I, like Paul M below, would love for this country to develop a "not right, not "left" " news presence. I remain a firm leftist, at the fiscal level, an old school leftist, but I want nothing to with the identity politics and purity obsession that have become the norm on the self-identified "leftists" of Canada (who look nothing like the left I grew up with). My union is a constant disappointment on this point too.
The country south of us has developed a centrist media landscape, made up of self-proclaimed "classic liberals", they still aren't leftists other than their so-called progressive values (which does not a leftist make), but they are at least a little more honest than Canada media landscape.
Canadians desperately need a Canadian alternative to the mainstream. So many Canadians who think outside the box have been silenced or fled the country, as to think outside the box in Canada has practically become illegal.
I hope that you can contribute to a new emerging narrative for this country.
I am excited that you are doing this. But I grieve the CBC, too. Baby with bath-water, out the window--fertilizing the rose bush, with any luck. But probably not. We are moving on. Batya brings up some solid points! ("Economic guilt" vs Racist guilt"!)
Living in Vancouver, across the street from the tent-city of Strathcona Park, seeing the gov't spend huge dollars on buying up the hotels that allowed lower-income people to travel to Vancouver (the Buchan on Haro St., the wonderful Patricia, and thereby Pat's Pub, home to THE best jazz...jazz for free!) Oh my. The working-poor are paying in multiple and unseen ways to support the desperately poor.
I appreciated hearing Batya... but I'd like to think you might provide an alternative source of CANADIAN news for me. We have been inundated with US issues/politics/history. With the way history is now being taught in Canadian schools, the average young person does not know the difference between "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" vs. "Peace, Order, and Good Government." Or the "frontier mentality" that shaped South, and the sending-out-of-RCMP that shaped this country. Basic foundational stuff, that has created the who-s we are... unrecognized as Uni students get Social Justice degrees and history programs come to pieces.
Ah, but thank you, nonetheless! This is not criticism--it's suggestion :)
Yeah, i'd sure like to hear what the heck goes on in Canada from a source other than CBC and that ilk... I can tell you a lot about what goes on down south.. cause there's lots of good podcasts out of there.. nary a one in Canada that i know of.
Me too. We desperately need a Canadian perspective that is not pandering to the cancel mentality but does not go to the rightwing fringe in reaction either. I just want to know what is really going on, and draw my own conclusions. Show me a few episodes like that and I’ll gladly pay.
I will check out! My son sang there back in June. It's a special place. The owners still own the pub and the brewery, but it's all been such a challenge with the change in hotel ownership. Music is NEVER OT!
Yes indeed! ITA. Baby and bathwater. It appears we get to choose between people who deny the bathwater is smelling and others who deny there is a baby worth rescuing. Please reach out to Meghan Murphy, and maybe do an issue on the incidents of rape in women’s prisons. Rape by biological males who are gaming the system by declaring themselves Trans.
Thanks goodness self-described leftists are beginning to question wokeness. This is by far the most divisive and damaging political doctrine of our time. We need to stop shattering our society into endless identity groups of villains and perpetrators and instead focus on the hard and ceaseless work of building bridges and coming together.
Bravo and thank you, I am a Canadian conservative, I am absolutely NOT racist, I love people I believe everyone should have equal rights to education, health care, jobs, home ownership, etc..I don’t believe it should be a hand out but a hand up, everyone should have opportunities and it is your right how you use those opportunities. I am by no means jealous of anyone that has made a whole lot of money provided they made it legally, morally and ethically, I say good for them, I just want to be left alone and live comfortably. I do NOT feel it’s anyone’s right to infringe on anyones rights or freedoms, we all share this earth and unless you are doing evil then to each his own as long as know one is being hurt, used, abused or infringing then let people be. Live life, enjoy life, it goes by so quickly, who gives you the right to judge how people conduct themselves, as long as it’s not harmful to you, anyone else or themselves..live and let live .. when we vote for these people to govern we don’t vote them to be intrusive, dictating, abusive or invasive, we vote them in to govern our country for the people, NOT THE PEOPLE. When government start tromping on rights and freedoms it’s no longer a democracy but dictatorship/communism.. we are born free and free is how we should remain. Yes we need laws, rules, morals, ethics, etc, that’s how you keep order and peacefulness but never ever should any government be in such control to impose laws and orders that go against our freedom’s. People should never be manipulated, coerced, forced or made to do anything that is against their will. NEVER. Everyone has a right to their opinion, their beliefs and standards, you don’t have to like it or even agree but that’s freedom. When your freedom is taken away then there is NO democracy.
It use to be journalists were for the people, to ask questions for the people, not a select few but for all, everyone is allowed an opinion but that’s it, not enforcing that opinion on anyone. When you start enforcing your opinion it’s NO longer for the people and it’s NO longer an opinion.
We are all the same, we all put our pants on the same way, one leg at a time, money, education, size, colour, creed, etc makes NO one better then the other, we are all human, we are all created, in which ever way you prefer to believe, we make look, sound, dress, talk, walk, and do things different but we are all of the same species..which is human.
Thank you Tara for this space to allow my opinion.. we can all be better and we can all do better when we decide that WE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE AND WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER❤️🇨🇦❤️
Well, I hate to break it to you, but classic liberalism no longer exists in the land. Much of what we used to call 'liberalism' is now called 'conservatism'. As for compassion and decency, they went out the window when neoliberalism came in the door.
Tara, BRAVO! As an old, white, male, upper-middle class conservative/Conservative, welcome to my new world. It's a world of "tailored media"...the tailoring provided by the breadth and quality of Substack and stimulated by the narrowness and bias of the existing information sources.
Politics in Canada suffers from its own "wokeness" for all the reasons you discussed today. As a result, we have no one--and nothing--to vote FOR. You can help bring purpose back into democracy by forcefully injecting the individual back into it.
I've subscribed because your views and mine do not always converge. But they do align closely much of the time. Your new medium now has the ability to respect the individual and not simply parrot to the fashionable thought-du-jour.
Please let us know when your income surpasses that at the CBC. We're cheering you on.
So glad that you are amplifying this conversation in Canada. Working in the inner-city with gang-involved and at-risk youth over the last few years, we have seen the problems that this imbalance is causing. There is a chasm between the views of actual people on the ground vs. the activists and news media that claim to represent them. And the point is that the opinions are very diverse. But almost none of that diversity of opinion is represented - in fact, when someone speaks loudly in favour of something like “personal responsibility” they are ignored at best or called racist at worst – even when they are indigenous or newcomers (the brown face of white supremacy). Glad the pushback is starting to gain steam.
Thank you JJ for pointing out how bad journalism trickles down and enables serious negative effects on our most marginalized. This has been my experience too. I have sat in training for an AIDS charity and listened to a young woke volunteer call a 70+ client "entitled" because he was using language from his era -- and not the woke language the volunteer was demanding. Wokeness is giving permission to the ignorant to shut down the voice of the marginalized, and thereby reshaping our city's services according to the woke's world views.
What we have seen is the death of factual reporting in the news and the rise of narrative. In fact, some journalistic philosophy denies the existence of "facts." We now have "perspective" journalism, which is nothing more than reporting the "news" by taking a side on the issue upon which the journalists is reporting. How that differs from propaganda is difficult to see. And if propaganda is the future of news, then journalism has no future. The late Senator Patrick Moynihan put the issue squarely, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” Modern journalism regards such insight as quaint and naïve.
Pravda and Izvestia were the main newspapers of the former Soviet Union. The former means "Truth" in Russian, and that paper was the organ of the Communist Party. Izvestia means "News" in Russian, and that paper was the organ of the Soviet government. Of course, both were propaganda organs, not real news agencies. And the Russian people knew that. In fact, there was a popular joke about these two news sources: "There is no Truth (Pravda) in Izvestia (the News), and there is no News (Izvestia) in the Truth (Pravda)." The clever play on words exposed the truth.
As Americans leave the "official" news sources behind, we could use such a clever play on words. But it is clear that most Americans know what is going on. They recognize that what news outlets report as fact simply cannot be trusted. Moreover, they also recognize that those who write or present the news have little more than contempt for them and their families. It is not simply that they cannot handle the facts; they don't deserve to know the facts. Instead, they need to be told what to think. Whatever the "elites" in broadcasting may be thinking, this will not end well for anyone.
Good post, but I sense a difference between 'perspective journalism' and propaganda. Propaganda implies the intentional spreading of the viewpoint of particular group, such as a government, an industry, etc, on a particular topic, for the purpose of influencing others to adopt that viewpoint. Perspective journalism, however, is just that: the communication of the honest perspective a journalist has adopted on a particular topic a a result of his journalistic efforts.
"Facts" and "truth" have always been, and always will be, slippery concepts. How often have we been told of a fact which later, sometimes years later, turns out to have been a lie? What we are missing lately, it seems, is the refusal of so-called journalists to call into question "the facts" presented to them by others. By accepting the given "facts" as truth without any any effort whatsoever to determine where the truth may lie is spreading propaganda. No one is entitled to an opinion, only to an informed opinion.
What we are seeing today in the 'legacy media' is the replacement of honest journalism, including perspective journalism, by propaganda. My prediction is this state of affairs will not end well for the 'legacy media', and it can't happen soon enough.
Thank you from Vancouver Tara ! I lost a lot of respect for CBC news coverage, particularly around Covid... Great move and thank you for giving Catherine Tait a really good shake !!!
Thanks for helping me understand more deeply the term 'woke' (still trying to wrap my head around the label). As for me, I am a Civil Servant (soon to be Ex) and now on Leave without pay. I work as a Social Worker, with the most vulnerable population. I have taken people through the pandemic, hearing the incrediable heart wrenching stories on how the measures impacted their lives in a horrific manner. A fever and a cough can literally take one straight into poverty.
First the lockdowns, and then the isolation hotels, to the mandated vaccines-- all having huge negative challenges on the lives of 1000s. I listened to the cries of men who have lost their jobs, women and children fleeing abuse, vulnerable women attacked by private security guards in isolation hotels, single moms having to isolate weeks at home with no money, no phone, no support... endless pain.
Then when the vaccine rollout began and so many rushed to get the jab, for reasons other than health; my clients stated they just wanted to get back to 'normal'. Except there no longer is a normal, for not a day went by where I did not hear of an account of an vaccine injury.
I spoke to my supervisor, my manager, and made reference to these atrocities on social media.
All to no avail. My manager was indifferent to my call of concern and I was banned on Twitter.
I worked at a grass roots level all my career, for deep in my heart and soul I believe that 'ones success is another's success is Humanities success.' (This has always been my mantra). Now I am bound at home. I am at home because PM Trudeau has called me a racist and a misogynistic extremist. I am at home because of all the tyrannical mandates. I am at home because I am exercising my free will, a choice I believe is right for me.
Considered healthy and needed until I was deemed an 'untouchable.'
And now I am away from a population who are in desperate need of care, compassion, and advocacy.
My husband is a social worker therapist working with people with addictions. He recently quit his job at Toronto's largest mental health hospital and set up in private practice because this hospital keeps cutting outpatient services for clients who aren't white and middle class. Guess who runs the place and makes up most of the staff? That's right, white middle-class women.
Many highly experienced therapists have now left that hospital for the same reason. The woke hospital philosophy has left many of our most marginalized without professional mental health treatment. And the biggest downside of all is that it is now forcing people seeking treatment to dig into their own pockets to pay for private healthcare through therapists now working in private practice.
Last I heard, the chief architect of this mess has now been promoted to Ontario Deputy Minister of Health.
Your story, and the stories of others like yours, should be what the legacy media is reporting, especially a public broadcaster like the CBC. Instead, the CBC has become the Corona Broadcasting Corporation, a sad purveyor of government propaganda. Thank goodness for the independent media, such as this blog, so the real stories can get out to Canadians. Such shameful treatment as you have received should not go unreported, uncorrected, or unpunished.
I refer to myself not as an "anti vaxxer", but as "vax free". Given the staggering rate at which deaths are rising in the US, the "vaccine" may have already outpaced all those "medieval diseases" put together- and then some.
The voices of truth can no longer be suppressed: we are in the midst of a soft kill genocide courtesy of Pfizer.
I'm a Gen X social democrat (been a member of Canada's NDP for decades). It's so heartening to hear leftists join this conversation. As a cegep (junior college) teacher I can confirm that these views are present on campus, but almost entirely suppressed by a pervasive climate of fear.
One suggestion: could you post transcripts of these podcasts? I know that people like Greenwald and Taibbi do this. This would be helpful for posting quotes to social media, using excerpts in an educational context, etc.
Please, could you let us know how NDP members feel about leader Jagmeet Singh (member of the WEF and presumably a mentee of Klaus Schwab) calling for the military to "help" with "vaccination" of the entire Canadian population?
I don't think catastrophizing and demonizing helps us. Singh isn't my favourite politician of all time but I doubt he's taking orders from a New World Order cabal headed by Schwab. I think what you're perceiving is more like group-think unconsciously motivated by (economic and cultural) class interest, generally along the lines of Ungar-Sargon's argument.
He seems to want mandatory "vaccination" of all Canadians to be overseen by the military. Pretty clear based on what he said. Seems some NDP members are OK with that - astonishingly. As for what I am perceiving, it is is Jagmeet Singh's picture on the WEF website.
I dislike Singh and much of the NDP. But you are just buying into conspiracy theories. Groupthink impacts the left - it's not a big conspiracy theory. It also impacts the right - I've met several Q believers / Trump supporters/ Anti Vaxxers that think microchips are in vaccines, 5G causes cancer, and that JFK Jr is alive and coming back to save them.
Important to learn discernment and to do one's own research rather than borrowing and endlessly repeating groupthink "othering" labels and talking points. Thing is, many "conspiracy theories" are evidence based criminal conspiracies, and very often end up being factually true.
Most "Anti Vaxxers" are not at all "anti", choose to be "Vax Free", and insist on both informed consent and freedom of choice. Without these, we are collectively in deep doodoo - unless you prefer totalitarian technocracy, aka hell on Earth.
Oh, please. The World Economic Forum is hardly the fantasy of someone wearing a tin foil hat and living in their mother's basement. The WEF or its membership, influence, and agenda, aren't a matter of "groupthink" or a "conspiracy theory". It is funded by 1,000 of the world's largest corporations. Its international meetings bring together the global business elites to hobnob with and corrupt politicians and influencers. Many if not most of the current crop of leaders of western governments are, in fact, graduates of Klaus Schwab's 'Young Global Leaders' school. Our own dear Deputy Fuhrer is even a Director of said school for despots.
As to the WEF's agenda, no need for wild conjectures there. You can (and should) read all about it in Klaus Schwab's two volume version of 'Mein Kamph', namely 'COVID-19: THE GREAT RESET' and 'THE GREAT NARRATIVE FOR A BETTER FUTURE'. In his vision for the future, we are headed for a 21st century, technocratic feudalism. Democracy is so old fashioned, don't you think?
Look, anyone purported to be on "the left" who refuses to stand up for basic human and civil rights isn't on the left anymore. It's not a matter of "taking orders" from Schwab or anyone else; you are intelligent enough to know it never works that way. To paraphrase Gore Vidal, guys like Singh and Schwab don't have to collude together since they both think the same anyway.
The NDP used to stand for the working people of Canada -- you know, people like truck drivers and farmers. They also used to stand for civil rights. Remember Tommy Douglas rising in the House to drag Trudeau Sr over the coals for implementing the War Measures Act? Those days are dead and gone, and so is the No Difference Party.
While visiting the Cowessess residential School during the past election he announced "Crimes were committed here." and then he added the absurd "Children were sent here to be killed!"
The vax free cannot even enter most coffee shops, let alone meet there with other human beings to secretly share unallowable speech. Thanks so much for this public forum. Have been praying for an ex CBC person to do this very thing. Prayer answered.
Tara. We need you. We need many of you. This is a bold and brave step that, in the end, all true journalists must do. For years now, it's baffled me how people who signed up for a discipline that is so critical, so noble, can stomach what has become nothing much more than cheap activism and the furthering of an agenda that seems bent on destroying the fabric of our society. True liberals (not neo-liberal fascists) should be shocked and sickened by what has happened to some of the leading media outlets on the landscape. All we want....all we've ever wanted...is the chance to see a balanced perspective, questions answered and a smart, fair-minded approach to information. CBC and others need to stop trying to prepare us for the Orwellian social credit system and start letting us participate in a free and respectful society where we're not told or mandated what to think. You have my support all the way.
Question for Tara and subscribers: can you recommend any media outlets that have not been captured by the woke, that are not mediocre (Postmedia, CTV etc.) or right-wing propaganda? It's a wasteland out there for those who crave non-activist, interesting, quality journalism, commentary etc.
Misused again. The problem with misusing big words and abstract concepts all the time is that you eventually run into someone who knows you're a charlatan.
The problem is that all these places are biased and are honest on issues only when it aligns with their biases. And within the organizations you have to be mindful that specific voices have their own biases as well. I genuinely don't think there's a single place that in good faith lets different opinions go at it, and serves as a platform for balanced reporting. You have to work your way through it, try and triangulate your way to the truth, and your BS detector has to go off when you read something that is too "easy" and feeds your ego/worldview, which is extremely difficult. You have to keep questioning yourself as well, like Orwell said.
But no, the media landscape right now has been set up so that they play to their respective fanbases and feed them red meat to get them coming back.
Even the city reporting in your local news about city hall, schools, with straightforward copy leaves certain things out and emphasizes other things. But the gulf definitely widens as you move up to national and political news, particularly when there's a culture war slant.
Thing is, all journalism is "biased", as you put it. The legacy media sites (CBC, CTV, major newspapers, etc) don't admit to any bias, still pretending they are sources of independent, 'objective' journalism. Whereas, most if not all new media sites are pretty upfront about their biases, or more correctly, the general perspectives they bring to the events they cover.
Not a media outlet, but https://speakforourselves.ca/ has a wonderful collection of news articles and blog's. They are: "Spotlighting writers and content creators who challenge the dominant narratives imposed on people of colour by media elites."
I'm wondering what Batya meant by the working class not wanting social programs (actually, they DO - especially healthcare) but also not espousing trickle down economics. Undoubtedly people would rather make money at good jobs than have things given to them or slave away at bad, low-paying jobs, but she didn't advocate what her policies would be in between these poles. Is she just talking about limiting immigration, raising the minimum wage, and supporting unions? Her idea of "left" wasn't articulated.
Also near the end when she was asked what could be done, I'm surprised she didn't say the obvious: hire working class journalists, don't prioritize upper class "life experience", and de-emphasize the importance of J-School. If intern programs and entry level hirers did this that would be a quick step in the right direction.
They do in the States as well if they're actually asked about /specific/ programs and not something tantamount to "do you like the commie big government nanny state"?
Regardless of the correctness of that question though, she could continue on to say what she and they want, also keeping it /in America/.
Yes as Paul said below it was a short interview but it's conspicuous to me that she said that and dismissed trickle down economics, which opens up a gap she didn't fill. I find that strange, again because I'm curious of what she means by being on the left; she even literally said "socialist", which immediately makes a "my Dad stormed the beaches of Normandy" type flip out... And didn't elaborate other than to say which she's against.
In the "ole days", a famous composer of the Quebec freedom movement, Felix Leclerc, sang this:
"la meilleure façon de tuer un homme, c'est de le payer à ne rien faire"
(the best way to kill someone is to pay him to do nothing)
Canadians need salaries that can afford car/home/family/food/health/living WITHOUT the need of a union. ALL Canadians deserve these, not just unionised workers. The point of unionisation was never to provide basic payment for a job done, but to protect workers from horrendous working conditions.
In adjusted dollars, salaries in North America have been dropping constantly for decades, because the corporations complain they have not enough workers. This is a lie, their desire is for cheap labour, and when they can't import the cheap labour, they move to countries where cheap labour is captive. Canadians need real jobs, with real pay, not piecemeal.
Okay, but isn't working (or slaving) for peanuts part of "horrendous working conditions". Please don't downplay the important place of unions in securing fair wages as well as working conditions.
"The hint is in the name"? That's not how it's defined. It's not called that because they'd "rather be working" or something. I'd rather everyone be working but that's not what that term means.
Also, as I said, she didn't say what she actually advocates. Did you understand my comment? You didn't answer my comment, just repeated what I said.
Oh you worked alongside them. "Not a single one." A bit dramatic, don't you think.
I come from a working class family and I can tell you, that's wrong.
I'm wondering what policies are in the middle ground you're picturing between the welfare state and trickle down. Are you talking about unionization? Immigration caps to slow labour market supply?
I bring that up because she claims to be on the left and I'd like to know what sort of left she means. I don't think that's out-of-bounds for wondering about.
That's fair and I don't have the answers myself. I'm skeptical because it's fashionable for everyone to claim to be on the side of the working class - and then have completely different policy platforms that are supposed to help them, much of which has been tried and failed.
I agree that words like "left" - as well as "liberal" and "conservative" and a whole host of others are used for convenience, are almost undefinable and heavily context-dependent and are usefully gauzy so people can just attach themselves to whatever idealized picture they have of them.
Great discussion Tara. Congratulations on this endeavour. It's all very timely and very important. There is an awakening coming for the woke bubble. More and more, absolutism when talking race, climate, vaccines, is being pushed to the edge, where it belongs. That bubble is shrinking. I have believed for a long time, for example, that the issue in our cities is indeed class and economics, and not as much race. I could never discuss the positives and negatives of Trump's Opportunity Zones program in this area for exactly the reasons you lay out in your podcast. And that's the problem.
good morning. I am about as conservative as they come. White guy, Boomer, lives in the Iowa.
I was watching CNN at the gym, 60 minutes of non stop January 6 coverage! I couldn't believe it. Isn't there any news to cover. I am very interested what is their driving force? Is this Democrats only campaign theme? Your better question, the Media, They actively squash any dissent. I cannot understand how they make money, stay on the air.
I believe it starts with American Education System. As you have stated. Liberal ideas taught thru out our system. It breaks my heart. By the same token, people who get their "news" and current affairs from TV, both sides, are not taught how to think critically. They cannot discern fact from fiction, or even know how to figure it out. Generalization of course.
I am a veteran, I love this country, greatest country on the planet, in my opinion. If that was not the case, why are 200000 illegals coming across the border a month? Which is not being covered by media either.
Funny thing, no illegals coming across from the North!!
"I am very interested what is their driving force? Is this Democrats only campaign theme?" In her book, Batya explains how the news biz has shifted from providing a somewhat neutral presentation of the news to please advertisers who want to reach a wide market on monopoly platforms, to today when news organizations cater to specific segments of viewers/readers who are interested in certain narratives. The New York Times and CNN in their past forms are completely gone. You must step away from them. The reason CNN does 60 minutes of Jan. 6 stories is to reinforce and drive the outrage of Trump haters and the woke sensibilities of their specific audience. Look for green shoots of a new kind of journalism personified by Henley and Ungar-Sargon.
Hi I really like that, green shoots. I really like these two journalists. Fox is just as guilty, in my opinion. What will it take for the MSM to no longer be “the MSM”?
Agree. Yesterday the CEO of Bloomberg News resigned to begin a news startup, and he tapped Ben Smith of the New York Times as editor. Big money behind it. The goal? Provide news with less bias. We shall see, but another green shoot. (btw, I'm from Iowa as well)
I, like Paul M below, would love for this country to develop a "not right, not "left" " news presence. I remain a firm leftist, at the fiscal level, an old school leftist, but I want nothing to with the identity politics and purity obsession that have become the norm on the self-identified "leftists" of Canada (who look nothing like the left I grew up with). My union is a constant disappointment on this point too.
The country south of us has developed a centrist media landscape, made up of self-proclaimed "classic liberals", they still aren't leftists other than their so-called progressive values (which does not a leftist make), but they are at least a little more honest than Canada media landscape.
Canadians desperately need a Canadian alternative to the mainstream. So many Canadians who think outside the box have been silenced or fled the country, as to think outside the box in Canada has practically become illegal.
I hope that you can contribute to a new emerging narrative for this country.
Exactly! Well stated!
I am excited that you are doing this. But I grieve the CBC, too. Baby with bath-water, out the window--fertilizing the rose bush, with any luck. But probably not. We are moving on. Batya brings up some solid points! ("Economic guilt" vs Racist guilt"!)
Living in Vancouver, across the street from the tent-city of Strathcona Park, seeing the gov't spend huge dollars on buying up the hotels that allowed lower-income people to travel to Vancouver (the Buchan on Haro St., the wonderful Patricia, and thereby Pat's Pub, home to THE best jazz...jazz for free!) Oh my. The working-poor are paying in multiple and unseen ways to support the desperately poor.
I appreciated hearing Batya... but I'd like to think you might provide an alternative source of CANADIAN news for me. We have been inundated with US issues/politics/history. With the way history is now being taught in Canadian schools, the average young person does not know the difference between "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" vs. "Peace, Order, and Good Government." Or the "frontier mentality" that shaped South, and the sending-out-of-RCMP that shaped this country. Basic foundational stuff, that has created the who-s we are... unrecognized as Uni students get Social Justice degrees and history programs come to pieces.
Ah, but thank you, nonetheless! This is not criticism--it's suggestion :)
Yeah, i'd sure like to hear what the heck goes on in Canada from a source other than CBC and that ilk... I can tell you a lot about what goes on down south.. cause there's lots of good podcasts out of there.. nary a one in Canada that i know of.
Me too. We desperately need a Canadian perspective that is not pandering to the cancel mentality but does not go to the rightwing fringe in reaction either. I just want to know what is really going on, and draw my own conclusions. Show me a few episodes like that and I’ll gladly pay.
Pat's Pub does have the best Jazz... (off topic but I'm headlining there Jan 29 2022 !
I will check out! My son sang there back in June. It's a special place. The owners still own the pub and the brewery, but it's all been such a challenge with the change in hotel ownership. Music is NEVER OT!
Yes indeed! ITA. Baby and bathwater. It appears we get to choose between people who deny the bathwater is smelling and others who deny there is a baby worth rescuing. Please reach out to Meghan Murphy, and maybe do an issue on the incidents of rape in women’s prisons. Rape by biological males who are gaming the system by declaring themselves Trans.
Thanks goodness self-described leftists are beginning to question wokeness. This is by far the most divisive and damaging political doctrine of our time. We need to stop shattering our society into endless identity groups of villains and perpetrators and instead focus on the hard and ceaseless work of building bridges and coming together.
Bravo and thank you, I am a Canadian conservative, I am absolutely NOT racist, I love people I believe everyone should have equal rights to education, health care, jobs, home ownership, etc..I don’t believe it should be a hand out but a hand up, everyone should have opportunities and it is your right how you use those opportunities. I am by no means jealous of anyone that has made a whole lot of money provided they made it legally, morally and ethically, I say good for them, I just want to be left alone and live comfortably. I do NOT feel it’s anyone’s right to infringe on anyones rights or freedoms, we all share this earth and unless you are doing evil then to each his own as long as know one is being hurt, used, abused or infringing then let people be. Live life, enjoy life, it goes by so quickly, who gives you the right to judge how people conduct themselves, as long as it’s not harmful to you, anyone else or themselves..live and let live .. when we vote for these people to govern we don’t vote them to be intrusive, dictating, abusive or invasive, we vote them in to govern our country for the people, NOT THE PEOPLE. When government start tromping on rights and freedoms it’s no longer a democracy but dictatorship/communism.. we are born free and free is how we should remain. Yes we need laws, rules, morals, ethics, etc, that’s how you keep order and peacefulness but never ever should any government be in such control to impose laws and orders that go against our freedom’s. People should never be manipulated, coerced, forced or made to do anything that is against their will. NEVER. Everyone has a right to their opinion, their beliefs and standards, you don’t have to like it or even agree but that’s freedom. When your freedom is taken away then there is NO democracy.
It use to be journalists were for the people, to ask questions for the people, not a select few but for all, everyone is allowed an opinion but that’s it, not enforcing that opinion on anyone. When you start enforcing your opinion it’s NO longer for the people and it’s NO longer an opinion.
We are all the same, we all put our pants on the same way, one leg at a time, money, education, size, colour, creed, etc makes NO one better then the other, we are all human, we are all created, in which ever way you prefer to believe, we make look, sound, dress, talk, walk, and do things different but we are all of the same species..which is human.
Thank you Tara for this space to allow my opinion.. we can all be better and we can all do better when we decide that WE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE AND WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER❤️🇨🇦❤️
Well, I hate to break it to you, but classic liberalism no longer exists in the land. Much of what we used to call 'liberalism' is now called 'conservatism'. As for compassion and decency, they went out the window when neoliberalism came in the door.
So true. We have to let go of the labels and make it clear what we are FOR.
Tara, BRAVO! As an old, white, male, upper-middle class conservative/Conservative, welcome to my new world. It's a world of "tailored media"...the tailoring provided by the breadth and quality of Substack and stimulated by the narrowness and bias of the existing information sources.
Politics in Canada suffers from its own "wokeness" for all the reasons you discussed today. As a result, we have no one--and nothing--to vote FOR. You can help bring purpose back into democracy by forcefully injecting the individual back into it.
I've subscribed because your views and mine do not always converge. But they do align closely much of the time. Your new medium now has the ability to respect the individual and not simply parrot to the fashionable thought-du-jour.
Please let us know when your income surpasses that at the CBC. We're cheering you on.
So glad that you are amplifying this conversation in Canada. Working in the inner-city with gang-involved and at-risk youth over the last few years, we have seen the problems that this imbalance is causing. There is a chasm between the views of actual people on the ground vs. the activists and news media that claim to represent them. And the point is that the opinions are very diverse. But almost none of that diversity of opinion is represented - in fact, when someone speaks loudly in favour of something like “personal responsibility” they are ignored at best or called racist at worst – even when they are indigenous or newcomers (the brown face of white supremacy). Glad the pushback is starting to gain steam.
Thank you JJ for pointing out how bad journalism trickles down and enables serious negative effects on our most marginalized. This has been my experience too. I have sat in training for an AIDS charity and listened to a young woke volunteer call a 70+ client "entitled" because he was using language from his era -- and not the woke language the volunteer was demanding. Wokeness is giving permission to the ignorant to shut down the voice of the marginalized, and thereby reshaping our city's services according to the woke's world views.
Isn't it amazing how the 'woke' feel perfectly entitled to call others 'entitled' when they disagree with their views or their language.
What we have seen is the death of factual reporting in the news and the rise of narrative. In fact, some journalistic philosophy denies the existence of "facts." We now have "perspective" journalism, which is nothing more than reporting the "news" by taking a side on the issue upon which the journalists is reporting. How that differs from propaganda is difficult to see. And if propaganda is the future of news, then journalism has no future. The late Senator Patrick Moynihan put the issue squarely, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” Modern journalism regards such insight as quaint and naïve.
Pravda and Izvestia were the main newspapers of the former Soviet Union. The former means "Truth" in Russian, and that paper was the organ of the Communist Party. Izvestia means "News" in Russian, and that paper was the organ of the Soviet government. Of course, both were propaganda organs, not real news agencies. And the Russian people knew that. In fact, there was a popular joke about these two news sources: "There is no Truth (Pravda) in Izvestia (the News), and there is no News (Izvestia) in the Truth (Pravda)." The clever play on words exposed the truth.
As Americans leave the "official" news sources behind, we could use such a clever play on words. But it is clear that most Americans know what is going on. They recognize that what news outlets report as fact simply cannot be trusted. Moreover, they also recognize that those who write or present the news have little more than contempt for them and their families. It is not simply that they cannot handle the facts; they don't deserve to know the facts. Instead, they need to be told what to think. Whatever the "elites" in broadcasting may be thinking, this will not end well for anyone.
Good post, but I sense a difference between 'perspective journalism' and propaganda. Propaganda implies the intentional spreading of the viewpoint of particular group, such as a government, an industry, etc, on a particular topic, for the purpose of influencing others to adopt that viewpoint. Perspective journalism, however, is just that: the communication of the honest perspective a journalist has adopted on a particular topic a a result of his journalistic efforts.
"Facts" and "truth" have always been, and always will be, slippery concepts. How often have we been told of a fact which later, sometimes years later, turns out to have been a lie? What we are missing lately, it seems, is the refusal of so-called journalists to call into question "the facts" presented to them by others. By accepting the given "facts" as truth without any any effort whatsoever to determine where the truth may lie is spreading propaganda. No one is entitled to an opinion, only to an informed opinion.
What we are seeing today in the 'legacy media' is the replacement of honest journalism, including perspective journalism, by propaganda. My prediction is this state of affairs will not end well for the 'legacy media', and it can't happen soon enough.
Thank you from Vancouver Tara ! I lost a lot of respect for CBC news coverage, particularly around Covid... Great move and thank you for giving Catherine Tait a really good shake !!!
Thanks for helping me understand more deeply the term 'woke' (still trying to wrap my head around the label). As for me, I am a Civil Servant (soon to be Ex) and now on Leave without pay. I work as a Social Worker, with the most vulnerable population. I have taken people through the pandemic, hearing the incrediable heart wrenching stories on how the measures impacted their lives in a horrific manner. A fever and a cough can literally take one straight into poverty.
First the lockdowns, and then the isolation hotels, to the mandated vaccines-- all having huge negative challenges on the lives of 1000s. I listened to the cries of men who have lost their jobs, women and children fleeing abuse, vulnerable women attacked by private security guards in isolation hotels, single moms having to isolate weeks at home with no money, no phone, no support... endless pain.
Then when the vaccine rollout began and so many rushed to get the jab, for reasons other than health; my clients stated they just wanted to get back to 'normal'. Except there no longer is a normal, for not a day went by where I did not hear of an account of an vaccine injury.
I spoke to my supervisor, my manager, and made reference to these atrocities on social media.
All to no avail. My manager was indifferent to my call of concern and I was banned on Twitter.
I worked at a grass roots level all my career, for deep in my heart and soul I believe that 'ones success is another's success is Humanities success.' (This has always been my mantra). Now I am bound at home. I am at home because PM Trudeau has called me a racist and a misogynistic extremist. I am at home because of all the tyrannical mandates. I am at home because I am exercising my free will, a choice I believe is right for me.
Considered healthy and needed until I was deemed an 'untouchable.'
And now I am away from a population who are in desperate need of care, compassion, and advocacy.
My husband is a social worker therapist working with people with addictions. He recently quit his job at Toronto's largest mental health hospital and set up in private practice because this hospital keeps cutting outpatient services for clients who aren't white and middle class. Guess who runs the place and makes up most of the staff? That's right, white middle-class women.
Many highly experienced therapists have now left that hospital for the same reason. The woke hospital philosophy has left many of our most marginalized without professional mental health treatment. And the biggest downside of all is that it is now forcing people seeking treatment to dig into their own pockets to pay for private healthcare through therapists now working in private practice.
Last I heard, the chief architect of this mess has now been promoted to Ontario Deputy Minister of Health.
Beautifully said.
Your story, and the stories of others like yours, should be what the legacy media is reporting, especially a public broadcaster like the CBC. Instead, the CBC has become the Corona Broadcasting Corporation, a sad purveyor of government propaganda. Thank goodness for the independent media, such as this blog, so the real stories can get out to Canadians. Such shameful treatment as you have received should not go unreported, uncorrected, or unpunished.
I refer to myself not as an "anti vaxxer", but as "vax free". Given the staggering rate at which deaths are rising in the US, the "vaccine" may have already outpaced all those "medieval diseases" put together- and then some.
The voices of truth can no longer be suppressed: we are in the midst of a soft kill genocide courtesy of Pfizer.
I'm a Gen X social democrat (been a member of Canada's NDP for decades). It's so heartening to hear leftists join this conversation. As a cegep (junior college) teacher I can confirm that these views are present on campus, but almost entirely suppressed by a pervasive climate of fear.
One suggestion: could you post transcripts of these podcasts? I know that people like Greenwald and Taibbi do this. This would be helpful for posting quotes to social media, using excerpts in an educational context, etc.
Please, could you let us know how NDP members feel about leader Jagmeet Singh (member of the WEF and presumably a mentee of Klaus Schwab) calling for the military to "help" with "vaccination" of the entire Canadian population?
I don't think catastrophizing and demonizing helps us. Singh isn't my favourite politician of all time but I doubt he's taking orders from a New World Order cabal headed by Schwab. I think what you're perceiving is more like group-think unconsciously motivated by (economic and cultural) class interest, generally along the lines of Ungar-Sargon's argument.
He seems to want mandatory "vaccination" of all Canadians to be overseen by the military. Pretty clear based on what he said. Seems some NDP members are OK with that - astonishingly. As for what I am perceiving, it is is Jagmeet Singh's picture on the WEF website.
I dislike Singh and much of the NDP. But you are just buying into conspiracy theories. Groupthink impacts the left - it's not a big conspiracy theory. It also impacts the right - I've met several Q believers / Trump supporters/ Anti Vaxxers that think microchips are in vaccines, 5G causes cancer, and that JFK Jr is alive and coming back to save them.
Important to learn discernment and to do one's own research rather than borrowing and endlessly repeating groupthink "othering" labels and talking points. Thing is, many "conspiracy theories" are evidence based criminal conspiracies, and very often end up being factually true.
Most "Anti Vaxxers" are not at all "anti", choose to be "Vax Free", and insist on both informed consent and freedom of choice. Without these, we are collectively in deep doodoo - unless you prefer totalitarian technocracy, aka hell on Earth.
Speaking of research, VAERS is of key importance.
Oh, please. The World Economic Forum is hardly the fantasy of someone wearing a tin foil hat and living in their mother's basement. The WEF or its membership, influence, and agenda, aren't a matter of "groupthink" or a "conspiracy theory". It is funded by 1,000 of the world's largest corporations. Its international meetings bring together the global business elites to hobnob with and corrupt politicians and influencers. Many if not most of the current crop of leaders of western governments are, in fact, graduates of Klaus Schwab's 'Young Global Leaders' school. Our own dear Deputy Fuhrer is even a Director of said school for despots.
As to the WEF's agenda, no need for wild conjectures there. You can (and should) read all about it in Klaus Schwab's two volume version of 'Mein Kamph', namely 'COVID-19: THE GREAT RESET' and 'THE GREAT NARRATIVE FOR A BETTER FUTURE'. In his vision for the future, we are headed for a 21st century, technocratic feudalism. Democracy is so old fashioned, don't you think?
It's a fact that most world leaders, especially the liberal kind, are all onboard with draconian measures... just groupthink... i dunno..
Most of them are members of the WEF cult.
Look, anyone purported to be on "the left" who refuses to stand up for basic human and civil rights isn't on the left anymore. It's not a matter of "taking orders" from Schwab or anyone else; you are intelligent enough to know it never works that way. To paraphrase Gore Vidal, guys like Singh and Schwab don't have to collude together since they both think the same anyway.
The NDP used to stand for the working people of Canada -- you know, people like truck drivers and farmers. They also used to stand for civil rights. Remember Tommy Douglas rising in the House to drag Trudeau Sr over the coals for implementing the War Measures Act? Those days are dead and gone, and so is the No Difference Party.
Singh is a loose cannon and says just about anything that pops into his mind.
He has a mind (of his own)?
Nah Singh is way further out there.
While visiting the Cowessess residential School during the past election he announced "Crimes were committed here." and then he added the absurd "Children were sent here to be killed!"
The vax free cannot even enter most coffee shops, let alone meet there with other human beings to secretly share unallowable speech. Thanks so much for this public forum. Have been praying for an ex CBC person to do this very thing. Prayer answered.
Tara. We need you. We need many of you. This is a bold and brave step that, in the end, all true journalists must do. For years now, it's baffled me how people who signed up for a discipline that is so critical, so noble, can stomach what has become nothing much more than cheap activism and the furthering of an agenda that seems bent on destroying the fabric of our society. True liberals (not neo-liberal fascists) should be shocked and sickened by what has happened to some of the leading media outlets on the landscape. All we want....all we've ever wanted...is the chance to see a balanced perspective, questions answered and a smart, fair-minded approach to information. CBC and others need to stop trying to prepare us for the Orwellian social credit system and start letting us participate in a free and respectful society where we're not told or mandated what to think. You have my support all the way.
Question for Tara and subscribers: can you recommend any media outlets that have not been captured by the woke, that are not mediocre (Postmedia, CTV etc.) or right-wing propaganda? It's a wasteland out there for those who crave non-activist, interesting, quality journalism, commentary etc.
The Line - (Substack, Jen Gerson and Matt Gurney are editors) https://theline.substack.com/
Breaking Points is an absolutely perfect example of what you're seeking: https://www.youtube.com/c/breakingpoints
Rebel News and True North are anything but "right-wing propaganda." And they take none of the faux PM's funding.
No they're just your propaganda and you don't care because you're in a different kind of bubble. Have some self-awareness.
Projection can be kind of trollish I find.
You don't know what "projection" means.
Another perfect example - thanks!
Misused again. The problem with misusing big words and abstract concepts all the time is that you eventually run into someone who knows you're a charlatan.
The problem is that all these places are biased and are honest on issues only when it aligns with their biases. And within the organizations you have to be mindful that specific voices have their own biases as well. I genuinely don't think there's a single place that in good faith lets different opinions go at it, and serves as a platform for balanced reporting. You have to work your way through it, try and triangulate your way to the truth, and your BS detector has to go off when you read something that is too "easy" and feeds your ego/worldview, which is extremely difficult. You have to keep questioning yourself as well, like Orwell said.
But no, the media landscape right now has been set up so that they play to their respective fanbases and feed them red meat to get them coming back.
Even the city reporting in your local news about city hall, schools, with straightforward copy leaves certain things out and emphasizes other things. But the gulf definitely widens as you move up to national and political news, particularly when there's a culture war slant.
Thing is, all journalism is "biased", as you put it. The legacy media sites (CBC, CTV, major newspapers, etc) don't admit to any bias, still pretending they are sources of independent, 'objective' journalism. Whereas, most if not all new media sites are pretty upfront about their biases, or more correctly, the general perspectives they bring to the events they cover.
My current Canadian favourite is the 'Centre for Research on Globalization', at www.globalresearch.ca. For COVID-19 matters, there's the 'Canadian Covid Care Alliance', at www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org., while good blogs are by 'Dr Jessica Rose', at jessica.substack.com, and 'Vaccination Nation' at jestre.substack.com.
For foreign sources, it's hard to beat "Popular Resistance.Org', at www.popularresistance.org for international news. For health matters, including COVID-19, there's Dr. Mercola's website, at www.mercola.com. These days, Dr Robert Malone's website at rwmalonemd.subtack.com is always refreshing.
Have you listened to the Canadaland podcast (Jesse Brown)?
Not a media outlet, but https://speakforourselves.ca/ has a wonderful collection of news articles and blog's. They are: "Spotlighting writers and content creators who challenge the dominant narratives imposed on people of colour by media elites."
Thank you Kim! Lots of great voices there.
I'm wondering what Batya meant by the working class not wanting social programs (actually, they DO - especially healthcare) but also not espousing trickle down economics. Undoubtedly people would rather make money at good jobs than have things given to them or slave away at bad, low-paying jobs, but she didn't advocate what her policies would be in between these poles. Is she just talking about limiting immigration, raising the minimum wage, and supporting unions? Her idea of "left" wasn't articulated.
Also near the end when she was asked what could be done, I'm surprised she didn't say the obvious: hire working class journalists, don't prioritize upper class "life experience", and de-emphasize the importance of J-School. If intern programs and entry level hirers did this that would be a quick step in the right direction.
She is American.
OK, and?
in response to "working class not wanting social programs"--and other differences between the two countries...
They do in the States as well if they're actually asked about /specific/ programs and not something tantamount to "do you like the commie big government nanny state"?
Regardless of the correctness of that question though, she could continue on to say what she and they want, also keeping it /in America/.
Yes as Paul said below it was a short interview but it's conspicuous to me that she said that and dismissed trickle down economics, which opens up a gap she didn't fill. I find that strange, again because I'm curious of what she means by being on the left; she even literally said "socialist", which immediately makes a "my Dad stormed the beaches of Normandy" type flip out... And didn't elaborate other than to say which she's against.
In the "ole days", a famous composer of the Quebec freedom movement, Felix Leclerc, sang this:
"la meilleure façon de tuer un homme, c'est de le payer à ne rien faire"
(the best way to kill someone is to pay him to do nothing)
Canadians need salaries that can afford car/home/family/food/health/living WITHOUT the need of a union. ALL Canadians deserve these, not just unionised workers. The point of unionisation was never to provide basic payment for a job done, but to protect workers from horrendous working conditions.
In adjusted dollars, salaries in North America have been dropping constantly for decades, because the corporations complain they have not enough workers. This is a lie, their desire is for cheap labour, and when they can't import the cheap labour, they move to countries where cheap labour is captive. Canadians need real jobs, with real pay, not piecemeal.
Okay, but isn't working (or slaving) for peanuts part of "horrendous working conditions". Please don't downplay the important place of unions in securing fair wages as well as working conditions.
"The hint is in the name"? That's not how it's defined. It's not called that because they'd "rather be working" or something. I'd rather everyone be working but that's not what that term means.
Also, as I said, she didn't say what she actually advocates. Did you understand my comment? You didn't answer my comment, just repeated what I said.
Oh you worked alongside them. "Not a single one." A bit dramatic, don't you think.
I come from a working class family and I can tell you, that's wrong.
I'm wondering what policies are in the middle ground you're picturing between the welfare state and trickle down. Are you talking about unionization? Immigration caps to slow labour market supply?
I bring that up because she claims to be on the left and I'd like to know what sort of left she means. I don't think that's out-of-bounds for wondering about.
That's fair and I don't have the answers myself. I'm skeptical because it's fashionable for everyone to claim to be on the side of the working class - and then have completely different policy platforms that are supposed to help them, much of which has been tried and failed.
I agree that words like "left" - as well as "liberal" and "conservative" and a whole host of others are used for convenience, are almost undefinable and heavily context-dependent and are usefully gauzy so people can just attach themselves to whatever idealized picture they have of them.
Great discussion Tara. Congratulations on this endeavour. It's all very timely and very important. There is an awakening coming for the woke bubble. More and more, absolutism when talking race, climate, vaccines, is being pushed to the edge, where it belongs. That bubble is shrinking. I have believed for a long time, for example, that the issue in our cities is indeed class and economics, and not as much race. I could never discuss the positives and negatives of Trump's Opportunity Zones program in this area for exactly the reasons you lay out in your podcast. And that's the problem.
good morning. I am about as conservative as they come. White guy, Boomer, lives in the Iowa.
I was watching CNN at the gym, 60 minutes of non stop January 6 coverage! I couldn't believe it. Isn't there any news to cover. I am very interested what is their driving force? Is this Democrats only campaign theme? Your better question, the Media, They actively squash any dissent. I cannot understand how they make money, stay on the air.
I believe it starts with American Education System. As you have stated. Liberal ideas taught thru out our system. It breaks my heart. By the same token, people who get their "news" and current affairs from TV, both sides, are not taught how to think critically. They cannot discern fact from fiction, or even know how to figure it out. Generalization of course.
I am a veteran, I love this country, greatest country on the planet, in my opinion. If that was not the case, why are 200000 illegals coming across the border a month? Which is not being covered by media either.
Funny thing, no illegals coming across from the North!!
I like your work. Thank you
"I am very interested what is their driving force? Is this Democrats only campaign theme?" In her book, Batya explains how the news biz has shifted from providing a somewhat neutral presentation of the news to please advertisers who want to reach a wide market on monopoly platforms, to today when news organizations cater to specific segments of viewers/readers who are interested in certain narratives. The New York Times and CNN in their past forms are completely gone. You must step away from them. The reason CNN does 60 minutes of Jan. 6 stories is to reinforce and drive the outrage of Trump haters and the woke sensibilities of their specific audience. Look for green shoots of a new kind of journalism personified by Henley and Ungar-Sargon.
Hi I really like that, green shoots. I really like these two journalists. Fox is just as guilty, in my opinion. What will it take for the MSM to no longer be “the MSM”?
Agree. Yesterday the CEO of Bloomberg News resigned to begin a news startup, and he tapped Ben Smith of the New York Times as editor. Big money behind it. The goal? Provide news with less bias. We shall see, but another green shoot. (btw, I'm from Iowa as well)