A Good Reason to Boycott 'The Star'

[deicer]

2 hours ago, DEFCON said:

Is it a weird form of irony, or just blinders, but it's pretty hard to miss an obvious pattern; a number of you stand prepared & ready to react and respond when any personality with a tilt to the Right screws up, but when it comes to players like Hilary, you become blind deaf - mutes?

 

It isn't a matter of blinders.  It is a response to your assertions of Mr. Levant. 

While one can acknowledge that there are problems with both sides, it has been shown that right wing media has taken things more to extremes.  Fox news in the U.S. and Sun Media in Canada are usually the standard bearers for the right. 

Isn't it a big indicator that even Sun Media wanted nothing to do with Mr. Levant after they shut down the t.v. station?

[J.O.]

I'm not sure why there is such celebration of the letter from the U of C Dean's office. It seems to me that the ideals they raised should be a standard bearer for all institutions of higher education - and the media. But here's the rub. One cannot honestly suggest that all political pundits who disguise themselves as journalists are consistency abiding by the key words in that letter - civility and mutual respect. They certainly aren't words I would use to describe the majority of times I heard Ezra Levant speak.

[DEFCON]

It's my feeling that references to civility and mutual respect should be examined in context, it's all about basic consideration; shut up and give the opposition a chance to voice an opinion and resist the temptation to call him an 'idiot' for instance, only because his belief is different than your own.

[Lakelad]

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 The threat of political correctness, real and imagined

Fri Sep. 02, 2016 - The Globe and Mail

Has political correctness gone too far in Canada? Are Canadians too quick to take offence? Is Donald Trump’s rise to Republican presidential candidate somehow connected to this?

The Angus Reid Institute, a “not-for-profit, non-partisan public opinion research organization,” released a poll this week that raised these questions. Its findings are startling and important.

The survey of 1,510 people found that two-thirds of Canadians (67 per cent) believe that “too many people are easily offended these days over the language others use.” Three-quarters (76 per cent) believe “political correctness has gone too far.” Eighty per cent say, “These days, it seems like you can’t say anything without someone feeling offended.”

Clearly, political correctness is on Canadians’ minds. They believe that their language is being policed by unnamed forces. Three-quarters say they routinely hold their tongues in the presence of others, mostly to be polite, but also to avoid negative judgment.

This is odd, because Canada is not a right-wing country, while political correctness has generally been a right-wing concept. It is the weaponized drumbeat of Fox News and the “alt-right” – a virulent right-wing movement followed by people who openly distrust non-white races, and who believe President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Mr. Trump in particular loves to boast that he is not politically correct, that he “tells it like it is” and doesn’t filter his words to appease “liberal media” and “left-wing” Americans. He believes, or says he believes, that his country is going to ruin at the hands of illegal Mexican immigrants, Muslim terrorists and black criminals who are given free rein by a cowed society that ignores obvious dangers out of a misguided fear of appearing racist.

His dangerous bombast, gobbled up by his followers – some of whom are members of white supremacist groups and leaders in the alt-right movement – is arguably the outgrowth of the charges of political correctness laid by conservatives against the promoters of progressive social movements of the 1980s and 1990s. Many conservatives felt then – not entirely without merit – that efforts to rid universities and other institutions of traditions that were deemed sexist and racist went overboard, and made it impossible to talk honestly about certain subjects. “Political correctness” was a pejorative, and it still is for conservatives – an accusation of censorship, of being unwilling to see the fearsome truth about life.

So why do Canadians, who live in a socially progressive, diverse country, say they feel the same tensions that fuel the right-wing movement behind Mr. Trump?

'Thankfully, there is also an understanding that accusations of political correctness are often the first refuge of the scoundrel.'

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[Guest]

The rest of the article:

So why do Canadians, who live in a socially progressive, diverse country, say they feel the same tensions that fuel the right-wing movement behind Mr. Trump?

It could be because what conservatives derided as political correctness in the 1990s has morphed into today’s absurd culture of victimhood, where university students demand “safe spaces” to protect them from ideas and opinions that challenge their world view, and where every slight, no matter how small, requires compensation.

Or perhaps it’s not so much that people take offence too quickly today but that the consequences of their taking offence can be so serious. Anyone who innocently gives offence can find themselves being publicly shamed on social media – a devastating experience that is often vastly disproportionate to the misstep. They may even find themselves in the position of having to defend their jobs.

Perhaps Canadians worry that should they unintentionally insult somebody, and be horrified by what they did, they might not be given the chance to redeem themselves. There is little forgiveness in today’s culture. As a writer in Time magazine put it last year, there are many people who refuse to “recognize the good intentions of those who accidentally give offence, and be charitable and civil toward those with whom [they] disagree.”

We understand why those who fight for equality can be unforgiving. Sexism, racism and discrimination against LGBTQ people in Canada have never been polite things, so how can mainstream Canadian society now expect to be treated with the charity and civility it refused to show to vulnerable groups in the past?

But we also understand that many people of good intention consequently are fearful of speaking their minds, lest it come out wrong and they have to pay too high a price.

These are hard positions to reconcile. If the Angus Reid poll is any guide, many Canadians have decided that the currents in today’s society are forcing them to hold their tongues.

But there is a danger in this, as Mr. Trump is proving. His followers have reacted to what they consider to be political correctness by embracing its opposite to an extreme degree. He and they seek the line between offensive and inoffensive, so they can proudly cross it.

Could it happen in Canada? The undercurrent is there, apparently. Thankfully, there is also an understanding that accusations of political correctness are often the first refuge of the scoundrel. A majority of Canadians (57 per cent) acknowledge that people who exclaim “political correctness!” are sometimes just resentful that their prejudices aren’t acceptable any more.

But there are still a lot of Canadians who feel censored by a force they disparage as political correctness. Who perhaps feel that to advocate for lower immigration, or to raise a question about the treatment of people suspected of terrorist activity, or to bring up any other controversial point of view, simply isn’t worth it any more.

This is not good. We all want a better world, and the only way to get there is through civil discourse. If there are Canadians who feel they are being cut out of important social debates because their opinions aren’t deemed legitimate, this must be addressed. Ideas exist to be openly debated, not shouted down. Otherwise, you end up worse off than before.

[Boney]

Look what just happened to Brian Jean, the Wild Rose leader, where he realized his joke was offensive, recanted, and now the opposition want his head. 

Better to not speak, but how would anyone know your true position. 

Oh what a tangle web we weave. 

[Airband]

Some examples of readers' letters regarding Craig Damian Smith’s Opinion piece:

Quote

I was not fortunate to be born in a have-it-all era. I was born in London, England, in 1935 and had planes and bombs dropping on me from 7 at night till 7 in the morning – The Blitz. I still remember – but also learned to move on.
To suggest that an air show is wrong for the reasons he proposes is ludicrous. It will last for no longer than three hours for three days and give thousands of people much enjoyment.
I recommend any family with his suggested problems to buy ear plugs. Problem solved.
The Canadian Snowbirds demo team are a national treasure and we should be proud to have them fly above our wonderful city. I live in the north of the city and will travel down town to enjoy and if there is a refugee family living close to the waterfront I would gladly swap apartments to live there.
I trust Craig is aware that Canadian International Air Shows comply with all regulations, including those published by Transport Canada relating to noise.

Ian T. Sugg, Toronto

 

Millions have enjoyed air shows over the decades. I am fed up with leftists that want to dumb down society until we only have flower children like Trudeau. Ignorant men in positions of power are dangerous.
Bottom line. People like you are not forced to watch the annual air show. Their times are publicized so may be avoided by those not in favour.
Change is inevitable but the GTA does not represent the range of national opinion on many subjects. I lived in Toronto/Scarborough for 30 years so I understand the city. Sad when the opinion of a few suppress the beliefs of the many.

Ronald Wilson, Westmeath

 

Thanks for having the courage to publish the article about the re-traumatizing impact of the Canadian air show on refugees and war veterans.
This discussion has been long suppressed in the name of “tourism,” but it is time that we gave up hosting the air show at the CNE. Many more people are distressed by its militaristic display than entertained by it, and it is time that the welfare of Toronto residents is prioritized over the much smaller audience that watches it.
This fall, in particular, the air show’s fighter jets are a poignant reminder to Canadians that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not cancel Canada’s $15 billion Saudi arms deal for weaponized militarized vehicles. By allowing this deal to go through, we are supporting military regimes to crush dissent at home, which puts Canada in violation of its arms-trading rules.
Sunny ways? For whom? When and where?

Elizabeth Littlejohn, Toronto

 

Prevailing sentiment expressed in the letters published by 'the newspaper that would be boycotted'? - the guy should take a hike.