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greedy_bones

Joined: 01 Jul 2007 Location: not quite sure anymore
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| Jandar wrote: |
| Typical frozen brained Canukistan drivel. |
Quick: name 3 Canadian newspapers, magazines, TV programs, or networks.
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Don't know much about your newspapers, magazines or networks, since most of them aren't readily available in the US, but the Red Green Show, Trailer Park Boys, and Degrassi are fairly well known.
| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| Oh, you can't? Exactly. How the hell would you even know what we say, other than reading Dave's esl. 99.9% of Americans know f-all about Canada, or pretty much anything outside of their borders. But please, enlighten me on how much you know about Canada. Ahhh, it's North of most of the U.S.? Congratulations. Now, name 3 provinces. I didn't think so. |
B.C., Alberta, Manitoba.
Not all Americans are ignorant about the rest of the world. Canadian media isn't that popular because it isn't that big. Granted, many celebrities are Canadian, but most of their famous work is done in the US. Who'd know who Mike Meyers was if he wasn't in SNL, Wayne's World or Austin Powers? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:13 am Post subject: |
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The problem with the article is not really anti-Americanism. The main problem is class-ism. Mallick attacks people on the basis of their social status and where they live("white trash", "trailer trash", "he's a roughneck" etc). In doing so, she plays right into the hands of McCain, who picked Palin with the clear intention of provoking kneejerk elitism from urban liberals, which in turn of course allows him to posture as the champion of the working class.
Those of you who are defending the piece might want to do a bit of thinking about whose interests exactly you are advancing by doing so.
Furthermore, the article suffers aesthetically from being basically a rip-off of H.L. Mencken, who used the same schtick to entertain the self-styled intelligentsia on college campuses in the 1920s. Two differences would be that a) Mencken was a better writer than Mallick(understatement), and b) he did not mask his snobbery behind a left-wing political facade. He was openly contemptuous of poor people, and of government intervention on their behalf. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Those of you who are defending the piece... |
But that takes the fun out of poking fun at the Canadian conservatives. You do bring up a good point. One reason Palin was chosen was because she appeals to the group most insecure about the changing role of ethnic minorities.
I'm not so sure about your claim that an article published in a Canadian newspaper could have an influence on American voters. We're not as stupid and insular as blase thinks we are, but we don't often read columns in your newspapers.
Hey, blase, I can name more than 3 provinces, but I once got slammed by a poster when I said I couldn't spell the name of the province that starts with 's'. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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| Those of you who are defending the piece... |
But that takes the fun out of poking fun at the Canadian conservatives. You do bring up a good point. One reason Palin was chosen was because she appeals to the group most insecure about the changing role of ethnic minorities.
I'm not so sure about your claim that an article published in a Canadian newspaper could have an influence on American voters. We're not as stupid and insular as blase thinks we are, but we don't often read columns in your newspapers.
Hey, blase, I can name more than 3 provinces, but I once got slammed by a poster when I said I couldn't spell the name of the province that starts with 's'. |
First, actually Ya-ta, yes, as a country you are as stupid and insular as I think you are. Dave's current event posters are not a microcosm of the United States. I assure you, every American nearly without exception I've met who hasn't spent a great deal of time outside of America, knows basically f-all about Canada. They have no idea where the major cities are, what are in those cities, geographic knowledge, political knowledge, or cultural knowledge (yes, we do have our own culture, despite claims from the likes of Jadher).
If you couldn't spell "Saskatchewan, don't worry, lot's of Canadians can't either. I think your "M" state that is home to the Kennedy's is much harder to spell. Let me take a stab: Massa.......ah, I give up. |
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Jandar

Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Those of you who are defending the piece... |
But that takes the fun out of poking fun at the Canadian conservatives. You do bring up a good point. One reason Palin was chosen was because she appeals to the group most insecure about the changing role of ethnic minorities.
I'm not so sure about your claim that an article published in a Canadian newspaper could have an influence on American voters. We're not as stupid and insular as blase thinks we are, but we don't often read columns in your newspapers.
Hey, blase, I can name more than 3 provinces, but I once got slammed by a poster when I said I couldn't spell the name of the province that starts with 's'. |
First, actually Ya-ta, yes, as a country you are as stupid and insular as I think you are. Dave's current event posters are not a microcosm of the United States. I assure you, every American nearly without exception I've met who hasn't spent a great deal of time outside of America, knows basically f-all about Canada. They have no idea where the major cities are, what are in those cities, geographic knowledge, political knowledge, or cultural knowledge (yes, we do have our own culture, despite claims from the likes of Jadher).
If you couldn't spell "Saskatchewan, don't worry, lot's of Canadians can't either. I think your "M" state that is home to the Kennedy's is much harder to spell. Let me take a stab: Massa.......ah, I give up. |
My grandfather escaped from Nova Scotia, and he knew how to Spell Jandar. Hell half the Canadians I know couldn't find Halifax on a map.
...and it's spellt massatwoshits dumbass!
The only complaint I've had about Korea since I got here was too many Canadians, so what? |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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The Ombudsman responded to my email.
| CBC Ombudsman wrote: |
Dear Mr. [Kuros]:
I write to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail, which I have shared with Mary Sheppard, Executive Producer of CBCNews.ca, along with the request that your concerns be addressed. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you may ask me to review the matter.
Yours truly,
Vince Carlin
CBC Ombudsman |
| kuros in his email to the ombudsman wrote: |
Re: this article (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/09/05/f-vp-mallick.html#socialcomments)
Straightforwardness has its place, but when all it reveals is indecency, its likely not fit for print.
Here are some selections:
It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman.
I mean, I know men have their secret meetings at which they pledge to do manly things, like being irresponsible with their semen and postponing household repairs with glue and used matches.
John Doyle, the cleverest critic in Canada, comes right out and calls Palin an Alaska hillbilly. Damn his eyes, I wish I'd had the wit to come up with it first. It's safer than "white trash" but I'll pluck safety out of the nettle danger.
I am not offended. I'm just aghast that such invective bile is printed. In the CBC of all places! I'm American, and now I wouldn't trade NPR for the world's public broadcasting. |
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ddeubel

Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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Gatsby wrote
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I'm an American, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Heather Mallick's piece. Note that it was labeled: VIEWPOINT. If it were a news article, it would have violated every rule in the book. But it was a personal opinion, and I am all for people expressing their opinions articulately, even if I disagree with them.
I do mind if an opinion piece gets its facts right, and there was one statement that was off the mark. Mallick writes: "Husband Todd looks like a roughneck." He doesn't look like a roughneck; he is a roughneck. He works in the oil field.
Aside from that, it so happens that I agree wholeheartedly with everything Mallick says. I am not offended by it in the least. I am saddened, however, that the rest of the world is seeing the United States in this way. But I am comforted to know that people like Mallick are sophisticated enough to know that the conservative Republicans reflect only one portion of American society.
But most important, Mallick's piece was thoroughly amusing. She skewered the Republicans with humor, which is a perfectly legitimate use of this amusement; Americans do it all the time, and the best get paid quite royally.
And the fact is the Palin clan are hillbillies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Beverly_Hillbillies.jpg
Hmmmm, that gives me an idea. How do we pay off the trillions and trillions of dollars of debt the Republicans have gotten the U.S. into?
I've got it. Elect McPalin and turn the White House into a pay per view reality TV show. The rest of the world would be riveted.
Heck, we could even do an ESL version for Korea. They would die, errr, pay extra, to get the special Bristol channel. |
Well said and couldn't have been said better.
All those whining about "distaste" do not know the last thing about journalism and its role in society. I'd say to these whiners - "get thy to a nunnery".
I don't think Obama will swing hard and really nail these "types" such as Palin and McCain - closed minded, provincialists - to the cross like they should be. I would hope Biden steps up and swings....
Also, it isn't about "class" in my view. Rather it is about the "ignorant" classes that would draw America inward and away from the light. Palin is a negativist, so is McCain. That's the nature of these "ignorant" provincialists....
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
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enns
Joined: 02 May 2006
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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Last edited by enns on Sun Sep 21, 2008 3:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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aka Dave
Joined: 02 May 2008 Location: Down by the river
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:37 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| The problem with the article is not really anti-Americanism. The main problem is class-ism. |
You may be right. Or maybe not. Would she have written a column of this type about any other nation on earth? Could you see her describing the proud and noble brown person in the same context? A European? Maybe a Brit, perhaps. |
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flakfizer

Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
All those whining about "distaste" do not know the last thing about journalism and its role in society. I'd say to these whiners - "get thy to a nunnery".
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I bet these people who don't know the "last thing about journalism," know how to get common expressions and famous quotations right. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Could you see her describing the proud and noble brown person in the same context? |
No.
Like you say, maybe a Brit.
I can tell you one thing, though. If she had written something like this about ANY province in Canada, even Alberta, it wouldn't see the light of day on CBC. Even if it had as much veracity as what she wrote about Americans. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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I liked it.
And I am an American.
"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Whatever happened to that attitude?
Even if I disagreed with her, I would defend the author and the CBC.
It is far better to have an open airing of viewpoints and exchange of ideas.
If you disagree with someone, says so and say why. Don't say the government should shut them up. |
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flakfizer

Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 1:44 am Post subject: |
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| Gatsby wrote: |
"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Whatever happened to that attitude?
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Who argued that she shouldn't be allowed to say such things? The OP and others have called it "unprofessional" and "vomitous" and such, but no one is calling for an end to free speech. People are free to go around saying all kinds of derogatory words, even racial slurs if they choose, but other people will probably think less of them for doing so. She is free to write an entire "article" of ad hominems if she chooses, but free speech also covers the posters here as well other dissenters, and many are voicing their opinion that this article is a piece of garbage. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired
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Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:25 am Post subject: |
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| Gatsby wrote: |
"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Whatever happened to that attitude?
Even if I disagreed with her, I would defend the author and the CBC.
It is far better to have an open airing of viewpoints and exchange of ideas.
If you disagree with someone, says so and say why. Don't say the government should shut them up. |
The free speech principle is very misunderstood.
Ok. The CBC is a government funded news organization that exists because apparently private news organizations would not be, ahem, fair and balanced. It receives money from the government, which is taken from Canadian citizens. I am paying this douchebags salary.
The woman can find somewhere else to air her grievances. She can have a blog, a placard, a book. Hell, I'm sure the Toronto Star would hire her. But I'm being forced to pay for views I strongly disagree with. This annoys me.
But when you work for a public broadcaster you have a responsibility towards actual civility and fairness. Her column is not a god-given opportunity to talk shit.
The CBC has had a smug-left bias for as long as I can remember. While I still watch the broadcasts on a daily basis, anything to do with politics anywhere has to be treated as if it were a 101 essay from an ideologically charged teenager. And sometimes the CBC steps over the line from merely being run by leftists unaware of their leftism to naked ideological propaganda. The article was totally unprofessional and inappropriate.
Many Canadians may not like much about the United States but we are tied to it permanently like no other country. We can not have our public broadcaster teacher the citizenry to resent and totally dislike huge swaths of the American population. |
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