It has been discovered recently that the Harper government has now removed all barriers for the media to just make stuff up. And I love their justification for this.
Rick Mercer and Jon Stewart do it.
Mercer and Stewart are not part of the media. They are comedians. Their shows are billed as comedies, where Fox News North will be anything but funny.
Oh, and they also bring up Santa Claus. Of course. Who doesn't love Santa?
Stephen Downes, of the National Research Council of Canada, raised the point that the current law "makes it illegal to broadcast news reports of Santa's journey from the North Pole on Christmas."We have to rewrite our laws to accommodate Santa. But as Michael Geist says: "If enacted, the changes would move the Canadian broadcast framework closer to that found in the U.S." Of course it will move us closer to the U.S. model. Doesn't every single thing that Stephen Harper does, move us closer to the U.S. model?
What's that? It was a CRTC decision and has nothing to do with Stephen Harper? Guess again. Harper has appointed 11 of the 14 current members of the CRTC.
Just another day in Harperland.
The point is that there’s room in a democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with them; there isn’t any place for eliminationist rhetoric, for suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary.
ReplyDeleteAnd it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence.
Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.
And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/opinion/10krugman.html?_r=1
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Sign the I Love CBC Petition:
http://www.friends.ca/ILoveCBC/
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The CRTC, too, eh? Well, we're headed downhill on a runaway sled.
ReplyDeleteI woke up this morning thinking what a distinguished-looking Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff would make; how nice it would be to have someone in charge who really cares about people; how refreshing it would be to see our PM talking to other heads of state in a sincerely gracious and stately way. I'd like my country to be Canada again.
You're right
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