on help from Liberal backers (called Reformers in those days). In Montreal, Presbyterians sponsored The Witness. Catholics responded with The True Witness. These connections naturally led to some very prejudiced reporting. However, the Presbyterian version figured bigger in Canadian history. It had the first sports columnist in Canada - Elmer Ferguson who would be a major figure in sport reporting for well over half a century.
Three great changes occured, and were felt strongly by the 1890s - cheap paper and printing, the Atlantic cable.to move news quickly, and improvements in the ease of photography. Now, almost everyone could afford a newspaper (which also meant a newspaper could attract more advertising), and quicker, fuller news along with photos to make it far more attractive. These also made the newspaper far more influential.
An early proof of its influence was the Boer War. This was the first big war for the 'new" newspaper, the first great opportunity for war correspondents - and the papers covered that war with the proverbial blanket.
Trouble is, there really wasn't much to report. But correspondents, desperate for a story, any story, found one in a daring British colonel named Baden-Powell who, surrounded by Boer armies, was defending the small town of Mafeking against impossible odds.
Correspondents painted the story up with all the glamour they could invent; and for months the valiant Baden-Powell was the hero of the day around the globe. When a British army got through to relieve Mafeking, Britain when so wild in celebration that even today such a public display is often called 'mafeking'. The British army was not so enthusiastic.
Baden-Powell wasn't supposed to be defending Mafeking. There was no point in defending it - and he wasn't even supposed to be in it. He was supposed to be leading his regiment on hit and run raids behind enemy lines to disrupt their movements. Instead, the fool had got himself bottled up so badly it took months of effort by the British army to get him out. There were mutterings at the top level of a court martial. But they couldn't court martial him.
The newspapers had made the dolt such a hero that the army had no choice but to promote him to general. (However, it was made plain to him that his military career was over. That's what gave Baden-Powell the spare time to found the Boy Scout movement.)
The experience also created the modern war correspondent as the least truthful reporter in the business.
That lesson of the impact of newspapers was quickly picked up by ambitious publishers. William Randolph Hearst used his newspaper empire to start the Spanish-American wars with false reports of an attack by Spaniards on an Americn ship in Havana harbour. He later admitted it; and was proud of it.
A New Brunswick boy named Max Aitken used his newspaper ownerships in Britain to make himself a powerhouse in Britain. The leadership of his party was so worried about his political power that it feared he would become prime minister. That's why they cut him off at the knees by naming him Lord Beaverbrook. He remained a power in the Liberal pary. But his rise in rank effectively ended his chances of becoming party leader.
More recently, Rupert Murdoch has used his power of the press to make British prime ministers dependent on him to win elections. We have recently learned that cabinet meetings of both the Labour and the Conservative governments were always open house for Rupert Murdoch; and he used his power to force acceptance of his very right-wing views.
He also uses Fox News, basing it on the success of his British papers with cheap sensationalism to spread news that is highly biased, usually lying, designed to appeal to morons, and pushing his opinions on politics.
That is pretty much the history of most of the world's press, particularly in North America. It's a history of power exerted by newspaper owners who make sure that certain news never appears, that some news which is featured is, in fact, news that never happened, that newspaper commentaries usually reflect the biases, political interests and business interests of the ownershhip.
Within limits, some newspapers have editors who preserve bits of dignity, honesty and ethics. The Globe does. (Not always. But it does.) And it offers intelligent business coverage and book reviews, several of the best columnists in Canada, and a wide, if not always truthful, coverage of world events.
The National Post is a large notch below The Globe. And it continues downhill from there, reaching abysmal levels in Atlantic Canada, then dropping into a pit of shabbiness, ignorance, bias and distortion with the Irving Press.
The Press in the United States is used as cynically as the worst in Canada. That's why the average American has an extraordinary ignorance of what is going on in the world Very few Americans, for example, have ever heard of the slaughter of Guatemalans by the CIA, of the death tolls for Vietnamese and Iraqis, of the failure of the US to deliver any significant aid to Haiti, of those Americans who ae now in prison without charge or trial, of the stunning levels of curruption in congress., of the role of the US in propping up some of the world's worst dictators.. It's almost all loaded language and hysteria.
Much of the world press is no better. And, in countries like China, it's at least as bad with a state controlled press (just as one often finds state-controlled newspapers in much of the American empire. (Incidentally, most Americans -and, perhaps, Canadians - would be astonished to hear there is an American empire.)
One has to search very hard to find good newspapers. Cheap production, the Atlantic cable, and photography created a medium with tremendous potential. But it was largely ruined from the start to become a seller of pills and prejudices and ignorance and lies.
The major newsmagazines like Time and MacLean's, alas, are no better. The best I know of are British - The Economist (right of centre) and all those military and intelligence reviews whose titles begin - Jane's.
So there are some good ones. Better still, it's a big help to remember the basic rules of human behaviour. Think, for example, of the story in a current "Time" special edition. One story is about how the US invaded Afghanistan to make it a happier country. Now, many people, made brain-dead by years of reading newspapers, will believe that. But, come on. You know people and governments do not behave that way.
You don't try to make people happier by invading their country and killing tens of thousands. And why would the American government try to make people happy by killing them and spending a trillion dollars on it when when they could make a lot of people a lot happier by giving them real aid?
Common sense is the most important thing you need to understand the news.
Often, they could be operated only with substantial help from political parties - and sometimes from churches. The Globe depended on help from Liberal backers (called Reformers in those days). In Montreal, Presbyterians sponsored The Witness. Catholics responded with The True Witness. These connections naturally led to some very prejudiced reporting. However, the Presbyterian version figured bigger in Canadian history. It had the first sports columnist in Canada - Elmer Ferguson who would be a major figure in sport reporting for well over half a century.
Three great changes occured, and were felt strongly by the 1890s - cheap paper and printing, the Atlantic cable.to move news quickly, and improvements in the ease of photography. Now, almost everyone could afford a newspaper (which also meant a newspaper could attract more advertising), and quicker, fuller news along with photos to make it far more attractive. These also made the newspaper far more influential.
An early proof of its influence was the Boer War. This was the first big war for the 'new" newspaper, the first great opportunity for war correspondents - and the papers covered that war with the proverbial blanket.
Trouble is, there really wasn't much to report. But correspondents, desperate for a story, any story, found one in a daring British colonel named Baden-Powell who, surrounded by Boer armies, was defending the small town of Mafeking against impossible odds.
Correspondents painted the story up with all the glamour they could invent; and for months the valiant Baden-Powell was the hero of the day around the globe. When a British army got through to relieve Mafeking, Britain when so wild in celebration that even today such a public display is often called 'mafeking'. The British army was not so enthusiastic.
Baden-Powell wasn't supposed to be defending Mafeking. There was no point in defending it - and he wasn't even supposed to be in it. He was supposed to be leading his regiment on hit and run raids behind enemy lines to disrupt their movements. Instead, the fool had got himself bottled up so badly it took months of effort by the British army to get him out. There were mutterings at the top level of a court martial. But they couldn't court martial him.
The newspapers had made the dolt such a hero that the army had no choice but to promote him to general. (However, it was made plain to him that his military career was over. That's what gave Baden-Powell the spare time to found the Boy Scout movement.)
The experience also created the modern war correspondent as the least truthful reporter in the business.
That lesson of the impact of newspapers was quickly picked up by ambitious publishers. William Randolph Hearst used his newspaper empire to start the Spanish-American wars with false reports of an attack by Spaniards on an Americn ship in Havana harbour. He later admitted it; and was proud of it.
A New Brunswick boy named Max Aitken used his newspaper ownerships in Britain to make himself a powerhouse in Britain. The leadership of his party was so worried about his political power that it feared he would become prime minister. That's why they cut him off at the knees by naming him Lord Beaverbrook. He remained a power in the Liberal pary. But his rise in rank effectively ended his chances of becoming party leader.
More recently, Rupert Murdoch has used his power of the press to make British prime ministers dependent on him to win elections. We have recently learned that cabinet meetings of both the Labour and the Conservative governments were always open house for Rupert Murdoch; and he used his power to force acceptance of his very right-wing views.
He also uses Fox News, basing it on the success of his British papers with cheap sensationalism to spread news that is highly biased, usually lying, designed to appeal to morons, and pushing his opinions on politics.
That is pretty much the history of most of the world's press, particularly in North America. It's a history of power exerted by newspaper owners who make sure that certain news never appears, that some news which is featured is, in fact, news that never happened, that newspaper commentaries usually reflect the biases, political interests and business interests of the ownershhip.
Within limits, some newspapers have editors who preserve bits of dignity, honesty and ethics. The Globe does. (Not always. But it does.) And it offers intelligent business coverage and book reviews, several of the best columnists in Canada, and a wide, if not always truthful, coverage of world events.
The National Post is a large notch below The Globe. And it continues downhill from there, reaching abysmal levels in Atlantic Canada, then dropping into a pit of shabbiness, ignorance, bias and distortion with the Irving Press.
The Press in the United States is used as cynically as the worst in Canada. That's why the average American has an extraordinary ignorance of what is going on in the world Very few Americans, for example, have ever heard of the slaughter of Guatemalans by the CIA, of the death tolls for Vietnamese and Iraqis, of the failure of the US to deliver any significant aid to Haiti, of those Americans who ae now in prison without charge or trial, of the stunning levels of curruption in congress., of the role of the US in propping up some of the world's worst dictators.. It's almost all loaded language and hysteria.
Much of the world press is no better. And, in countries like China, it's at least as bad with a state controlled press (just as one often finds state-controlled newspapers in much of the American empire. (Incidentally, most Americans -and, perhaps, Canadians - would be astonished to hear there is an American empire.)
One has to search very hard to find good newspapers. Cheap production, the Atlantic cable, and photography created a medium with tremendous potential. But it was largely ruined from the start to become a seller of pills and prejudices and ignorance and lies.
The major newsmagazines like Time and MacLean's, alas, are no better. The best I know of are British - The Economist (right of centre) and all those military and intelligence reviews whose titles begin - Jane's.
So there are some good ones. Better still, it's a big help to remember the basic rules of human behaviour. Think, for example, of the story in a current "Time" special edition. One story is about how the US invaded Afghanistan to make it a happier country. Now, many people, made brain-dead by years of reading newspapers, will believe that. But, come on. You know people and governments do not behave that way.
You don't try to make people happier by invading their country and killing tens of thousands. And why would the American government try to make people happy by killing them and spending a trillion dollars on it when when they could make a lot of people a lot happier by giving them real aid?
Common sense is the most important thing you need to understand the news.
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