Nepotism Loves Sentiment: Thou Shalt Not Criticise Justin Trudeau

Nepotism Loves Sentiment: Thou Shalt Not Criticise Justin Trudeau

It’s been a long time, indeed—some seven months, in fact; but, in truth, I’ve been simply too busy with various literary projects and troubling familial matters in recent months to comment regularly on the CBC’s unpolished and often ill-conceived stories at CBC.ca. The fewer the comments submitted, the fewer comments rejected; and therefore the fewer reasons to update this blog. Nevertheless, shortly before the Hanukkah/Christmas season, I had a comment of mine deleted when I committed what is considered an unpardonable sin amongst the more idiotic of the Canadian breed.

If there’s one thing I’ve long despised, it’s nepotism. There’s just something about an unwarranted sense of entitlement that gets in my craw and gnaws. When I think of such entitlement in a contemporary Canadian context, one name immediately comes to mind: His (Un)Holiness, Justin Trudeau.

Recently, the CBC reported on Dear Justin’s ‘offensive’ language towards Environment Minister Peter Kent, and his subsequent (cop-out) apology for said outburst. As a response to the sensationalistic story, I posted the following comment:

“Justin Trudeau is a pissant poser of a politician with a dripping tap of an asinine personality. Still, ‘You piece of shit!’ is no worse an insult than those us Gen-Xers hurled at teachers and passing police officers when we were in high school—and that was 25 to 30 years ago. Furthermore, why should we expect any better from those whom we regularly deride as corrupt, inept, unqualified, bigoted, boorish, antiquated, dogmatic, sycophantic, sexually ambivalent, morally hypocritical, etc?”

My comment was successfully posted, but—you guessed it, loyal readers—not for long; within just an hour or two, it was inexplicably deleted. I cannot assume it was because of my use of the word ‘shit’; after all, the CBC used the (supposedly) offensive yet ubiquitous word in the body of their story. It was also rather balanced, given my self-derisive affirmation of Canadians’ dismissive view of politicians in general. Therefore, I'm inclined to surmise that it was my assessment of Trudeau in the opening line that got some sentimental, censorious swine clicking on the ‘Report abuse’ link.

Talk about the poor canon fodder in North Korea bowing (quite literally) to that singularly nefarious line of Kims! Congratulations, CBC, for acquiescing to the nostalgia-driven sentimental whims of those who so blindly enbrace an annoying flake who ‘wears it on his sleeve’ and cannot grasp the basics of formal speech. You people are indeed His obedient children—er, ‘kids’.

The CBC: ‘Faggot’'s Okay. ‘Nigger’—No Way!

The CBC: ‘Faggot’'s Okay. ‘Nigger’—No Way!


A number of converging topics to discuss this time around, people.

On January 5th, the CBC reported on their website that in a new combined volume of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, NewSouth Books of Alabama would be replacing all instances of the word ‘nigger’ with ‘slave’. This in itself is a ‘fine’ example of censorship bordering on historical revisionism, and it will certainly subtract substantially from the portrayal of Huck's inner struggle and inchoate transformation—which is the whole point of the novel, isn't it? But interesting as well, and more relevant to this blog of mine, was the CBC's decision to shun the word ‘nigger’ throughout the article in favour of the euphemistic ‘N-word’.

Things got even more interesting a few days later, on the 13th of January, when CBC.ca related how the intrusive, despotic Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) was demanding that radio stations across Canada cease to air Dire Straits' 1985 hit single ‘Money For Nothing’, after one lone whiner—listening to OZ FM somewhere in Newfoundland—complained about the use of the word ‘faggot’.

I responded to a followup story (a reactionary ‘Money For Nothing’ Marathon on Halifax radio) with the following comment:

“Q104 FM is on the right track, for typical Canadian apathy is not the answer to such a bad call on the part of the CBSC in response to one lone whiner. So much restrictivism in this country results from the majority of Canadians lacking the initiative to undermine and oppose our legislative oppressors: those lobbyists, politicians and organisations from the Far Left and Far Right, who represent only five percent of the population ideologically, yet like to dictate what the whole of Canada cannot do, say, feel or perceive.

“People should be considering additional ways of opposing this inane ruling. For example, might it be possible for Dire Straits or their record company to launch a lawsuit against the CBSC? Should Canadians start complaining to the CBSC left, right and centre, whining about every lyric from every number from every angle they can possibly think of, thus overwhelming this self-important organisation, calling their credibility into question?

“I'm also wondering why the lone whiner from St. John's who started all this hasn't gone public with his/her convictions. If s/he is so righteous, what does s/he have to worry about? Whatever the case, the crank who made the complaint has done nothing to help the gay/lesbian community, merely incurring more contempt for said community on the part of the general population. Come to think of it, I would not be surprised if the lone whiner wasn't even gay—just another self-righteous, white heterosexual ‘liberal’ who likes to be heard.”

[Actually, it turns out, the lone whiner was a lesbian from Corner Brook.]

Two days later, I posted this additional comment:

“Something else I find so fascinating about all of this is how the left-wing nitpickers in this country are coming to resemble the right-wing nitpickers from decades ago. When I was in high school, in the early '80s, boys and girls who attended Salvation Army youth camps during the summer were told how Josie Cotton's hit single,‘Johnny, Are You Queer?’, was promoting homosexuality. Nearly 30 years later, the same ends are being met, but by different means. Is it any wonder then that socialists like Jack Layton and his New Democrats would prop up antiquated Christians like Stephen Harper and his Tory government by supporting their often restrictivist bills? They have more in common than what separates them! Come to think of it, given his mixture of Marxism and Christian theology, the late Tommy Douglas may very well have been the forefather of this two-sides-of-the-same-coin phenomenon in Canada.”

Remarkably—and to their credit, for once—the CBC is yet to delete my posts!

Albeit a relatively subtle one, I think the most interesting aspect of these stories of censorship and their handling by the CBC would have to be the hallowed public broadcaster's reluctance to use the word ‘nigger’ when discussing the edited Twain novels—especially in light of the fact that they had no qualms about using the word ‘faggot’ when addressing the word's use in ‘Money For Nothing’! As James Woods says at the end of Contact, That is interesting, isn't it?

Canada-Day Coverage, 2009: A Good Place To Start...

Canada-Day Coverage, 2009: A Good Place To Start...

Okay, let's kick off yet another pointless, contrived Canada Day with a new blog; this one dedicated primarily to the nonsensical and questionable censorship which is practised at cbc.ca, the website of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a.k.a. ‘Canada's Public Broadcaster’. Each entry will focus on a news story covered by the CBC, and feature a comment or comments made by Yours Truly which have been rejected or removed by the CBC's illogically biased ‘moderators’—i.e., censors—at their website. Other issues might arise....

Let's get started by winding back the clock to Canada Day, 2009. Here's a comment I tried posting regarding the CBC's general Canada Day coverage on this day last year. Needless to say, I had to remove any personal accounts of child freedom and independence 30 to 35 years ago before the site's censorious shitheads would post it. Here's the original:

“Does anybody remember the 1970s, when there was still a free Canada worth celebrating? It was a wonderful period, when we had transcended the antiquated right-wing Christian conservatism of the 1950s and early '60s, and before the political correctness and nanny-state nonsense had begun to set in. Since then, the country has been sold out to a minority of dogmatic far-left and far-right numbskulls who probably represent less than 5 percent of the country's population.

“Give me back the good ol' days of stubby beer bottles; ‘universal’ smoking; fondue parties; helmetless hockey with bountiful brawls; sex without rules; Stompin' Tom, The Stampeders and BTO on the radio; Rough Trade on Canada After Dark; The Beachcombers, The King of Kensington and Peanuts and Popcorn on television. (Does anyone remember those Saturday-morning adverts on the CBC? Brnnnngggg!!! “Hello...Better Business Bureau....”)

“And how great it was to be a child in the '70s!—after the Church had lost its grasp on us and before the far-left lobbyists began to smother us. I remember what seem like endless summers of hiking, bicycling, streaking and skinny-dipping. We were allowed to read, watch and listen to pretty much anything we wanted—and youth-oriented media were so much more intelligent and thought-provoking in those years. I remember my parents even allowing a cousin and I to play with cigarettes during our make-believe play. Children and teens were so much tougher back then—and without the mindless violence! When a couple of creeps attempted to abduct a friend and I when we were 10 years old, we fought back, got the hell out of the car and legged it! At the end of the day, we never even bothered to tell our parents—it was none of their damn business, we felt. We were growing up on punk rock, MAD Magazine and Jodie Foster films, remember—we were learning to etch out our own morality and fight our own battles. How ignorant, pampered and pathetic the youth of today look by comparison—my first cousins-once-removed appear as if they're about to melt into the ground at any second.

“Fast-forward 30+ years to Canada today, with its nanny-state nonsense from the Far Left and imposed sexual ‘morality’ from the Far Right. Just toe the line and pretend you're having fun, people....”

Advocating freedom? Above all, advocating freedom for children?!! I'm afraid that's a no-no at the CBC, people. The first thing that one has to learn when dealing with the CBC is that freedom is off limits; the people who monitor their website—like those who tailor their news stories—advocate restrictivist dogmas first and foremost, regardless of whether such dogmas are of left-wing origin or right-wing origin.