Politics and Media Blog Project

Politics and Media Blog Project
Now Belinda is not just a "dog" but also a "bitch"
Recently, on a Vancouver radio station Norman Spector who is a journalist and former diplomat announced on a live broadcast that he thought Belinda Stronach was a "bitch". As I only saw this clip on the news, I'm not sure what his reasoning for using this inappropriate name was; however, I'm sure the reason was nothing that warranted such slander. Spector claimed that he used the word "bitch" in his everyday vocabularly and that he thought it fairly defined Miss Stronach. This unprofessional outburts, along with the fact that the Speaker of the House has refused to deal anymore with the comments the Peter MacKay allegedly made towards Belinda demonstrate how the defamation of women poltical figures in being marginalized and being pushed under the table.

Personally, I am inclined to believe that the reason Mr. Spector really believes Mrs. Stronach is a "bitch" is because she humiliated Peter Mackay who is a man. If a male politician were to do the same thing he would never be deemed a "bitch" or any other derogatory term.

What do you think?

Municipal elections

Hey all,
Just in case you didn't know, you can vote in the municipal elections even if you're not from London. You just need to show proof of your local address (I believe). So follow the race and go out and vote! Happy Halloween!

Are you a Lemming of the Media?

Lemmings
Lemmings are small rodents who have been known to follow each other as they charge to their deaths into raging rivers or off of cliffs. Lemminghood is an innate psychological phenomenon, present in most mammals and observable in common people as well the most sophisticated and educated elites. Lemminghood is not an intellectual phenomenon - it is psychological.
As such, no socio-economic class is immune to its strangulating effect. A grant-seeking university scientist can be a lemming just as much as a fashion obsessed teen-age girl. One blindly follows the latest trendy theory while the other blindly follows the latest trendy clothing style. What's the difference? Neither can resist the force of nature.
The power to fit in with one's social peers can be irresistible. To a human lemming, the logic behind an opinion doesn't count as much as the power and popularity behind an opinion.
Man, like lemming, behaves collectively. And it could be no other way. Naturally, the individual must be equipped with this trait. Otherwise, the smallest steps toward civilization could never have been made. Lemminghood is a survival trait, an inborn instinct in the majority of people. However, as with all natural phenomena, this tendency can be manipulated and used for harmful purposes.
It is this lemming effect which enables entire segments of a society to lose their sense of judgment all at the same time.
For lemmings, denial is a basic psychological defense mechanism used to not only shield themselves from unpleasant realities, but also to reassure themselves that they will still fit within the acceptable range of opinion held by their peer group. Lemmings are absolutely terrified at the thought of being labeled as an "extremist" or a "conspiracy theorist."
At all costs, their beliefs must always be on the "right" side of the issue and conform within the boundaries of their lemming peers. Lemmings simply cannot bear the burden of responsibility, or the discomfort, which comes with thinking independently. They'll resist any efforts to change their misguided beliefs with all their mental energy.
We can try to open their closed minds and free them from their self-imposed blindness, but it's not easy fighting the force of human nature. The chains of ideological conformity have too strong of a grip, and breaking them is a difficult task. With the limited resources at our disposal, it is next to impossible to compete with the media lemming-masters. Nevertheless, some of us must make the meager attempt, and thus lay the foundation upon which the truth might one day rise again.
-Anonymous

from http://www.iror.org/lemmings.asp

Political Advertisements - When Do We Draw The Line?

Good Evening Everyone;

As was discussed in class today, political television advertisements are significant tools when it comes to getting your message out there during an election.

With the Midterms in full swing within the United States, our television screens are being bombarded with these advertisements, some disturbing, some down right stupid.

Yesterday, well watching TV I saw one add that incorporated a picture of Osama Bin Laden bouncing back and forth across the screen. It was the Republicans attempt to use fear to scare voters away from the Democrats. They insisted the Democrats track record fighting terrorism was not as strong as the Republican party, and voting for them would spell ‘trouble’.

That is just one example of some of the tactics election advertisements use. Whether a Democratic or Republican ad, these ads have brought everything up from candidates who went bankrupt, played on the physical features of others, race, tried to make women look inferior, and the list goes on and on.

My question to all of you is when do these ads go too far? Is there a line that should never be crossed, or in today's world is everything fair game? Should there be some sort of partial ethics board that views these ads before they go over the airways and/or on television? Or, do voters deserve to know everything about an individual or group running for office?

Any thoughts?

Thank you, and have an excellent day!

London-North and the Liberal Leadership

The London-North riding candidates are Conservative Dianne Haskett and possibly Elizabeth May (Green Party). No one from the Liberal party has made claim to this riding now that Fontana has stepped down. The Globe and Mail brings the Liberal arguement that Harper is taking advantage of them while they are preoccupied with the leadership race. Rae, Kennedy and Findlay are not members are parliament. Do you think it is fair for Liberals interested in running for London-North to hold off just in case their new leader needs a seat?

Considering her refusal to declare Gay Pride Week in 1995 (where she and the City of London were fined $10000 by Ontario Human Rights Commission), do you think Haskett has a chance in this long-standing Liberal riding?

Liberal hypocricy?

Today Liberal MPs are unleashing their faux outrage, accusing the Conservative government of somehow being anti-women. When will Liberal MPs show that they are indeed committed to condemning those who insult women,and condemn Liberals in their own ranks? Why won't Liberals stand up against those who insult or belittle women in their own caucus?

THE FACTS
Liberals have remained silent about Liberal MP Denis Coderre's insultingand sexist remarks about Minister Ambrose. Where is the Liberal outrage? * Liberals refused to condemn then-Liberal MP Pat O'Brien referred to afemale colleague, then-Liberal MP Sarmite Bulte, who disagreed with hisposition, as a "dumb blonde bimbo." (Globe and Mail, April 15, 2005) *

Liberal MP Paul Szabo wants to control whether women are allowed toconsume alcohol: Liberal MP Paul Szabo has flirted with controversy in his advocacy of this bill, claiming all sexually active women should abstain from alcohol, lest they inadvertently become pregnant and poison theirfetus. "If you're in your birthing years, if you are sexually active, ifyou're not using protection, you should eliminate the risk" by not drinking alcohol, he told the parliamentary health committee last month (NationalPost, March 9, 2005)*

Paul Martin and the Liberals had no problem when former provincial cabinetminister Art Reid sought the Liberal nod in the riding of Avalon. Reid, an outspoken former provincial minister of municipal affairs, is perhaps best known for making headlines in 1998 when he was forced to step down from then-premier Brian Tobin's cabinet for making sexually derogatory remarks to a political opponent. Reid told Tory Sheila Osborne in the House of Assembly she should "go back to the kitchen probably where she came from."Newfoundland Conservative MP Loyola Hearn warns if Reid wins the nomination Tuesday night, those remarks will "haunt" him through the entire campaign.(Vancouver Sun, December 5, 2005)*

Liberals have yet to object to Liberal Senator David Smith organize "no women allowed" policy meetings: Senator Smith (key organizer of the Ignatieff campaign) held his annual Liberal backroom-boy-fest at his lakefront summer home in Cobourg, Ont., (no women allowed). Not surprisingly, Michael Ignatieff 's team was well-represented since Mr. Smith is one of his key organizers. It seemed the entire Ignatieff posse was there - New Brunswick Liberal MP Paul Zed, who is chairing the Ignatieff policy committee, national campaign chairman Ian Davey, Toronto lawyers Alf Apps and Dan Brock, who are key supporters, as well as his policy andoperations directors, Brad Davis and Sanchin Aggarwal Also in attendance were Michael Eizenga, the Liberal party president, Earl Provost from the Scott Brison camp and Randy Pettipas, a big player in the Bob Rae campaign.(Globe and Mail, August 19, 2006)

Just thought I would shed some light on the fact that the Fiberals...I mean Liberals, are not exactly perfect themselves. But I guess we've all realized that by now.

Just when we thought the Belinda coverage was dying down...

Here's an excerpt from today's globe and mail online:
"While the government was being peppered with questions about the new Clean Air
Plan, Holland says a Liberal jokingly asked Mr. MacKay about the impact of pollution
on humans and animals: "What about your dog?"
According to Holland, Mr. MacKay motioned toward Ms. Stronach's vacant seat and
replied: "You already have her.""
from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061019.wstronach1019/BNStory/Front/home

Is it still a mystery why more women aren't in Canadian politics?

"Final" Report on the Canadian News Media

While I was here I thought I would take the "hint" and start this discussion as well. Hopefully it'll be one that a number of people will have a lot to say on!

First off please see below links to the PDF versions of volume 1 and 2 from the Parliament Canada website. They are very long, but do contain a summary of recommendations at the end of Volume 1 as well as detailed contents if you see something of particular interest:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/tran-e/rep-e/repfinjun06vol1-e.pdf

http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/tran-e/rep-e/repfinjun06vol2-e.pdf

Unfortunately I haven't read enough to give all my comments as of yet. So I will be reserving the right to comment on my own blog as discussion progresses. I also hope others will introduce more engaging articles, etc. to keep the discussion rolling. I think, however, this is a good place to start.

In the mean time I'd like to share an initial thought that relates to my previous post on Telus and the CRTC. First of all the recommendations of the report seem to be far from encouraging a decreasing role of the CRTC, as Telus suggests. A good number of these recommendations are targetted directly at the CRTC. On the other hand, however, the recommendation I find most interesting is as follows:

RECOMMENDATION 6
That the CRTC adopt a more open approach to the benefits that may flow from competition within the provision of news and information programming.

It seems to me that perhaps this recommendation moves towards change desireable to big business. However, the recommendation is not very particular about what this "more open approach" is or even in what form "competition" might be allowed to take. Nonetheless, this definitely stood out to me.

More to come, look forward to comments!

Telus tells CRTC

Hi!

I was looking through the news to get back into the present after spending a couple of hours reading Plato's Republic, so this should be a nice change of pace!

I thought it was interesting to see a current article regarding CRTC regulatory action. May want to give the following article a read (it's short) if you have no idea what I'm talking about:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061018.wtelus1018/BNStory/Business/home

I think it's interesting to see a major player more or less telling the government-authorized controler to ease up or else. It seems to me that in such a competive market, the role of the CRTC is dwindling. While this article doesn't go in-depth, it's clear that big business sees the CRTC creating a definite competitive disadvantage for the Canadian players. I think this is of major concern to us, as Canadians. While there may be the need for some government (or government-related) intervention, and I think this need does exist, I do not think we should allow it to come at the expense of our ability to compete globally. The part of Mr. Entwhistle's "recipe" that I find most interesting is: " • following the market's lead where ever possible" To me this is a complete shift, and more or less a sneaky way of saying to the CRTC "We don't need you anymore". While I don't agree that business can be relied upon to self-regulate, clearly Entwhistle has made clear that business will demand change, or at the end of the day the end-consumer (us) will pay the price.

London Free Press

Hi Everyone,

Today in class we discussed briefly the problems/unfortunate situations that have arisen at the London Free Press.

I know that many students in the class are not from London, however think about your home town newspaper for a moment.... Do you think what is happening is right/fair? Is it just apart of business, or is this an issue that people need to stand up for?

The LFP has been known for their award-winning local coverage, and though Dr. Nesbitt-Larking did state it was poorly written most of the time, at least we were getting local coverage, regardless of the quality. With the printing being moved to Toronto, deadlines being pushed ahead, and Quebecor making the London Free Press go to a tablet layout (I.e. Toronto Sun style), local coverage is going to suffer.

Londoners care about their community, as it only has a population of 360,000 people (roughly). How and when do you stop these big conglomerates from coming in and tearing apart what is a vital instrument within the community?

Are generalized Canadian Press stories enough, with the odd local story creeping into the pages a few days later? Is this why the newspaper in general is dying a slow and painful death, because huge corporations are trying to make everything generic?

I know this post is a bit scrambled, but I would like to know what other people think about this. Since I have lived in London for 20 years, maybe someone else would like to present a different opinion, in support or opposition.

Thank you very much and everyone have a fantastic week

Essay Questions

Please note that essay questions will be distributed in class on Wednesday.