Sunday, September 12, 2010

Take A Seat Ezra

It seems the more outrageous, controversial and just plain rude, the more attention one gets, to the point of disproportion. The most glaring example, this fringe American pastor, who draws more reporters than parishioners. In Canada, I've always been struck at how Ezra Levant manages to drive everybody into a frenzy. Extrapolating, it is for this reason that I firmly believe FoxNewsNorth will survive, not because of the right wing, but because of the left to moderate viewer, who engages in the "car wreck" fascination. Wouldn't it be sad if the extremist right finds a voice because of indirect support from those that so vehemently oppose that point of view. Isn't this blog post just another example of said dynamic?

Levant is on another tirade this morning, along with another "columnist", deriding those that dare question the philosophical underpinning of SunTV. Levant confuses freedom of speech with the idea of party affiliated propaganda, but that's an argument that will always find easy cover, cute denial. I won't like to the latest "column", but basically Levant rails against the left wing media and their allies, who are trying to suppress points of view, which doesn't jive with their own socialist agenda.

A photo, and a very important one when you REALLY delve into the supposed issues that exist:


From the September 8th, Power and Politics, a panel discussing the oil sands and energy. Note the participants on the mothercorp- we have REGULAR participant Tasha Kheiriddin from the National Post, Ian Capstick and the very respectable David Akin, of, you guessed it SUNTV. Look carefully, and you will see the host Petty with her left hand on a book. That book, which she earlier held in the air and promoted is called "Ethical Oil", written by none other than Ezra Levant. So, just to tidy this up, we have the left wing media's main player, the dreaded CBC, hosting a intelligent discussion on the oil sands with a three person panel consisting of a representative from a right wing newspaper, a left wing "pundit and the lead journalist from SUNTV. In addition, rather than shunning the view of people like Ezra Levant, CBC found it necessary to engage in a five minute conversation discussing the WORTH of said book, giving it free publicity and LEGITIMACY. Wow, that hardly seems like a bias, a conspiracy, evidence of this left wing media that these wayward ideologues LOVE to lean on, like old faithful.

I find it pure nonsense, the way these right wing zealots cling to their selective free speech, moral high ground. I find it offensive, because at the core, the fairness they enjoy from their supposed enemies is rarely reciprocated. If people were really trying to silence the Ezra Levant's of the world, I wouldn't have to see his radical mug on television so much, not to mention listen to fair minded discussion about his latest publication. The facts are the enemy, and forever ignored by these tunnel vision crusaders. Yawn.

8 comments:

penlan said...

I watched that particular show & noticed how much Levant was mentioned in that segment. Something that surprised me was the vehemence of Kathleen Petty's segment with Ralph Goodale - she was loud & combative & wasn't like that with anyone else - especially not with any rep of the Con Party. Did you notice that Steve?

Steve V said...

All I know, SunTV will never have a three person panel, consisting of two people from "left wing" outlets, maturely and respectfully discussing David Suzuki's book. That's the bottom line, that reveals these charlatan's in stark terms.

Jerry Prager said...

Corporatism is a conservative ideology, and that's the only ideology represented in the MSM. There is no other POV since corporate media destroyed independent media. The CBC became a shill for the same ideology years ago. Journalism is dead in Canada.

Jim Parrett said...

Good to see a little reality come to light on the meme of our 'liberal media'. When our only national source of balanced reportage and opinion swings this far to the right, we have a huge problem. It's the CNN model. The right's endless crusade against media works. Eventually networks like CBC and CNN bend to the pressure and stack their shows with a right-appeasing slant.

Steve V said...

The media needs to stop placating these people, because no matter what they do, the attack remains the same. The perfect example is Teneycke snagging a job on CBC, and yet when he leaves, it made no dent on the "lame stream" media sentiment. The fact they hired the clown, negates his whole thesis, but no matter...

Anonymous said...

Petty ('The Parade Announcer,' as a friend who dreads her on the radio calls her) has always had a bias toward this government. Remember, she's from Calgary. I stopped listening to The House for a while when Germain was sent to China.

Tof KW said...

Petty annoys the hell out of me as well, but it's not bias as much as her overall interview style. BTW - all the Reformatory blogs usually label Petty a Lib-hack if you can believe it.

Steve V said...

On Petty, I think the Con sentiment says it all. She had a semi-regular gig on P and P over the summer. I defy anyone to find one positive word about the Libs. In fact, I could barely stand listening to her knee jerk cyncism, she literally mocked EVERY single item relating to the Libs.